Defaunation affects carbon storage in tropical forests

PubMed Central

Bello, Carolina; Galetti, Mauro; Pizo, Marco A.; Magnago, Luiz Fernando S.; Rocha, Mariana F.; Lima, Renato A. F.; Peres, Carlos A.; Ovaskainen, Otso; Jordano, Pedro

2015-01-01

Carbon storage is widely acknowledged as one of the most valuable forest ecosystem services. Deforestation, logging, fragmentation, fire, and climate change have significant effects on tropical carbon stocks; however, an elusive and yet undetected decrease in carbon storage may be due to defaunation of large seed dispersers. Many large tropical trees with sizeable contributions to carbon stock rely on large vertebrates for seed dispersal and regeneration, however many of these frugivores are threatened by hunting, illegal trade, and habitat loss. We used a large data set on tree species composition and abundance, seed, fruit, and carbon-related traits, and plant-animal interactions to estimate the loss of carbon storage capacity of tropical forests in defaunated scenarios. By simulating the local extinction of trees that depend on large frugivores in 31 Atlantic Forest communities, we found that defaunation has the potential to significantly erode carbon storage even when only a small proportion of large-seeded trees are extirpated. Although intergovernmental policies to reduce carbon emissions and reforestation programs have been mostly focused on deforestation, our results demonstrate that defaunation, and the loss of key ecological interactions, also poses a serious risk for the maintenance of tropical forest carbon storage. PMID:26824067

Deforestation and Rice: Using Methods in Modeling and Remote Sensing to Project Patterns of Forest Change in Eastern Madagascar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armstrong, A. H.; Fatoyinbo, T. E.; Fischer, R.; Huth, A.; Shugart, H. H.

2013-12-01

In the species rich tropics, forest conservation is often eclipsed by anthropogenic disturbance, resulting in a heightened need for an accurate assessment of biomass and the gaining of predictive capability before these ecosystems disappear. The combination of multi-temporal remote sensing data, field data and forest growth modeling to quantify carbon stocks and flux is therefore of great importance. In this study, we utilize these methods to (1) improve forest biomass and carbon flux estimates for the study region in Eastern Madagascar, and (2) initialize an individual-based growth model that incorporates the anthropogenic factors causing deforestation to project ecosystem response to future environmental change. Recent studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between the international rice market and rates of deforestation in tropical countries such as Madagascar (see Minten et al., 2006). Further, although law protects the remaining forest areas, dictatorships and recent political unrest have lead to poor or non-existent enforcement of precious wood and forest protection over the past 35 years. Our approach combined multi-temporal remote sensing analysis and ecological modeling using a theoretical and mathematical approach to assess biomass change and to understand how tree growth and life history (growth response patterns) relate to past and present economic variability in Madagascar forests of the eastern Toamasina region. We measured rates of change of deforestation with respect to politics and the price of rice by classifying and comparing biomass using 30m Landsat during 5 political regime time periods (1985-1992, 1993-1996, 1997-2001, 2002-2008, 2009 to present). Forest biomass estimations were calibrated using forest inventory data collected over 3 growing seasons over the study region (130 small circular plots in primary forest). This information was then built into the previously parameterized (Armstrong et al., in prep and Fischer et al in review) Madagascar FORMIX3 Model (see Huth and Ditzer, 2000) by incorporating rice economy, selective logging and political stability modules into the model to control certain species groups (i.e. selective harvest) and fire frequency (encroachment). The improved FORMIX3 model was then used to investigate and project forest growth response to a variety of impact scenarios ranging from an increase in overall deforestation to a decrease in deforestation and increase in protection enforcement. Our findings showed a significant positive correlation between increasing deforestation rates and higher local rice prices due to political regime and international market factors. This research resulted in the first quantitative analysis of the relationship between the international rice market and local land-use in terms of slash and burn agriculture, illegal logging of precious hardwood in Madagascar.

Logging concessions enable illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon.

PubMed

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N; Sky, Melissa A Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-04-17

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

Logging Concessions Enable Illegal Logging Crisis in the Peruvian Amazon

PubMed Central

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N.; Sky, Melissa A. Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-01-01

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms. PMID:24743552

Logging Concessions Enable Illegal Logging Crisis in the Peruvian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N.; Sky, Melissa A. Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-04-01

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

New land use scenarios for the Brazilian Amazonia: how to reach a sustainable future?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguiar, A. P. D.; Vieira, I.; Toledo, P.; Araujo, R.; Coelho, A.; Pinho, P.; Assis, T.; Dalla-Nora, E. L.; Kawakami Savaget, E.; Batistella, M.

2014-12-01

Following an intense deforestation process initiated in the 1960s, clear-cut deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have decreased significantly since 2004. A convergence of conditions contributed to this, including the creation of protected areas, the use of effective monitoring and control systems, and credit restriction mechanisms. Although regional social indicators have also slightly improved, society remains unequal and violent, both in urban and rural areas. Furthermore, the combined results of the fall of deforestation and the increased economic importance of the agribusiness sector have led to the political weakening of the so-called socio-environmental model. Thus, the current situation indicates a future of low (clear-cut) carbon emissions and low social conditions. On the other hand, other threats remain, including forest degradation derived from illegal logging and forest fires. There is also considerable uncertainty about the fate of the remaining forest areas as multiple forces can contribute to the return of high deforestation, including the rapidly expanding global markets for agricultural commodities, large-scale transportation and energy infrastructure projects, and weak institutions. We present the results of a participatory scenario process, in which we discussed the future of the region until 2050 combining normative and exploratory approaches. We include an ideal "Sustainability" scenario (Scenario A) in which we envision major socioeconomic, institutional and environmental achievements. Scenario B stays in the "Middle of the road", in which the society maintains some of the positive environmental trends of the last decade, but not reversing the structural situation of social inequities. Scenario C is a pessimistic vision, named "Fragmentation" with high deforestation rates and low social development. The goal of the work was twofold: (a) to propose a method to enrich the discussion among different private and governmental stakeholders on how to build a trajectory towards sustainability; (b) to support the parameterization of spatially-explicit LUCC models in the scope of the AMAZALERT project.

Forensic timber identification: It's time to integrate disciplines to combat illegal logging

Treesearch

Eleanor E. Dormontt; Markus Boner; Birgit Braun; Gerhard Breulmann; Bernd Degen; Edgard Espinoza; Shelley Gardner; Phil Guillery; John C. Hermanson; Gerald Koch; Soon Leong Lee; Milton Kanashiro; Anto Rimbawanto; Darren Thomas; Alex C. Wiedenhoeft; Yafang Yin; Johannes Zahnen; Andrew J. Lowe

2015-01-01

The prosecution of illegal logging crimes is hampered by a lack of available forensic timber identification tools, both for screening of suspectmaterial and definitive identification of illegally sourcedwood. Reputable timber traders are also struggling to police their own supply chains and comply with the growing requirement for due diligence with respect to timber...

