A proxy for forest degradation – using a spatial pattern analysis to identify potentially degraded forests

WWF has developed a proxy based on Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) which is being used to define forest fragmentation classes related to forest degradation for REDD+ monitoring, reporting and verification. 

In this study, above ground biomass was found to be significantly different between forest fragmentation classes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and allowed an estimate of forest degradation from 2000 to 2010. This supports a matrix approach to monitoring forest degradation, helping countries with limited resources define gross changes in intact forests into various degraded types over time and the associated emissions. The algorithm is simple to run, and can be computed on any forest cover map and applied over a range of scales. 

In this webinar, you will learn more about the forest fragmentation algorithm, its applications and how you can use it for REDD+.