Forest cover change and soil erosion: Advancing on SDGs indicators monitoring, reporting and accounting

The SDGs-EYES fifth user uptake webinar on “Forest Cover Change and Soil Erosion: Advancing on SDGs indicators monitoring, reporting and accounting” will provide an in-depth exploration of innovative Earth Observation-based monitoring tools developed to track forest dynamics and support sustainable land management.

Participants will gain practical insights into two complementary tools developed within the SDGs-EYES project, with Romania serving as a case study:

• A forest monitoring tool that uses high-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to quantify and monitor forest cover change, supporting both the EU “Share of forest area” indicator and the UN SDG 15.1.1 “Forest area as a proportion of total land area”. Participants will learn about the pilot’s advanced change detection workflow, validation methods, and monitoring capabilities, as well as how the integration of ancillary datasets enhances the accuracy and interpretability of forest disturbance maps.
• A soil erosion assessment tool, demonstrated across the Olt River Basin, which provides information on potential rainfall-induced soil erosion and its contributing factors, such as land cover/land use, and the presence of transport infrastructure. As soil erosion has been identified as a major driver of land degradation and a threat to human security and food production, the tool aims to support both local and European policy-making and contribute to tracking progress towards SDG 15.3.1 “Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area”.

The webinar will foster discussions on potential applications of these two complementary tools, align solutions with user needs, and encourage the adoption of the pilot’s outcomes to address real-world challenges.

Key Highlights:

• Advancing SDG15 – Life on Land: Explore the SDGs-EYES pilot’s contribution to SDG 15 “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems”.
• Explore the tools’ capabilities: an overview of the tools’ functionalities, underlying datasets, and potential for scenario analysis will be shown.
• Contribute to refining the methodology: feedback on the data and methodologies is welcomed.
• Explore the tools’ potential for integration and scalability: Witness how the forest monitoring tool provides information that can incorporate data on forest disturbances and delivers actionable insights for sustainable forest governance. Discover how the soil erosion tool generates practical maps highlighting areas at risk and the contributing factors, supporting data-driven decision-making processes in sustainable land planning and management.

Preliminary Agenda

14:00–14:10: Welcoming and opening

Part 1 – Forest Cover Focus

14:10–14:25: Presentation of the forest cover service (Forest Design, RO) 

14:25–14:50: Panel discussion with forest monitoring experts

Part 2 – Soil Erosion Focus

14:50–15:05: Presentation of the soil erosion service (CMCC Foundation, IT)

15:05–15:30: Panel discussion with soil erosion experts

15:30–15:50: Interactive breakout room sessions 

• Forest cover: hands-on technical demo and discussion on advancing usability, uptake and policy
• Soil erosion: hands-on technical demo and discussion on advancing usability, uptake and policy

15:50–16:00: Conclusions and next steps