Assessing the Ability of Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA Gene Markers to Verify the Geographic Origin of Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril L.) Timber.

PubMed

Chaves, Camila L; Degen, Bernd; Pakull, Birte; Mader, Malte; Honorio, Euridice; Ruas, Paulo; Tysklind, Niklas; Sebbenn, Alexandre M

2018-06-27

Deforestation-reinforced by illegal logging-is a serious problem in many tropical regions and causes pervasive environmental and economic damage. Existing laws that intend to reduce illegal logging need efficient, fraud resistant control methods. We developed a genetic reference database for Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril), an important, high value timber species from the Neotropics. The data set can be used for controls on declarations of wood origin. Samples from 308 Hymenaea trees from 12 locations in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and French Guiana have been collected and genotyped on 10 nuclear microsatellites (nSSRs), 13 chloroplast SNPs (cpSNP), and 1 chloroplast indel marker. The chloroplast gene markers have been developed using Illumina DNA sequencing. Bayesian cluster analysis divided the individuals based on the nSSRs into 8 genetic groups. Using self-assignment tests, the power of the genetic reference database to judge on declarations on the location has been tested for 3 different assignment methods. We observed a strong genetic differentiation among locations leading to high and reliable self-assignment rates for the locations between 50% to 100% (average of 88%). Although all 3 assignment methods came up with similar mean self-assignment rates, there were differences for some locations linked to the level of genetic diversity, differentiation, and heterozygosity. Our results show that the nuclear and chloroplast gene markers are effective to be used for a genetic certification system and can provide national and international authorities with a robust tool to confirm legality of timber.

Estimating rainforest biomass stocks and carbon loss from deforestation and degradation in Papua New Guinea 1972-2002: Best estimates, uncertainties and research needs.

PubMed

Bryan, Jane; Shearman, Phil; Ash, Julian; Kirkpatrick, J B

2010-01-01

Reduction of carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation is being considered a cost-effective way of mitigating the impacts of global warming. If such reductions are to be implemented, accurate and repeatable measurements of forest cover change and biomass will be required. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), which has one of the world's largest remaining areas of tropical forest, we used the best available data to estimate rainforest carbon stocks, and emissions from deforestation and degradation. We collated all available PNG field measurements which could be used to estimate carbon stocks in logged and unlogged forest. We extrapolated these plot-level estimates across the forested landscape using high-resolution forest mapping. We found the best estimate of forest carbon stocks contained in logged and unlogged forest in 2002 to be 4770 Mt (+/-13%). Our best estimate of gross forest carbon released through deforestation and degradation between 1972 and 2002 was 1178 Mt (+/-18%). By applying a long-term forest change model, we estimated that the carbon loss resulting from deforestation and degradation in 2001 was 53 Mt (+/-18%), rising from 24 Mt (+/-15%) in 1972. Forty-one percent of 2001 emissions resulted from logging, rising from 21% in 1972. Reducing emissions from logging is therefore a priority for PNG. The large uncertainty in our estimates of carbon stocks and fluxes is primarily due to the dearth of field measurements in both logged and unlogged forest, and the lack of PNG logging damage studies. Research priorities for PNG to increase the accuracy of forest carbon stock assessments are the collection of field measurements in unlogged forest and more spatially explicit logging damage studies. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterizing forest carbon stocks at tropical biome and landscape level in Mount Apo National Park, Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubas, L. C.

2012-12-01

Forest resources sequester and store carbon, and serve as a natural brake on climate change. In the tropics, the largest source of greenhouse emission is from deforestation and forest degradation (Gibbs et al 2007). This paper attempts to compile sixty (60) existing studies on using remote sensing to measure key environmental forest indicators at two levels of scales: biome and landscape level. At the tropical forest biome level, there is not as much remote sensing studies that have been done as compared to other forest biomes. Also, existing studies on tropical Asia is still sparse compared to other tropical regions in Latin America and Africa. Biomass map is also produced for the tropical biome using keyhole macro language (KML) which is projected on Google Earth. The compiled studies showed there are four indicators being measured using remote sensors in tropical forest. These are biomass, landcover classification, deforestation and cloud cover. The landscape level will focus on Mount Apo National Park in the Philippines which is encompassing a total area of 54,974.87 hectares. It is one of the ten priority sites targeted in the World Bank-assisted Biodiversity Conservation Program. This park serves as the major watershed for the three provinces with 19 major rivers emanating from the montane formations. Only a small fraction of the natural forest that once covered the country remains. In spite of different policies that aim to reduce logging recent commercial deforestation, illegal logging and agricultural expansion pose an important threat to the remaining forest areas. In some locations in the country, these hotspots of deforestation overlap with the protected areas (Verburg et al 2006). The study site was clipped using ArcGIS from the forest biomass carbon density map produced by Gibbs and Brown (2007). Characterization on this national park using vegetation density, elevation, slope, land cover and precipitation will be conducted to determine factors that would affect the magnitude of stored carbon. Vegetation density will be derived from 5m SPOT imagery. Digital elevation model at a resolution of 90m will be obtained as part of NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Land cover data will be sourced from Landsat imagery. Mean annual precipitation data (MAP) will be collected from Worldclim dataset. Change detection analysis will be made using 2-time period of Landsat imagery. Accuracy assessment will be conducted following image classification. Changes in land cover will further be related to recommending necessary land use policies for reducing deforestation and the preservation of this protected area.

Implications of land use change on the national terrestrial carbon budget of Georgia.

PubMed

Olofsson, Pontus; Torchinava, Paata; Woodcock, Curtis E; Baccini, Alessandro; Houghton, Richard A; Ozdogan, Mutlu; Zhao, Feng; Yang, Xiaoyuan

2010-09-13

Globally, the loss of forests now contributes almost 20% of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. There is an immediate need to reduce the current rates of forest loss, and the associated release of carbon dioxide, but for many areas of the world these rates are largely unknown. The Soviet Union contained a substantial part of the world's forests and the fate of those forests and their effect on carbon dynamics remain unknown for many areas of the former Eastern Bloc. For Georgia, the political and economic transitions following independence in 1991 have been dramatic. In this paper we quantify rates of land use changes and their effect on the terrestrial carbon budget for Georgia. A carbon book-keeping model traces changes in carbon stocks using historical and current rates of land use change. Landsat satellite images acquired circa 1990 and 2000 were analyzed to detect changes in forest cover since 1990. The remote sensing analysis showed that a modest forest loss occurred, with approximately 0.8% of the forest cover having disappeared after 1990. Nevertheless, growth of Georgian forests still contribute a current national sink of about 0.3 Tg of carbon per year, which corresponds to 31% of the country anthropogenic carbon emissions. We assume that the observed forest loss is mainly a result of illegal logging, but we have not found any evidence of large-scale clear-cutting. Instead local harvesting of timber for household use is likely to be the underlying driver of the observed logging. The Georgian forests are a currently a carbon sink and will remain as such until about 2040 if the current rate of deforestation persists. Forest protection efforts, combined with economic growth, are essential for reducing the rate of deforestation and protecting the carbon sink provided by Georgian forests.

Selective Logging, Fire, and Biomass in Amazonia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houghton, R. A.

1999-01-01

Biomass and rates of disturbance are major factors in determining the net flux of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and neither of them is well known for most of the earth's surface. Satellite data over large areas are beginning to be used systematically to measure rates of two of the most important types of disturbance, deforestation and reforestation, but these are not the only types of disturbance that affect carbon storage. Other examples include selective logging and fire. In northern mid-latitude forests, logging and subsequent regrowth of forests have, in recent decades, contributed more to the net flux of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere than any other type of land use. In the tropics logging is also becoming increasingly important. According to the FAO/UNEP assessment of tropical forests, about 25% of total area of productive forests have been logged one or more times in the 60-80 years before 1980. The fraction must be considerably greater at present. Thus, deforestation by itself accounts for only a portion of the emissions carbon from land. Furthermore, as rates of deforestation become more accurately measured with satellites, uncertainty in biomass will become the major factor accounting for the remaining uncertainty in estimates of carbon flux. An approach is needed for determining the biomass of terrestrial ecosystems. 3 Selective logging is increasingly important in Amazonia, yet it has not been included in region-wide, satellite-based assessments of land-cover change, in part because it is not as striking as deforestation. Nevertheless, logging affects terrestrial carbon storage both directly and indirectly. Besides the losses of carbon directly associated with selective logging, logging also increases the likelihood of fire.

An integrated remote sensing and GIS approach for monitoring areas affected by selective logging: A case study in northern Mato Grosso, Brazilian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grecchi, Rosana Cristina; Beuchle, René; Shimabukuro, Yosio Edemir; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Arai, Egidio; Simonetti, Dario; Achard, Frédéric

2017-09-01

Forest cover disturbances due to processes such as logging and forest fires are a widespread issue especially in the tropics, and have heavily affected forest biomass and functioning in the Brazilian Amazon in the past decades. Satellite remote sensing has played a key role for assessing logging activities in this region; however, there are still remaining challenges regarding the quantification and monitoring of these processes affecting forested lands. In this study, we propose a new method for monitoring areas affected by selective logging in one of the hotspots of Mato Grosso state in the Brazilian Amazon, based on a combination of object-based and pixel-based classification approaches applied on remote sensing data. Logging intensity and changes over time are assessed within grid cells of 300 m × 300 m spatial resolution. Our method encompassed three main steps: (1) mapping forest/non-forest areas through an object-based classification approach applied to a temporal series of Landsat images during the period 2000-2015, (2) mapping yearly logging activities from soil fraction images on the same Landsat data series, and (3) integrating information from previous steps within a regular grid-cell of 300 m × 300 m in order to monitor disturbance intensities over this 15-years period. The overall accuracy of the baseline forest/non-forest mask (year 2000) and of the undisturbed vs disturbed forest (for selected years) were 93% and 84% respectively. Our results indicate that annual forest disturbance rates, mainly due to logging activities, were higher than annual deforestation rates during the whole period of study. The deforested areas correspond to circa 25% of the areas affected by forest disturbances. Deforestation rates were highest from 2001 to 2005 and then decreased considerably after 2006. In contrast, the annual forest disturbance rates show high temporal variability with a slow decrease over the 15-year period, resulting in a significant increase of the ratio between disturbed and deforested areas. Although the majority of the areas, which have been affected by selective logging during the period 2000-2014, were not deforested by 2015, more than 70% of the deforested areas in 2015 had been at least once identified as disturbed forest during that period.

An integrated remote sensing and GIS approach for monitoring areas affected by selective logging: A case study in northern Mato Grosso, Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Grecchi, Rosana Cristina; Beuchle, René; Shimabukuro, Yosio Edemir; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Arai, Egidio; Simonetti, Dario; Achard, Frédéric

2017-09-01

Forest cover disturbances due to processes such as logging and forest fires are a widespread issue especially in the tropics, and have heavily affected forest biomass and functioning in the Brazilian Amazon in the past decades. Satellite remote sensing has played a key role for assessing logging activities in this region; however, there are still remaining challenges regarding the quantification and monitoring of these processes affecting forested lands. In this study, we propose a new method for monitoring areas affected by selective logging in one of the hotspots of Mato Grosso state in the Brazilian Amazon, based on a combination of object-based and pixel-based classification approaches applied on remote sensing data. Logging intensity and changes over time are assessed within grid cells of 300 m × 300 m spatial resolution. Our method encompassed three main steps: (1) mapping forest/non-forest areas through an object-based classification approach applied to a temporal series of Landsat images during the period 2000-2015, (2) mapping yearly logging activities from soil fraction images on the same Landsat data series, and (3) integrating information from previous steps within a regular grid-cell of 300 m × 300 m in order to monitor disturbance intensities over this 15-years period. The overall accuracy of the baseline forest/non-forest mask (year 2000) and of the undisturbed vs disturbed forest (for selected years) were 93% and 84% respectively. Our results indicate that annual forest disturbance rates, mainly due to logging activities, were higher than annual deforestation rates during the whole period of study. The deforested areas correspond to circa 25% of the areas affected by forest disturbances. Deforestation rates were highest from 2001 to 2005 and then decreased considerably after 2006. In contrast, the annual forest disturbance rates show high temporal variability with a slow decrease over the 15-year period, resulting in a significant increase of the ratio between disturbed and deforested areas. Although the majority of the areas, which have been affected by selective logging during the period 2000-2014, were not deforested by 2015, more than 70% of the deforested areas in 2015 had been at least once identified as disturbed forest during that period.

Variable Gene Dispersal Conditions and Spatial Deforestation Patterns Can Interact to Affect Tropical Tree Conservation Outcomes

PubMed Central

Kashimshetty, Yamini; Pelikan, Stephan; Rogstad, Steven H.

