当地人如何在他们的土地上绘制数十亿棵树
没有误会树木的价值。他们为全世界的人们提供工作和资源，其二氧化碳缓解潜力在气候行动中起着重要作用。必威官网是真的吗充分了解其价值（以及需要更多的地方）需要有关在哪里和生长多少树木的可信和最新信息。
现有的卫星技术，例如全球森林观察(GFW), relies on remote sensing algorithms that detect the percentage of tree cover in each pixel, rather than counting the number of trees within. When tree cover is below a certain threshold, the methodology used by GFW has trouble seeing those trees. As a result, this technology is best-suited for measuring tree cover in dense forests where thousands of trees are packed closely together.
但是，这种方法可能会错过树木覆盖稀疏的干燥森林，农场和其他地区的树木，这使得在这些景观中衡量变化变得更加困难。考虑到这些区域比地球土地面积的40％，，，，neglecting to count their tree cover is a missed opportunity. This has serious implications for rural communities, which often rely on these trees outside forests for their livelihoods.
Though satellites have difficulty detecting trees outside forests, the human eye can. Collect Earth — a data collection tool developed bythe Open Foris initiativeof the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that pulls imagery from Google Earth — uses the power of our eyes to visually analyze the imagery and collect data on land cover (type of land, like “forest”), land use (how people use that land) and tree cover at different points in time. By matching a high-tech tool with the low-tech but accurate human eye, local stakeholders can harness the power of this tool to see where billions of trees are growing in landscapes around the world — and where land is under restoration.
世界资源研究所（WRI）和粮农组织必威官网手机版的研究人员正在与数十名政府，非政府组织，学术机构和地方社区合作，以帮助国家和地方组织，政府和农民自己生产自己的可行数据。一个新出版物，一起映射：使用收集地球马拉松监测森林和景观修复的指南，，，，shows how communities, governments and mapping experts can take advantage of this tree-counting method.
Monitoring Land Restoration With Collect Earth Mapathons
Since 2015, teams across El Salvador, Ethiopia, India and Rwanda have held participatory mapping workshops, which we call Collect Earth mapathons, to produce local data for monitoring restoration. Armed with the high-quality images from Google Earth that allow people to see objects as small as half a meter (about 20 inches), the teams recruited local residents to identify the different physical features of the landscape in a collection of sample plots.
这些MAPATHON允许对当地景观进行第一手知识的人参与，而无需任何遥感的知识。他们需要的唯一专业知识是基本的计算机素养，对人们如何使用它的熟悉以及知识。
For each session, the teams recruited participants and met in a facility with the capacity and internet connection to host the event. Once trained, participants could analyze 50 to 80 plots per day, depending on the length of the survey and the amount of data to be collected. Then, analysts added up the results from each participants’ plots, creating accurate data for an entire landscape (or country). After the initial counting, the teams compared the identified land cover with the number of trees counted. For example, if a local participant counted just three trees in a large plot, but later categorized the same plot as a forest, the researchers knew there was human error and could correct it.
尽管此方法仅需要基本的专业知识和最少的培训，但结果具有重大影响。MAPATHON发生的景观是一些最引人注目的社区主导景观恢复的例子，这些数据可以告知这些景观。
In Sodo Gurage district, the Ethiopian government used the program to report on progress toward the local target of reaching 19% forest cover by 2020. The data showed that forest cover increased from 7.5% in 2010 to 8.1% in 2015. This indicates a positive trend that falls short of the target, helping local leaders understand that they needed to tweak their approach and accelerate their effort.
在印度的西迪地区进行的一座马普拉松与当地农民，学生和其他社区成员合作，以确定在健康的土地上存在树木覆盖物，农田已经在恢复的地方，种植更多的树木可以在环境和社会上使人们受益。使用这些数据，参与者提出了恢复政府和其他合作伙伴的理由 -$19 million opportunity通过一个计算。现在，他们开始更快地恢复更多土地。
Local Restoration Data, Local Benefits
恢复土地和生长的树木可以提高农作物的产量，稳定土壤并阻止不断耕种的沙漠。在当地专家拥有MAPATHON的景观中，人们可以利用这些数据实现这些当地目标，包括在五年经济发展计划中规定的目标。当当地人自己收集有关恢复的数据时，它将带回社区。因为他们对周围地区有个人知识，所以他们处于最佳位置，将原始数据放在正确的背景下。
Tapping into local knowledge of the landscape doesn’t only improve the quality of the data and maps. When local people see how Collect Earth data can help them evaluate the health of their landscape, they are more likely to invest resources to update the data on a regular basis, even after trainers and NGOs leave the landscape. Local data can also help global researchers better understand which restoration types and approaches work in which ecosystems.
在长期，跟踪恢复进度详细说明所有人都为所有人创造了双赢的情况。政府和投资者可以表明，与使用算法独自检测树木相比，他们最早在一年内履行其修复承诺，并且更准确。快速进度报告还使资助者可以看到恢复土地提供真正的投资回报。它还为当地社区提供了他们应得的辛勤工作的认可。
利用收集地球的价值
举办MAPATHON为监测树木在森林外生长的地方奠定了坚实的基础。培训可以继续收集和分析收集地球数据多年的当地地图专家，这是随着时间的推移有效跟踪进步的关键。反过来，他们可以每年使用当地语言来培训数十名用户，从而建立本地知识库。
Mapping tree cover is just the beginning. Experts can customize the program to match local contexts, especially in unique ecosystems such asNiger’s tiger bush。它还可以帮助展示不涉及种植树木的恢复技术，例如挖掘雨水收集沟渠和重新培养的草原，正在改变景观。
一个在线版本of Collect Earth, under development, hopes to further democratize access to the program. There’s also a promising possibility for new machine learning techniques that use data collected from mapathons and develop comprehensive maps of these trees outside forests withartificial intelligence models。这种方法可以为恢复项目和整个景观提供高质量，准确的基线数据，然后帮助他们跟踪随着时间的推移进度。
在许多人主张为气候变化和其他紧迫的环境挑战提倡技术解决方案时，重要的是要记住，即使是最尖端的技术也需要建立本地见解。必威官网是真的吗收集地球马拉松表明技术和本地知识相遇时可能的可能性，创造了新的令人兴奋的方式来计算数十亿棵树木，否则就会看不见。