RESOTEC - Use of social networks and remote sensing to estimate forest cultural ecosystem services

Objectives

RESOTEC aimed at testing the potential of remote sensing and social network data to characterise the link between forest stand structure and composition and cultural ecosystem services.

The first objective is to establish a proof of concept on the potential of these data to improve our understanding of the forest attributes that structure the value of cultural ecosystem services by conducting an initial study focusing on the aesthetic and landscape value service. In the literature, this service has so far been assessed mainly on the basis of sociological questionnaires: here we propose a quantitative assessment based on the density of photos published on the Flickr social network.

The second objective is to explore the potential for diversifying data, methodological approaches (e.g. crowdsourcing) and the services considered (e.g. recreational activities such as wild gathering, sports or naturalistic use) in order to characterise the link between forest attributes and cultural ecosystem services.

Approaches

The project is structured around two complementary approaches.

    1. To meet the first objective, we are going to study, via an M2 internship, the effect of forest structure and composition metrics and landscape attributes on the aesthetic value of forest stands, calculated from the IGN's HD LIDAR campaign and land-use databases (e.g. BD Forêt V2).  For this purpose, geolocalised data from the Flickr application over the last 10 years in several regional nature parks with predominantly forested areas in the Mediterranean region (Sainte-Baume, Alpilles, Baronnies provençales) have already been compiled. This internship will provide an initial insight into the potential of data from social networks for linking forest attributes and cultural ecosystem services.

    2. To meet the second objective, we are going to bring together a consortium of researchers working on the evaluation of cultural services in order to explore, through a 2-3 day workshop, the prospects for building a more ambitious project (ANR type). In particular, the workshop will look at the possibilities of diversifying both the cultural services evaluated and the methodological approaches considered.

Participants

INRAE units involved

• UMR RECOVER - Risques, écosystèmes, vulnérabilité, environnement, résilience
• UMR AMAP - Botanique et modélisation de l'architecture des plantes et des végétations
• UMR TETIS - Information spatiale au service des territoires et de l'environnement

Partners

• CEFE CNRS - Centre d'écologie fonctionnelle et évolutive
• CESAB FRB - Centre de synthèse et d’analyse sur la biodiversité