Rotorua to host international remote sensing conferenceFriday 17 Feb 2023
Previous conferences have been held in Germany, USA, Chile, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden and Scotland. For the first time the conference will be in Australasia over five days, starting 9 September 2024. Scion’s general manager for Forests to Timber Products, Dr Henri Bailleres, says the event will be an incredible opportunity to showcase New Zealand and Scion. “Scion has a strong remote sensing group with international outreach and a wide industry network within the New Zealand forestry sector,” he says. “The hosting of ForestSAT in Rotorua by Scion highlights the excellence, standing and reputation of our science with our global peers, as well as showcasing Rotorua as a premier tourist destination.” Scion principal scientist Dr Michael Watt, who leads many remote sensing areas including modelling of forest carbon capture and use of hyperspectral imagery, presented at ForestSAT 2022 in Berlin. He was impressed with the overall quality of presentations at the event and thought that New Zealand had a reasonable chance of hosting the next conference. Working closely with Tourism New Zealand, the Scion team, led by Watt and Bailleres, submitted an application that was unanimously approved by the ForestSAT board of directors. “What New Zealand and Scion does is unique globally,” says Watt. “Our group’s research is competing on the global scene and is attracting interest from many overseas forestry companies and research organisations.” Global heavyweights in remote sensing for forestry are expressing their excitement about the opportunity to visit New Zealand in September 2024. Founder of ForestSAT and former conference chair, Dr Juan Suarez, says Rotorua is one of the most important innovation hubs in forestry science worldwide. “Hosting the conference will enable Rotorua to cement its global reputation in this area, connect academia with a forestry industry actively embracing new tools and technologies and attract new practitioners that can lead the transition to 21st century forestry.” Puruki Forest is also likely to capture the attention of conference participants. About half an hour out of Rotorua, Puruki is a nationally significant experimental forest. Data and models from Puruki underpin almost every management decision New Zealand’s forestry companies make today. As planning for the next rotation begins, there is an opportunity to design new sets of trials and create an internationally important forestry science resource. “Allowing international delegates the chance to visit this forest could provide opportunities for co-design of the next forest,” says Bailleres. “There is the potential for Puruki to be linked in with other international experimental forests and for a digital forest of the estate to be generated so lessons and the future forest can be shared beyond New Zealand.” Work to organise the conference, planned for 9-13 September 2024, is now underway. The conference committee includes Scion’s portfolio leader, Claire Stewart, and key members of Scion’s Data and Geospatial Intelligence group. Collectively, they will provide attendees with several technical sessions and field trips that explore world-class recreational and productive forests. Source: Scion  | ||
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