Assessing forest cover change during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in central India

Nagle, Patrick Robert (2023) Assessing forest cover change during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in central India. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

Text Nagle_2023_assessing_forest_cover_change_during_covid-19_pandemic_case.pdf - Published Version Download (9MB)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented disruptions to society and the environment. With climate change and deforestation already placing heavy stress on forest ecosystems, many wondered how the additional stress of the COVID-19 pandemic would affect forests. Early reports (based on remote sensing analysis) warned of increased deforestation in the first months of the pandemic; however, these were limited to certain regions and relied on broad, global remote sensing data. Our research examined a single study site in Madhya Pradesh, India asking the question: Did forest cover change significantly during the pandemic compared to previous years? Our goal is to provide a specific analysis of forest cover from 2000-2022 by using remote sensing tools like Google Earth Engine (GEE), which utilizes Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 data at up to 30 m resolution. Within GEE, we used the Continuous Change Detection and Classification algorithm to create land cover maps for any given period of time. Our results indicate that dense forests and open forests remained relatively stable from 2000-2022. We detected no significant change in forest cover during the COVID-19 pandemic. With such stable results we suggest possible explanations, while demonstrating the important role of forests as safety nets for rural livelihoods. We conclude by stating limitations, the need for future research and management implications.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	COVID-19; Forest monitoring; India; Remote sensing; Forest canopy; Deforestation
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SD Forestry
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences > School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2026 18:22
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2026 18:22
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6314

Actions (login required)

IR Staff Record View

Downloads