Global Forest Watch
Created in 1997 in partnership with Forest Monitoring for Action, Global Forest Watch is an online platform that provides its users with hourly updates on tropical forest clearing around the globe. Using MODIS satellite image data, maps and alerts are generated regarding the status of tropical forest cover around the world. Data can be explored by topic, such as levels of biodiversity, climate change, commodity production and water sources. The interactive data visualizations allow users to select an area and run an analysis within political borders on historical tree cover loss. Areas of interest can be added to the user’s dashboard, where they can then set email alerts about forest cover change. Global Forest Watch serves as a watchdog for the forestry industry in efforts to geolocate illegal and/or unsustainable activity. The analyses rendered on the platform led to the creation of the Forest Conservation Performance Rating, which quantifies and ranks progress in reducing the clearing of forests globally. The online platform even allows users to add a “ Stories” layer to their map, which displays environmental science and conservation-related news articles by geographic location.
Schneider, B., & Olman, L. (2020). The geopolitics of environmental global mapping services: an analysis of Global Forest Watch. In A Research Agenda for Environmental Geopolitics. Edward Elgar Publishing.
See also:
Forest Monitoring Designed for Action: Global Forest Watch. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
Categories
Climate Change, Data, Ecological Monitoring, Illegal Resource Extraction, Industry/Natural Commodities
More Ideas
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies