Publications
Global Forest Watch
A dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system that empowers people everywhere to better manage forests.
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Estimating the Role of Seven Commodities in Agriculture-Linked Deforestation: Oil Palm, Soy, Cattle, Wood Fiber, Cocoa, Coffee, and Rubber
by Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Mikaela Weisse, Nancy Harris and Martina Schneider - November 2020This paper describes new methods for estimating the area of forest replaced by commodity production, and presents results for seven key commodities from 2001 to 2015.
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Who’s Governing Community Forests? Gendered Participation in Liberian Forest Management
by Sheila N. Onzere, Natalie Elwell, Edward R. Carr, Cynthia Caron and Denise Bebbington - June 2020New WRI research in Liberia finds that women’s participation in local forest management can improve both their socioeconomic status and the sustainability of forest resources that support local communities’ lives and livelihoods. Yet complex power dynamics, authority and competing interests converge to prevent women from engaging in these decision-making processes. This paper finds that significant social and regulatory change must occur to foster gender and social equity in forest governance.
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Universal Mill List: A Standardized Methodology for Creating a Global Database of Palm Oil Mills
by Sarah Sargent, Maria Papadopolou, Laura González, Hans Bakker, Paula den Hartog, Aleyda Carillo, Anne Rosenbarger and Thailynn Munroe - March 2020This paper discusses the data collection, verification, and publication process of a global asset list, the Universal Mill List.
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Places to Watch Palm and Soy: Identifying High Priority Forest Disturbances Related to Palm in Southeast Asia and Soy in South America Using GLAD Alerts
by Ifeoma Collins, Thailynn Munroe, Anne Rosenbarger, Ryan Sarsfield and Caroline Winchester - January 2020This paper discusses the methodology used to produce the Places to Watch Palm and Soy layers on the Global Forest Watch platform.
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Use of Near-Real-Time Deforestation Alerts
A Case Study from Peru
by Mikaela Weisse, Ruth Nogueron, Rolando Eduardo Vivanco Vicencio and Daniel Arturo Castillo Soto - October 2019This paper discusses the use of near-real-time deforestation alerts to combat illegal deforestation in Peru, as well as the enabling conditions and challenges to the use of this data.
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Spatial Database of Planted Trees (SDPT Version 1.0)
by Nancy Harris, Elizabeth Dow Goldman and Samantha Gibbes - March 2019This paper discusses the creation and implications of the first global, spatially explicit planted trees database.
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Comparing Global and National Approaches to Estimating Deforestation Rates in REDD+ Countries
by Nancy Harris, Crystal Davis, Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Rachael Petersen and Samantha Gibbes - June 2018This working paper explains how much and why results differ between nationally reported deforestation estimates and the Global Forest Change (GFC) tree cover loss data of Hansen et al. (2013).
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Places to Watch: Identifying High-Priority Forest Disturbance from Near–Real Time Satellite Data
by Mikaela Weisse, Rachael Petersen, Sarah Sargent and Samantha Gibbes - December 2017This paper lays out a methodology for filtering millions of weekly deforestation alerts in order to find the most concerning areas of forest clearing.
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Predicting Future Forest Loss in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s CARPE Landscapes
by Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Nancy Harris and Thomas Maschler - July 2017This paper discusses findings from a spatial land use change modeling study on future forest loss in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s forests. Key findings include a historical analysis of forest loss, identification of the influence of drivers on forest loss, the amount and location of future forest loss and associated carbon emissions, and implications for future land-use and climate policy decisions.
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Logging, Mining, And Agricultural Concessions Data Transparency: A Survey Of 14 Forested Countries
by Jessica Webb, Rachael Petersen, Elizabeth Moses, Carole Excell, Mikaela Weisse, Liz Bourgault and Sam Szoke-Burke - March 2017This working paper gives an overview of the availability of information for land concessions in 14 forested countries, with a special focus on open spatial information. More specifically, this paper examines the legal framework for granting concessions, laws governing the disclosure of spatial concessions data, and the completeness and quality of concessions data in each country.
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Global Forest Watch Water Metadata Document
by Yiyuan Qin, Todd Gartner, Susan Minnemeyer, Paul Reig and Sarah Sargent - August 2016This document explains the underlying science and assumptions of natural infrastructure for water, describes data layers and information, documents data sources, and details the methodology used to generate watershed risk scores in Global Forest Watch Water. All data and maps are publicly available.
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PALM Risk Assessment Methodology: Prioritizing Areas, Landscapes, and Mills
by Sarah Lake, Anne Rosenbarger and Caroline Winchester - June 2016The PALM Risk Tool (Prioritizing Areas, Landscapes and Mills) is a simple to use and automated way to assess the risk of deforestation associated with a palm oil mill and its supply base. This global tool prioritizes mills within a company’s supply chain to guide improvements toward zero-deforestation commitments.
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Mapping Tree Plantations with Multispectral Imagery: Preliminary Results for Seven Tropical Countries
by Rachael Petersen, Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Nancy Harris, Sarah Sargent, Dmitry Aksenov, Alexander Manisha, Elena Esipova, Varada Shevade, Tatiana Loboda, Natalia Kuksina and Irina Kurakina - January 2016Tree plantations continue to expand worldwide to meet demand for timber, wood fiber, fruits, and vegetable oils such as palm oil. Many countries report national statistics on the area of land in plantations, but the extent and locations of these plantations are often not documented.
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Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change
How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change
by Caleb Stevens, Robert Winterbottom, Jenny Springer and Katie Reytar - July 2014Note: The Executive Summary is also available for download in Bahasa Indonesia, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
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Building National Forest and Land-Use Information Systems:
Lessons from Cameroon, Indonesia, and Peru
by Loretta Cheung, Kemen Austin, Andhyta Utami, Jennifer Bangoura and Fred Stolle - February 2014Countries adopting forest and land-use-based climate change mitigation policies are investing in infrastructure and capacity to track the impacts of these policies.
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Satellite-Based Forest Clearing Detection in the Brazilian Amazon:
FORMA, DETER, and PRODES
by David Wheeler, Dan Hammer, Robin Kraft and Aaron Steele - February 2014This issue brief introduces a system called FORest Monitoring for Action (FORMA), which provides near-real-time information on new forest clearing in the humid tropical forests of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
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Indonesia's Forest Moratorium
Impacts and Next Steps
by Kemen Austin, Ariana Alisjahbana, Andika Putraditama, Fred Stolle, Taryono Darusman, Rachmat Boediono, Bambang Eko Budianto, Christian Purba, Giorgio Budi Indrarto and Erica Pohnan - January 2014An important achievement of the moratorium is the creation of a much-needed window of opportunity to develop critical forest governance reforms. In May 2013, the moratorium was extended for an additional two years.