The Human Impacts Database

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

Global net forest area change

This quantity is a single measurement of the quantity at a given point in time (1982-2016).


Value:		6.6 ± 3.5 × 10¹⁰ m² / yr see this value in other units This is equivalent to... 6.6 ± 3.5 × 10⁴ km² / yr
HuID:		96847
Relevant Year(s):		1982-2016
Summary:		The value reported represents the average annual change in land area covered by trees from 1982 to 2016. The change in area is computed from satellite imagery at 0.05° × 0.05° spatial resolution. Land cover change is defined in terms of three main classes: Tree canopy or forest (vegetation over 5 m in height), short vegetation (vegetation less than 5 m in height) and bare ground. The value reported here is the conversion of bare ground or short vegetation area to forest on an annual basis, such that a positive value means positive global net forest growth.
Method:		Uncertainty bounds represent the 90% confidence interval, and values were estimated using Theil-Sen regression of the time series for the period 1982 to 2016. Changes in area are computed from satellite imagery at 0.05° × 0.05° spatial resolution. The dataset is produced by combining observations from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, among others.
Source:		Song, Hansen, Stehman, Potapov, Tyukavina, Vermote and Townshend Global land change from 1982 to 2016. Nature (2018)
Dataset:		Global Land Change from 1982 to 2016 (global_land_change_processed.csv) global resolution
Original Data License:		CC-BY 4.0
Added By:		ilopezgo