The application of UASs in forest management and monitoring : challenges and opportunities for use in the Miombo woodland

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dc.contributor.author Shamaoma, Hastings
dc.contributor.author Chirwa, Paxie W.
dc.contributor.author Ramoelo, Abel
dc.contributor.author Hudak, Andrew T.
dc.contributor.author Syampungani, Stephen
dc.date.accessioned 2023-06-27T04:51:36Z
dc.date.available 2023-06-27T04:51:36Z
dc.date.issued 2022-10-31
dc.description DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data are available on request from the corresponding author en_US
dc.description.abstract The Miombo woodland is the most extensive tropical woodland in south-central Africa. However, field sample plot data on forest cover changes, species distribution and carbon stocks in the Miombo ecoregion are inadequate for effective forest management. Owing to logistical challenges that come with field-based inventory methods, remote sensing plays an important role in supplementing field methods to fill in data gaps. Traditional satellite and manned aircraft remote sensing platforms have their own advantages and limitations. The advent of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has made it possible to acquire forest data at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales. UASs are adaptable to various forest applications in terms of providing flexibility in data acquisition with different sensors (RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal and light detection and ranging (lidar)) at a convenient time. To highlight possible applications in the Miombo woodlands, we first provide an overview of the Miombo woodlands and recent progress in remote sensing with small UASs. An overview of some potential forest applications was undertaken to identify key prospects and challenges for UAS applications in the Miombo region, which will provide expertise and guidance upon which future applications in the Miombo woodlands should be based. While much of the potential of using UASs for forest data acquisition in the Miombo woodlands remains to be realized, it is likely that the next few years will see such systems being used to provide data for an ever-increasing range of forest applications. en_US
dc.description.department Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) en_US
dc.description.department Plant Production and Soil Science en_US
dc.description.librarian am2023 en_US
dc.description.sponsorship The United States Agency for International Development through Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program, Oliver R Tambo African Research Chair Initiative (ORTARChI) project, an initiative of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), in partnership with the Oliver & Adelaide Tambo Foundation (OATF) and National Science and Technology Council, Zambia. en_US
dc.description.uri https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests en_US
dc.identifier.citation Shamaoma, H.; Chirwa, P.W.; Ramoelo, A.; Hudak, A.T.; Syampungani, S. The Application of UASs in Forest Management and Monitoring: Challenges and Opportunities for Use in the Miombo Woodland. Forests 2022, 13, 1812. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13111812. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1999-4907 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.3390/f13111812
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/91201
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher MDPI en_US
dc.rights © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. en_US
dc.subject Miombo woodlands en_US
dc.subject Forest structure en_US
dc.subject Tree species en_US
dc.subject Forest degradation en_US
dc.subject Unmanned aerial system (UAS) en_US
dc.subject SDG-15: Life on land en_US
dc.title The application of UASs in forest management and monitoring : challenges and opportunities for use in the Miombo woodland en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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