agnes Mone Sumareke
Research Officer, Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute | GIS & Remote Sensing Consultant
Agnes has over 16 years experience in forestry and has spent the past 4 years specialising in GIS and Remote Sensing. She is an expert in natural forest silviculture, developing appropriate silvicultural methods to rehabilitate or restore deforested and degraded lands.
Agnes is motivated by the potential to create better natural resource management by applying proper monitoring and planning strategies via integrated GIS and Remote Sensing techniques and is excited to see the impact that this approach can have in forestry, agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and environmental management.
Agnes began her career as a Graduate Forester Cadet at the PNG Forest Institute. She acted as a project scientist on the ACIAR funded Fuelwood project which tested and recommended tree species to the PNG Biomass project including Eucalyptus pelita. Another career highlight has been her involvement in a JICA project where the PNG Forest Base Map was developed and is now used as PNGFA’s official Forest Base Map.
In 2016 Agnes obtained Master of Science Degree in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation from ITC University of Twente, Netherlands. She is now specialising in forest tree surveying and mapping, land use and land cover mapping, biomass and carbon stock calculation using GIS and Remote Sensing techniques.
Agnes is a passionate advocate for the environment and regularly returns home to mobilise and empower her own community to plant trees and care for the natural world.
From The GEAReD Blog …
No limits for natural born leader Agnes Sumareke
PNG forest scientist Agnes Mone Sumareke (aka Aggie) has always looked far beyond her immediate horizon. A born leader, the Meryl Williams Fellow's willingness to embrace new opportunities is now paying dividends, for Agnes, her family and her community.
Papua New Guinea: Galip Nut Research
Prior to the current pandemic Agnes Sumareke, a forestry and Remote GIS Sensing specialist based at the Forest Research Institute in Lae, had developed plans to conduct research that would advance the development of the emerging Galip nut Industry. When COVID-19 forced lock-downs it looked as if the project would be suspended indefinitely.