Methodology
They do an analysis of cover loss by assessing five available remote sensing datasets (ALOS PALSAR forest and non-forest data, ESA CCI Land Cover, MODIS IGBP, Hansen/GFW on global tree cover loss, and Terra-I) to
estimate the likely extent of current forests (circa 2018) and forest cover loss from 2001-2018, for which data was available. This assumes that no single approach or data source can capture major trends everywhere; therefore, an all-available data approach is needed to overcome shortcomings of individual datasets. The main shortcomings of this approach, however, are that it does not account for forest gains, tends to underestimate the conversion in dry forests ecosystems and lacks explicit assessment of uncertainties across the different datasets. “Forest cover loss” in the all-available data analysis consists of observations (pixels) changing from forest to non-forest at any time during 2000 to 2018. The spatial resolution chosen was 250m given the original resolutions of the datasets incorporated and on the understanding that forest areas should be a minimum of 250 x250m (6.25 ha) to contain the functional attributes of a forest (e.g. species distribution, ecology, ecosystem services), rather than depicting individual trees or groups of trees.
estimate the likely extent of current forests (circa 2018) and forest cover loss from 2001-2018, for which data was available. This assumes that no single approach or data source can capture major trends everywhere; therefore, an all-available data approach is needed to overcome shortcomings of individual datasets. The main shortcomings of this approach, however, are that it does not account for forest gains, tends to underestimate the conversion in dry forests ecosystems and lacks explicit assessment of uncertainties across the different datasets. “Forest cover loss” in the all-available data analysis consists of observations (pixels) changing from forest to non-forest at any time during 2000 to 2018. The spatial resolution chosen was 250m given the original resolutions of the datasets incorporated and on the understanding that forest areas should be a minimum of 250 x250m (6.25 ha) to contain the functional attributes of a forest (e.g. species distribution, ecology, ecosystem services), rather than depicting individual trees or groups of trees.
Data description
This work provides an original analysis by assessing five available remote sensing datasets (ALOS PALSAR forest and non-forest data, ESA CCI Land Cover, MODIS IGBP, Hansen/GFW on global tree cover loss, and Terra-I) to
estimate the likely extent of current forests (circa 2018) and forest cover loss from 2001-2018, for which data was available.
estimate the likely extent of current forests (circa 2018) and forest cover loss from 2001-2018, for which data was available.
Indicator
Climate change
Method / tool
IMPACT World+