Etre et avoir à Kinshasa

Expériences de reportage pour la radio-télévision belge au Congo de 1980 à 2003. Il n’y a pas de progression logique dans le déroulement des faits mais une succession d’expériences originales, discontinues, peu prévisibles, témoignant sans doute d’un fonctionnement similaire de la société congolaise, souvent qualifié d’informel. Cette succession d’expériences pose une question lancinante : comment voir sans être vu ? Comment observer sans être soi-même observé, sans déranger l’ordre et le désordre des choses ? Est-il possible pour des Belges de filmer des Congolais, sans qu’interfère leur passé commun ? La vraie constante dans ces expériences est la relation des Congolais à la caméra professionnelle. Celle-ci est surtout perçue comme un objet étranger, blanc, extérieur, comme une caméra de surveillance, un objet décidément post-colonial, face auquel il faut se composer une attitude de défi et de fierté. L’auteur propose d’organiser ses tournages comme un échange, un donnant-donnant, où l’argent occupe une place importante, mais pas essentielle : qu’ils soient payés ou pas, les Congolais filmés sont finalement les seuls à décider de ce qu’ils donnent à la caméra. En contrôlant leur image, ils s’approprient une part du film.Experience as reporter for Belgian radio and television in Congo between 1980 and 2003. There is no logical progression in the unfolding of events but a succession of original, fragmented, unpredictable experiences probably testifying to a similar functioning of Congolese society, usually qualified as informal. This succession of experiences raises some troublesome questions: How to see without being seen? How to observe without yourself being observed, without upsetting the order and disorder of things? Is it possible for Belgians to film Congolese without their common past getting in the way? The unwavering fact in these experiences is the relationship that Congolese have with a professional camera. This thing is perceived as a foreign, white, outside object, like a surveillance camera, a resolutely post-colonial object, opposite which an attitude of defiance and pride is necessary. The author organises his reports like an exchange of give-and-take where money plays an important – but not essential – role. Whether they are paid or not, filmed Congolese are ultimately alone in deciding what they give to the camera. By controlling their image, they appropriate part of the film

The global tree carrying capacity (keynote)

editorial reviewe

Monitoring selective logging intensities in central Africa with sentinel-1: A canopy disturbance experiment

peer reviewedForest degradation is a major threat to tropical forests, and effective monitoring using remotely sensed data is subject to significant challenges. In particular, consistent methods for detecting subtle changes in the forest canopy structure caused by selective logging are lacking. Here, using a unique dataset collected in southeastern Cameroon, covering over 22,000 ha of monthly harvesting areas, >6000 locations of harvested trees, and an independent canopy gap dataset developed from an uninhabited aerial vehicle flight (UAV; RGB camera) of approximately 1500 ha, a new method was designed to monitor canopy disturbance and logging intensity in Central Africa. Using Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, the method was conceptualised using a twostep, two-scale approach, which better matched logging practices. First, (non-)harvesting activity areas were identified using textural indices at a spatial resolution of 300 m (step 1), and within these harvesting activity areas, canopy gaps were detected at a resolution of 10 m (step 2). Both steps were based on monthly differences in the Sentinel-1 SAR time series computed using the average of the 12 months preceding and the average of the three months following the month of interest. This method identified harvesting activity areas (step 1 at 300 m resolution) of over 12,004 km2 with high accuracy (omission and commission errors for both classes ≤0.05) and, within them, detected canopy gaps (step 2 at 10 m resolution) with a global accuracy of 0.89. Although some canopy gaps were subject to omission and commission errors (0.39 and 0.05, respectively), this method yielded better results than other available approaches. Compared to the UAV canopy gaps, this method detected most of the small gaps (≤ 500 m2), which represent 80% of all disturbed areas, whereas other available approaches missed at least 70% of these and consequently missed most of the disturbance events occurring in a selectively logged forest. Furthermore, the predictions were correlated with logging intensity, i.e., the number of trees and volume cut per hectare, which are two important criteria for assessing the sustainability of logging activities. This two-step two-scale method for short-term, monthly monitoring of logging disturbances and intensity has strong practical implications for forest administration and certification bodies in Central Africa.15. Life on land13. Climate action9. Industry, innovation and infrastructur

Nest grouping patterns of bonobos (Pan paniscus) in relation to fruit availability in a forest-savannah mosaic

