Global Forest Resources Assessment Research Articles

The role of European National Forest Inventories for international forestry reporting

Despite agreements on definitions, the national data provided for international reporting are lacking comparability. To address this limitation the European National Forest Inventory Network has established criteria to harmonise definitions and to provide tools to transform national data into internationally comparable data. Forest reporting presents a series of challenges for countries, owing to diverse processes at international level such as the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. Further challenges are faced at European level with Forest Europe and policy needs. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the national and international forest reporting processes and of the role of the National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and the long-associated challenges resulting from a lack of comparability in definitions used. In addition, there is a discussion on the role of the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN) as a facilitator for enhancing harmonization and comparability of national data and the ancillary information required to monitor European forestry-related policies. NFIs take part to international reporting processes as providers of information. They are correspondent to the FRA process, and then they know very well the context of harmonization. Participating in the ENFIN research projects, NFIs, and particularly authors, conducted a screening exercise on harmonization status at European and World level. This review article is a synthesis of the main findings of the abovementioned screening exercise. It highlights the main gaps in terms of comparability of result in international reporting. Thanks to ENFIN harmonization research project, it gives same ways of working as a possible benchmark for the rest of the world. Based on the international reporting exercises, their interactions, and impacts on new forestry policy requirements, the need for a strengthened harmonization process can clearly be demonstrated. Due to European policy needs, research work within ENFIN has been initiated to develop tools for building comparable results at international level. This work is an important benchmark particularly for countries outside Europe from which to base future harmonization work.

Changes in forest production, biomass and carbon: Results from the 2015 UN FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment

Forests are important sources of livelihoods to millions of people and contribute to national economic development of many countries. In addition, they are vital sources and sinks of carbon and contribute to the rate of climate change. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has been collecting and presenting data on global forest resources and forest cover since 1948. This paper builds on data from FAO’s 2015 Global Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) and presents information on growing stock, biomass, carbon stock, wood removals, and changes of forest area primarily designated for production and multiple use of the world’s forests.Between 1990 and 2015, the total growing stock volume has increased in East Asia, Caribbean, Western and Central Asia, North America, Europe (including the Russian Federation), and Oceania with the highest relative increase in East Asia and the Caribbean. In all other subregions the total growing stock volume decreased. North and Central America, Europe and Asia report forest C stock increases while South America and Africa report strong decreases and Oceania reports stable forest C stocks. The annual rate of decrease of forest C stock weakened between 1990 and 2015.The total volume of annual wood removals including woodfuel removals increased between 1990 and 2011, but shows a remarkable decline during the 2008–2009 economic crisis.Forest areas designated for production purposes differ considerably between subregions. The percentage of production area out of total forest area ranges between 16 percent in South America and 53 percent in Europe. Globally about one quarter of the forest area is designated to multiple use forestry.The balance between biomass growth and removals shows considerable sub-regional differences and related implications for the sustainable use of forests.

Status and trends in global primary forest, protected areas, and areas designated for conservation of biodiversity from the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015

The global community has recognized the importance of forests for biodiversity, and has prioritized the preservation of forest biodiversity and ecosystem functions through multiple multilateral agreements and processes such as the Convention on Biodiversity’s Aichi Targets and the Millennium Development Goals. The Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) provides one mechanism for tracking progress toward such goals in three particular areas: primary forest area, protected forest areas, and areas designated for the conservation of biodiversity. In this paper, we quantify current area and trends in forest areas designated for the conservation of biodiversity, protected forest areas, and primary forests by country and biome; and examine the association between total forest area and measures of protection, per-capita income, and population. The overall findings suggest that countries are increasingly protecting forests of ecological significance at the global scale (7.7% of forests were protected in 1990 rising to 16.3% in 2015), with a strong upward trend in protected areas in the tropical domain (from 12% in 1990 to 26.3% in 2015). However, primary forest area has declined by 2.5% globally and by 10% in the tropics over the period 1990–2015 (using data for countries that reported in all years). Given that many species in the tropics are endemic to primary forests, losses in that climatic domain continue to be of concern, although the rate of decline appears to be slowing.Using multiple regression analysis, we find that a 1% increase in protected area or area designated for biodiversity conservation within a country is associated with an increase in total forest area in that country of about 0.03% (p<0.05). A 1% within-country increase in population density and per capita GDP are associated with a decrease in forest area of about 0.2% (p<0.01) and an increase in forest area of about 0.08% (p<0.05) respectively. Our findings also indicate that, since FRA is used as one mechanism for tracking progress toward goals like the AICHI Biodiversity Targets, country correspondents may require additional assistance toward reporting on primary forest, protected forest, and biodiversity conservation statistics.

