Estimating biodiversity in Costa Rica in the context of the Payment for Environmental Services program and forest cover change

This study analyzes the changes in the surface area of each forest cover, based on temperature data analysis and satellite imagery as the basic methods for the impact assessment of climate change on regional units. Furthermore, future changes in the forest cover are predicted using the double exponential smoothing method. The results of the study have shown an overall increase in annual mean temperature in the studied region since 1990, and an especially increased rate in winter and autumn compared to other seasons. The multi-temporal analysis of the changes in the forest cover using satellite images showed a large decrease of coniferous forests, and a continual increase in deciduous forests and mixed forests. Such changes are attributed to the increase in annual mean temperature of the studied regions. The analysis of changes in the surface area of each forest cover using the statistical data displayed similar tendencies as that of the forest cover categorizing results from the satellite images. Accordingly, rapid changes in forest cover following the increase of temperature in the studied regions could be expected. The results of the study of the forest cover surface using the double exponential smoothing method predict a continual decrease in coniferous forests until 2050. On the contrary, deciduous forests and mixed forests are predicted to show continually increasing tendencies. Deciduous forests have been predicted to increase the most in the future. With these results, the data on forest cover can be usefully applied as the main index for climate change. Further qualitative results are expected to be deduced from these data in the future, compared to the analyses of the relationship between tree species of forest and climate factors.

Based on data presented by Hansen forest cover loss and gain was aggregated by a factor of 8 to enhance visibility of site specific trends (30 m source data pix els). Forest gain was defined as the invers of loss, or the establishment of tree canopy from a non forest state. Changes in forest cover affect the delivery of important ecosystem services, including biodiversity richness, climate regulation, carbon storage, and water supplies.

Recent trends of forest cover change and ecosystem services in eastern upland region of Bangladesh

Long-term forest cover and height changes on abandoned agricultural land: An assessment based on historical stereometric images and airborne laser scanning data

Pollen map data at 2000-year intervals are used to reconstruct changes in Holocene forest cover in China north of the Yangtze River. In almost all regions, the early Holocene from 10 ka b.p. to 6 ka b.p. is characterised by an increase in forest cover although there was a reversal to lower forest cover at 8 ka b.p. in the eastern monsoon regions. A maximum of forest cover was reached at 6 ka b.p. in all regions except for Northeast China where forest cover peaked in the late Holocene. All regions except for Northeast China experienced a marked decline in forest cover after 6 ka b.p. Since 6 ka b.p., forest cover has decreased by about 92% in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, 64% in the easternmost part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and 37% between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. In contrast, forest cover in Northeast China increased significantly from 6 ka b.p., but has declined between 2 ka b.p. and the present. Changes in forest cover prior to 6 ka b.p. were probably caused by climate, but the evident drop in forest cover since that time in most regions may have been induced predominantly by human activities.

Forest cover and land use change directly impact biological diversity worldwide, contribute to climate change and affect the ability of biological systems to support human needs by altering ecosystem services. Given the forest land use characteristics and ecosystem types in Luang Namtha Province, Lao PDR, the forest cover and land cover category of Luang Namtha Province were divided into six classes, i.e., current forest (CF), potential forest (PF), other wooded areas (OW), permanent agricultural land (PA), other non-forest areas (NF) and water (W). In first instance, earlier geographic information data (GIS data) of forest cover and land use during 1992 and 2002 was obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Lao PDR. Two steps of forest land use change assessment were conducted by the MAF, i.e., plot sampling on satellite image maps (SIMs) to detect the changes of forest cover and land use during 1992 and 2002 for the entire Luang Namtha Province and field verification in order to identify causes of the changes. Secondly, dynamic information of the forest land cover changes during this ten-year period was calculated by means of map algebra in ArcGIS 9.2. Thirdly, based on the theory of ecosystem service functions and the service function values of different global ecosystems, the value of the six forest cover and land use categories in the province was obtained. Finally, ecological environmental effects, produced by the regional land cover changes over the study period, were calculated.

Detecting vulnerability of humid tropical forests to multiple stressors

There have been drastic changes in resource use practices and land-use patterns in the middle mountains of Nepal as a result of human transformation processes of the environment. This study aimed at assessing land-use and land-cover changes, especially those related to forest cover changes, in Phewa Lake watershed—a typical middle mountain watershed of western Nepal—using multi-temporal Landsat images from 1995, 2005 and 2017. Landsat images of each year were classified individually using object-based image classification into four land-use and land-cover types: agriculture and built-up, forest, waterbodies and other. Post-classification comparison was employed to quantify the extent and rate of changes, which was further extended to quantify the level of persistence, gains, losses, and swaps of forests. Furthermore, temporal trajectories of land-cover associated with forest cover changes were established, and their spatial pattern analyzed. The results show that, between 1995 and 2017, forest cover increased by 6.8% with a corresponding decrease in the extent of all other land-cover types. Dynamic transitions and internal trading among forest and agriculture and built-up category were observed, revealing more complex patterns than the commonly assumed linear and irreversible forest cover transformations in the mountains of Nepal. Our approach to assess major signals of forest cover transitions and change trajectories will help link patterns to the process of change including deforestation and forest regeneration. This would, in turn, form the basis for formulating practical conservation and management strategies for Phewa Lake watershed and other mountain watersheds of Nepal.

