Focus on Arts and Ecology

Hello everyone,

A new World Resources Institute analysis, part of the New York Declaration on Forests Five-Year Assessment Report led by Climate Focus, used satellite data to assess forest change in the Mekong, as well as — for the first time ever — change in tree density (the number of trees per hectare) outside the forest.

We combined novel satellite-based algorithms from the University of Maryland's GLAD Lab and data collection techniques from FAO's Collect Earth tool to produce the first-ever assessment measuring changes in tree cover on all types of land. While this research only assessed countries in the Mekong region, the method can be applied globally.

Our analysis found that forest loss is still outpacing forest gain in the Mekong. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia experienced the greatest losses, while Myanmar had a slight net loss. Thailand was the only country with a net gain. But the good news is that outside of forests, such as in agricultural areas and around settlements, all countries except Laos had a net gain in tree density.

Read more in our new blog:
https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/deforestation-threatens-mekong-new-trees-are-growing-surprising-places

Best,
Will Anderson
Communications Specialist, World Resources Institute
will.anderson@wri.org