2015-01-01

Tropical lowland rain forest (TLRF) biodiversity is under threat from anthropogenic factors including deforestation which creates forest fragments of different sizes that can further undergo various internal patterns of logging. Such interventions can modify previous equilibrium abundance and spatial distribution patterns of offspring recruitment and/or pollen dispersal. Little is known about how these aspects of deforestation and fragmentation might synergistically affect TLRF tree recovery demographics and population genetics in newly formed forest fragments. To investigate these TLRF anthropogenic disturbance processes we used the computer program NEWGARDEN (NG), which models spatially-explicit, individual-based plant populations, to simulate 10% deforestation in six different spatial logging patterns for the plant functional type of a long-lived TLRF canopy tree species. Further, each logging pattern was analyzed under nine varying patterns of offspring versus pollen dispersal distances that could have arisen post-fragmentation. Results indicated that gene dispersal condition (especially via offspring) had a greater effect on population growth and genetic diversity retention (explaining 98.5% and 88.8% of the variance respectively) than spatial logging pattern (0.2% and 4.7% respectively), with ‘Near’ distance dispersal maximizing population growth and genetic diversity relative to distant dispersal. Within logged regions of the fragment, deforestation patterns closer to fragment borders more often exhibited lower population recovery rates and founding genetic diversity retention relative to more centrally located logging. These results suggest newly isolated fragments have populations that are more sensitive to the way in which their offspring and pollen dispersers are affected than the spatial pattern in which subsequent logging occurs, and that large variation in the recovery rates of different TLRF tree species attributable to altered gene dispersal regimens will be a likely outcome of fragmentation. Conservation implications include possible manual interventions (manual manipulations of offspring dispersers and/or pollinators) in forest fragments to increase population recovery and genetic diversity retention. PMID:26000951

Variable gene dispersal conditions and spatial deforestation patterns can interact to affect tropical tree conservation outcomes.

PubMed

Kashimshetty, Yamini; Pelikan, Stephan; Rogstad, Steven H

2015-01-01

Tropical lowland rain forest (TLRF) biodiversity is under threat from anthropogenic factors including deforestation which creates forest fragments of different sizes that can further undergo various internal patterns of logging. Such interventions can modify previous equilibrium abundance and spatial distribution patterns of offspring recruitment and/or pollen dispersal. Little is known about how these aspects of deforestation and fragmentation might synergistically affect TLRF tree recovery demographics and population genetics in newly formed forest fragments. To investigate these TLRF anthropogenic disturbance processes we used the computer program NEWGARDEN (NG), which models spatially-explicit, individual-based plant populations, to simulate 10% deforestation in six different spatial logging patterns for the plant functional type of a long-lived TLRF canopy tree species. Further, each logging pattern was analyzed under nine varying patterns of offspring versus pollen dispersal distances that could have arisen post-fragmentation. Results indicated that gene dispersal condition (especially via offspring) had a greater effect on population growth and genetic diversity retention (explaining 98.5% and 88.8% of the variance respectively) than spatial logging pattern (0.2% and 4.7% respectively), with 'Near' distance dispersal maximizing population growth and genetic diversity relative to distant dispersal. Within logged regions of the fragment, deforestation patterns closer to fragment borders more often exhibited lower population recovery rates and founding genetic diversity retention relative to more centrally located logging. These results suggest newly isolated fragments have populations that are more sensitive to the way in which their offspring and pollen dispersers are affected than the spatial pattern in which subsequent logging occurs, and that large variation in the recovery rates of different TLRF tree species attributable to altered gene dispersal regimens will be a likely outcome of fragmentation. Conservation implications include possible manual interventions (manual manipulations of offspring dispersers and/or pollinators) in forest fragments to increase population recovery and genetic diversity retention.

Selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Asner, Gregory P; Knapp, David E; Broadbent, Eben N; Oliveira, Paulo J C; Keller, Michael; Silva, Jose N

2005-10-21

Amazon deforestation has been measured by remote sensing for three decades. In comparison, selective logging has been mostly invisible to satellites. We developed a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote-sensing analysis of selective logging in the top five timber-producing states of the Brazilian Amazon. Logged areas ranged from 12,075 to 19,823 square kilometers per year (+/-14%) between 1999 and 2002, equivalent to 60 to 123% of previously reported deforestation area. Up to 1200 square kilometers per year of logging were observed on conservation lands. Each year, 27 million to 50 million cubic meters of wood were extracted, and a gross flux of approximately 0.1 billion metric tons of carbon was destined for release to the atmosphere by logging.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Maoyi; Asner, Gregory P.

Amazon deforestation contributes significantly to global carbon (C) emissions. In comparison, the contribution from selective logging to atmospheric CO2 emissions, and its impact on regional C dynamics, is highly uncertain. Using a new geographically-based modeling approach in combination with high resolution remote sensing data from 1999-2002, we estimate that C emissions were 0.04 – 0.05 Pg C yr-1 due to selective logging from a ~2,664,960 km2 region of the Brazilian Amazon. Selective logging was responsible for 15-19% higher carbon emissions than reported from deforestation (clear-cutting) alone. Our simulations indicated that forest carbon lost via selective logging lasts two to threemore » decades following harvest, and that the original live biomass takes up to a century to recover, if the forests are not subsequently cleared. The two- to three-decade loss of carbon results from the biomass damaged by logging activities, including leaves, wood, and roots, estimated to be 89.1 Tg C yr-1 from 1999-2002 over the study region, leaving 70.0 Tg C yr-1 and 7.9 Tg C yr-1 to accumulate as coarse woody debris and soil C, respectively. While avoided deforestation is central to crediting rainforest nations for reduced carbon emissions, the extent and intensity of selective logging are also critical to determining carbon emissions in the context of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). We show that a combination of automated high-resolution satellite monitoring and detailed forest C modeling can yield spatially explicit estimates of harvest related C losses and subsequent recovery in support of REDD and other international carbon market mechanisms.« less

Using Remote Sensing and Synthetic Controls to Understand Deforestation Drivers and their Moderation by Forest Use in Kalimantan, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, J. M.; Sills, E. O.; Amanatides, M. M.

2017-12-01

Tropical forests offer valuable ecosystem services at multiple scales, from the local hydrological cycle to the global carbon cycle. This has motivated significant international attention and funding for efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), especially where they account for most greenhouse gas emissions, as in Indonesia. Indonesia holds 39% of Southeast Asian forest, experiences the second highest rate of deforestation after Brazil, and has the potential to earn high profits both from logging native forests and from clearing forests for oil palm and pulp plantations. In Indonesia, REDD+ initiatives have taken a wide variety of forms, with some interventions focused on encouraging sustainable forest management and others focused on reducing demand for cleared land. Evaluating the efficacy of these interventions is critical but challenging because exogenous factors may affect both placement of the interventions and deforestation trends. Overcoming this limitation requires an in-depth understanding of the drivers of deforestation and how they vary with context. One barrier to improved understanding has been that existing deforestation datasets are largely binary (e.g. forested/deforested). Recent developments in mapping land-use change from time series of remotely sensed images may offer a path towards obtaining longer times series with more detail on land use. Such data would enable use of the synthetic control method (SCM), which allows for heterogenous impacts across units and over time. Here, we use this approach to answer the question: How has the designation and active use of logging concessions affected deforestation rates in East Kalimantan province, Indonesia since 2000? That is, we ask whether, where, and how using forests for timber production affects the probability of deforestation. We used an image time-series approach (YATSM/CCDC) to classify Landsat imagery from 2000 to 2017 for East Kalimantan, and SCM to evaluate the effect of allocating forest to logging concessions, controlling for a large variety of covariates such as proximity to pulp and palm oil mills and topography to construct our synthetic controls. By mapping land use in previously forested areas, we are able to interrogate the primary drivers of deforestation in different contexts.

