On December 10, 2014, National satellite-based humid tropical forest change assessment in Peru in support of REDD+ implementation was published in IOP Science. The work was produced from a joint project with Drs. Hansen, Potapov and Dempewolf at the University of Maryland (UMD), MINAM and in partnership with USFS SilvaCarbon program and USAID Forest Carbon, Markets and Communities program. Medium spatial resolution satellite data (Landsat), available free-of-charge from the United States Geological Survey, served as an input dataset. For the presented study, the entire archive of Landsat imagery (11,654 scenes) from 2000 to 2011 was used to quantify forest cover loss within Peru. The Landsat data processing and analysis algorithm was guided by the UMD experience for global forest extent and loss mapping; in this case, an improved version of data processing system at a national scale was applied. UMD provided a series of training sessions to MINAM specialists, who, in turn, implemented the UMD method to map forest cover extent and loss within Peru. The results were validated with high-resolution satellite data, resulting in an overall accuracy of 99.4%. The method is accurate, cost-efficient and able to be implemented in a timely fashion. 

According to the IPCC, tropical forest loss and degradation is responsible for more than 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of global climate change. Over one-half of rainforest loss occurs in the Amazon basin, mainly in Brazil. Peru is home to the second largest extent of Amazon rainforest after Brazil, and is losing forest to agricultural, oil palm plantation, mining land uses. One of the mechanisms to reduce deforestation and forest degradation is the implementation of REDD+ activities (REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Countries are preparing for REDD+ implementation at the national level as part of the international negotiations of the UNFCCC (Forum Convention for Climate Change, which met the previous week in Peru, ). Such activities are based on implementing policies and incentives to reduce deforestation, including the establishment of a forest monitoring system to quantify emissions over time. Such a system must provide timely and accurate estimates of forest cover change. While several methods for forest monitoring have been tested in Peru, they have shortcomings regarding replicability, cost, and/or timeliness. The Peruvian Ministry of Environment (Ministerio del Ambiente, MINAM), which is responsible for forest monitoring, is searching for an efficient, easy to implement, and repeatable protocol for annual and multi-year forest monitoring. 

The initial study quantified annual deforestation from 2000 to 2011, and has since been updated through 2013. The high-resolution data used for validation not only confirmed the high accuracy of the Landsat-based map, but also allowed the group to disaggregate forest loss spatially (by region), temporally (at annual intervals) and by disturbance type (anthropogenic clearing versus natural disturbance). The results have been reported in an official national memorandum, providing baseline information for Peru’s reporting of deforestation-related GHG emissions to the UN. The computer software and training provided to MINAM specialists enables future implementation of the approach within an operational monitoring context. The resulting publication describes the methods and results of this prototyping effort.

The method may be implemented at the national level for any country requiring basic information on forest extent and change, whether for REDD+ or other forest management purposes. This approach has been demonstrated in other countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, but not within a government agency in an operational mode. The next objective of this joint UMD-MINAM project is to perform annual forest loss updates for Peru. Moreover, this collaboration is an example of the successful porting. 

*Photo (from left): P.Potapov (UMD), N.Malaga (MINAM), L.Daly (ex-MINAM), U.Bolivar (MINAM), D.Castillo (MINAM), E.Gomez (MINAM), E.Rojas (MINAM), J.Dempewolf (UMD), C.Vargas (MINAM), E.Mendoza(Conservation International-Peru).