The Google Earth Engine map shown here allows the user to zoom in and out of different locations across the world and overlay other related datasets. There is the option to choose either the continuous index (which provides the most detailed information) or a simpler classified one that divides the world’s forests into illustrative categories of low, medium and high health.
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index shows that globally, only 17.4 million km2 of forest (40%) can be considered having high integrity and only 27% of this area is found in nationally-designated protected areas. Of all the world’s forests found within protected areas, only 56% can be considered having high integrity.
The results of this study are fundamental to current discussions underway regarding the Convention on Biological Diversity, since the current draft of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework proposes both a goal and an action target relating to ecosystem integrity and there is active discussion amongst Parties about how best this can be quantified and monitored. The results are also highly relevant to the delivery of the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change since special consideration needs to be given to forest carbon reservoirs and sinks with high ecological integrity, both within Nationally Determined Contributions and in international finance mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund.
The article can be found here.
Ancillary data sources: World Database of Protected Areas ; Intact Forest Landscapes ; Primary Humid Tropical Forests
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index shows that globally, only 17.4 million km2 of forest (40%) can be considered having high integrity and only 27% of this area is found in nationally-designated protected areas. Of all the world’s forests found within protected areas, only 56% can be considered having high integrity.
The results of this study are fundamental to current discussions underway regarding the Convention on Biological Diversity, since the current draft of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework proposes both a goal and an action target relating to ecosystem integrity and there is active discussion amongst Parties about how best this can be quantified and monitored. The results are also highly relevant to the delivery of the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change since special consideration needs to be given to forest carbon reservoirs and sinks with high ecological integrity, both within Nationally Determined Contributions and in international finance mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund.
The article can be found here.
Ancillary data sources: World Database of Protected Areas ; Intact Forest Landscapes ; Primary Humid Tropical Forests