Deforestation in Sumatra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Indonesia is rapidly losing its lowland forests to logging, much of it illegal. At present, logging is claiming the forests at a rate of nearly two million hectares (slightly less than 5 million acres: roughly the same area as the state of Massachusetts) each year. At this rate, the island of Sumatra will have no more lowland forests by 2005, a fate already befallen the island of Sulawesi. Indonesia's lowland forests are home to a wide variety of wildlife and are considered among the richest ecosystems in the world. Among the unique life forms in these forests are the Orangutan and the Sumatra Tiger. Sixteen percent of the entire world's bird species, eleven percent of its plants, and ten percent of all mammals on Earth call these forests home. Many are found nowhere else. In the two Landsat scenes shown above, the pattern of deforestation can be clearly discerned. Deep green in these images shows lush vegetation in the forest cover. In both scenes, deep and pale red shows areas where there is little or no vegetation, often bare ground from where forest has been completely stripped. The latter Landsat scene from 2001 not only shows extensive clear cut areas, but also new logging roads built into the remaining forest to facilitate future cutting. This lowland forest region is located on Indonesia's largest island, Sumatra, roughly 100 km southwest of the provincial capital of Jambi. The first image was acquired by Landsat 5's Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on June 22, 1992, the second by Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) sensor on January 14, 2001. Both are false-color composite images made using shortwave infrared, infrared, and green wavelengths. The area shown above is roughly 30 km x 22 km (19 miles x 14 miles). The large versions of these images show the same general area covering 60 km x 60 km. Images provided by the Tropical Rain Forest Information Center (TRFIC) through the Basic Science and Remote Sensing Initiative (BSRSI) based at Michigan State University, and the Landsat 7 Project Science Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The Flawed Strategy in Columbia

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-09

reviews the aerial spraying. They admit that the spraying of commonly used agricultural chemical, glyphosate , can be slightly toxic to birds and...34 practically non- toxic " to fish because it rapidly decomposes in soil and water.61 They also claim the deforestation is caused by the illegal drug

Stream ecosystem integrity is impaired by logging and shifting agriculture in a global megadiversity center (Sarawak, Borneo).

PubMed

Jinggut, Tajang; Yule, Catherine M; Boyero, Luz

2012-10-15

In common with most of Borneo, the Bakun region of Sarawak is currently subject to heavy deforestation mainly due to logging and, to a lesser extent, traditional slash-and-burn farming practices. This has the potential to affect stream ecosystems, which are integrators of environmental change in the surrounding terrestrial landscape. This study evaluated the effects of both types of deforestation by using functional and structural indicators (leaf litter decomposition rates and associated detritivores or 'shredders', respectively) to compare a fundamental ecosystem process, leaf litter decomposition, within logged, farmed and pristine streams. Slash-and-burn agricultural practices increased the overall rate of decomposition despite a decrease in shredder species richness (but not shredder abundance) due to increased microbial decomposition. In contrast, decomposition by microbes and invertebrates was slowed down in the logged streams, where shredders were less abundant and less species rich. This study suggests that shredder communities are less affected by traditional agricultural farming practices, while modern mechanized deforestation has an adverse effect on both shredder communities and leaf breakdown. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implications of land use change on the national terrestrial carbon budget of Georgia

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Globally, the loss of forests now contributes almost 20% of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. There is an immediate need to reduce the current rates of forest loss, and the associated release of carbon dioxide, but for many areas of the world these rates are largely unknown. The Soviet Union contained a substantial part of the world's forests and the fate of those forests and their effect on carbon dynamics remain unknown for many areas of the former Eastern Bloc. For Georgia, the political and economic transitions following independence in 1991 have been dramatic. In this paper we quantify rates of land use changes and their effect on the terrestrial carbon budget for Georgia. A carbon book-keeping model traces changes in carbon stocks using historical and current rates of land use change. Landsat satellite images acquired circa 1990 and 2000 were analyzed to detect changes in forest cover since 1990. Results The remote sensing analysis showed that a modest forest loss occurred, with approximately 0.8% of the forest cover having disappeared after 1990. Nevertheless, growth of Georgian forests still contribute a current national sink of about 0.3 Tg of carbon per year, which corresponds to 31% of the country anthropogenic carbon emissions. Conclusions We assume that the observed forest loss is mainly a result of illegal logging, but we have not found any evidence of large-scale clear-cutting. Instead local harvesting of timber for household use is likely to be the underlying driver of the observed logging. The Georgian forests are a currently a carbon sink and will remain as such until about 2040 if the current rate of deforestation persists. Forest protection efforts, combined with economic growth, are essential for reducing the rate of deforestation and protecting the carbon sink provided by Georgian forests. PMID:20836865

A Near Real-time Decision Support System Improving Forest Management in the Tropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabor, K.; Musinsky, J.; Ledezma, J.; Rasolohery, A.; Mendoza, E.; Kistler, H.; Steininger, M.; Morton, D. C.; Melton, F. S.; Manwell, J.; Koenig, K.

2013-12-01

Conservation International (CI) has a decade of experience developing near real-time fire and deforestation monitoring and forecasting systems that channel monitoring information from satellite observations directly to national and sub-national government agencies, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and local communities. These systems are used to strengthen forest surveillance and monitoring, fire management and prevention, protected areas management and sustainable land use planning. With support from a NASA Wildland Fires grant, in September 2013 CI will launch a brand new near real-time alert system (FIRECAST) to better meet the outstanding needs and challenges users face in addressing ecosystem degradation from wildland fire and illegal forest activities. Outreach efforts and user feedback have indicated the need for seasonal fire forecasts for effective land use planning, faster alert delivery to enhance response to illegal forest activities, and expanded forest monitoring capabilities that enable proactive responses and that strengthen forest conservation and sustainable development actions. The new FIRECAST system addresses these challenges by integrating the current fire alert and deforestation systems and adding improved ecological forecasting of fire risk; expanding data exchange capabilities with mobile technologies; and delivering a deforestation alert product that can inform policies related to land use management and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). In addition to demonstrating the capabilities of this new real-time alert system, we also highlight how coordination with host-country institutions enhances the system's capacity to address the implementation needs of REDD+ forest carbon projects, improve tropical forest management, strengthen environmental law enforcement, and facilitate the uptake of near real-time satellite monitoring data into business practices of these national/sub-national institutions.

Selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon.