Previous studies concerning forest cover changes in the Polish Carpathians did not formerly extend further than the mid-19 th century, because of the lack of detailed cartographic materials. Earlier forest changes, especially their magnitude but sometimes even their direction (deforestation, stabilisation or afforestation) are poorly investigated. This paper shows how to extend a temporal sequence of forest cover data for Zawoja village in the Polish Carpathians using non-cartographic data from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We used non-cartographic data from the first Austrian cadastral system, the so-called Josephinian cadastre, carried out in the 1780s, and its revision done in 1819-1820. These data were compared with the stable cadastre and its two revisions (1844-1898) and mostly later cartographic materials (1861-2014). Thematic coherence of cadastral and cartographic data, conformity of Zawoja village boundaries in the analysed period, as well as errors of the earliest cadastral measurements were investigated. The data acquired in the 1780s and 1819-1820 enabled the estimation of the productive and non-productive forest area as well as the area of pastures and meadows partly covered with forest. Though possible measurement errors could add up to 7% of the total village area, the data clearly document the end of the deforestation phase ongoing in Zawoja until the first half of the 19th century, and later relative stabilisation of forest cover during the second half of that century. Data from the late 18th and early 19th centuries indicate a change trend opposite to the later, frequently described stabilisation of forest cover and progressive afforestation. Using the unpublished data extracted from cartographic materials, we also show this latter part of long term forest cover changes, thereby presenting an example of forest transition in the Polish Carpathians.

ABSTRACTClimate change is altering streamflow regimes with potential impacts to water resources, drinking water supply, and aquatic ecosystems. Monitoring hydrologic response to climate variability is crucial for informing effective management and adaptation strategies. In Canada, the Water Survey of Canada (WSC) maintains the Reference Hydrometric Basin Network (RHBN), a subset of gauged basins selected for their minimal human impacts and long streamflow records, which are routinely used for assessing hydrologic response to climate change. The WSC states that changes in forest cover, such as those caused by timber harvesting, were not considered in the selection of reference basins. However, changes in forest cover can have a profound influence on hydrologic processes and accounting for potential forest change could be important for identifying and drawing robust conclusions about climate change effects on streamflow regimes. We quantified the amount of stand‐replacing forest change for 454 RHBN watersheds across Canada during the period of 1984–2019 and analysed whether forest change could have influenced long‐term trends in annual water yield. Overall, these basins have seen an average change in percent forest cover of 9% and some basins have experienced up to a 50% change. For many basins included in the RHBN, variability and trends in annual water yield can be primarily accounted for by climate; however, we estimated that streamflow trends for as much as 15% of the watersheds may have been strongly influenced by forest change. Our results highlight that forest cover within many of the RHBN watersheds across Canada is more dynamic than was assumed when the reference basins were selected. These changes in forest cover may attenuate or amplify streamflow responses to climate change and must therefore be considered in tandem with climate change effects.

Many studies have recently been devoted to the study of landscape change, and some have even focused on an analysis of the dynamics of forest cover change. However, few of the studies have worked on a methodology for making a detailed investigation of long-term forest change dynamics based on historic cartographic sources. The goal of this study is to further develop a method for analyzing long-term changes in forest cover on the basis of old maps and orthophoto maps in the GIS environment. The study area is located in Central Bohemia, to the east of Kutna Hora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area consists of 21 cadastral units with a total area of 113 km2. The maps of the First (1780), Second (1851) and Third Military Surveys (1877) and the present-day orthophotomap (2007) of the Czech Republic were used as data resources. Source data have been processed in GIS. Forest cover is the subject of our study. However, the term is perceived from a broader perspective. What we call forest cover in our study refers to forest wood elements and other wood species in the landscape. In this study, forest cover has been structurally considered as a whole, without dividing it into the two categories mentioned. We counted the extent of the forest cover in each particular time horizon in hectares and as a percentage of the area under study, also the absolute changes in forest cover between the individual time horizons in hectares as well as the intensity of the changes in forest cover in hectares per year. The spatial changes in forest cover were evaluated in a GIS environment using specialized features to analyze spatial variation. The forest cover occupied 16.60% (1,880 ha) of the total area in the First Military Survey (1780). In 2007, the proportion was slightly higher at 16.64% (1,884 ha). More than half of all forest land (53%) from the time of the Second Military Survey (1851) survived until 2007. Not only the information on absolute changes but also the information on the rate of change is of great importance. The old Military Survey maps and the orthophotomap enable us to carry out studies of long-term changes in forest cover. However, the geodetic inaccuracy of the First Military Survey maps precludes reliable and exact quantification of the landscape changes between the First Military Survey and the Second Military Survey, and also between the First Military Survey and present-day (orthophoto map). These maps cannot be used for evaluating forest cover changes on the level of individual plots. The method presented in our paper may contribute to a better understanding of the long-term dynamics of forest land, covering a period of more than 250 years. This knowledge can be applied in forest management planning procedures. Apart from their application in forestry, the methods presented in this study may be of interest for historians and biologists.

