Annual continuous fields of woody vegetation structure in the Lower Mekong region from 2000‐2017 Landsat time-series

Potapov, Peter; Tyukavina, Alexandra; Turubanova, Svetlana; Talero, Y.; Hernández-Serna, Andrés; Hansen, Matthew C.; Saah, David; Tenneson, Karis; Poortinga, Ate; Aekakkararungroj, Aekkapol; Chishtie, Farrukh; Towashiraporn, Peeranan; Bhandari, Biplov; Aung, K. S.; Nguyen, Quyen

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2019.111278

Cited by 101 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…primary, secondary and non-forested areas) and dynamic types of forests (i.e. loss, gain, rotation) (Potapov et al 2019), which is important in areas like Cambodia with high loss of primary forest for the establishments of plantation forests. Land cover maps were assessed with independent validation data (Saah et al 2020).…”

Section: Land-cover Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign demand for agricultural commodities drives virtual carbon exports from Cambodia

Johansson

Olin

Seaquist

2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Rapid deforestation is a major sustainability challenge, partly as the loss of carbon sinks exacerbates global climate change. In Cambodia, more than 13% of the total land area has been contracted out to foreign and domestic agribusinesses in the form of economic land concessions, causing rapid large-scale land use change and deforestation. Additionally, the distant drivers of local and global environmental change often remain invisible. Here, we identify hotspots of carbon loss between 1987-2017 using the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS and by comparing past and present land use and land cover. We also link global consumption and production patterns to their environmental effects in Cambodia by mapping the countries to which land-use embedded carbon are exported. We find that natural forests have decreased from 54%-21% between 1987 and 2017, mainly for the expansion of farmland and orchards, translating into 300 million tons of carbon lost, with loss rates over twice as high within economic land concessions. China is the largest importer of embedded carbon, mainly for rubber and sugarcane from Chinese agribusinesses. Cambodian investors have also negatively affected carbon pools through export-oriented products like rubber. The combined understanding of environmental change and trade flows makes it possible to identify distant drivers of deforestation, which is important for crafting more environmentally and socially responsible policies on national and transnational scales.

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Section: Land-cover Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign demand for agricultural commodities drives virtual carbon exports from Cambodia

Johansson

Olin

Seaquist

2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Separate manuscripts are being prepared to describe the resulting land cover product and co-designed system architecture that resulted from these production workshops Potapov et al, 2019;Saah et al, 2019, in press). The current manuscript summarizes only the results regarding challenges and design principles from the geospatial needs assessment campaign and first land cover focused workshop.…”

Section: Land Cover Mapping Workhopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Land cover maps also underpin hydrology models that are used by governments to inform flood risk and preparedness in order to build resilience to climate change (Ge et al, 2007;Hibbard et al, 2010;Imaoka et al, 2010;Gong et al, 2013;Tolentino et al, 2016). Foresters use land cover maps to develop sustainable harvest management plans, integrate biodiversity conservation, and engage in climate finance initiatives such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in Developing countries (REDD+) or Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) (Buchanan et al, 2008;Hall et al, 2011;Potapov et al, 2019). However, many developing regions lack the coordinated capacity to produce timely, accurate, and temporally comparable geospatial data products sufficient to meet their management needs (Jha and Chowdary, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Cover Mapping in Data Scarce Environments: Challenges and Opportunities

Saah

Tenneson²,

Matin

et al. 2019

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Land cover maps are a critical component to make informed policy, development, planning, and resource management decisions. However, technical, capacity, and institutional challenges inhibit the creation of consistent and relevant land cover maps for use in developing regions. Many developing regions lack coordinated capacity, infrastructure, and technologies to produce a robust land cover monitoring system that meets land management needs. Local capacity may be replaced by external consultants or methods which lack long-term sustainability. In this study, we characterize and respond to the key land cover mapping gaps and challenges encountered in the Lower Mekong (LMR) and Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region through a needs assessment exercise and a collaborative system design. Needs were assessed using multiple approaches, including focus groups, user engagement workshops, and online surveys. Efforts to understand existing limitations and stakeholder needs resulted in a co-developed and modular land cover monitoring system which utilizes state-of-the-art cloud computing and machine learning which leverages freely available Earth observations. This approach meets the needs of diverse actors and is a model for transnational cooperation.

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“…Primitives are the suite of biophysical and end member layers used to construct land cover products using a customizable assembly logic. Primitive examples include forest canopy height and fractional canopy cover (Potapov et al, 2019). The information represented by the suite of primitive layers is used to make decisions in a dichotomous key for land cover typing.…”

Section: Primitivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Earth Observations for Assessing the Food Security Situation in Vietnam: A Landscape Approach

Poortinga¹,

Nguyen

Tenneson³

et al. 2019

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Land cover change and its impact on food security is a topic that has major implications for development in population-dense Southeast Asia. The main drivers of forest loss include the expansion of agriculture and plantation estates, growth of urban centers, extraction of natural resources, and water infrastructure development. The design and implementation of appropriate land use policies requires accurate and timely information on land cover dynamics to account for potential political, economical, and agricultural consequences. Therefore, SERVIR-Mekong led the collaborative development of a Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS) with key regional stakeholders across the greater Mekong region. Through this effort, a modular system was used to create yearly land cover maps for the period 1988-2017. In this study, we compared this 30-year land cover time-series with Vietnam national forest resources and agricultural productivity statistics. We used remote sensing-derived land cover products to quantify landscape changes and linked those with food availability, one of food security dimension, from a landscape approach perspective. We found that agricultural production has soared while the coverage of agricultural areas has remained relatively stable. Land cover change dynamics coincide with important legislation regarding environmental management and sustainable development strategies in Vietnam. Our findings indicate that Vietnam has made major steps toward improving its' food security. We demonstrate that RLCMS is a valuable tool for evaluating the relationship between policies and their impacts on food security, ecosystem services and natural capital.

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Annual continuous fields of woody vegetation structure in the Lower Mekong region from 2000‐2017 Landsat time-series

Cited by 101 publications

References 54 publications

Foreign demand for agricultural commodities drives virtual carbon exports from Cambodia

Foreign demand for agricultural commodities drives virtual carbon exports from Cambodia

Land Cover Mapping in Data Scarce Environments: Challenges and Opportunities

Linking Earth Observations for Assessing the Food Security Situation in Vietnam: A Landscape Approach

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