The global map of forest cover was created by combining available global datasets (wall-to-wall or global in their scope) on tree cover, tree height, land cover and land use into a single harmonized globally-consistent representation of where forests existed in 2020.
The workflow consists in first mapping the global maximum extent of tree cover circa the year 2020 from the combination of ESA World Cover 2020 and 2021, WRI Tropical Tree Cover 2020, UMD Global land cover and land use 2019, Global Mangrove Watch 2020 and JRC Tropical Moist Forest 2020 datasets. In a second step, a series of overlays and decision rules are applied to reduce this maximum extent of tree cover and align it with the Forest definition using datasets covering cropland and commodity expansion, land use change, built-up and water.
Forthcoming technical reports will describe the methodology and accuracy of the global map of forest cover version 2. A JRC Science for Policy report (Bourgoin et al. 2024) describes the input layers and mapping approach of the global map of forest cover version 1.
The following tables show a non-exhaustive list of issues that have not been corrected in the map. The table “by region” lists issues of broader, more general nature. Specific issues are listed in the table “by coordinates”, where the coordinates point approximately to the centre location where the issue was found. Occasionally, these lists may be updated. Improvements of the map (higher versions) will aim to alleviate some of the known issues.
| Region | Description of the issue |
|---|---|
| Urban areas | Heterogeneous categorization of urban forests and residual woodlands. Some urban parks may be included as forests in the final map (commission errors) |
| Global | Artefacts (striping patterns) linked to data and technical issues from Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite sensor (commission errors). |
| Global | Salt and pepper effect although it has been mitigated by the post-processing steps |
| Global | Geometric shifts due to crossing of different input layers that result in commission or omission errors along forest edges |
| Global | heterogeneous classification of forest in seasonally inundated areas (areas along riparian forests and rivers) |
| Global | Errors of commission with small rivers |
| Mountainous areas | Underestimation of forests in areas with high slopes (omission errors) |
| Tropical dry forest | Separation between tropical dry open forests and shrublands are often difficult to capture, leading to mapping with heterogeneous accuracy in tropical dry domain (mix of omission and commission errors) |
| Indonesia, Malaysia, West Africa | Overestimation of forest cover in areas with small-holder oil palm plantations or mixed oil palm plantations (oil palm mixed with other crops) or oil palm plantations with low canopy coverage resulting in commission errors |
| Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon | Overestimation of forest cover in cocoa production area, mainly in shaded cocoa agroforestry systems (commission errors) |
| New Caledonia | Overestimation of forest in landscapes with low density of tree cover |
| Sri Lanka | Overestimation of forest in tree crops areas |
| Global | Potential confusion between forest cover and tree plantation for agricultural use (e.g. orchards) or rubber plantations |
| Global | Recently burned and clear cut logged forests may be classified as non-forest cover due to the absence of standing trees (omission errors) |
| Tropics | Forest edges in heterogeneous landscapes may not be accurately mapped due to the complex mosaics between forests and other land cover (omission errors) |
| Easternmost Siberia | Block of forested land mapped in no tree or very sparse tree area |
| 180 degree longitude | Missing forest area |
| Longitude | Latitude | Description of the issue | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -60.39555 | -18.33929 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 13.84255 | 8.77345 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 23.6801 | 10.02 | Straight line across Africa | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 24.80143 | 9.6225 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 26.04346 | 9.29019 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 30.17033 | 6.45132 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 31.24432 | 4.85705 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 33.02064 | 4.41722 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 31.485 | -10.014 | Straight line across Southern Africa | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 20.0363 | -10.4397 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 19.7457 | -9.0165 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 20.4062 | -8.8466 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 19.6471 | -8.0315 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 19.91755 | -7.11935 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| -2.1058 | 8.8034 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 14.794 | 7.7276 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 19.7644 | 9.446 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 21.7979 | 9.4115 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 21.7333 | 10.4042 | Stripes | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 97.9 | 26.3 | Stripes | 23/1/2025 | Producer |
| 64.1821 | 67.9923 | commission error in polar areas | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 41.689082 | -0.816276 | Omission of dry forest | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 179.9415 | -16.184 | Missing forest area � straight line | 12/6/2023 | Producer |