Global forest area disturbance from fire, insect pests, diseases and severe weather events

Reliable global data on forest degradation and disturbances due to fire, insect pests, diseases and severe weather are important to understand ecosystem health and condition, safeguard production of goods and services and avoid negative impacts on human livelihoods. This paper presents a global analysis of forest area affected by fire, significant insect pest outbreaks, diseases and severe weather reported by countries as part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015. Between 2003 and 2012, approximately 67million hectares (1.7%) of forest land burned annually, mostly in tropical South America and Africa. In a similar reporting period, in total 142million hectares of forest land were affected by other disturbances than fire. Insect pests affected more than 85million hectares of forest, of which a major part was in temperate North America. Severe weather disturbed over 38million hectares, mostly in Asia. About 12.5million hectares were reported to be disturbed by diseases, mostly in Asia and Europe. There were strong correlations between burned forest area and the area of partial canopy cover reduction, as well as between burned forest area and net forest loss. Partial canopy cover reduction is used as a proxy for forest degradation, although it also includes land under management that is not degraded. A decreasing trend in burned forest area was found, largely accounted for by decreased area burned within the last ten years in tropical South America. However, an increasing trend in burned forest area was found in the boreal climatic domain. The data on other disturbances was not suitable for determining any year on year correlations and should be improved in future data collection exercises.

Global progress toward sustainable forest management

Sustainable forest management (SFM) is many things to many people – yet a common thread is the production of forest goods and services for the present and future generations. The promise of sustainability is rooted in the two premises; first that ecosystems have the potential to renew themselves and second that economic activities and social perceptions or values that define human interaction with the environment are choices that can be modified to ensure the long term productivity and health of the ecosystem. SFM addresses a great challenge in matching the increasing demands of a growing human population while maintaining ecological functions of healthy forest ecosystems. This paper does not seek to define SFM, but rather provides analyses of key indicators for the national-scale enabling environment to gain a global insight into progress in implementing enabling and implementing SFM at the national and operational levels. Analyses of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA) country report data are used to provide insights into the current state of progress in implementing the enabling conditions for SFM. Over 2.17 billion ha of the world’s forest area are predicted by governments to remain in permanent forest land use, of which some 1.1 billion ha are covered by all of the SFM tools investigated in FRA 2015. At the global scale, SFM-related policies and regulations are reported to be in place on 97% of global forest area. While the number of countries with national forest inventories has increased over that past ten years from 48 to 112, only 37% of forests in low income countries are covered by forest inventories. Forest management planning and monitoring of plans has increased substantially as has forest management certification, which exceeded a total of over 430 million ha in 2014. However, 90% of internationally verified certification is in the boreal and temperate climatic domains – only 6% of permanent forests in the tropical domain have been certified as of 2014. Results show that more work is needed to expand the extent and depth of work on establishing the enabling conditions that support SFM over the long term and suggests where those needs are greatest.

