Forest Monitoring and Assessment System (FOMAS)
Sekala is working together with a consortium of organizations to support Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry to develop a comprehensive forest monitoring and assessment system, otherwise known as FOMAS.
FOMAS seeks to establish the conditions for transparency in the forest sector by making relevant, reliable, accurte and up-to-date forest sector information continuously available to decision makers and the general public.
Core components of this initiative are:
- An information management system that archives reliable, accurate and up-to-date information on Indonesia’s forest and timber resources;
- A comprehensive disclosure policy that clearly articulates what information can be publicly disclosed;
- Effective disclosure mechanisms that allow multiple stakeholders to access reliable, accurate and up-to-date information on Indonesia’s timber and forest resources;
- A decision-making and policy reform process designed to use up-to-date and accurate forest sector information within daily operations.
SEKALA has played an integral role in this initiative and is assisting the Ministry of Forestry to collect, improve and archive spatial information on Indonesia's forest resources and forest cover change. This spatial data can be used to improve decision-making processes, detect illegal logging and forest conversion, monitor forest cover change and carbon emissions, and inform spatial planning processes.