| 29.78134 | -0.99987 | Straight line between forest and non-forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 115.4062 | -2.237514 | Potential underestimation of forest area | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 98 | 26.5 | Stripes and straight lines | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 109.25 | 18.79 | Large areas of forests and tree plantations (which resemble timber plantations) are not included in forests, whereas bare lands are | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 6.4 | 4.4 | Rivers wider than 10 meters mapped as forests | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -8.5 | 7.54 | Industrial mine and bare lands wrongly classified as forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -7.15 | 41.53 | Olive tree plantations classified as forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -6.8 | 41.275 | Coarse classification, no clear delimitation between forest and non-forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -176.53 | -44.07 | Removal of large patches of forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -15.6 | 28.1 | Overestimation of forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 17.8 | -19.4 | Omission of dry forest areas | 23/1/2025 | Producer |
| 3.35 | 7.91 | Shrubland and bare land considered as forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 6.689 | 4.987 | Palm tree plantations and bare land classified as forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 7.444 | 4.601 | Bare land and forest areas classified | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 45.05 | 59.75 | Bare land areas wrongly classified as forest at the edge | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -8.498 | 7.675 | Agricultural palm tree plantation classified as forest | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| 5.66 | 33.48 | Agricultural tree plantation (probably date palm) classified as forest. | 29/10/2024 | Producer |
| -5.64 | 8.27 | Block pattern in North Ivory Coast | 21/10/2024 | Producer |
| 57.6179 | 64.37941 | River considered as forest | 21/10/2024 | Producer |
| 79 | 44.8 | Large areas of grassland classified as forests | 21/10/2024 | Producer |
| -96.38994886 | 58.99829197 | Underestimation of forest area | 22/10/2024 | Producer |
| -119.5399653 | 66.54306862 | Underestimation of forest area | 22/10/2024 | Producer |
| -136.7822638 | 64.92407444 | Underestimation of forest area | 22/10/2024 | Producer |
| -89.14038516 | 17.97903504 | Underestimation of forest area | 22/10/2024 | Producer |
| -93.25872384 | 17.89919355 | Underestimation of forest area | 22/10/2024 | Producer |
| 9.286121046 | 56.24023284 | Overestimation of forest area | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| 15.14556587 | 57.74107253 | Overestimation of forest area | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| 15.14556587 | 57.74107253 | Overestimation of forest area | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| 13.71685914 | 41.52737767 | Overestimation of forest area | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| -7.15 | 41.53 | Olive tree plantations classified as forest | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| 37.62165 | -0.79218 | Sharp removal of forest on a homogeneous area | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
| 31.24986 | -1.41056 | Artefact - sharp line | 24/10/2024 | Producer |
The global forest cover map of 2020 version 2 is available for download by 10°x10° tiles. The tiling starts at 180°W and 80°N with tile ID “N80” and “W180”, respectively. Tiles over the ocean are not provided. The file format is GEOTIFF.
The naming convention is as follows JRC_GFC2020_V2_[lat]_[lon].tif, where:
Map coordinates are in latitude and longitude, referenced to the WGS84 datum.
Click on the tile in the image below to start the download.
The previous version of the global forest cover map of 2020 (JRC_GFC2020_V1) is available here
Each of the downloadable files can be displayed in desktop GIS tools. The table below contains symbology files to display the colourmap and labels for the values in QGIS and ArcGIS.
| Dataset | QGIS | ArcGIS |
|---|---|---|
| Global forest cover map 2020, Version 2 | JRC_GFC2020_V2.qml | JRC_GFC2020_V2.lyr |
The files for download are geolocated (latitude and longitude with WGS84 datum) but do not contain any metadata information. Please right-click in the table below to download the metadata file.
| Dataset | ISO 19139 Metadata file |
|---|---|
| Global forest cover map 2020, Version 2 | JRC_GFC2020_V2.xml |
Interactive visualization of the global forest cover map along with frequently asked questions and other information can be found at the EU Observatory on deforestation and forest degradation website.
The global forest cover map of 2020 can also be viewed in other websites or GIS clients as WMS (Web Map Service). They are not suitable for analysis as the data are represented only as RGB images. The WMS URL is: https://ies-ows.jrc.ec.europa.eu/iforce/gfc2020/wms.py?
The Global forest cover map 2020 (Version 2) can also be accessed and used in the Google Earth Engine platform: https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/JRC_GFC2020_V2
All data here are produced under studies funded by the Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission through the Dev-ForObs project. All data are provided free-ofcharge, without restriction of use. For the full license information see the Copernicus Regulation of the European Commission.
Publications, models and data products that make use of this dataset must include proper acknowledgement, including citing dataset as in the following citation:
Bourgoin, Clement; Verhegghen, Astrid; Degreve, Lucas; Ameztoy, Iban; Carboni, Silvia; Colditz, Rene; Achard, Frederic (2024): Global map of forest cover 2020 - version 2. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/e554d6fb-6340-45d5-9309-332337e5bc26.
The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the European Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
