Types of forest dynamics in Europe (2000–2018)

Abstract

This work delivers a map of the spatiotemporal dynamics of forests, in the NUTS of the European Union, for the period 2000–2018. The types of dynamics are defined by considering variations in forest amount and configuration, and then assigned to each NUTS. The motivation for the production of such map stems from the opportunity to derive new information from official datasets, therefore contributing to enhance the knowledge base and provide new insights for forest monitoring and planning. The methodology involves the use of a GIS analytical tool to compute a sequence of geoprocessing and data management operations, required to compare two forest datasets, detect changes between them within predefined analytical units, and generate an easy to interpret output from which the final map was produced.