Treesearch

G. P. Asner; D. E. Knapp; E. N. Broadbent; P. J. C. Oliveira; M Keller; J. N. Silva

2005-01-01

Amazon deforestation has been measured by remote sensing for three decades. In comparison, selective logging has been mostly invisible to satellites. We developed a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote-sensing analysis of selective logging in the top five timber-producing states of the Brazilian Amazon. Logged areas ranged from 12,075 to 19,823 square...

Reductions in emissions from deforestation from Indonesia’s moratorium on new oil palm, timber, and logging concessions

PubMed Central

Busch, Jonah; Ferretti-Gallon, Kalifi; Engelmann, Jens; Wright, Max; Austin, Kemen G.; Stolle, Fred; Turubanova, Svetlana; Potapov, Peter V.; Margono, Belinda; Hansen, Matthew C.; Baccini, Alessandro

2015-01-01

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, Indonesia instituted a nationwide moratorium on new license areas (“concessions”) for oil palm plantations, timber plantations, and logging activity on primary forests and peat lands after May 2011. Here we indirectly evaluate the effectiveness of this policy using annual nationwide data on deforestation, concession licenses, and potential agricultural revenue from the decade preceding the moratorium. We estimate that on average granting a concession for oil palm, timber, or logging in Indonesia increased site-level deforestation rates by 17–127%, 44–129%, or 3.1–11.1%, respectively, above what would have occurred otherwise. We further estimate that if Indonesia’s moratorium had been in place from 2000 to 2010, then nationwide emissions from deforestation over that decade would have been 241–615 MtCO2e (2.8–7.2%) lower without leakage, or 213–545 MtCO2e (2.5–6.4%) lower with leakage. As a benchmark, an equivalent reduction in emissions could have been achieved using a carbon price-based instrument at a carbon price of $3.30–7.50/tCO2e (mandatory) or $12.95–19.45/tCO2e (voluntary). For Indonesia to have achieved its target of reducing emissions by 26%, the geographic scope of the moratorium would have had to expand beyond new concessions (15.0% of emissions from deforestation and peat degradation) to also include existing concessions (21.1% of emissions) and address deforestation outside of concessions and protected areas (58.7% of emissions). Place-based policies, such as moratoria, may be best thought of as bridge strategies that can be implemented rapidly while the institutions necessary to enable carbon price-based instruments are developed. PMID:25605880

Conservation performance of different conservation governance regimes in the Peruvian Amazon.

PubMed

Schleicher, Judith; Peres, Carlos A; Amano, Tatsuya; Llactayo, William; Leader-Williams, Nigel

2017-09-12

State-controlled protected areas (PAs) have dominated conservation strategies globally, yet their performance relative to other governance regimes is rarely assessed comprehensively. Furthermore, performance indicators of forest PAs are typically restricted to deforestation, although the extent of forest degradation is greater. We address these shortfalls through an empirical impact evaluation of state PAs, Indigenous Territories (ITs), and civil society and private Conservation Concessions (CCs) on deforestation and degradation throughout the Peruvian Amazon. We integrated remote-sensing data with environmental and socio-economic datasets, and used propensity-score matching to assess: (i) how deforestation and degradation varied across governance regimes between 2006-2011; (ii) their proximate drivers; and (iii) whether state PAs, CCs and ITs avoided deforestation and degradation compared with logging and mining concessions, and the unprotected landscape. CCs, state PAs, and ITs all avoided deforestation and degradation compared to analogous areas in the unprotected landscape. CCs and ITs were on average more effective in this respect than state PAs, showing that local governance can be equally or more effective than centralized state regimes. However, there were no consistent differences between conservation governance regimes when matched to logging and mining concessions. Future impact assessments would therefore benefit from further disentangling governance regimes across unprotected land.

Illicit Crops in Tropical America: Deforestation, Landslides, and the Terrestrial Carbon Stocks.

Treesearch

Sara R. Lopez-Rodriguez; Juan F. Blanco-Libreros

2008-01-01

The 250 landslides that simultaneously occurred in the Río Tarazá basin, Antioquia Department, in Colombia after the torrential rains of 19 and 20 May 2007 (Fig. 1) rank among the major rainfalltriggered disasters in this country (1). According to an official report, about 3000 ha, mostly covered by illegal cash crops, were wasted, thus reviving...

Forest transition in Vietnam and displacement of deforestation abroad

PubMed Central

Meyfroidt, Patrick; Lambin, Eric F.

2009-01-01

In some countries across the globe, tropical forest cover is increasing. The national-scale reforestation of Vietnam since 1992 is assumed to contribute to this recovery. It is achieved, however, by the displacement of forest extraction to other countries on the order of 49 (34–70) M m3, or ≈39% of the regrowth of Vietnam's forests from 1987 to 2006. Approximately half of wood imports to Vietnam during this period were illegal. Leakage due to policies restricting forest exploitation and displacement due to growing domestic consumption and exports contributed respectively to an estimated 58% and 42% of total displacement. Exports of wood products from Vietnam also grew rapidly, amounting to 84% of the displacement, which is a remarkable feature of the forest transition in Vietnam. Attribution of the displacement and corresponding forest extraction to Vietnam, the source countries or the final consumers is thus debatable. Sixty-one percent of the regrowth in Vietnam was, thus, not associated with displacement abroad. Policies allocating credits to countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation should monitor illegal timber trade and take into account the policy-induced leakage of wood extraction to other countries. PMID:19805270

Forest transition in Vietnam and displacement of deforestation abroad.

PubMed

Meyfroidt, Patrick; Lambin, Eric F

2009-09-22

In some countries across the globe, tropical forest cover is increasing. The national-scale reforestation of Vietnam since 1992 is assumed to contribute to this recovery. It is achieved, however, by the displacement of forest extraction to other countries on the order of 49 (34-70) M m(3), or approximately 39% of the regrowth of Vietnam's forests from 1987 to 2006. Approximately half of wood imports to Vietnam during this period were illegal. Leakage due to policies restricting forest exploitation and displacement due to growing domestic consumption and exports contributed respectively to an estimated 58% and 42% of total displacement. Exports of wood products from Vietnam also grew rapidly, amounting to 84% of the displacement, which is a remarkable feature of the forest transition in Vietnam. Attribution of the displacement and corresponding forest extraction to Vietnam, the source countries or the final consumers is thus debatable. Sixty-one percent of the regrowth in Vietnam was, thus, not associated with displacement abroad. Policies allocating credits to countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation should monitor illegal timber trade and take into account the policy-induced leakage of wood extraction to other countries.

Conservation Beyond Park Boundaries: The Impact of Buffer Zones on Deforestation and Mining Concessions in the Peruvian Amazon.

