Project Summary
One Forest Vision: improving knowledge of tropical forests to better protect them
The One Forest Vision (OFVi) initiative brings together scientific research, Earth observation, digital technologies and capacity building to improve our understanding and monitoring of tropical forests and wetlands. Launched in 2023 at the One Forest Summit in Libreville, it is led by six major French research organisations, CEA, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD and MNHN, in collaboration with scientific institutions in partner countries. Its first deployment focuses on the Congo Basin.
The initiative aims to generate reliable knowledge on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and carbon stocks, helping to monitor how these ecosystems evolve. OFVi combines forest inventories, long-term monitoring plots, remote sensing, LiDAR, drones, modelling and data analysis. “Super-sites” serve as open-air laboratories where field observations can be combined with data collected through airborne and satellite observation.
Pl@ntNet to improve knowledge of tropical plant diversity
Plant identification is a key challenge when documenting biodiversity in tropical forests. Within OFVi, Pl@ntNet helps strengthen botanical inventories and improve documentation of local floras, while providing researchers, students, field guides and protected-area managers with accessible plant identification tools.
In Gabon, a first training session held in 2025 brought together 46 participants from 16 institutions. It introduced users to good practices for taking photographs and identifying plants, while supporting the deployment of Pl@ntNet across OFVi super-sites. More than 500 observations representing nearly 120 species were subsequently shared on the platform.
The work continued in 2026 through a new field mission in Gabon, combining field observations with reference collections held in herbaria. The initiative also expanded to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where training sessions brought together participants from universities, herbaria, research institutes, botanical gardens and conservation organisations.
From field observations to scientific data infrastructures
For OFVi, the challenge is not only to collect more observations, but also to better organise, share and make use of scientific data. The initiative is therefore working towards public data-sharing infrastructures dedicated to forests and wetlands in the Congo Basin.
Within this approach, Pl@ntNet serves as an identification, data collection and training tool, connecting botanical expertise, field observations and artificial intelligence technologies. The resulting data can help document plant diversity, strengthen inventories at OFVi super-sites and complement observations collected using drones, LiDAR and satellites.
By bringing together local knowledge, scientific research, citizen science and large-scale observation, One Forest Vision is building the foundations for more integrated monitoring of tropical forests and their biodiversity.
OFVi News
OFVi: where to find news of the project?
The OFVi project has an official website, which can be accessed HERE. Additional information about OFVi is available on the project’s LinkedIn page. This information can be accessed HERE.
Key partners
