Copernicus on the Job – Forestry

The objective of this Action is to train forestry practitioners in Germany and Austria on how to exploit Copernicus Services products and satellite data in operational forestry procedures by developing a standard course for foresters to be included in vocational training programmes. This aims at an increased operational use of Copernicus-based services in operational forestry.

About 1/3 of the area of Germany and almost half of the area of Austria is covered with forests. The forest is either public or private and managed by public (communal, Länder-level, federal) or private entities. While management may be somewhat different depending on forest ownership and primary objective (e.g. lumber production, recreational, biodiversity, protection), many routine tasks can benefit from satellite-based services, many of which can be based on Copernicus-based products. However, the use and uptake of such services in forest offices across the countries differs vastly. This difference is less due to the differences in procedures, but to the different levels of knowledge and interest of the responsible foresters.

Under this Action, a 2-3-day continuing-education course will be developed for practitioners managing public and/or private forests. The specific content of the course will focus on being immediately relevant and directly applicable, enabling course participants to

1. Work with Copernicus products in their day-to-day routine afterwards and to
2. Define further in-depth analyses or products to be delivered by specialized service companies or Services.

In a first step, a small representative group of forestry practitioners from federal, regional (“Länder”) and communal entities (advisory group), together with experts for satellite applications in forests and Copernicus products, will be invited to a Definition Workshop to define the most relevant topics for the course that can be conveyed realistically with today’s data and expertise.

After consolidating the target group and the specific objectives, a training course will be developed. Prior to implementation, the course concept will be assessed to ensure direct relevance to operational tasks in forestry. The course will then be offered to forestry offices in Germany and Austria, run and evaluated. If successful, repetitions are planned and continuous updates depending on feedback and evolutions of needs and offers.

Course materials will be made available and accessible e.g. on the FPCUP homepage. Any specific development need arising during the action will be duly noted and may inform future development Actions within or outside FPCUP.