For the first time worldwide, free and ready-to-use high-resolution satellite data is now available to monitor forests and help reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will provide high-resolution satellite data free to developing countries in partnership with other organisations including the State University of South Dakota and US Geological Survey in the United States and European Union Joint Research Center.

The monitoring system delivers data in a global sample grid at 13,000 locations and provides tools for their interpretation. It is designed to improve global and regional information on forest change in FAO's assessments of forests. For a country the sample grid can be intensified and become a cost-efficient approach to measure national forest trends and could help with reporting under a REDD mechanism. For more information please visit http://www.fao.org/climatechange/en/.