A topic of major interest in socio-ecology is the comparison of chimpanzees and bonobos’ grouping patterns. Numerous studies have highlighted the impact of social and environmental factors on the different evolution in group cohesion seen in these sister species. We are still lacking, however, key information about bonobo social traits across their habitat range, in order to make accurate inter-species comparisons. In this study we investigated bonobo social cohesiveness at nesting sites depending on fruit availability in the forest-savannah mosaic of western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a bonobo habitat which has received little attention from researchers and is characterized by high food resource variation within years. We collected data on two bonobo communities. Nest counts at nesting sites were used as a proxy for night grouping patterns and were analysed with regard to fruit availability. We also modelled bonobo population density at the site in order to investigate yearly variation. We found that one community density varied across the three years of surveys, suggesting that this bonobo community has significant variability in use of its home range. This finding highlights the importance of forest connectivity, a likely prerequisite for the ability of bonobos to adapt their ranging patterns to fruit availability changes. We found no influence of overall fruit availability on bonobo cohesiveness. Only fruit availability at the nesting sites showed a positive influence, indicating that bonobos favour food ‘hot spots’ as sleeping sites. Our findings have confirmed the results obtained from previous studies carried out in the dense tropical forests of DRC. Nevertheless, in order to clarify the impact of environmental variability on bonobo social cohesiveness, we will need to make direct observations of the apes in the forest-savannah mosaic as well as make comparisons across the entirety of the bonobos’ range using systematic methodology

Recent Advances in Forest Observation with Visual Interpretation of Very High-Resolution Imagery

The land area covered by freely available very high-resolution (VHR) imagery has grown dramatically over recent years, which has considerable relevance for forest observation and monitoring. For example, it is possible to recognize and extract a number of features related to forest type, forest management, degradation and disturbance using VHR imagery. Moreover, time series of medium-to-high-resolution imagery such as MODIS, Landsat or Sentinel has allowed for monitoring of parameters related to forest cover change. Although automatic classification is used regularly to monitor forests using medium-resolution imagery, VHR imagery and changes in web-based technology have opened up new possibilities for the role of visual interpretation in forest observation. Visual interpretation of VHR is typically employed to provide training and/or validation data for other remote sensing-based techniques or to derive statistics directly on forest cover/forest cover change over large regions. Hence, this paper reviews the state of the art in tools designed for visual interpretation of VHR, including Geo-Wiki, LACO-Wiki and Collect Earth as well as issues related to interpretation of VHR imagery and approaches to quality assurance. We have also listed a number of success stories where visual interpretation plays a crucial role, including a global forest mask harmonized with FAO FRA country statistics; estimation of dryland forest area; quantification of deforestation; national reporting to the UNFCCC; and drivers of forest change

Effective ecosystem monitoring requires a multi-scaled approach

Ecosystem monitoring is fundamental to our understanding of how ecosystem change is impacting our natural resources and is vital for developing evidence-based policy and management. However, the different types of ecosystem monitoring, along with their recommended applications, are often poorly understood and contentious. Varying definitions and strict adherence to a specific monitoring type can inhibit effective ecosystem monitoring, leading to poor program development, implementation and outcomes. In an effort to develop a more consistent and clear understanding of ecosystem monitoring programs, we here review the main types of monitoring and recommend the widespread adoption of three classifications of monitoring, namely, targeted, surveillance and landscape monitoring. Landscape monitoring is conducted over large areas, provides spatial data, and enables questions relating to where and when ecosystem change is occurring to be addressed. Surveillance monitoring uses standardised field methods to inform on what is changing in our environments and the direction and magnitude of that change, whilst targeted monitoring is designed around testable hypotheses over defined areas and is the best approach for determining the causes of ecosystem change. The classification system is flexible and can incorporate different interests, objectives, targets and characteristics as well as different spatial scales and temporal frequencies, while also providing valuable structure and consistency across distinct ecosystem monitoring programs. To support our argument, we examine the ability of each monitoring type to inform on six key types of questions that are routinely posed for ecosystem monitoring programs, such as where and when change is occurring, what is the magnitude of change, and how can the change be managed? As we demonstrate, each type of ecosystem monitoring has its own strengths and weaknesses, which should be carefully considered relative to the desired results. Using this scheme, scientists and land managers can design programs best suited to their needs. Finally, we assert that for our most serious environmental challenges, it is essential that we include information from each of these monitoring scales to inform on all facets of ecosystem change, and this is best achieved through close collaboration between the scales. With a renewed understanding of the importance of each monitoring type, along with greater commitment to monitor cooperatively, we will be well placed to address some of our greatest environmental challenges