The Human Impacts Database

A collection of useful numbers for quantifying the impacts of the human presence on Earth.

Percentage of forests with high ecosystem integrity

Flora & FaunaDeforestation & Forest Disruption

This quantity is a single measurement of the quantity at a given point in time (2019).

Value: ≈ 40 %
HuID: 62179
Relevant Year(s): 2019
Summary: Percentage reported is for 2019. Ecosystem integrity is the degree to which a system is free from anthropogenic modification of its structure, composition, and function. Such modification causes the reduction of many ecosystem benefits, and is often a precursor to outright deforestation. Forests having high ecosystem integrity typically provide higher levels of benefits than modified forests of the same type, including; carbon sequestration and storage, healthy watersheds, contribution to local and regional climate processes, and forest-dependent biodiversity. Industrial-scale logging, fragmentation by infrastructure, farming and urbanization, as well as over-hunting, wood fuel extraction, and changed fire or hydrological regimes, all degrade the degree to which forests still support these benefits, as well as their long-term resilience to climate change.
Method: Definition of high ecosystem integrity is based on the Forest Landscape Integrity Index (scores ≥ 9.6). High integrity forests are characterized by interiors and natural edges of more or less unmodified naturally regenerated (i.e., non-planted) forest ecosystems, comprised entirely or almost entirely of native species, occurring over large areas either as continuous blocks or natural mosaics with non-forest vegetation; typically little human use other than low-intensity recreation or spiritual uses and/or low- intensity extraction of plant and animal products and/or very sparse presence of infrastructure; key ecosystem functions such as carbon storage, biodiversity, and watershed protection and resilience expected to be very close to natural levels (excluding any effects from climate change) although some declines possible in the most sensitive elements (e.g., some high value hunted species).
Source: Grantham, H.S., Duncan, A., Evans, T.D. et al. Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity. Nature Communications (2020)
Dataset: Ecosystem Integrity of the World's Forests (global_forest_integrity.csv)
global resolution
Original Data License: CC-BY 4.0
Added By: ilopezgo