Investigation of the Change of Wooded Aareas in Forest Land in Raudone Eldership

Under the conditions of a global reduction in forest areas and climate change, it is important to preserve as many tree-covered areas as possible and understand change trends. The article purpose – aims at identifying forest area change trends of 19th-20th c. in the current forest land of the eldership Raudonė. In the research, historical topographic maps compiled during different periods, and 2019 data from the forest registry are used. The research method of a comparative analysis is employed. The change in forest areas was analysed, and forest areas that remained unchanged for 200 years were identified. The comparison of current forest areas reflected in the cadastral data and forest areas of the considered period allowed identifying the tendency of assigning land the purpose of forest land. During the research, the period with largest forest areas was determined to be the 19th c., and with the smallest – 1st half of the 20th c. During the Soviet period, forests areas were increasing, but did not achieve the same level as in the 19th c.

Forest Area Change in the Shifting Landscape Mosaic of the Continental United States from 2001 to 2016

The landscape context (i.e., anthropogenic setting) of forest change partly determines the social-ecological outcomes of the change. Furthermore, forest change occurs within, is constrained by, and contributes to a dynamic landscape context. We illustrate how information about local landscape context can be incorporated into regional assessments of forest area change. We examined the status and change of forest area in the continental United States from 2001 to 2016, quantifying landscape context by using a landscape mosaic classification that describes the dominance and interface (i.e., juxtaposition) of developed and agriculture land in relation to forest and other land. The mosaic class changed for five percent of total land area and three percent of total forest area. The least stable classes were those comprising the developed interface. Forest loss rates were highest in developed-dominated landscapes, but the forest area in those landscapes increased by 18 percent as the expansion of developed landscapes assimilated more forest area than was lost from earlier developed landscapes. Conversely, forest loss rates were lowest in agriculture-dominated landscapes where there was a net loss of five percent of forest area, even as the area of those landscapes also increased. Exposure of all land to nearby forest removal, fire, and stress was highest in natural-dominated landscapes, while exposure to nearby increases in developed and agriculture land was highest in developed- and agriculture-dominated landscapes. We discuss applications of our approach for mapping, monitoring, and modeling landscape and land use change.

Investigation of Forest Area Change in the 19th–21st Century Using Military Topographic Maps

Long-term changes of the Earth’s cover are imperceptible. Several generations change, people do not see what had been there before they were born, they do not see what happens after they are gone, meanwhile, maps preserve the image of the surroundings that was prevailing hundreds of years ago and the analysis of which allows highlighting certain occurring tendencies. The present study aims at the analysing the change in the forest coverage on the territory of Lithuania employing statistical data and analysing the change in the forest land area from the 19th c. until the 21st c. in the Elektrenai municipality using military topographic maps. During the study, digitalised archival maps and devectorised forest areas were used, and the obtained results were compared. The information provided in the maps reveals a decrease in the forest land area during during 19th–20th c. and an increase during the 20th–21st c., however, the current increase has not compensated the earlier decrease.

The Changes of Forest Area in Klaipeda County during the Period between 2005-2019

The article presents the analysis of the current situation of the forest area in Klaipeda county. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the Klaipeda county's forest area during the period between the years 2005 and 2019. The object of the investigation – forest area of Klaipeda county. Tasks of the investigation: 1. To describe the status quo of forest in Klaipeda county. 2. To analyze and compare the forest area change in Klaipeda county during the period between the years 2005 and 2019. The study found that forests prevailing in Klaipeda County are of 60-69 years old. It was determined that fire trees prevail in Klaipeda County (25.64 percent) and pine (24.03 percent). The type of ownership prevailing Klaipeda County is the forests of state significance managed by forest enterprises, national parks and state reserves (51.26 percent). In the County there are mostly Group IV or commercial forests (62.47 percent). In Klaipeda County during the period between the years 2005 and 2019 the forest area increased by 8269.85 ha or 6.03 percent.

20 years of forest change in Natura 2000 protected areas network

<p>Natura 2000 network, the world's largest network of protected areas, is considered a success for habitat and biodiversity protection, in the last decades. Our objective is to develop an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas, and to apply subsequently this algorithm for analysis of all Natura 2000 sites in Europe. We have developed an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas using JavaScript in Google Earth Engine, which is a web interface for the massive analysis of geospatial data, providing access to huge amount of data and facilitating development of complex workflows. This work focused on analysis of Global Forest Change dataset representing forest change, at 30 meters resolution, globally, between 2000 and 2018. Our results show that at least regarding forest protection, the network is not very successful, the 25350 sites losing 35246.8 km<sup>2</sup> of forest cover between 2000 and 2018, gaining only 9862.1 km<sup>2</sup>. All 28 countries recorded a negative forest net change, with a mean value of -906.6 km<sup>2</sup>, the largest forest area change recording Spain (-5106.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 1631 sites), Poland (-4529 km<sup>2</sup> in 962 sites), Portugal (-2781.9 km<sup>2</sup> in 120 sites), Romania (-1601.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 569 sites), Germany (-1365.7 km<sup>2</sup> in 5049 sites) and France (-1270.9 km<sup>2</sup> in 1520 sites). Among countries with the lowest values in net forest change is Ireland (-17.4 km<sup>2</sup> in 447 sites), Estonia (-104.1 km<sup>2</sup> in 518 sites), Netherlands (-132.3 km<sup>2</sup> in 152 sites), Finland (-268.6 km<sup>2</sup> in 1722 sites) and Sweden (-341.6 km<sup>2</sup> in 3786 sites).</p>