PubMed

Weisse, Mikaela J; Naughton-Treves, Lisa C

2016-08-01

Many researchers have tested whether protected areas save tropical forest, but generally focus on parks and reserves, management units that have internationally recognized standing and clear objectives. Buffer zones have received considerably less attention because of their ambiguous rules and often informal status. Although buffer zones are frequently dismissed as ineffective, they warrant attention given the need for landscape-level approaches to conservation and their prevalence around the world-in Peru, buffer zones cover >10 % of the country. This study examines the effectiveness of buffer zones in the Peruvian Amazon to (a) prevent deforestation and (b) limit the extent of mining concessions. We employ covariate matching to determine the impact of 13 buffer zones on deforestation and mining concessions from 2007 to 2012. Despite variation between sites, these 13 buffer zones have prevented ~320 km(2) of forest loss within their borders during the study period and ~1739 km(2) of mining concessions, an outcome associated with the special approval process for granting formal concessions in these areas. However, a closer look at the buffer zone around the Tambopata National Reserve reveals the difficulties of controlling illegal and informal activities. According to interviews with NGO employees, government officials, and community leaders, enforcement of conservation is limited by uncertain institutional responsibilities, inadequate budgets, and corruption, although formal and community-based efforts to block illicit mining are on the rise. Landscape-level conservation not only requires clear legal protocol for addressing large-scale, formal extractive activities, but there must also be strategies and coordination to combat illegal activities.

Conservation Beyond Park Boundaries: The Impact of Buffer Zones on Deforestation and Mining Concessions in the Peruvian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weisse, Mikaela J.; Naughton-Treves, Lisa C.

2016-08-01

Many researchers have tested whether protected areas save tropical forest, but generally focus on parks and reserves, management units that have internationally recognized standing and clear objectives. Buffer zones have received considerably less attention because of their ambiguous rules and often informal status. Although buffer zones are frequently dismissed as ineffective, they warrant attention given the need for landscape-level approaches to conservation and their prevalence around the world—in Peru, buffer zones cover >10 % of the country. This study examines the effectiveness of buffer zones in the Peruvian Amazon to (a) prevent deforestation and (b) limit the extent of mining concessions. We employ covariate matching to determine the impact of 13 buffer zones on deforestation and mining concessions from 2007 to 2012. Despite variation between sites, these 13 buffer zones have prevented ~320 km2 of forest loss within their borders during the study period and ~1739 km2 of mining concessions, an outcome associated with the special approval process for granting formal concessions in these areas. However, a closer look at the buffer zone around the Tambopata National Reserve reveals the difficulties of controlling illegal and informal activities. According to interviews with NGO employees, government officials, and community leaders, enforcement of conservation is limited by uncertain institutional responsibilities, inadequate budgets, and corruption, although formal and community-based efforts to block illicit mining are on the rise. Landscape-level conservation not only requires clear legal protocol for addressing large-scale, formal extractive activities, but there must also be strategies and coordination to combat illegal activities.

Using "Journeys in Film" to Bring Authentic STEM Activities to the K-12 Classroom.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rock, B. N.

2017-12-01

The "Journeys in Film" project brings important films and documentaries ("The Martian," "Hidden Figures," "River of Gold" and others) and curriculum-based, educational support activities to the classroom. Faculty from the University of New Hampshire, in partnership with selected local middle and high school teachers, developed a STEM Lesson Plan for Journeys in Film" focused on the soon-to-released documentary "River of Gold" which highlights tropical deforestation and illegal gold mining activities in the Peruvian jungles of the Amazon Basin. Using film clips (the Trailer) from the movie and the Lesson Plan, this approach allows pre-college students to learn how to use "Google Earth" to monitor chang-over-time and to quantify the areas of deforestation and mining using multi-date NOAA/USGS Landsat Thematic Mapper and ESA Copernicus satellite data. This approach will allow students to dconduct authentic hands-on science and mathematics to address a wide range of social and environmental issues associated with tropical deforestation in Peru.

Near Real-Time Monitoring of Forest Disturbance: A Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Approach and Assessment Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xiaojing

Fast and accurate monitoring of tropical forest disturbance is essential for understanding current patterns of deforestation as well as helping eliminate illegal logging. This dissertation explores the use of data from different satellites for near real-time monitoring of forest disturbance in tropical forests, including: development of new monitoring methods; development of new assessment methods; and assessment of the performance and operational readiness of existing methods. Current methods for accuracy assessment of remote sensing products do not address the priority of near real-time monitoring of detecting disturbance events as early as possible. I introduce a new assessment framework for near real-time products that focuses on the timing and the minimum detectable size of disturbance events. The new framework reveals the relationship between change detection accuracy and the time needed to identify events. In regions that are frequently cloudy, near real-time monitoring using data from a single sensor is difficult. This study extends the work by Xin et al. (2013) and develops a new time series method (Fusion2) based on fusion of Landsat and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. Results of three test sites in the Amazon Basin show that Fusion2 can detect 44.4% of the forest disturbance within 13 clear observations (82 days) after the initial disturbance. The smallest event detected by Fusion2 is 6.5 ha. Also, Fusion2 detects disturbance faster and has less commission error than more conventional methods. In a comparison of coarse resolution sensors, MODIS Terra and Aqua combined provides faster and more accurate detection of disturbance events than VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) and MODIS single sensor data. The performance of near real-time monitoring using VIIRS is slightly worse than MODIS Terra but significantly better than MODIS Aqua. New monitoring methods developed in this dissertation provide forest protection organizations the capacity to monitor illegal logging events promptly. In the future, combining two Landsat and two Sentinel-2 satellites will provide global coverage at 30 m resolution every 4 days, and routine monitoring may be possible at high resolution. The methods and assessment framework developed in this dissertation are adaptable to newly available datasets.

Public Open Access and Private Timber Harvests: Theory and Application to the Effects of Trade Liberalization in Mexico

Treesearch

Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2000-01-01

A common popular assertion is that trade liberalization encourages deforestation. But whether this is true depends on how trade policies affect the allocation of land among competing uses and how they influence illegal cutting of public forests. A model is presented that allows for forests to be either public or private, and public forests are divided into protected (...

Development of Early Warning System Using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 Data to Detect and Prevent Deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, M.; Nagatani, I.; Watanabe, T.; Tadono, T.; Miyoshi, H.; Watanabe, M.; Koyama, C.; Shimada, M.; Ogawa, T.; Ishii, K.; Higashiuwatoko, T.; Miura, M.; Okonogi, H.; Adachi, K.; Morita, T.