Forests provide many resources, ecosystem services and absorb carbon dioxide, which helps in climate regulation. In spite of the enormous benefits of forests, the issue of deforestation is still ongoing. There has been a continuous decline in forests globally and the forest area of Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) in Ghana is facing a similar threat. The aim of the study is to determine the different forest cover types and changes in the forest of BFMS. Satellite images for the years 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2016 and 2018 were downloaded. Unsupervised and supervised classification were performed to determine the different forest cover types and remote sensing software was used to detect the changes in the forest cover. The forest cover was classified into six classes; closed forest, open forest, savannah woodland, savannah, farmlands and built-up area. Available data suggests that between 1992 and 2018, closed forest decreased by 242.19ha, open forest increased by 122.85 ha, savannah woodland increased by 7.47ha, savannah increased by 6.48 ha, farmland increased by 39.39ha and built-up area increased by 65.7ha. The changes in closed forest, open forest, farmland and built-up were all significant. Decreasing forest cover of BFMS is a threat to sustainable ecotourism since the forest serves as a habitat and food source to the monkeys. This research serves as guide to other researches aiming at determining forest cover changes in forest-savannah transition zones. In addition, the results have produced an inventory of the forest, which will help forest resource managers sustainably manage the forest.

Forest and silvopastoral cover changes and its drivers in northern Morocco

Assessing change in forest cover is of critical importance in studying natural and anthropogenic impacts on natural ecosystems. In particular, forest degradation accounts for almost 20% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and thus is a significant driver of climate change, which, in turn can impact the health of the global ecosystem. Hence there has been a significant increase in international efforts such as the United Nations Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD). In addition to politically negotiated treaties, a market based approach has been proposed in which corporations or countries that are significant emitters of atmospheric carbon offer monetary payments for forest preservation in exchange for carbon credits to be used in a carbon trading system. A key ingredient for effective forest management, whether for carbon trading or other purposes, is quantifiable knowledge about changes in forest cover. Rich amounts of data from remotely sensed images are now becoming available for detecting changes in forests or more generally, land cover. However, in spite of the importance of this problem and the considerable advances made over the last few years in high-resolution satellite data acquisition, data mining, and online mapping tools and services, end users still lack practical tools to help them manage and transform this data into actionable knowledge of changes in forest ecosystems that can be used for decision making and policy planning purposes. Providing this actionable knowledge requires innovations in a number of technical areas: (i) identification of changes in global forest cover, (ii) characterization of those changes, and (iii) discovery of relationships between the number, magnitude, and type of these changes with natural and anthropogenic variables. To realize progress in the above areas, a number of computational challenges in spatio-temporal data mining need to be addressed. Specifically, analysis and discovery approaches need to be cognizant of climate and ecosystem data characteristics such as seasonality, inter-region variability, multi-scale nature, spatio-temporal autocorrelation, high dimensionality and massive data size. This talk describes our initial efforts, achievements and challenges in addressing some of the above areas. 1 Research funded by Planetary Skin Institute, NSF, NASA, CISCO, and MN Futures Program. 7 © Atlantis Press, 2010

China has serious environmental problems but China has begun to address some of them. The data for environmental assesments of China's forests are sparse at best, therefore, the authors survey general impressions before focusing on one representative topic, the loss of biodiveristy that necessarily occurs as China deplete its natural forests. China's large expanse of natural forest may support the largest range of biodiversity as well. Managed forests support some environmental services and they play a crucial role in controlling erosion, but they are not as important as natural forests for the protection of critical habitats and general biodiversity. The central government has identified the enviroment as a focal policy issue for the twenty-first century, and it has begun enforcing compliance with environmental regulations on polluting industries. It is insufficient to presume that comprehensive rules such as increasing forest cover in general, or even saving all natural forests, will solve all forestry problems. Beter data and more thorough analyses are needed to assess the relative magnitudes of these problems and the most effective means of addressing them.