I'm creating A4 maps to show where forest cover and mining fields overlap across the globe. Each A4 map focuses on a specific country (e.g. India, USA, China, Australia...). For each country, I need to calculate how much overlap / intersection there is between the forest cover in that country and the mining fields to work out the area of forest that is threatened by mining activity.
I have sourced / received the following data:
World country boundaries (polygons, Geographic coordinate system WGS_1984, Datum D_WGS_1984)
Global forest cover (polygons, Geographic coordinate system WGS_1984, Datum D_WGS_1984)
Mining areas (polygons in multiple Geographic coordinate systems e.g.) Australia - GCS GDA94 India - GCS WGS_1984 Indonesia - GCS WGS_1984
To calculate areas (including total mining area, total forest area and overlap between the two) I need to work in a projected coordinate system (as area calculations are disabled in global coordinate systems).
Can someone please advise which projection I should chose?
Normally I would opt to work in a UTM zone but when dealing with large countries like Australia this warps the shape of the country on the map.
The area calculations (in sqkm) are also altered quite dramatically depending on the projection I use.
Can someone recommend a projected coordinate system that I can suitably use for all the country maps and that will produce the most accurate area calculations?