GLOBAL FOREST WATCH WATER METADATA DOCUMENT

The World Resources Institute developed Global Forest Watch Water (GFW Water) to provide a public database and mapping tool for 230 major global watersheds. The tool assesses watershed health by scoring four primary risks—recent forest loss, historical forest loss, erosion, and fire—within the context of baseline water stress. It aims to support downstream beneficiaries, financing institutions, and researchers in implementing natural infrastructure, such as forest protection and restoration, to enhance water security and quality. The document details the underlying hydrologic science, the specific spatial data sets used (including Landsat imagery and the RUSLE erosion model), and the normalization process used to generate risk scores from 1 to 5.

• GFW Water provides spatial data sets, summary statistics, and watershed risk scores for 230 major watersheds globally, allowing users to delineate subwatersheds for custom analysis.
• The tool evaluates watershed health based on four key risk indicators: recent forest loss (2001–2014), historical forest loss (prior to 2000), erosion, and fire, all analyzed in the context of baseline water stress.
• Risk indicators are normalized into scores from 1 (low probability of adverse effect) to 5 (high probability), with scores of 4 or above indicating a need for further investigation and appropriate action.
• Analysis of 230 global watersheds shows that cropland is the most common land cover type at 31.42%, followed by shrub/grassland (27.33%) and forest (26.27%).
• Between 2000 and 2014, global watersheds experienced an average tree cover loss of 6%, with the highest loss of approximately 23% occurring in Sumatra, Indonesia.
• The erosion indicator is calculated using a modified Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to estimate potential annual soil loss from rainfall and runoff on a global scale.
• The fire indicator is based on the average annual fire occurrence per million hectares from 2006 to 2015, with the highest average annual fire counts found in tropical regions.
• The document identifies specific high-risk watersheds, such as the Philippines for erosion, Angola (Coast) for fire, and Sumatra for recent forest loss.
• The tool suggests different natural infrastructure strategies based on the risk type: ecosystem protection for recent forest loss, landscape restoration for historical loss, erosion control for erosion, and fuel reduction for fire.

APA

QIN, Y., GARTNER, T., MINNEMEYER, S., REIG, P., & SARGENT, S. (2016). GLOBAL FOREST WATCH WATER METADATA DOCUMENT. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri16_TECH_GFW-Water_draft7.pdf

Chicago

QIN, YIYUAN, TODD GARTNER, SUSAN MINNEMEYER, PAUL REIG, and SARAH SARGENT. GLOBAL FOREST WATCH WATER METADATA DOCUMENT. World Resources Institute, 2016. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri16_TECH_GFW-Water_draft7.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=QIN |first1=YIYUAN |last2=GARTNER |first2=TODD |last3=MINNEMEYER |first3=SUSAN |last4=REIG |first4=PAUL |last5=SARGENT |first5=SARAH |title=GLOBAL FOREST WATCH WATER METADATA DOCUMENT |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=August 2016 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri16_TECH_GFW-Water_draft7.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{qin2016global, author = {QIN, YIYUAN and GARTNER, TODD and MINNEMEYER, SUSAN and REIG, PAUL and SARGENT, SARAH}, title = {{GLOBAL FOREST WATCH WATER METADATA DOCUMENT}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2016}, month = aug, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri16_TECH_GFW-Water_draft7.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }