Transparent monitoring

Transparent Monitoring in Practice

Supporting mitigation under the Paris Agreement

75%

of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the NDC Synthesis Report include land sector targets.

10

case studies were carried out in 4 countries 

1.5

terabytes of data are being produced by the Sentinel 2 satellites every day

What is transparent monitoring?

Transparent monitoring approaches refer to datasets, tools, and portals etc. that support countries’ needs in the land sector. A considerable amount of independent, publicly available data and platforms on land cover, land use and associated emissions have become available.

This data can complement countries’ own monitoring systems. Using a variety of approaches can help to detect, anticipate and resolve potential conflicts or discrepancies between datasets. This website presents the results of the transparent monitoring project, which developed guidance to support countries in the application of transparent monitoring approaches. 

Dimensions of transparent monitoring

The guidelines group stakeholders into four ‘dimensions’ that can help users find information that is tailored to their needs and roles: technology, governance, community participation and engagement, and the private sector.  

Stakeholders working in each of these dimensions should consider different ‘criteria’ of transparent monitoring while carrying out their activities. In the diagram below, everything starts from the core, technical dimension – where the data is generated. From there, the data is reflected in policies and governing frameworks which affect the actions of the community- and private-dimension stakeholders. 

Hover your mouse over each dimension to see its associated criteria and read more about relevant case studies. 

Transparency & Clarity

Accuracy & Communicating uncertainty

Responsibility & Accountabiliy

Participation & Equity

Access & Distribution

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Case studies in the private sector are relevant for those aiming to implement TM approaches in the context of corporate land-use practices and supply chains (e.g. to show policy compliance or progress towards their internal environmental commitments).

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Private sector
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Case studies in the participation and engagement dimension are relevant to Indigenous Peoples, local communities and advocates who are seeking to define the role they can play in effectively monitoring GHG emissions.

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Engagement
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Case studies in the governance dimension are relevant for stakeholders seeking guidance for implementing concrete national and international policies.

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Governance
dimension
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Case studies in the technical dimension are relevant for stakeholders working to improve monitoring, data collection and data processing for biomass and GHG inventories.

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Technical

Consistency & Completeness

Comparability & Interoperability

Complementary & Scale

Reproducibility & Adaptability

Private sector

Related dimension

Transparency & Clarity

Comparability & Interoperability

Complementary & Scale

Access & Distribution

Responsibility & Accountabiliy

Community

Related dimension

Transparency & Clarity

Reproducibility & Adaptability

Access & Distribution

Governance

Related dimension

Transparency & Clarity

Consistency & Completeness

Reproducibility & Adaptability

Access & Distribution

Responsibility & Accountabiliy

Technical Dimesnion

Related dimension

Transparency & Clarity

Accuracy & Precision

Consistency & Completeness

Comparability & Interoperability

Complementary & Scale

Participation & Equity