Global trends in forest ownership, public income and expenditure on forestry and forestry employment

This paper presents results of analyses of data from the 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment on changes in forest ownership, public income and expenditure on forestry and forestry employment. Forest ownership continued to show less state control and ownership of forests. This was due to private-sector investment and, in some countries, the transfer of public forests to the private-sector (including local communities). This contrasts somewhat with results on public income and expenditure, which indicate that public expenditure on forestry has increased dramatically over the last decade, while income has increased by very little. Global employment in forestry has not changed much over the last two decades and has remained at about 12.7million people, with the majority of these employed in informal activities, particularly in Asia. While production of many if not most forest goods and services has increased, labour productivity has improved at the same time, leading to this result. Comparing the results for groups of countries at different income levels, it appears that higher income countries tend to have a relatively high proportion of private forest ownership, high levels of labour productivity and high levels of public spending (per hectare) on forestry. However, apart from these very general differences in outcomes related to income levels, there does not appear to be strong correlation between these socioeconomic variables and other forest-related variables collected in the FRA.

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: What, why and how?

This paper introduces a Special Issue of Forest Ecology and Management that includes a collection of analytical results from the 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA 2015) covering 25years of forest change (1990–2015). FRA 2015 builds on a series of global assessments that began in 1948 and covers change in forest area and type, volume, biomass and carbon stocking, measures of sustainable forest management, biodiversity and conservation, soil and water protective functions, wood production and a number of socio-economic variables. It covers 234 countries and territories with an emphasis on forest resource change over a twenty-five year period (1990–2015) and also looks forward to anticipated forest change – both as government targets for forest area and projected change (to 2030) to global production and conservation forest area (to the year 2050). This paper describes important contributions of global forest resource estimates to forest management, the methods used in the collection and analysis of FRA 2015 data and provides links to additional information resources. It discusses some of the limitations of this global dataset, some of the steps taken to improve quality and the characteristics that make this type of global data most useful. While forest area change dominates public use of the FRA, the state of the forest resource and management is critical to understanding the ecological and social values of the forest and forestry. Country level reporting not only provides insights that are only possible through national reporting but also provides greater national-level understanding and discussion of forest resource change. The papers that follow in this Special Issue provide analyses of FRA 2015 data covering a wide range of topics related to sustainable forest management and forest change.

Issues in the re-use of non-forestry specific spatial data sources for national environmental reporting on planted forests in New Zealand

New Zealand's planted forests sector is the country's third largest export earner. Rising interest in green consumerism is leading to increased demand for scientifically defensible information on the sustainability credentials of forest products. International reporting mechanisms such as the Global Forest Resources Assessment, the Montréal Process and forest certification schemes require reporting on the state and trends in planted forests. Data availability for such reporting is variable. This paper explores the types of issues that arise when evaluating the applicability and usefulness of existing national environmental data sources for reporting, including the compatibility of attribute information, spatial data resolution and coverage, and extending existing data through analysis.We conclude that the data sources could mostly be used, with some provisos and some additional information collection. The recommendations will contribute to a new web-based planted forest information portal under development for New Zealand's planted forests.

Continental estimates of forest cover and forest cover changes in the dry ecosystems of Africa between 1990 and 2000

AimThis study provides regional estimates of forest cover in dry African ecoregions and the changes in forest cover that occurred there between 1990 and 2000, using a systematic sample of medium-resolution satellite imagery which was processed consistently across the continent.LocationThe study area corresponds to the dry forests and woodlands of Africa between the humid forests and the semi-arid regions. This area covers the Sudanian and Zambezian ecoregions.MethodsA systematic sample of 1600 Landsat satellite imagery subsets, each 20 km × 20 km in size, were analysed for two reference years: 1990 and 2000. At each sample site and for both years, dense tree cover, open tree cover, other wooded land and other vegetation cover were identified from the analysis of satellite imagery, which comprised multidate segmentation and automatic classification steps followed by visual control by national forestry experts.ResultsLand cover and land-cover changes were estimated at continental and ecoregion scales and compared with existing pan-continental, regional and local studies. The overall accuracy of our land-cover maps was estimated at 87%. Between 1990 and 2000, 3.3 million hectares (Mha) of dense tree cover, 5.8 Mha of open tree cover and 8.9 Mha of other wooded land were lost, with a further 3.9 Mha degraded from dense to open tree cover. These results are substantially lower than the 34 Mha of forest loss reported in the FAO's 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment for the same period and area.Main conclusionsOur method generates the first consistent and robust estimates of forest cover and change in dry Africa with known statistical precision at continental and ecoregion scales. These results reduce the uncertainty regarding vegetation cover and its dynamics in these previously poorly studied ecosystems and provide crucial information for both science and environmental policies.

Uniform global deforestation patterns — An empirical analysis

The forest transition (FT) hypothesis implies that changes in a region's forest cover follow a determinable pattern of decline and later re-expansion over time, which is supposed to be similar across regions and countries. Such a uniform pattern – if empirically proven and quantified – might help in establishing REDD+ baselines (i.e., references against which reductions in the emissions from deforestation and forest degradation of developing countries could be measured, and subsequently be rewarded). REDD+ baselines are required to be based on a globally standardised method and also to consider country-specific circumstances. These requirements might be fulfilled by applying the concept of forest transition in a baseline setting.With the objective of finding empirical evidence for a uniform global deforestation pattern, we specified a model of forest cover decline which is empirically testable at the global scale. Referring to the causal theory of the FT concept, we define variables which are globally testable with currently available data. By parameterisation of different model specifications, we first analyse deforestation patterns of developing countries, applying cross-section data from the most recent FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010. Population density, cereal area yield, land suitability and the proportion of potential forest vegetation area are determined to significantly explain the variance of forest cover decline.In a next step, we test the basic model by including modelled historical cross-section data of developed countries. The previously defined model was still found to be valid and no significant differences occurred between developing and developed countries.Hence, a uniform pattern of forest cover decline could be detected on the national scale for 140 countries by an adjusted coefficient of determination of 0.788. The empirical evidence of a deforestation pattern provides the necessary justification for any further discussion of an inclusion in REDD+ baselines.

Estimating carbon emissions from forest degradation: implications of uncertainties and area sizes for a REDD+ MRV system

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the mechanism Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) has become an important option to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests by reducing the emissions from forested lands. Thus far, many studies deal with the detectability of emissions resulting from deforestation. This study concentrates on the emissions and emission reductions from forest degradation. We show, based on data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010, the influence of uncertainties aligned to the estimation of emission reductions from forest degradation. On the example of three countries representing small to large forest areas and low to high carbon stocks, three different approaches for the inclusion of the uncertainties of estimates for two periods are analyzed. Furthermore, by simulating different sizes of areas where forest degradation takes place, the sensitivity of the estimated emission reductions with respect to the size of these areas is shown. The results of the study highlight the importance of identifying sound options of including uncertainties for different periods into a Measuring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system to avoid windfall profits from REDD. Moreover, it is demonstrated that an as accurate as possible identification of the areas where forest degradation takes place is decisive for the amount of REDD benefits achievable for a country.

An Enquiry on Forest Areas Reported to the Global Forest Resources Assessment—Is Harmonization Needed?

For international reporting purposes, information on forest resources often has to be supplied according to international definitions. Nevertheless, the country reports of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 indicate that countries either prefer to use their own forest definitions or use national classes of forest and other biomes as a basis for reclassification to resolve the discrepancy between national and international forest definitions. These preferences are due to the complexity encountered when dealing with the problem of transforming national estimates into estimates according to an international definition but are also due to the lack of a methodological foundation. In view of the multitude of existing national forest definitions and the increasing international reporting requirements, a thorough methodological consideration of the problem appears to be particularly necessary. Therefore, a mathematical approach for comparing national definitions to an international definition is developed. After formalization of definitions and illustration of the peculiarities in national forest definitions, the basics of set theory and simple logic are applied to derive six relevant cases that describe how national definitions of forest are distinct from that of FAO. As a result, we are able to assign each country to a specific case and thus provide a basis for further analyses. We also reflect on the reclassification problem and describe two examples that illustrate the influence of assessment methods in the aim to report according to a common definition.

