Contemporary forest loss in Ireland; quantifying rare deforestation events in a fragmented forest landscape

摘要: Abstract Accurate quantification of forest loss is required to meet international reporting requirements, even in countries where deforestation rates are low. In Ireland, recent evidence has suggested the rate gross annual increasing. However, no spatially explicit data on extent and character contemporary exists. Here, we quantify a region rare. Deforestation estimates derived from wall-to-wall photointerpretation, official records (e.g. felling licences), CORINE land-use/land cover changes dataset combined approach (hereafter termed “the Map”) compared two regions Ireland for period 2000 2012. area based Map (1497 ha) was greater than using photo-interpretation (730 ha), (908 ha) (139 ha) alone. Independent accuracy assessment highlighted high errors omission (68.9%), (66.7%) (91.84%) (20%). No general increase during study recorded, despite regional variations. Post land-use transitions were principally wetland, grassland settlement although magnitude proportion change varied regionally. Gross higher older broadleaf forests conifer plantation forests, surprising finding considering small conservation status many Ireland. For with and/or low deforestation, use methodologies employed herein can provide valuable record be used validate sample-based or remotely sensed estimates.