Abstract
Abstract. Monitoring deforestation and forest degradation at national scale has been identified as a national priority under Guyana‟s REDD+ Programme. Based on Guyana‟s MRV (Monitoring Reporting and Verification) System Roadmap developed in 2009, Guyana sought to establish a comprehensive, national system to monitor, report and verify forest carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation in Guyana. To date, four national annual assessments have been conducted: 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Monitoring of forest change in 2010 was completed with medium resolution imagery, mainly Landsat 5. In 2011, assessment was conducted using a combination of Landsat (5 and 7) and for the first time, 5m high resolution imagery, with RapidEye coverage for approximately half of Guyana where majority of land use changes were taking place. Forest change in 2013 was determined using high resolution imagery for the whole of Guyana. The current method is an automated-assisted process of careful systematic manual interpretation of satellite imagery to identify deforestation based on different drivers of change. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) for deforestation is 1 ha (Guyana‟s forest definition) and a country-specific definition of 0.25 ha for degradation. The total forested area of Guyana is estimated as 18.39 million hectares (ha). In 2012 as planned, Guyana‟s forest area was reevaluated using RapidEye 5 m imagery. Deforestation in 2013 is estimated at 12 733 ha which equates to a total deforestation rate of 0.068%. Significant progress was made in 2012 and 2013, in mapping forest degradation. The area of forest degradation as measured by interpretation of 5 m RapidEye satellite imagery in 2013 was 4 352 ha. All results are subject to accuracy assessment and independent third party verification.
Highlights
Historical deforestation in Guyana has been very low (0.02% to 0.079% yr-1 over the past 22 years), but this trend may change in the future as deforestation increases to meet growing demands for agriculture, timber, minerals, and human settlements
Wall to wall coverage of Landsat imagery for Guyana has been downloaded from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) online catalogue
It is important to consider the possibility that historical mining sites may be re-entered or areas of small-scale prospecting extended. To ensure these activities are captured in the Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS), the mapping team revisits all areas identified in preceding assessments using high-resolution imagery and update areas if changes have occurred
Summary
Historical deforestation in Guyana has been very low (0.02% to 0.079% yr-1 over the past 22 years), but this trend may change in the future as deforestation increases to meet growing demands for agriculture, timber, minerals, and human settlements. An accompanying and closely connected programme of work is being implemented by Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), with the assistance of a specialist firm (Winrock International) is the development of a national forest carbon measurement. The MRVS details the methods required to quantify the changes in forest cover and changes in forest carbon stocks in Guyana, develop driver-specific emission factors by forest strata, and monitor emissions from land cover/land use change over time based on a variety of management activities. This paper provides a summarised description of the work undertaken to complete the annual forest area assessments
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