Remote Sensing and Forest Conservation: Challenges of Illegal Logging in Kursumlija Municipality (Serbia)

Evidence convincingly shows that illegal and corrupt activities are the major underlying cause of deforestation--illegal logging contributes up to 30% of the global market, in excess of US $20 billion a year. Since so much deforestation is a result of illegal logging, we cannot rely on official production statistics to capture deforestation. Given the importance and complexity of forest preservation, an attempt was made to evaluate the possible use of a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in local forest management and prevention of illegal logging and corruption. We used the example of southern Serbian municipality Kursumlija that in the 2006-2011 periods experienced a 10% loss in forest area, as the obvious result of abrupt illegal logging. This process was very easy to locate and quantify (because illegal logging produced large canopy gaps that extend from the border of Kosovo to approximately 3-4 km into the Kursumlija's territory). In short, NDVI is very promising for countries like Serbia (that rarely perform forest inventories): It is relatively cheap and quick, and it can provide forest managers with essential information; it is easy to implement; the objectivity of these methods can significantly help in avoiding corruption and illegal logging.