What this paper found
High-resolution aboveground carbon density mapping across Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, combining airborne LiDAR with field plot data. The resulting maps guided conservation priorities and restoration investment across degraded and intact forest landscapes.
How this informs belian.earth’s work
Biomass maps are inputs to baseline science. Chris led the field component of this paper, which demonstrates the gold-standard approach: use a draft biomass map from remote sensing to decide where to place ground plots, rather than picking plot locations at random. That delivers the highest-quality biomass map for the least field effort, and is how belian.earth still approaches site-level biomass estimation.
Citation
Asner, G.P. et al. (2017). Mapped aboveground carbon stocks to advance forest conservation and recovery in Malaysian Borneo. Biological Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.10.020
Frequently asked questions
How is aboveground carbon density mapped in tropical forests?
+
A study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo produced high-resolution aboveground carbon density maps by combining airborne LiDAR with field plot data. The resulting maps guided conservation priorities and restoration investment across degraded and intact forest landscapes. Accurate carbon stock maps are essential for forest carbon project design and baseline setting.
Related papers
Estimating aboveground carbon density and its uncertainty in Borneo's structurally complex tropical forests using airborne laser scanning
Tommaso Jucker et al.
Biogeosciences, 2018
View on doi.org
Estimating canopy height in tropical forests: Integrating airborne LiDAR and multi-spectral optical data with machine learning
Brianna Pickstone et al.
Sustainable Environment, 2025
Read more
Evaluating GEDI for quantifying forest structure across a gradient of degradation in Amazonian rainforests
Emily Doyle et al.
Environmental Research Letters, 2025
Read more