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United States: News
New Mapping Initiative Launched at World Summit
Johannesburg, South Africa, August 30, 2002
- At the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, Global Forest Watch
launched the Pan-Boreal Mapping Initiative, a unique, groundbreaking
effort to map the last remaining wildlands in the boreal, or northern,
forest. This unique collaboration between non-governmental organizations
and academic institutions in five countries is using high-resolution
satellite images to establish how far into the boreal forest logging and
other industrial developments have advanced.
To date, the international community has not tracked the rate and extent
of ecological change in boreal forests, which comprise one-third of the
world's forest area. GFW presented a draft map of intact boreal forest
landscapes at the Summit to bring international attention to the
condition of these globally important forests. Preliminary findings show
that across the boreal, from Canada to Russia, the southern part of
boreal forest has been substantially affected by industrial-scale
land use. This is especially true in Norway, Sweden, Finland, European
Russia and the southern provinces of Canada. Almost no large intact
forests remain here.
This map is a provisional draft is geared towards soliciting wide
input; an extensive independent peer review is planned for this
fall. The preliminary results presented here are subject to
change through the review process. To read more about this Initiative and to view the draft map,
click here.
Global Forest
Watch U.S. Releases New Report on Low-Access Forests in North
America
Washington, DC, April 3, 2002 - Global Forest Watch United
States has published Low-Access
Forests
and Their Level of Protection in
North America
which looks at the remaining large tracts of relatively
undisturbed forests and their level of protection at a continental
scale.
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