USE OF VERY HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION IMAGERY FOR MAPPING WOOD ENERGY POTENTIAL FROM TROPICAL MANAGED FOREST STANDS, REUNION ISLAND

Abstract. The development of a sustainable wood energy chain is an essential part ecological and transition in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean), where Acacia mearnsii the main potential resource identified to date. In order assess future biomass supply strategies, major first issue gain knowledge spatial distribution this species forest stands.In study, we assessed very high resolution multispectral imagery for mapping stands study area located Western Highlands region, expands alongside heterophylla, endemic Cryptomeria japonica, exotic stand. A reference database including 150 samples seven classes (Acacia (mature non-mature), heterophylla ‘herbaceous areas’, ‘bare soils’) was used classify Pleiades image acquired May 2020. Spectral textural indices were incremental classification procedure using random classifier.The best results (Kappa = 0.84, global accuracy 84%) obtained all spectral bands. resulting map enables analyzing different stands.