Detecting hotspots of changes in spatial pattern of forest fragmentation in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains

<p>Landscape fragmentation is the expression of patchiness and spatial heterogeneity of land cover pattern. After the breakdown of the socialism regime in 1989, Romania has undergone significant changes at the level of political, institutional and socio-economic profile, which determined researchers to consider this country an experimental territory for land use and landscape research.</p><p>The aim of present study is to detect hotspots of changes of forests landscape fragmentation patterns in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains over the last 28 years. In order to meet our demand we applied a holistic approach to assess the multiple teleconnections between forest cover changes and the degree of fragmentation at regional scale for two distinct periods that make up the 1990-2018 period: (1) 1990-2006 (land restitution period or transition period to the market economy) and (2) 2006-2018 (post-accession period to the European Union).</p><p>The analysis were carried out using freely available time series CORINE Land Cover data of 1990, 2006 and 2018 provided by Copernicus Land Monitoring Services. The initial spatial datasets were processed with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), while GUIDOS, a free software toolbox dedicated to quantitative analysis of digital landscape images, was used to generate spatial and statistics data of the degree of forest landscape fragmentation.</p><p>Our findings indicate that the first period of analysis was more dynamic regarding forest cover changes with a gross area gain of 316 304 ha (7.59%) and a gross area loss of 147 496 ha (3.54%) leading to a net forest area change of 168 808 ha (4.05%) which reflects the level of forest recovery. The change pattern of fragmentation classes showed that 332 045 ha (71.47%) of fragmentation decrease is found for the transition of dominant forest in 1990 into the less fragmented class interior in 2006, while 67 418 ha (65.10%) of all fragmentation increase is found for transition from interior in 1990 to dominant in 2006. The other side, for the period from 2006 to 2018 we found a gross area gain of 127 146 ha (2.93%) and a gross area loss of 212 933 ha (4.91%) leading to a net forest area change of -85 787 ha (-1.98%) which emphasizes the level of forest disturbance. In the same time frame, the high values of fragmentation pattern have been registered for the same classes, 56.82% for fragmentation decrease and 70.60% for fragmentation increase, respectively. The results highlight the reversible impact of land use change on land cover pattern, spatially shaped through afforestation in the first period of analysis and through deforestation in the second period. The afforestation process were determined by high rate of external migration, while deforestation process is a consequence of land restitution laws (Law no. 247/2005), which caused considerable mutations in the ownership of land.</p><p>The study emphasizes the impacts of land use policies and land management practices on the pattern of forest landscape and the usefulness of Guidos Toolbox, a universal digital image object analysis, to detect hotspots of changes at regional scale.</p>

USING GUYANA’S MONITORING REPORTING & VERIFICATION SYSTEM TO GUIDE NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT & DECISION MAKING

The Guyana Forestry Commission’s (GFC) Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) is a combined Geographic Information System (GIS) and field-based monitoring system, which has underpinned the conducting of a historical assessment of forest cover as well as eight national assessments of forest area change to date. The System seeks to provide the basis for measuring verifiable changes in Guyana’s forest cover and resultant carbon emissions from Guyana’s forests, which will provide the basis for results-based REDD+ compensation in the long-term. With the continuous compilation, analysis and dissemination of MRVS results on a typically annual basis, the GFC envisioned a larger role for this data, in informing national processes such as natural resources policy and management. This resulted in a significant broadening of the application of the MRVS data and products for purposes that are aligned or complementary to national REDD+ objectives and forest policy and management. These broader applications have allowed for a beneficial shift towards the increased use of remote sensing data and scientific reporting to inform forest management, governance and decision making on natural resource management across forested land. This has resulted in a transformation in the nature of data available to inform decision making on forest management and governance, and overall environmental oversight, from predominantly social science data and factors to now incorporating remote sensing and scientific observations and reporting. Primary decision makers are turning to scientific based reporting to determine best approaches for developmental initiatives in Guyana. This study shows how Guyana has demonstrated significant progress in making remote sensing products accessible and useful to policy makers in Guyana.

The Change of Forest Area in Alytus and Vilnius Counties (Lithuania)

The article presents the analysis of the current situation of the forest area in Alytus and Vilnius counties. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the Alytus and Vilnius counties forest area during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The object of the investigation – Alytus and Vilnius counties forest area. Tasks of the investigation: 1. To describe the status quo of forest in Alytus and Vilnius counties. 2. To analyze and compare the forest area change in Alytus and Vilnius counties during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The study found that forests prevailing in Alytus and Vilnius Counties are 50-59 years old. It was determined that pine trees prevail in Alytus County (71.05 percent) and in Vilnius County (16.38 percent) as well. The type of ownership prevailing in both Alytus and Vilnius counties is the forests of state significance managed by forest enterprises, national parks and state reserves. In Alytus County, during the period between the years 2006 and 2018, the forest area decreased by 4123.16 ha or 1.55 percent, in Vilnius County increased by 9593.16 ha or 2,35 percent.