Monitoring report of old growth forest* changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for November 2021

Category: News
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Data: 15.12.21
Monitoring report of old growth forest* changes in the Ukrainian Carpathians for November 2021

In November, the experts of the ForestCom NGO continued to monitor officially recognized and state protected old growth forest areas based on the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellite images. However, the constructed composite of 17 Sentinel-2 optical images was unsuitable for monitoring due to heavy clouds (shown in Figure 1).

Fig.1 Composite of Sentinel-2 satellite images for November on the territory of monitoring of old growth areas


Therefore, Sentinel-2 radar satellite images were used for analysis (shown in Figure 2).

Fig. 2. Areas of old growth forests (red color) on the synthetic radar image for November.


The total area of 790 plots taken under the monitoring is 11133,7 ha, which is about 66% of the total area of forests accepted for government protection.

Monitoring was performed by visual analysis with the accuracy of the resolution of radar images (15x43 m). Thus, the selective low-intensity logging cannot be determined from such images. 


Therefore, based on the analysis, the significant changes in the forest cover were not detected on the inspected area in November 2021. 


This NGO “ForestCom” activity is supported by the US Forest Service International Programs.


*Old growth forests - in the meaning, as it is introduced in the Law of Ukraine that includes three categories: virgin, quasi virgin, and natural forests - https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2063-19/conv#Text