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Indicator details
Field
Value
License Type
CC BY 4.0
Indicator Name
Primary Forest Loss
Short definition
Calculates the amount of primary forest loss in the pantropical region.
Long definition
Shows the extent of primary forest loss in the selected area. Only primary forest areas that overlap with tree cover are considered in this analysis.
Primary forests are among the most biodiverse forests, providing a multitude of ecosystem services, making them crucial to monitor for national land use planning and carbon accounting. This data set defines primary forests as 'mature natural humid tropical forest cover that has not been completely cleared and regrown in recent history.' Researchers classified Landsat images into primary forest data, using a separate algorithm for each region.
Tree cover is defined as all vegetation taller than 5 meters in height as of 2000. The tree cover data set is a collaboration of the University of Maryland, Google, USGS, and NASA, and uses Landsat satellite images to map tree cover globally for the years 2000 and 2010 at 30-meter resolution. Note that 'tree cover' is the biophysical presence of trees and may take the form of natural forests or plantations existing over a range of canopy densities.
'Loss' indicates the removal or mortality of tree cover and can be due to a variety of factors, including mechanical harvesting, fire, disease, or storm damage. As such, 'loss' does not equate to deforestation.
Source
Primary forests: Turubanova, S., Potapov, P.V., Tyukavina, A. and Hansen, M.C., 2018. Ongoing primary forest loss in Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Environmental Research Letters, 13(7), p.074028.
Tree cover: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA
Tree cover loss: Hansen, M. C., P. V. Potapov, R. Moore, M. Hancher, S. A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina, D. Thau, S. V. Stehman, S. J. Goetz, T. R. Loveland, A. Kommareddy, A. Egorov, L. Chini, C. O. Justice, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2013. 'High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change.' Science 342 (15 November): 850–53
Periodicity
Annual
Other notes
Administrative boundaries: Global Administrative Areas database (GADM), version 3.6.
Related source links
https://data.globalforestwatch.org/maps/gfw::tree-cover-loss-1/about
License URL
https://data.globalforestwatch.org/pages/data-policy