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A Global Forest Cover Data Set from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) Entry ID: Global_Forest_Cover |
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Summary
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Abstract:
Mounting global concern over the conservation status of the world's biodiversity, especially at ecosystem and species levels, has led tocalls for increasing the extent of protected areas and for identifying priority areas for conservation. Although most decisions to establish protected areas are made at the national level, international perspectives are necessary both to assess the status of ecosystems occurring in more than one country and to target the use ofinternational resources. Species and ecosystems are not contained by political boundaries, and international cooperation is essential to ensure their preservation. One means of establishing priorities for conservation is analysis of the degree to which existing networks of protected areas are representative of the full range of ecosystems and species. At the national level, detailed ecosystem or vegetation classifications can provide a basis for assessing the representativeness of the existing protected areas network. Provided that the data are available it is also possible to carry out a study of this nature on aglobal level. Up until now the data were not available. Several studies have highlighted the status of forest protection and decline for particular regions using some version of ecological zones (e.g. Lysenko et al., 1995, Mackinnon, 1996). Although the FAO have compiled data on forest resources globally (e.g. FAO 1995), the methodology used has differed between developed and developing countries. A more uniform approach to the forests of the different regions of the world is called for (Paivinen 1996). The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) recently produced an analysis of protection of ecological zones in the tropics (Murray et al. 1996), using the system of ecofloristic zonesdeveloped for FAO. In 1996 Iremonger et al. wrote a global analysis; the extent of current forest cover in each ecological zone was determined and the protection of that existing forest cover was assessed (FAO,1997). This latter study was possible because WCMC had completed a digital map of the world's forests at a clear enough resolution for the work. However, in the study the forest was not subdivided into different forest types, and an overlay of ecological zones coverages was used as a surrogate for these. The assumption in that study was that vegetationoccurring in different ecological zones belongs to different ecological types. The present study builds upon the work carried out byIremonger et al. (1997). The digital world forest coverage was subdivided into different broad forest types, and the ecological zones coverages were used as an overlay to define in even more detail the ecological variants of each forest type. The differences in scales and resolutions upon which the forest data sets and the ecological zones data sets were based, meant that the results of combining zones and forest types was not always meaningful. A more in-depth analysis of the reasons for the results obtained would be very useful and eliminate misleading combinations (e.g., thorn forest in the Tropical wet ecological zone) that may seem like rare and unique forest variants. Having created such detailed forest coverages for eachregion of the world, it was possible to compare forest area to the population figures. Some preliminary test extrapolations were attempted. |
Related URL
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Link:
View Related Information
Description: Home Page for the WCMC Global Overview of Forest Conservation Link: View Related Information Description: WCMC Forest Statistical Data, charts, and maps |
Geographic Coverage
| N: 90.0 | S: -90.0 | E: 180.0 | W: -180.0 |
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Data Set Citation
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Dataset Originator/Creator:
Iremonger, S., C. Ravilious and T. Quinton
Dataset Title: A statistical analysis of global forest conservation Dataset Release Date: 1997 Dataset Release Place: Cambridge, UK Dataset Publisher: WCMC Other Citation Details: In: Iremonger, S., C. Ravilious and T. Quinton (Eds.) A global overview of forest conservation Online Resource: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/data/cdrom2/ |
Location Keywords
Science Keywords
| AGRICULTURE >FOREST SCIENCE >FOREST MANAGEMENT [Definition] |
| BIOSPHERE >TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS >FORESTS [Definition] |
| BIOSPHERE >VEGETATION >FOREST COMPOSITION/VEGETATION STRUCTURE [Definition] |
| BIOSPHERE >VEGETATION >VEGETATION COVER [Definition] |
| HUMAN DIMENSIONS >HABITAT CONVERSION/FRAGMENTATION >DEFORESTATION [Definition] |
| LAND SURFACE >LAND USE/LAND COVER >LAND COVER [Definition] |
| OCEANS >COASTAL PROCESSES >MANGROVES [Definition] |
| BIOSPHERE >VEGETATION >AFFORESTATION/REFORESTATION [Definition] |
| AGRICULTURE >FOREST SCIENCE >AFFORESTATION/REFORESTATION [Definition] |
| AGRICULTURE >FOREST SCIENCE >FOREST CONSERVATION [Definition] |
| BIOSPHERE >ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS >COMMUNITY DYNAMICS >BIODIVERSITY FUNCTIONS [Definition] |
ISO Topic Category
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FARMING
BIOTA |
Project
| GTOS >Global Terrestrial Observing System [Information] |
| WCMC >World Conservation Monitoring Centre's Marine and Coastal Programme [Information] |
Keywords
| IDN=G3OS/GTOS |
| CONSERVATION |
| TEMS |
| GTOS |
| G3OS |
| ecological zones |
| GIS |
| protected areas |
Data Set Progress
| COMPLETE |
Originating Center
| WCMC |
Data Center
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World Conservation Monitoring Centre, United Nations Environment Programme
[Information]
Data Center URL: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/
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Distribution
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Distribution_Media:
online web
Fees: none |
Personnel
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S.
IREMONGER Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: +44-1223-277314 Fax: +44-1223-277136 Email: info at wcmc.org.uk Contact Address: World Conservation Monitoring Centre Cambridge 219 Huntingdon Road Postal Code: CB3 0DL Country: UNITED KINGDOM |
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T.
QUINTON Role: INVESTIGATOR Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT Phone: +44-1223-277314 Fax: +44-1223-277136 Email: info at wcmc.org.uk Contact Address: World Conservation Monitoring Centre 219 Huntingdon Road City: Cambridge Postal Code: CB3 0DL Country: UNITED KINGDOM |
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C.
RAVILIOUS Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: +44-1223-277314 Fax: +44-1223-277136 Email: info at wcmc.org.uk Contact Address: World Conservation Monitoring Centre 219 Huntingdon Road City: Cambridge Postal Code: CB3 0DL Country: UNITED KINGDOM |
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R.
WILSON Role: DIF AUTHOR Phone: (613) 692-3009 Fax: (613)692-0356 Email: rwilson at fox.nstn.ca Contact Address: 5771 Rideau Valley Dr. City: Manotick Province or State: Ontario Postal Code: K4M 1B3 Country: CANADA |
Publications/References
Iremonger, S., C. Ravilious and T. Quinton (1997.). A statistical
analysis of global forest conservation. In: Iremonger, S.,
C. Ravilious and T. Quinton (Eds.) A global overview of forest
conservation. Including: GIS files of forests and protected areas,
version 2. CD-ROM. CIFOR and WCMC, Cambridge, U.K.
For further references, see:
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/data/cdrom2/refs.htm
analysis of global forest conservation. In: Iremonger, S.,
C. Ravilious and T. Quinton (Eds.) A global overview of forest
conservation. Including: GIS files of forests and protected areas,
version 2. CD-ROM. CIFOR and WCMC, Cambridge, U.K.
For further references, see:
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/data/cdrom2/refs.htm
Creation and Review Dates
DIF Creation Date:
2000-02-01
Last DIF Revision Date:
2009-04-20
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