New Citizen Science Campaign on Human Impact on Forests

IIASA researchers (in collaboration with UNEP-WCMC and SDSN) announce a new citizen science campaign on human impact on forests for improving forest management maps and value estimations on biodiversity and carbon storage, within the Nature Map project. 

Currently, available global maps do not distinguish among tree cover representations of natural forest, plantation, native or non-native trees, nor do they specify the degree of forest management intensity, including road accessibility. The conversion and degradation of natural forests is not only considered among the greatest threats to biodiversity, but also an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. The lack of accurate spatial data on forest management is a serious hindrance to informing policies towards sustainable forest management and forest restoration.  

By gathering forest data, this campaign aims to provide us with valuable information for developing an improved, accurate global layer of forest management intensity. In addition, the improved map can be used to deliver further information about forest ecosystems, protected and observed forest status changes, biodiversity assessment, and other important aspects. 

With the help of the Geo-Wiki branch “Human Impact on Forest” we will collect information on the intensity of human signs on forests, such as disturbances e.g. logging, and on different types of forest management, e.g. planted or natural forests or short rotation plantations. The campaign will take place in three stages, each stage will focus on different biomes. Altogether 110,000 unique locations globally will be classified, as follows:

• 1^st stage - Tropical forests (50,000 locations), starting on April 25
• 2^nd stage – Temperate forests (35,000 locations), starting on May 21
• 3^rd stage – Boreal forests (25,000 locations), starting on May 29
  

We will also reward our citizen scientists with prizes! The top 10-20 participants for every stage who contribute the most data (measured by quality and quantity) will be offered prizes in value range from 25 to 450 Euro and a chance to become co-author on a scientific paper. We have additional prizes as well, and we will be glad if you contribute to science by getting involved in our campaign!

Last edited: 24 May 2019