Pre-processing of a sample of multi-scene and multi-date Landsat imagery used to monitor forest cover changes over the tropics

In support to the Remote Sensing Survey of the global Forest Resource Assessment 2010, the TREES-3 project has processed more than 12,000 Landsat TM and ETM+ data subsets systematically distributed over the tropics. The project aims at deriving area estimates of tropical forest cover change for the periods 1990–2000–2005. The paper presents the pre-processing steps applied in an operational and robust manner to this large amount of multi-date and multi-scene imagery: conversion to top-of-atmosphere reflectance, cloud and cloud shadow detection, haze correction and image radiometric normalization. The results show that the haze correction algorithm has improved the visual appearance of the image and significantly corrected the digital numbers for Landsat visible bands, especially the red band. The impact of the normalization procedures (forest normalization and relative normalization) was assessed on 210 image pairs: in all cases the correlation between the spectral values of the same land cover in both images was improved. The developed automatic pre-processing chain provided a consistent multi-temporal data set across the tropics that will constitute the basis for an automatic object-based supervised classification.

Patterns and trends in tropical forest cover

In the 2005 edition of the Global Forest Resources Assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a moderate negative trend was reported regarding the change of tropical forests: the net annual change was estimated at −11.8 million ha for the period 2000–2005, while the rate was −11.65 for the previous decade. Tropical Asia showed the highest rate and most negative trend, passing from −0.8% to −0.96% per year. The remote sensing survey done for previous Forest Resource Assessment editions covering the period 1980–2000 revealed distinct change processes in the three tropical regions. Survey results indicated that socio‐economic and cultural aspects that characterise and differentiate the geographic regions determine the nature of the change processes and underlying cause–effect mechanisms, while the ecological setting determines the intensity of change and reveals its environmental implications. A comparison of deforestation processes of the two decades indicated an on‐going process of “radicalisation” of the dynamics determined by an increasing frequency of high‐gradient changes (e.g. total clearing rather than fragmentation and degradation) and by a shift of deforestation fronts towards wetter zones, with a consequent higher per‐hectare carbon emission associated with deforested areas.

A global forest growing stock, biomass and carbon map based on FAO statistics

Currently, information on forest biomass is available from a mixture of sources, including in-situ measurements, national forest inventories, administrative-level statistics, model outputs and regional satellite products. These data tend to be regional or national, based on different methodologies and not easily accessible. One of the few maps available is the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO 2005) which contains aggregated country-level information about the growing stock, biomass and carbon stock in forests for 229 countries and territories. This paper presents a technique to downscale the aggregated results of the FRA2005 from the country level to a half degree global spatial dataset containing forest growing stock; above/below-ground biomass, dead wood and total forest biomass; and above-ground, below-ground, dead wood, litter and soil carbon. In all cases, the number of countries providing data is incomplete. For those countries with missing data, values were estimated using regression equations based on a downscaling model. The downscaling method is derived using a relationship between net primary productivity (NPP) and biomass and the relationship between human impact and biomass assuming a decrease in biomass with an increased level of human activity. The results, presented here, represent one of the first attempts to produce a consistent global spatial database at half degree resolution containing forest growing stock, biomass and carbon stock values. All results from the methodology described in this paper are available online at www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/FOR/.

Criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management: The road travelled and the way ahead

Criteria and indicators (C&I) have emerged as a powerful tool in implementing sustainable forest management. In a relatively short period, around 150 countries have adopted C&I. Some processes have used C&I in forest management and produced progress reports. Six of the seven thematic areas common to all processes are also being used as a basis for reporting progress towards sustainable forest management [e.g., the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in its Global Forest Resource Assessment 2005]. However, there are significant problems in the wider application of C&I. A number of countries are not using C&I at all, and in some countries where they are being used, it is not done in an effective manner. Areas that need improvement in order to promote the use of C&I include: (1) strengthening concepts and definitions; (2) rationalising criteria and indicators; (3) further research on indicators; and (4) utilising C&I in more effective ways. The future development of C&I must be based on an active link between research effort and operational needs in order to prevent a waste of resources and effort. Some of the research undertaken to date has led to the adoption of innovative approaches to optimise resource use and simplify application. This paper identifies areas needing more research and draws from ongoing work to show where progress is being made.

