Forest Canopy Loss

This indicator measures forest canopy loss. Land- and sea-use change is the major human influence on habitats. Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and is the number one reason species go extinct. Around half of the world's original forests have disappeared, and they are still being removed at a rate 10x higher than any possible level of regrowth. As tropical forests contain at least half the Earth's species, the clearance of some 17 million hectares each year is a dramatic loss. Hansen et al. (2021) examined global Landsat data at a 30-metre spatial resolution to characterize forest canopy extent, loss and gain from 2000 to 2021. For this indicator, only forest canopy loss since 2020 was taken into account. Recently harvested areas using clear-cutting practices are thus shown. What does very high risk mean for this indicator? Areas of very high risk have experienced high rates of forest loss (>8%).