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- Satellite Monitoring of Carpathian Primeval Forests: August 2025
Satellite Monitoring of Carpathian Primeval Forests: August 2025
In August 2025, the monitoring covered a total forest area of 17,646.9 hectares, which includes 1,434 forest sites of high conservation value. According to national legislation, old-growth forests include primeval, quasi-primeval, and natural forest stands that have been granted protection status.
To conduct the monitoring, experts used monthly composites of the least cloudy images from the PlanetScope satellite, available in Planet Basemaps. For the designated monitoring area, a composite of 139 tiles obtained throughout the month was analyzed. The average spatial resolution of the images is 4.77 meters. Planet Basemaps images are distributed as a grid of GeoTIFF files, referred to as “basemap tiles” or simply “tiles.” Each tile measures 4096 x 4096 pixels. This composite was preprocessed for visual monitoring.
Figure 1. Planet Basemaps composite for August 2025 showing the monitoring area of high-value forests in the Carpathians. The verified sites are marked in yellow.
Due to low cloud cover in August, 1,434 forest sites with a total area of 17,646.9 ha—representing 100% of the designated monitoring area—were successfully analyzed. No forest cover disturbances were detected in the verified areas.
It should be noted that since the monitoring was based on visual interpretation with the spatial accuracy limited by satellite resolution, low-intensity selective logging may remain undetected.
The publication is produced by NGO ForestCom with the support of the Askold and Dir Fund as a part of the Strong Civil Society of Ukraine – a Driver towards Reforms and Democracy project, implemented by ISAR Ednannia, funded by Norway and Sweden. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of NGO «ForestCom» and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Government of Norway, the Government of Sweden and ISAR Ednannia.
Previous satellite monitoring reports of primeval forests:
Satellite Monitoring of the Carpathian Old-Growth Forests: July 2025
Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for August 2024
Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for July 2024
Monitoring report of old growth forests changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for June 2024