the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
GFC2020: A Global Map of Forest Land Use for year 2020 to Support the EU Deforestation Regulation
Abstract. Earth observation (EO) data are used to map tree cover extent, estimate canopy height, detect disturbances, and classify land cover and land use. However, comprehensive global information on forest cover, capturing both physical characteristics and land use components as defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), remains limited. Here, we present a harmonized and globally consistent map of forest presence or absence at 10 meter spatial resolution for the year 2020, hereafter referred to as GFC2020. Our approach combines multiple spatial datasets, primarily derived from EO, to harness their complementary strengths within a transparent, flexible, and open science framework. GFC2020 maps 4,562 million hectares (Mha) of forests globally, which is 12 % more than the estimate from latest FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). Approximately 11 % (~578 Mha) of tree cover is excluded from forest area in GFC2020, primarily because it does not meet the height threshold or occurs on agricultural or urban land. Conversely, around 0.6 % (~25 Mha) of the area classified as forest in GFC2020 is unstocked, due to forest management practices or natural disturbances such as fire. Based on the reinterpretation of an existing reference set of 21,752 sample units, GFC2020 achieves an overall accuracy of 91 %, with 18 % probability of overestimating the forest area and 8 % for underestimation. Future improvements in EO products, such as better detection of trees in dry and open landscapes, distinguishing natural from human drivers of forest disturbance, mapping tree crops at high spatial resolution or identifying agroforestry systems, will contribute to enhancing future versions of GFC2020. The shift from tree cover to forest cover mapping is not only essential for ecological and climate related applications but also provides new opportunities to support policy needs. GFC2020 (https://forobs.jrc.ec.europa.eu/GFC) is one of many tools to inform the deforestation risk assessments under supply chain oriented regulations such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This map is not mandatory, not exclusive and not legally binding.
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Status: open (until 24 Sep 2025)
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CC1: 'Comment on essd-2025-351', Meine van Noordwijk, 15 Aug 2025
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In line 81-90 authors correctly clarify the challenge that ‘tree cover’ as observable characteristic of land differs from ‘forest’ as a land use category in policy designs and instruments. Yet, in subsequent text it seems that ‘tree cover’ is equated with ‘forest’.
Line 103-109 claims that the GFC2020 maps ‘align with’ EUDR and FAO forest definitions. The text acknowledges the challenges in this claim especially where tree crops are involved that are the primary concern of EUDR regulations, but don’t follow up on these concerns.
Specifically, a recent publication (van Noordwijk et al. 2025) suggested multiple types of evidence for an ‘agroforestry’ (and thus non-forest) status of land in an institutional interpretation of the EUDR and FAO forest definitions, regardless of tree cover. It would be appropriate if authors comment on these evidence categories and the way they Cn (or should) be taken into account if the target is to create an EUDR-policy relevant map of 2020 global forest cover.
The procedure described in lines 200-203 can deal with part of the ‘agroforestry’ area, but certainly not all.
Where the paper employs standard concepts of ‘producer’ and ‘user’ accuracy, van Noordwijk et al. (2025) used (and pleaded for wider use of) a more specific ‘user accuracy’ in the context of EUDR. The most relevant use of the maps in EUDR context is to evaluate whether or not tree crops (incl coffee, cocoa, rubber) marketed after 2025 were derived from land deforested before or after 2020. A ‘real user’ accuracy would assess the likelihood that plots known to already produce any of these commodities before 2020 is correctly classified as ‘non-forest’. A number of studies, incl van Noordwijk et al. (2025), but also studies for Cameroon, Ivory coats and Peru that are on their wway to publication, have found erroneous classification of such points to be around 60%.
Before recommending the use of the current GFC2020 map for EUDR implementation, this issue may need to be addressed (or at least acknowledged).
van Noordwijk, M., Dewi, S., Minang, P.A., Harrison, R.D., Leimona, B., Ekadinata, A., Burgers, P., Slingerland, M., Sassen, M., Watson, C. and Sayer, J., 2025. Beyond imperfect maps: Evidence for EUDR‐compliant agroforestry. People and Nature 7:1713–1723. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pan3.70088
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-351-CC1
Data sets
Global Forest Cover 2020 Clement Bourgoin et al. https://forobs.jrc.ec.europa.eu/GFC
Validation dataset for the global map of forest cover 2020 – version 2 René Colditz et al. https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/8fbace34-a2fe-47b9-ad82-3e9226b7a9a6
Model code and software
Joint Research Centre – Global Forest Cover for year 2020, version 2. Code source Clément Bourgoin https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29315528.v1
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