The Intact Forest Landscapes
2000/2013/2016/2020
The IFL Mapping Team, 2021
www.intactforests.org
The Intact Forest Landscape Definition
An Intact Forest Landscape (IFL) is an unbroken expanse of natural ecosystems within the current forest
extent, with no remotely detected signs of human activity, and large enough that all native biodiversity,
including viable populations of wide-ranging species, could be maintained. For our global assessment, an
IFL is defined as a territory that contains forest and non-forest ecosystems minimally influenced by
human activity, with (i) an area of at least 500 km
2
(50,000 ha), (ii) a minimum width of 10 km
(measured as the diameter of a circle that could be entirely inscribed within the boundaries of the
territory), and (iii) a minimum corridor/appendage width of 2 km. Areas with evidence of certain types
of human influence are considered disturbed or fragmented and consequently not eligible for inclusion
in the IFL. Specifically, we excluded from the IFL areas which in the last 30-70 years were affected by
industrial activities (e.g. logging, mining, oil and gas exploration and extraction) or by stand-replacement
fires in the vicinity of transport infrastructure or resource extraction sites, or which were cleared for
agriculture or transformed into tree plantations. Settlements and infrastructure (including roads,
navigable rivers, power lines, and pipelines) are excluded with a buffer zone of 1 km. Low-intensity and
old (> 70 years) disturbances are treated as a "background" influence and don’t lead to exclusion of the
area from the IFL. Sources of background influence include historic (abandoned) shifting cultivation
activities, diffuse grazing by domestic animals, low-intensity selective logging (without road
infrastructure), and hunting. Although all IFLs are located within the forest zone (present-day extent of
forest ecosystem distribution), some may contain extensive naturally tree-less areas, including
grasslands, wetlands, lakes, alpine areas, and ice, if they are surrounded by forests.
IFL mapping and monitoring rely on freely available medium spatial resolution satellite imagery (Landsat
and Sentinel-2), high spatial resolution imagery (available through Google Earth
(TM)
platform and through
NICFI Program), and open access infrastructure and settlement maps. The IFL concept and mapping
method were developed by a group of research and environmental organizations (Greenpeace,
University of Maryland, World Resources Institute, and Transparent World) and have been used both in
regional and global forest monitoring and research projects. For a detailed methodology overview
please refer to Potapov et al., 2008; Potapov et al., 2017, and the IFL project website
www.intactforests.org
