Forest monitoring and forest change: 1990-2010R. D’AnnunzioE.L. LindquistK.G. MacDicken

FAO Forestry

In 1923 the world first learned about global forest resources…

… in 1948 FAO began monitoring

forest resource

change

…. so what difference did this knowledge make?

Four key global results have made a difference since 1923…

Widespread forest loss in the tropics was detected

1

Resulting in 60+ years of investment

… resulting in increased planting

Gaps in wood supply were identified2

Forest conversion was identified as a contributor to global climate change

Forest management is now part of global mitigation strategies

3

Remote sensing was proven as a tool for monitoring forest resources

Leading to some 100 earth observing satellites

4

Since 1948, most of this information has come from one source: the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA)

...but no single source of reporting data is completely adequate...

… the combination of FRA country reports and

systematic remote sensing adds value…

In 2009 FAO and the EC Joint Research Centre began analysis of Landsat data to assess forest land use change

The FRA Remote Sensing Survey included 13,575 sample sites with land use review inputs from over 200 national experts from 107 countries…

Forestry Paper 169 provides methods and results from 1990-2005…

Tropical: 1,730 (45%) Boreal: 1,190(31%)

Temperate: 630 (16%)

Subtropical : 330 (8%)

World : 3,880

2010 forest area(million hectares)

Annual global forest change:

15.5 million ha gross loss10.2 million ha gross gain 5.3 million ha net loss

Or a ~110 million ha total net loss from 1990-2010

...yet the story is really told at the climatic domain

level…

1990 2000 20100

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

2,000,000

Tropical

Boreal

Tem-perate

Subtrop-ical

Year

How has forest area changed over time?

Regions of significant change: Tropical South America

Regions of significant change: Tropical Africa

Regions of significant change: Asia

Remote sensing provides clues to what is happening with the world’s forests…

Which is complemented by ground-based data on: Natural vs. planted forest Forest stocks (volume, biomass,

carbon) Conservation and protection Production and management Social and economic values

...yet the story is really told at the climatic domain level…

How much forest is there per person?*

* 50 countries for which data is available since 1923

In summary…• Forest monitoring provides

tangible returns on investment

• Global forest area is decreasing at a steady rate, but gains are occurring in some regions/forest types

• Forest conversion continues in the tropics …. primarily due to demand for agriculture

Thank you