Step 2: Delineate the donor pool

Earth Blox template: VM0047 Step 2: Delineate the donor pool

To calculate the dynamic baseline for a VM0047 project, control plots need to be generated from a suitable donor pool. This template workflow delineates the area of this donor pool by:

• Extending the range to 100km of the project site
• Excluding areas that are not in the same Ecoregion (Using Resolve Ecoregions 2017)
• Excluding existing AFOLU projects (using the Nature-based carbon offset project boundaries dataset from Zenodo)
• Excluding areas that are not in the same jurisdictional boundary (Using Overture Maps Foundation data)
• Excluding larger bodies of water*

This workflow generates a donor pool area, which is exported as a dataset in a GeoJSON file format. This donor pool area is used in the next steps of the VM0047 process.

* While excluding bodies of water is not required by the VM0047 methodology, this prevents control plots from being created that would then have to be discarded in later stages.

Load the ARR Project area

1. Remove the sample project area by selecting Delete from the area menu.
2. Add your project area by selecting  Add area > Upload new feature. 
3. To keep this project area in Earth Blox and use again later, check ‘Save to Assets’ 

If you’ve already uploaded your project in Earth Blox, select Choose from Assets.

Learn more: Uploading a feature collection to Assets

Rename your Donor pool area dataset (optional)

In the Export dataset block in the final workflow, click on the ‘Name’ field to add your own name for the outputted dataset (the default is “Donor Pool Area”). You may want to add a version number to your file name to keep track when iterating.

Run the workflow

Click the ‘Run’ button on the workflow to generate your dataset. A popup in the bottom right corner will show you the progress of your export. You can leave the project workspace without interrupting the export process.

Download your exported dataset

1. Click on the Earth Blox logo in the top left hand corner to leave the project workspace. 
2. Click on the Exports page in the navigation menu
3. Click on the download icon to start the download to your device. Exported datasets are available to download for 48 hours.

Customising your donor pool area

Customising the jurisdictional boundary

You may want to customise the jurisdictional boundary if your project area is:

• registered under Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR)
• delineated by the national or subnational government for reporting REDD+ (e.g., delineated as a discrete Forest Reference Emission Level)

To change the country boundary (admin level 2) to a subnational jurisdiction (admin level 4) change the value in the Filter by attribute block.

Further customisation

Depending on the characteristics of your project plot, you may want to apply further customisation, e.g. if your project area has been affected by fire, you may want to only include areas in your donor pool that have experienced similar levels of deforestation.

To do this, create a workflow using a relevant image collection dataset, filter to include areas with the target characteristics, and save this dataset for reuse. You can then add the Modify features block in your ‘Initial Donor Pool’ workflow and use the ‘difference’ modification.