Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for June-November 2023

ForestCom continued to monitor forest cover changes in officially designated old growth forests in the Ukrainian Carpathians during June-November 2023. By old growth forests, we mean high conservation value forest sites that received such status in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation. Thus, for monitoring purposes, 1434 of such sites were identified, covering an area of 17646.9 hectares.

For monitoring of the identified sites, ForestCom uses composites of the best least-cloudy images from PlanetScope and RapidEye satellites, available for viewing in Planet Basemaps. Images in Planet Basemaps are distributed in the form of GeoTIFF file grids referred to as “base map tiles” or simply “tiles”. Each tile’s size is 4096x4096 pixels. For the designated monitoring area, 139 tiles were utilized, acquired throughout the month, with an average spatial resolution of 4.77 meters. This composite was pre-processed for visual analysis.

Since the monitoring was conducted through visual analysis, limited by the resolution of satellite images. Hence, selective low-intensity logging may not be identified using such a method. 

Monitoring results:

June, 2023

Fig. 1. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for June 2023 over the monitoring area in Carpathians, Ukraine. Monitored sites are marked in yellow, while those obscured by clouds are marked in red.

Due to high cloud cover in June in the Ukrainian Carpathians, only 930 sites covering the area of 11438.3 hectares were analyzed, constituting 64.8% of those designated for monitoring.

Based on the analysis, no changes in the forest cover were detected.

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July, 2023

Fig. 2. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for July 2023 over the monitoring area in Carpathians, Ukraine. Monitored sites are marked in yellow, while those obscured by clouds are marked in red.

Due to cloud cover in July in the Ukrainian Carpathians, 1383 sites covering 17027.2 hectares were verified, constituting 96.4% of the designated for monitoring sites.

Based on the analysis, no violations of the forest cover were detected over the monitored areas.

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August, 2023

Fig. 3. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for August 2023 over the monitoring high value conservation sites in Carpathians, Ukraine. Analyzed units are marked in yellow.

For monitoring purposes, 1434 sites covering an area of 17646.9 hectares were identified, constituting 100% of the area considered for monitoring.

Based on the analysis, no forest cover changes were detected in the canopies of inspected areas.

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September, 2023

Fig. 4. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for September 2023 over the monitoring high value conservation sites in Carpathians, Ukraine. Analyzed units are marked in yellow.

For monitoring purposes, 1434 sites covering an area of 17646.9 hectares were identified, all of which were verified.

Based on the analysis, no violations of the forest cover were detected in the inspected areas.

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October, 2023

Fig. 5. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for October 2023 over the monitoring area in Carpathians, Ukraine. Available for analysis sites are marked in yellow, while those obscured by clouds or snow are marked in red.

Due to cloud and partial snow cover in October in the Ukrainian Carpathians, only 1257 sites covering 15467 hectares were verified, constituting 87.6% of the designated for monitoring forest sites.

Based on the analysis, no forest cover violations were detected.

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November, 2023

Fig. 6. Composite of Planet Basemaps satellite images for November 2023 for the monitoring area in Carpathians, Ukraine. Available for monitoring sites are marked in yellow, while those obscured by clouds or snow are marked in red.

Due to cloud and partial snow cover in November in the Ukrainian Carpathians, 1031 plots covering 12919,3 hectares were verified, constituting 71.8% of the designated monitoring sites.

Based on the analysis, no violations were detected.

The monitoring was carried out within the project "Combating illegal logging in Ukraine" with the support of the International Programs of the US Forest Service.

To study previous reports on satellite monitoring of old growth forests changes, please refer to:

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for May 2023

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for April 2023

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for March 2023

Monitoring report old growth changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for January 2023

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for December 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for November 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for October 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for September 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for August 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for July 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for June 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for May 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for February-March 2022

Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for January 2022