Our World
in Data
Data

Tree cover loss

See all data and research on:
Forests & Deforestation

About this data

Source
Global Forest Watch (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
July 10, 2024
Next expected update
July 2025
Date range
2001–2023
Unit
hectares

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Shows a time-series of tree cover loss by dominant driver for the time period 2001-2023, the dominant driver of tree cover loss from 2001-2023 using the following five categories:

  • Commodity-driven deforestation: Large-scale deforestation linked primarily to commercial agricultural expansion.

  • Shifting agriculture: Temporary loss or permanent deforestation due to small- and medium-scale agriculture.

  • Forestry: Temporary loss from plantation and natural forest harvesting, with some deforestation of primary forests.

  • Wildfire: Temporary loss, does not include fire clearing for agriculture.

  • Urbanization: Deforestation for expansion of urban centers.

The commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization categories represent permanent deforestation, while tree cover usually regrows in the other categories.

Retrieved on
August 6, 2024
Retrieved from
https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/ff304784a9f04ac4a45a40f60bae5b26/about
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
    

  • Hansen, M.C., P.V. Potapov, R. Moore, et al. 2013. "High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change." Science 342: 850–53. Data available on-line from: https://glad.earthengine.app/view/global-forest-change.
    • 

  • Curtis, P.G., C.M. Slay, N.L. Harris, A. Tyukavina, and M.C. Hansen. 2018. “Classifying Drivers of Global Forest Loss.” Science. Accessed through Global Forest Watch on 06/08/2024. www.globalforestwatch.org.
    • 

  • Global Administrative Areas Database, version 3.6. Available at http://gadm.org/
    •

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator
  • Time-series gridded data (30m x 30m) of tree cover loss in areas where canopy density was greater than or equal to 30% in 2000 was extracted and cross-referenced with gridded data (10km x 10km) on the dominant driver of deforestation in each area, based on Curtis et al 2018.
  • Individual grid cells may have more than one driver of tree cover loss, and drivers may vary over time.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Tree cover loss”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Fiona Spooner and Max Roser (2021) - “Forests and Deforestation”. Data adapted from Global Forest Watch. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tree-cover-loss [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Global Forest Watch (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Global Forest Watch (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Tree cover loss” [dataset]. Global Forest Watch, “Tree Cover Loss by Dominant Driver” [original data]. Retrieved November 23, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tree-cover-loss