3D Global Deforestation with Google Earth

Image of what the 3D visualization looks like using Google Earth

The world has lost close to half of its forests already today, and the continued high pace of deforestation contributes greatly to climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

Just to see how our world's forest are disappearing, we can view a 3D visualization using Google Earth, developed by David Tryse. David used data from the World Resources Institute (WRI): The Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge (1997), Greenpeace: The Worlds Last Intact Forest Landscapes (2006), and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization: Global Forest Resources Assessment (2005).

Firstly, you need to download and install the latest version of Google Earth.

Once you have Google Earth has been downloaded and installed, click on this link to download and install the KML plugin (this link goes to Google also) to see the world's deforestation in Google Earth.

When you first load the Disappearing Forests KML (Google Earth File. You must have Google Earth installed as explained above) , you will see deforestation rate by area. Red indicates a decline in forests, and the scale indicates the number of hectares changed in the last year. Each country has a placemark which provides very interesting details on the state of the forests. You can also choose from a list of other forest maps in the Places pane under the folder called "Country deforestation data".