Vegetation Carbon Stock 2001-2020
Annual carbon vegetation stock all over the world to identify global trends, comparing results across geographic areas and over time
The maps are computed based on the original methodology by Gibbs and Ruesch (2008) and using IPCC 2006 default factors to estimate the value of above-ground and below-ground vegetation carbon stock. For each basic spatial unit (an area of 9 hectares) in the map, the model considers: The landcover class, according to the ESA-CCI dataset, The ecological area, from the FAO's Ecofloristic region and geographical zones dataset, The geographical location, to capture regional/ continental specific characteristics, in the case of a forest, the carbon content also depends on how pristine, old and intact the forest is. So-called primary forest stores a higher quantity of carbon, *areas burned by a fire assume a significantly lower or absolutely no vegetation carbon stock for that year.
The vegetation carbon stock includes values for above-ground and below-ground vegetation carbon stock, but do not consider any contribution of the soil organic carbon stock.
Datasets used in the analysis
ESA-CCI land cover data used to retrieve a complete time series of land cover classes from 1992 to 2020. Land cover classes are used to assign IPCC values of carbon stock. It should be noted that some classes, such as water bodies and glaciers, are excluded from the computation in this first set of results, while others, like bare areas, only contribute modestly to carbon stock. Ecofloristic region and geographical zones. The zones are assumed to be static and are used to select default IPCC values and to produce results at different spatial scales. Spatially explicit layers on intact/primary forests. The layers provide information on the presence of intact forests, which are used as a proxy for primary forests. The information is available for the years 2000, 2013, 2016, and 2020. The location of intact and non-intact forests allows for a proxy of the degree of forest degradation and other anthropogenic effects that affect the carbon stock in the vegetation on non-intact areas. *Occurrence of fires (annually available from 2000 to 2020). The information is needed to incorporate in the model the effect of wildfires on the carbon budget of the ecosystem.
Main drivers of change
It is important to emphasize that changes in these results are mainly driven by land cover changes, and potentially by land cover re-classification, which do not always match with the real, but rather the observed ecological information