Google Earth has been recently used to produce a detailed map of the world’s forest resources and how they have changed between 2000 and 2012. As reported by BBC, a research group at the University of Maryland used the free service to map the forest extent in 2000 and 2014 and then calculated deforestation and reforestation for the period. This interesting project shows how freely available data can be used for high-impact projects.
Global Forest Change Project used 654,178 Landsat 7 images to document the loss of 2.3 million km2 and gain of 0.8 million km2 from 2000 to 2012. Brazil had marked a large success by reducing deforestation in this period, but this was offset by extreme deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Paraguay and Angola. The largest forest loss was produced in the tropics (2101 km2/year), second by boreal forest loss.
However, the positive news from Brazil may be too soon to start celebrating, reports the BBC. Brazilian minister Izabella Teixeira has recently commented that deforestation rate has increased by a staggering 28% between August 2012 and July 2013, despite the reduction in previous years.
Whatever the case may be, the Global Forest Change Project may prove to be a strong investigation tool, since it can be updated annually and at a fraction of a cost of commercial imaging services. This global imaging service may prove to be a strong information source to governments and activist groups in fighting illegal deforestation, control and planning, should they choose to use it.
For more information, visit the project map by the University of Maryland or read the original research article here.
