A5006996458- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications
- Forest Management and Policy
- Climate change and permafrost
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Forest ecology and management
- Remote Sensing and Land Use
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Water Resources and Management
- Oil Palm Production and Sustainability
- Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- African Botany and Ecology Studies
- Economic and Environmental Valuation
- Environmental Changes in China
- Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology
- Russia and Soviet political economy
- Cryospheric studies and observations
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Remote-Sensing Image Classification
- Plant Ecology and Soil Science
- Climate change impacts on agriculture
- Agriculture and Rural Development Research
University of Maryland, College Park
2016-2025
University of Minnesota
2017
Rainforest Alliance
2017
National Geographic Society
2017
South Dakota State University
2008-2012
World Bank
2011-2012
National Bureau of Economic Research
2011
World Resources Institute
2008
Quantification of global forest change has been lacking despite the recognized importance ecosystem services. In this study, Earth observation satellite data were used to map loss (2.3 million square kilometers) and gain (0.8 from 2000 2012 at a spatial resolution 30 meters. The tropics only climate domain exhibit trend, with increasing by 2101 kilometers per year. Brazil's well-documented reduction in deforestation was offset Indonesia, Malaysia, Paraguay, Bolivia, Zambia, Angola,...
Significance Most nations recently agreed to hold global average temperature rise well below 2 °C. We examine how much climate mitigation nature can contribute this goal with a comprehensive analysis of “natural solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and/or improved land management actions that increase carbon storage avoid greenhouse gas emissions across forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. show NCS provide over one-third the cost-effective needed between now 2030...
A globally consistent methodology using satellite imagery was implemented to quantify gross forest cover loss (GFCL) from 2000 2005 and compare GFCL among biomes, continents, countries. is defined as the area of removed because any disturbance, including both natural human-induced causes. estimated be 1,011,000 km(2) 2005, representing 3.1% (0.6% per year) year total 32,688,000 km(2). The boreal biome experienced largest GFCL, followed by humid tropical, dry temperate biomes. expressed...
Policies to reduce emissions from deforestation would benefit clearly derived, spatially explicit, statistically bounded estimates of carbon emissions. Existing efforts derive impacts land-use change using broad assumptions, unreliable data, or both. We improve on this approach satellite observations gross forest cover loss and a map stocks estimate across tropical regions between 2000 2005 as 0.81 petagram per year, with 90% prediction interval 0.57 1.22 petagrams year. This is 25 50%...
Intact forest landscapes have the greatest conservation value but are shrinking due to industrial logging and fragmentation.
Forest cover is an important input variable for assessing changes to carbon stocks, climate and hydrological systems, biodiversity richness, other sustainability science disciplines. Despite incremental improvements in our ability quantify rates of forest clearing, there still no definitive understanding on global trends. Without timely accurate monitoring methods, policy responses will be uninformed concerning the most basic facts change. Results a feasible cost-effective strategy are...
Abstract Spatiotemporally consistent data on global cropland extent is essential for tracking progress towards sustainable food production. In the present study, we an analysis of area change first two decades twenty-first century derived from satellite time-series. We estimate that, in 2019, was 1,244 Mha with a corresponding total annual net primary production (NPP) 5.5 Pg C year −1 . From 2003 to increased by 9% and NPP 25%, primarily due agricultural expansion Africa South America....
Potapov, P., A. Yaroshenko, S. Turubanova, M. Dubinin, L. Laestadius, C. Thies, D. Aksenov, Egorov, Y. Yesipova, I. Glushkov, Karpachevskiy, Kostikova, Manisha, E. Tsybikova, and Zhuravleva. 2008. Mapping the world’s intact forest landscapes by remote sensing. Ecology Society 13(2): 51. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02670-130251
Abstract Tropical deforestation accounts for almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions and threatens the world’s most diverse ecosystems. Much this is driven by illegal logging. We use novel satellite data that tracks annual across eight years Indonesian institutional change to examine how local officials’ incentives affect deforestation. Increases in number political jurisdictions lead increased lower timber prices, consistent with Cournot competition between jurisdictions. Illegal...
As reported by FAO (2005 State of the World's Forests (Rome: UNFAO), 2010 Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) 2010/095 UNFAO)), Indonesia experiences second highest rate deforestation among tropical countries. Hence, timely and accurate forest data are required to combat degradation in support climate change mitigation biodiversity conservation policy initiatives. Within Indonesia, Sumatra Island stands out due intensive clearing that has resulted conversion 70% island's forested area through...
Global surface water extent is changing due to natural processes as well anthropogenic drivers such reservoir construction and conversion of wetlands agriculture. However, the change global inland are not quantified. To address this, we classified land in all 3.4 million Landsat 5, 7, 8 scenes from 1999 2018 performed a time-series analysis produce maps that characterize inter-annual intra-annual open dynamics. We also used probability sample reference classification for 1999–2018 provide...
Recent advances in Landsat archive data processing and characterization enhanced our capacity to map land cover use globally with higher precision, temporal frequency, thematic detail. Here, we present the first results from a project aimed at annual multidecadal monitoring providing critical information for tracking global progress towards sustainable development. The 30-m spatial resolution dataset quantifies changes forest extent height, cropland, built-up lands, surface water, perennial...
A regional assessment of forest disturbance dynamics from 2000 to 2014 was performed for the Congo Basin countries using time-series satellite data. Area loss estimated and disaggregated by predisturbance type direct driver. An 84% area in region is due small-scale, nonmechanized clearing agriculture. Annual rates small-scale agriculture primary forests woodlands doubled between 2014, mirroring increasing population growth. Smallholder Democratic Republic alone accounted nearly two-thirds...
This study examines the suitability of 250 m MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data for mapping global cropland extent. A set 39 multi-year metrics incorporating four land bands, NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and thermal was employed to depict phenology over period. Sub-pixel training datasets were used generate a classification tree models using bagging methodology, resulting in per-pixel probability layer. product subsequently thresholded create discrete...