Quantification of global gross forest cover loss
TLDR
A globally consistent methodology using satellite imagery was implemented to quantify gross forest cover loss (GFCL) from 2000 to 2005 and to compare GFCL among biomes, continents, and countries, finding the boreal biome experienced the largest area, followed by the humid tropical, dry tropical, and temperate biomes.Abstract:
A globally consistent methodology using satellite imagery was implemented to quantify gross forest cover loss (GFCL) from 2000 to 2005 and to compare GFCL among biomes, continents, and countries. GFCL is defined as the area of forest cover removed because of any disturbance, including both natural and human-induced causes. GFCL was estimated to be 1,011,000 km2 from 2000 to 2005, representing 3.1% (0.6% per year) of the year 2000 estimated total forest area of 32,688,000 km2. The boreal biome experienced the largest area of GFCL, followed by the humid tropical, dry tropical, and temperate biomes. GFCL expressed as the proportion of year 2000 forest cover was highest in the boreal biome and lowest in the humid tropics. Among continents, North America had the largest total area and largest proportion of year 2000 GFCL. At national scales, Brazil experienced the largest area of GFCL over the study period, 165,000 km2, followed by Canada at 160,000 km2. Of the countries with >1,000,000 km2 of forest cover, the United States exhibited the greatest proportional GFCL and the Democratic Republic of Congo the least. Our results illustrate a pervasive global GFCL dynamic. However, GFCL represents only one component of net change, and the processes driving GFCL and rates of recovery from GFCL differ regionally. For example, the majority of estimated GFCL for the boreal biome is due to a naturally induced fire dynamic. To fully characterize global forest change dynamics, remote sensing efforts must extend beyond estimating GFCL to identify proximate causes of forest cover loss and to estimate recovery rates from GFCL.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change
Matthew C. Hansen,Peter Potapov,Rebecca Moore,M. Hancher,Svetlana Turubanova,Alexandra Tyukavina,David Thau,Stephen V. Stehman,Scott J. Goetz,Thomas R. Loveland,Anil Kommareddy,A. Egorov,Louise Chini,Christopher O. Justice,John R. Townshend +14 more
TL;DR: Intensive forestry practiced within subtropical forests resulted in the highest rates of forest change globally, and boreal forest loss due largely to fire and forestry was second to that in the tropics in absolute and proportional terms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997-2009)
G. R. van der Werf,James T. Randerson,Louis Giglio,Louis Giglio,G. J. Collatz,Mingquan Mu,Prasad S. Kasibhatla,Douglas C. Morton,Ruth DeFries,Yufang Jin,T. T. van Leeuwen +10 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a revised version of the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) biogeochemical model and improved satellite-derived estimates of area burned, fire activity, and plant productivity to calculate fire emissions for the 1997-2009 period on a 0.5° spatial resolution with a monthly time step.
Book ChapterDOI
Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles
Philippe Ciais,Christopher L. Sabine,Govindasamy Bala,Laurent Bopp,Victor Brovkin,Josep G. Canadell,Abha Chhabra,Ruth DeFries,James N. Galloway,Martin Heimann,Chris D. Jones,C. Le Quéré,Ranga B. Myneni,S. L. Piao,Peter E. Thornton +14 more
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Good practices for estimating area and assessing accuracy of land change
Pontus Olofsson,Giles M. Foody,Martin Herold,Stephen V. Stehman,Curtis E. Woodcock,Michael A. Wulder +5 more
TL;DR: This work provides practitioners with a set of “good practice” recommendations for designing and implementing an accuracy assessment of a change map and estimating area based on the reference sample data.
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Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from tropical deforestation improved by carbon-density maps
Alessandro Baccini,Scott J. Goetz,Wayne S. Walker,Nadine Laporte,M. Sun,Damien Sulla-Menashe,J. L. Hackler,Pieter S. A. Beck,Ralph Dubayah,Mark A. Friedl,Srikanta Samanta,Richard A. Houghton +11 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided the most detailed estimate of the carbon density of vegetation and associated carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation for ecosystems across the tropics across the world, including tropical rainforests.
References
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