Drone-Based Forest Landscape Monitoring

Organisers: ICIMOD under the RECAP4NDC project, with technical support from Kathmandu University

About the event

The workshop will provide hands-on exposure to the complete drone-based forest monitoring workflow, from understanding drone systems and safety requirements to flight planning, image acquisition, data processing, and interpretation. Participants will gain practical experience in RGB and, where feasible, multispectral data collection and processing, including the generation of outputs such as orthomosaics, terrain products, and vegetation/spectral indices relevant to FLR monitoring.

The workshop will also support the development of practical demonstration datasets, field documentation, workflow notes, checklists, and other learning assets that can be incorporated into the planned e-learning course on drone-based forest monitoring.

Objectives

The objectives are to:

•  Build foundational understanding of drone systems, payloads, operating rules, safety requirements, and their relevance for FLR monitoring.
•  Develop practical skills in flight planning, pre- and post-flight checks, drone flying, RGB/multispectral image acquisition, and field metadata collection.
• Strengthen capacity to process and interpret drone imagery for FLR monitoring outputs such as orthomosaics, terrain products, and vegetation/spectral indices.
• Generate demonstration datasets, field visuals, workflow notes, and learning materials for the planned drone-based e-learning module.

Expected outcomes

• An ICIMOD/RECAP4NDC core team oriented on safe, responsible, and practical drone-based forest monitoring workflows.
• A demonstration drone dataset from LML, subject to permission and weather, including RGB and, where feasible, multispectral imagery.
• Preliminary processed outputs such as orthomosaics, DSM/terrain products, and vegetation/spectral index layers for training use.

Participants

The workshop is intended primarily for relevant ICIMOD technical staff involved in geospatial applications, forest monitoring, Forest Landscape Restoration, Earth observation, and e-learning content development. Technical experts and resource persons from Kathmandu University will support the practical training components.

Background

Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) requires reliable monitoring approaches that can capture changes in vegetation condition, restoration progress, canopy cover, degradation, and site-level landscape characteristics. While satellite-based Earth observation provides valuable information at landscape and regional scales, drone-based remote sensing can complement these datasets by providing high-resolution, site-level information for detailed assessment and monitoring.

Under the RECAP4NDC project, ICIMOD and ICFRE are collaborating to strengthen capacities for FLR through training programmes and practitioner-oriented e-learning resources. As part of this effort, ICIMOD is developing an e-learning module on drone-based forest assessment and monitoring. The proposed internal capacity-building workshop will strengthen the practical capacity of the ICIMOD team in drone-based workflows and generate demonstration datasets and practical learning resources to support the development of this e-learning module.