2023-05-04T13:11:58.897502

2023-05-04T13:11:58.897504

Global

global

Greenpeace, University of Maryland, World Resources Institute and Transparent World. Intact Forest Landscapes. 2000/2016' Accessed through Global Forest Watch on [date]. www.globalforestwatch.org

Intact Forest Landscapes

Potapov, P., M. C. Hansen, L. Laestadius, S. Turubanova, A. Yaroshenko, C. Thies, W. Smith, I. Zhuravleva, A. Komarova, S. Minnemeyer, and E. Esipova. 2017. 'The last frontiers of wilderness: Tracking loss of intact forest landscapes from 2000 to 2013.' Science Advances 3: e1600821.

[CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

English

The [Intact Forest Landscapes](http://intactforests.org/) (IFL) data set identifies unbroken expanses of natural ecosystems within the zone of forest extent that show no signs of significant human activity and are large enough that all native biodiversity, including viable populations of wide-ranging species, could be maintained. To map IFL areas, a set of criteria was developed and designed to be globally applicable and easily replicable, the latter to allow for repeated assessments over time as well as verification. IFL areas were defined as unfragmented landscapes, at least 50,000 hectares in size, and with a minimum width of 10 kilometers. These were then mapped from Landsat satellite imagery for the year 2000. Changes in the extent of IFLs were identified from 2000-2013 and from 2013-2016 within the original year 2000 IFL boundary using the global wall-to-wall Landsat image composite for years 2013, 2016, and the global forest cover loss dataset (Hansen et al., 2013). Areas identified as 'reduction in extent' met the IFL criteria in 2000, but no longer met the criteria in 2016. The main causes of change were clearing for agriculture and tree plantations, industrial activity such as logging and mining, fragmentation due to infrastructure and new roads, and fires assumed to be caused by humans. This data can be used to assess forest intactness, alteration, and degradation at global and regional scales.

Identifies the world's last remaining unfragmented forest landscapes, large enough to retain all native biodiversity and showing no signs of human alteration as of the year 2016. This layer also shows the reduction in the extent of Intact Forest Landscapes from 2000 to 2013 and 2013 to 2016.

The world IFL map was created through visual interpretation of Landsat images by experts. The map may contain inaccuracies due to limitations in the spatial resolution of the imagery and lack of ancillary information about local land-use practices in some regions. In addition, the methodology assumes that fires in proximity to roads or other infrastructure may have been caused by humans, and therefore constitute a form of anthropogenic disturbance. This assumption could result in an underestimation of IFL extent in the boreal biome.

CC BY 4.0

Land Cover

Important for distinguishing natural, undisturbed forests from other types of land use.

http://www.intactforests.org/

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