Our 4th international RAPP workshop took place in South Africa (city of Tshwane, Pretoria), late June 2016.

From left to right: Phil Mjwara (DG of DST), Sandile Malinga (SANSA’s CEO), Jane Olwoch (Managing Director, SANSA) and Alex Held (CSIRO, Group Leader)

The workshop was co-organised by SANSA (South African National Space Agency) and CSIRO, and strongly supported by DST (Department and Science Technology) and the City of Tshwane in South Africa.

It was the occasion to gather some key RAPP members and researchers/institutional from the global community and especially South Africa.

Group photo – RAPP workshop, Hotel Protea Centurion in Pretoria (South Africa), June 2016

In addition to our 35 attendees, 3 speakers (from INRA in France, FAO in Italy, and CORPOICA in Colombia) kindly accepted our invitation to present their work remotely.

During the workshop, we heard very interesting presentations (on RAPP products and pilot sites updates, modeling activities) which led to fruitful discussions on how to move forward with this global initiative: reinforce our current partnerships, search for new collaborations, and develop the initiative’s products (such as the visualizer).

This year, the focus was mainly to link pasture cover/biomass models with livestock productivity. It included several dedicated discussion sessions around establishment and activities at pilot sites, as well as how best to link the remote sensing and in-situ data to regional/global livestock productivity models.

The agenda including links to most of the PDF presentations follows. Minutes have been taken and are being reviewed, so please contact us if you wish to have a look at them.

Monday 20th June 2016 – DAY 1

WELCOME – INTRODUCTIONS

• Opening remarks on GEO – Dr Phil Mjwara, DG Department of Science & Technology (DST), (South Africa)
• GEOGLAM Update + Rationale for Rangelands and Pasture Productivity (RAPP) initiative: updates, coordination and strategy
  Dr Alex Held and Ms. Flora Kerblat, CSIRO (Australia)
• GEOGLAM RAPP Visualizer/Interactive Platform online
  Dr Juan Guerschman, CSIRO (Australia)
• Data Requirements Definition and Data Services Options for RAPP
  Dr Brian Killough (NASA, and CEOS representative)

RAPP RECENT UPDATES (PRODUCTS, PILOT SITES) AND EO DATA ACQUISITION PLAN

• Updates & upcoming activities on current RAPP pilot sites (part 1):
  – South African pasture and remote sensing activities (Dr Tony Palmer, ARC)
  – China (Dr Dan Zhao, RADI/CAS)
  – Absent ones, especially Brazil and Argentina  (Juan Guerschman, to report on the LTAR workshop – US, May 2016)
• Updates & upcoming activities on current RAPP pilot sites (part 2):
  – Argentina (Dr Carlos di Bella, INTA) – Juan Guerschman on his behalf
  – Colombia (Dr Carlos González Orozco, Corpoica) – REMOTELY
• Progress on earth observation based estimation of grass nitrogen and biomass as indicators for rangeland quality and quantity: case study of Great Kruger National Park – Dr Abel Ramoelo, CSIR (South Africa)
• Using Crowdsourced Validation Data to Produce a Best Global Grassland Mask for Rangeland Monitoring & SIGMA project overview – Dr Steffen Fritz, IIASA (Austria)
• Group discussion

Tuesday 21st June 2016 – DAY 2

MODELLING – in situ MEASUREMENTS ACTIVITIES

• The 4 per mil initiative on soils – Dr Jean-Francois Soussana, INRA (France) – REMOTELY
• Using SAR and LiDAR for mapping woody attributes in rangelands and savannas – Dr Renaud Mathieu, CSIR (South Africa)
• Links between G-range rangeland model and remote sensing data – Ms Cecile Godde (PhD student), CSIRO (Australia)
• Linking satellite generated forage outputs with livestock production – Dr Ben Henderson, CSIRO (Australia)
• Integrating rangeland and livestock analysis – Ex from the development of climate smart livestock solutions in Southern Africa – Dr Felix Teillard, FAO (Italy) – REMOTELY
• Global change impacts on grassland systems across land use gradients: (how) can SAEON in situ data help RAPP? (SAEON global presentation) – Ms Sue Janse Van Rensburg, SAEON (South Africa)
• Application of remote sensing derived products for Rangeland management in KZN – Mr Cobus Botha, Department of Agriculture (South Africa)
• Monitoring Namibian rangelands from space: Developing a system with farmers – Dr Cornelis Van Der Waal, Agri-Ecological Services (Rep. of Namibia Rangeland Monitoring project)
• Questions/discussion on modelling

MODELLING – Discussions and future activities for RAPP

• Group discussions modelling activities for RAPP
• Wrap-up session