Beyond tree cover: mapping the world’s forest types

Google DeepMind and Google Research, with the World Resources Institute and IIASA, released Forest Typology (ForTy) 2020, a global 10-meter-resolution map classifying land into six FAO-based categories: primary forest, naturally regenerating forest, planted forest, plantation forest, tree crops and agroforestry, and other land. An accompanying early time series tracks annual changes from 2017 to 2025, including where natural forests were replaced by plantations or farms. Validated against more than 9,000 expert-reviewed sites, ForTy identified the correct forest type 90% of the time and distinguished forest from non-forest land 95% of the time, and the map and time series are freely available on Google Earth Engine under an open license.