Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy, Research, Capacity and Influence

AKADEMIYA2063 CACCI Field Notes are publications by AKADEMIYA2063 scientists and collaborators based on
research conducted under the Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI) project. CACCI strives to help accelerate the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by meeting the needs for data and analytics and supporting institutional and coordination capacities. In Africa, CACCI works closely with the African Union Commission, AKADEMIYA2063, the African Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ANAPRI), and climate stakeholders in selected countries to inform climate planning and strengthen capacities for evidence-based policymaking to advance progress toward climate goals.

Published on the AKADEMIYA2063 website (open access), CACCI Field Notes provide broad and timely access to significant insights and evidence from our ongoing research activities in the areas of climate adaptation and mitigation. The data made available through this publication series will provide evidence-based insights to practitioners and policymakers driving climate action in countries where the CACCI project is being implemented.

The research team used two datasets in this note to study Rwanda’s forest cover dynamics over the 2015-2019 period and the year 2020. The datasets were the Proba-V land use and land cover map for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 (Buchhorn et al., 2020)1 and the global forest cover loss for 2020 (Methodology paper cf. Hansen et al., 2020 (with updated 2020 data)). Both datasets were produced using a combination of satellite remote sensing data and machine learning techniques to classify pixels based on a specific metric, such as spectral signatures and vegetation indices.