ABSTRACT
Mapping and monitoring forest degradation, which include assessment of low-intensity disturbance and fragmentation, required an alternative method based on manual interpretation of time-sequential Landsat image composites following an approach developed by Potapov et al. This chapter talks about the forest assessment and monitoring method to provide regular national forest cover updates at 5- and 10-year intervals. The forest cover loss and degradation assessment algorithms have been applied to different forest biomes, testing and illustrating their capability to be implemented at the global scale. Mapping and monitoring results have been published online along with Landsat image composites for use by national governmental and civil society organizations. Two examples of region-wide Landsat forest cover mapping and change detection projects are briefly described: one within the boreal and temperate forests of European Russia, another within the humid tropical forests and dry tropical woodlands of the DRC.