Returning forests analyzed with the forest identity

Amid widespread reports of deforestation, some nations have nevertheless experienced transitions from deforestation to reforestation. In a causal relationship, the Forest Identity relates the carbon sequestered in forests to the changing variables of national or regional forest area, growing stock density per area, biomass per growing stock volume, and carbon concentration in the biomass. It quantifies the sources of change of a nation's forests. The Identity also logically relates the quantitative impact on forest expanse of shifting timber harvest to regions and plantations where density grows faster. Among 50 nations with extensive forests reported in the Food and Agriculture Organization's comprehensive Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005, no nation where annual per capita gross domestic product exceeded 4,600 dollars had a negative rate of growing stock change. Using the Forest Identity and national data from the Assessment report, a single synoptic chart arrays the 50 nations with coordinates of the rates of change of basic variables, reveals both clusters of nations and outliers, and suggests trends in returning forests and their attributes. The Forest Identity also could serve as a tool for setting forest goals and illuminating how national policies accelerate or retard the forest transitions that are diffusing among nations.

L’Inventario degli Alberi Fuori Foresta (IAFF) come strumento di analisi del paesaggio e supporto alle scelte di pianificazione territoriale

During the FAO Expert Consultation on Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (Kotka - Finland 1996), the importance of Trees Outside Forests (TOF) and the need for complete and detailed information about these stands were underlined for the first time. Since then and thanks to some pilot studies launched by FAO at the end of the ninenties, the international attention focused on three main topics: the definition of TOF and its classification (linear features, small woods, scattered and individual trees); the effective sampling methods to assess TOF, that are usually rare elements; the ecological role and the economic and social importance of TOF in industrialized and developing countries. Basing on these considerations, the sampling points of the second Italian National Forest Inventory (National Inventory of Forests and Carbon Sinks - INFC) intercepting small woods or linear features were recorded. Consequently, the INFC provides information about a substantial portion of the TOF of the country. Thanks to the availability of these data, a specific study was undertaken, aimed at improving information on TOF features and their role in the landscape. The present paper reports on the first results of this study for four regions of the Central Italy (Lazio, Marche, Toscana and Umbria), where the TOF are particularly significant.

Changes in forest area in Africa 19902005

SUMMARY The forest area in Africa is estimated at 635 million hectares, equivalent to 21 percent of the total land area, or about 0.7 hectares per person. It ranges from undisturbed primary forests (an estimated 9 percent) to modified natural forests (87 percent), semi-natural forests (1 percent) and forest plantations (3 percent). The net loss of forests remains alarmingly high at an estimated 4.0 million hectares per annum between 2000 and 2005. However, the rate of loss is decreasing when compared to the 1990s and is lower than previously assessed. These and other findings of the recently concluded Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 provide a detailed picture of the current status and trends related to forests in Africa. The findings also show that the rate of afforestation is increasing, as is the area of forest designated for the conservation of biological diversity. Yet, African forests remain under threat from population growth and unsustainable forestry and agricultural practices.

New, low estimate for carbon stock in global forest vegetation based on inventory data

Several reports by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have referred to published estimates ranging from 352 to 536 x 10 tons for the global pool of carbon in forest vegetation. However, a rounded estimate of 300 x 10 tons can be derived from the recent Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 of the FAO, as shown in this paper. By comparing with independent empirical evidence as published in recent scientific literature and by considering sampling principles and the disturbance cycles of large forest regions, it is argued that the new lower estimate is more realistic. A downward correction of the estimate would make an important contribution to balancing the global carbon budget.99