Global analysis of slope of forest land
type: Dataset
description: Forests of the world constitute one third of the total land area and are critical for e.g. carbon balance, biodiversity, water supply, and as source for bio-based products. Although the terrain within forest land has a great impact on accessibility, there is a lack of knowledge about the distribution of its variation in slope. The aim was to address that knowledge gap and create a globally consistent dataset of the distribution and area of forest land within different slope classes. A Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis was performed using the open source QGIS, GDAL, and R software. The core of the analysis was a digital elevation model and a forest cover mask, both with a final resolution of 90 metres. The total forest area according to the forest mask was 4.15 billion hectares whereof 82% was on slope less than 15°. The remaining 18% was distributed over the following slope classes, with 6% on a 15-20° slope, 8% on a 20-30° slope, and 4% on a slope >30°. Out of the major forestry countries, China had the largest proportion of forest steeper than 15° followed by Chile and India. A sensitivity analysis with 20 metres resolution resulted in increased steep areas by 1 percent point in flat Sweden and by 11 percent points in steep Austria. In addition to country-specific and aggregated results of slope distribution and forest area, a global raster dataset is also made freely available, to cover user-specific areas that are not necessarily demarcated by country borders. Apart from predicting the regional possibilities for different harvesting equipment, which was the original idea behind this study, the results can be used to relate geographical forest variables to slope. The results could also be used in strategic forest fire fighting and large scale planning of forest conservation and management. Raster dataset in GeoTIFF format. The data is unprojected (EPSG: 4326) and the resolution is 90 m at most, however the map-unit is degrees. Five files in total where…
citation: CreativeWork
  name: Lundbäck, M., Persson, H., Häggström, C. & Nordfjell, T. (2021). Global analysis of the slope of forest land. Forestry: An International Journal Of Forest Research. 94(1), 54-69. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpaa021
conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
creative work status: completed
  type: DefinedTerm
  in defined term set: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/dataset-status
  term code: COMPLETED
creator: Mikael Lundbäck
  type: Person
  affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  family name: Lundbäck
  given name: Mikael
date modified: 2023-08-07
date published: 2020-06-17
funding: Grant
  funder: Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology
language: English
is part of: https://doi.org/10.5878/rchm-xn95
keywords: Natural Sciences
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 1
keywords: Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 105
keywords: Multidisciplinary Geosciences
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10503
keywords: Earth Observation
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Including: Remote Sensing, Geodesy, Geophysical Engineering, Geographical Information Technology
  term code: 20703
keywords: Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 401
keywords: Forest Science
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Including: Silviculture, Forest Genetics, Forest Mycology, Forest Pathology, Forest Technology, Forest History, Forest Ecology, Forest Economics
  term code: 40104
keywords: Soil Science
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Biogeophysics Biogeochemistry, Soil Microbiology, Plant-Soil Interactions
  term code: 40106
keywords: Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Including: Biodiversity
  term code: 40504
keywords: Boundaries
keywords: Farming
keywords: Biota
keywords: Geoscientific Information
keywords: Elevation
keywords: cutting (forestry)
keywords: forestry
keywords: forested land
keywords: sustainable forestry
keywords: Administrative units
keywords: Geology
keywords: Land cover
keywords: Soil
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
publisher: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
spatial coverage: Australia
spatial coverage: North America
spatial coverage: Asia
spatial coverage: Africa
spatial coverage: Europe
spatial coverage: South America
spatial coverage: Oceania
temporal coverage: 2000/2013
distribution: data/Global analysis of the slope of forest land - PNG files.zip
  type: DataDownload
  additional type: data
  conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
  conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  content size: 10850765
  encoding format: application/zip
distribution: data/Global analysis of the slope of forest land - TIF files.zip
  type: DataDownload
  additional type: data
  conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
  conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  content size: 1201408884
  encoding format: application/zip
version: 1

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.5878/e7e8-rz29

principalRegistrationNumber
type: PropertyValue
property ID: https://www.rikstermbanken.se/termposter/1848/diarienummer
value: SLU.sbt.2020.3.2.1-13

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.1093/forestry/cpaa021

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
type: Organization
department: Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology

English
type: Language
alternate name: eng

Boundaries
type: DefinedTerm
description: Legal land descriptions.
term code: boundaries

Farming
type: DefinedTerm
description: Rearing of animals and/or cultivation of plants.
term code: farming

Biota
type: DefinedTerm
description: Flora and/or fauna in natural environment.
term code: biota

Geoscientific Information
type: DefinedTerm
description: Information pertaining to earth sciences.
term code: geoscientific-information

Elevation
type: DefinedTerm
description: Height above or below sea level.
term code: elevation

cutting (forestry)
type: DefinedTerm
description: The act or process of felling or uprooting standing trees, in order to produce timber products.
term code: 1930

forestry
type: DefinedTerm
description: The management of forest lands for wood, forages, water, wildlife, and recreation.
term code: 3439

forested land
type: DefinedTerm
description: under cultivated land or non-cultivated stands of trees of a size of more than 0.5 hectares with crown cover of more than 10 per cent and on which trees are able to grow to a height of 5 metes or more at maturity
term code: 15176

sustainable forestry
type: DefinedTerm
term code: 20282

Administrative units
type: DefinedTerm
description: Units of administration, dividing areas where Member States have and/or exercise jurisdictional rights, for local, regional and national governance, separated by administrative boundaries.
term code: au

Elevation
type: DefinedTerm
description: Digital elevation models for land, ice and ocean surface. Includes terrestrial elevation, bathymetry and shoreline.
term code: el

Geology
type: DefinedTerm
description: Geology characterised according to composition and structure. Includes bedrock, aquifers and geomorphology.
term code: ge

Land cover
type: DefinedTerm
description: Physical and biological cover of the earth's surface including artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forests, (semi-)natural areas, wetlands, water bodies.
term code: lc

Soil
type: DefinedTerm
description: Soils and subsoil characterised according to depth, texture, structure and content of particles and organic material, stoniness, erosion, where appropriate mean slope and anticipated water storage capacity.
term code: so

Australia
type: Place