Haiti has more forest than previously reported: land change 2000-2015.

ABSTRACT: Estimates of forest cover have important political, conservation, and funding implications, but methods vary greatly. Haiti has often been cited as one of the most deforested countries in the world, yet estimates of forest cover range from <1% to 33%. Here, we analyze land change for seven land cover classes (forest, shrub land, agriculture/pasture, plantation, urban/infrastructure, barren land, and water) between 2000 and 2015 using Landsat imagery (30 m resolution) in the Google Earth Engine platform. Forest cover was estimated at 26% in 2000 and 21% in 2015. Although forest cover is declining in Haiti, our quantitative analysis resulted in considerably higher forest cover than what is usually reported by local and international institutions. Our results determined that areas of forest d

SUBMITTER: Pauleus O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7594639 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature