green Beginner
Global Forest Watch
Near-real-time monitoring of forest cover, loss, and tree canopy
Addresses
Green Infrastructure
- Cost
- Free · Open data
- CC-BY-4.0
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Language
- —
- Updated
- 2024
You provide
- Area of interest (draw, upload, or select boundary)
You get
- Tree cover gain and loss over time
- Deforestation and fire alerts
- Carbon and canopy statistics
Overview
Global Forest Watch (GFW), convened by the World Resources Institute, is a free online platform that combines satellite data, open data, and crowdsourcing to monitor forests in near-real time. Cities and regions use it to track urban tree canopy, forest loss, and the carbon implications of land-cover change.
Key features
- Annual tree-cover-loss and -gain layers derived from Landsat and other satellites
- Deforestation and fire alerts (GLAD, VIIRS) for custom areas
- Dashboards with carbon-flux and canopy statistics you can export
Who it’s for
Urban foresters, environmental departments, and researchers monitoring green cover and land-use change over time.
Getting started
Open globalforestwatch.org, draw or upload your area of interest, and open its dashboard.