Participation in PANGEA

PANGEA, funded mainly by NASA and UCLA, is currently an exploratory study with a view to a possible field campaign in the tropics, focusing on understanding the different responses to climate change in tropical forest regions.

The workshop was organised by the Congo Basin Institute and the Centre for International Forestry Research, in partnership with the University of Yaoundé. It provided an opportunity for the Central African research community to learn about the evaluation process, give feedback on the design of the campaign, including scientific issues and geographic scope, and discuss existing efforts that fall within the scope of the potential campaign.

Speakers at the workshop included OFVi members Nicolas Barbier (IRD) and Jean-Jacques Braun (IRD). The latter is also a member of the steering committee of the scientific panel of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI), a network of scientists who are partners in this event. One of the challenges of this meeting was to find the best way of coordinating the activities of the various regional initiatives, which have complementary objectives (OFVi, CBSI, PANGEA and CBFP).