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.
