Advancing reference emission levels in subnational and national REDD+ initiatives: A CLASlite approach

Florian Reimer, Gregory P. Asner, Shijo Joseph

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Conservation and monitoring of tropical forests requires accurate information on their extent and change dynamics. Cloud cover, sensor errors and technical barriers associated with satellite remote sensing data continue to prevent many national and sub-national REDD+ initiatives from developing their reference deforestation and forest degradation emission levels. Here we present a framework for large-scale historical forest cover change analysis using free multispectral satellite imagery in an extremely cloudy tropical forest region. The CLASlite approach provided highly automated mapping of tropical forest cover, deforestation and degradation from Landsat satellite imagery. Critically, the fractional cover of forest photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and bare substrates calculated by CLASlite provided scene-invariant quantities for forest cover, allowing for systematic mosaicking of incomplete satellite data coverage. A synthesized satellite-based data set of forest cover was thereby created, reducing image incompleteness caused by clouds, shadows or sensor errors. This approach can readily be implemented by single operators with highly constrained budgets. We test this framework on tropical forests of the Colombian Pacific Coast (Chocó) - one of the cloudiest regions on Earth, with successful comparison to the Colombian government's deforestation map and a global deforestation map.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number5
JournalCarbon Balance and Management
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 3 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Chocó
  • Colombia
  • Deforestation
  • Forest cover
  • Forest degradation
  • REDD+
  • Reference emissions

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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