2017-12-01

Satellite observation is an efficient method for monitoring deforestation, and a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is useful especially in cloudy tropical forest regions. In this context, JICA and JAXA cooperate to operate the deforestation monitoring system acquired data by the Phased Array type L-band SAR-2 (PALSAR-2) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2), which is named as "JICA-JAXA Forest Early Warning System in the Tropics" (JJ-FAST), and it have been released on November 2016. JJ-FAST detects deforestation areas, and provides their positional information for 77 countries, which is covering almost all tropical forests. It uses PALSAR-2 ScanSAR observation mode (wide-observation swath width) image, which is 50 m spatial resolution acquired at 1.5 months interval. The dark change areas compared with in two acquisitions by PALSAR-2 HV-polarization images are identified as deforestations in the system. We conducted field surveys to validate detection accuracy of the JJ-FAST in Peru (November and December, 2016), Botswana (April, 2017), and Gabon (July, 2017). As the results, 15 of 18 detected areas were correct deforestation areas, therefore user's accuracy could be confirmed as 83.3 % from limited number of the validation data. Erroneous detection areas were caused by seasonal change in agricultural land and open burning in grass land. For improvement of the accuracy, such areas must be excluded from the analysis by additional algorithms e.g. estimation of accurate masking for non-forested areas. Therefore, we are revising the forest map used for pre-processing step in the system. The JJ-FAST can be expected to contribute to monitor and reduce illegal deforestation activities in tropical forests.

A generalized land-use scenario generator: a case study for the Congo basin.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caporaso, Luca; Tompkins, Adrian Mark; Biondi, Riccardo; Bell, Jean Pierre

2014-05-01

The impact of deforestation on climate is often studied using highly idealized "instant deforestation" experiments due to the lack of generalized deforestation scenario generators coupled to climate model land-surface schemes. A new deforestation scenario generator has been therefore developed to fulfill this role known as the deforestation ScenArio GEnerator, or FOREST-SAGE. The model produces distributed maps of deforestation rates that account for local factors such as proximity to transport networks, distance weighted population density, forest fragmentation and presence of protected areas and logging concessions. The integrated deforestation risk is scaled to give the deforestation rate as specified by macro-region scenarios such as "business as usual" or "increased protection legislation" which are a function of future time. FOREST-SAGE was initialized and validated using the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Field data. Despite the high cloud coverage of Congo Basin over the year, we were able to validate the results with high confidence from 2001 to 2010 in a large forested area. Furthermore a set of scenarios has been used to provide a range of possible pathways for the evolution of land-use change over the Congo Basin for the period 2010-2030.

Labeling wood: How timber certification may reduce deforestation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sugal, C.

1996-09-01

A series of landmark developments, including satellite photography revealing massive burning of the Amazon and scientific findings confirming a link between deforestation and climate change, has greatly heightened public awareness about the loss of tropical forests in the past decade. As a result, the international tropical timber trade has become a target of public campaigns to curb deforestation, the argument being that consumers can {open_quotes}save{close_quotes} the rainforest if they refuse to buy tropical timber products. However, there are other sides to this, and certification is not the complete answer. For example, logging constitutes only a small portion of deforestation inmore » the tropics, most of which is done for agricultural purposes. Fuel wood resources are not included, and other areas of the world are being deforested, so emphasis only on tropical areas creates concerns. This article considers the concerns of certification in depth.« less

Games of corruption: how to suppress illegal logging.

PubMed

Lee, Joung-Hun; Sigmund, Karl; Dieckmann, Ulf; Iwasa, Yoh

2015-02-21

Corruption is one of the most serious obstacles for ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. In particular, more than half of the loss of forested area in many tropical countries is due to illegal logging, with corruption implicated in a lack of enforcement. Here we study an evolutionary game model to analyze the illegal harvesting of forest trees, coupled with the corruption of rule enforcers. We consider several types of harvesters, who may or may not be committed towards supporting an enforcer service, and who may cooperate (log legally) or defect (log illegally). We also consider two types of rule enforcers, honest and corrupt: while honest enforcers fulfill their function, corrupt enforcers accept bribes from defecting harvesters and refrain from fining them. We report three key findings. First, in the absence of strategy exploration, the harvester-enforcer dynamics are bistable: one continuum of equilibria consists of defecting harvesters and a low fraction of honest enforcers, while another consists of cooperating harvesters and a high fraction of honest enforcers. Both continua attract nearby strategy mixtures. Second, even a small rate of strategy exploration removes this bistability, rendering one of the outcomes globally stable. It is the relative rate of exploration among enforcers that then determines whether most harvesters cooperate or defect and most enforcers are honest or corrupt, respectively. This suggests that the education of enforcers, causing their more frequent trialing of honest conduct, can be a potent means of curbing corruption. Third, if information on corrupt enforcers is available, and players react opportunistically to it, the domain of attraction of cooperative outcomes widens considerably. We conclude by discussing policy implications of our results. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring ecological impacts from logging in natural forests of the eastern Amazonia as a tool to assess forest degradation

Treesearch

Marco W Lentini; Johan C Zweede; Thomas P Holmes

2010-01-01

Sound forest management practices have been seen as an interesting strategy to ally forest conservation and rural economic development in Amazônia. However, the implementation of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) techniques in the field has been incipient, while most of the Amazonian timber production is generated through predatory and illegal logging. Despite several...

Spatially explicit estimates of forest carbon emissions, mitigation costs and REDD+ opportunities in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, Victoria; Laurance, Susan G.; Grech, Alana; Venter, Oscar

2017-04-01

Carbon emissions from the conversion and degradation of tropical forests contribute to anthropogenic climate change. Implementing programs to reduce emissions from tropical forest loss in Southeast Asia are perceived to be expensive due to high opportunity costs of avoided deforestation. However, these costs are not representative of all REDD+ opportunities as they are typically based on average costs across large land areas and are primarily for reducing deforestation from oil palm or pulp concessions. As mitigation costs and carbon benefits can vary according to site characteristics, spatially-explicit information should be used to assess cost-effectiveness and to guide the allocation of scarce REDD+ resources. We analyzed the cost-effectiveness of the following REDD+ strategies in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest sources of carbon emissions from deforestation: halting additional deforestation in protected areas, timber and oil palm concessions, reforesting degraded land and employing reduced-impact logging techniques in logging concessions. We discover that when spatial variation in costs and benefits is considered, low-cost options emerged even for the two most expensive strategies: protecting forests from conversion to oil palm and timber plantations. To achieve a low emissions reduction target of 25%, we suggest funding should target deforestation in protected areas, and oil palm and timber concessions to maximize emissions reductions at the lowest cumulative cost. Low-cost opportunities for reducing emissions from oil palm are where concessions have been granted on deep peat deposits or unproductive land. To achieve a high emissions reduction target of 75%, funding is allocated across all strategies, emphasizing that no single strategy can reduce emissions cost-effectively across all of Indonesia. These findings demonstrate that by using a spatially-targeted approach to identify high priority locations for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, REDD+ resources can be allocated cost-effectively across Indonesia.

Applying a systems approach to assess carbon emission reductions from climate change mitigation in Mexico’s forest sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olguin, Marcela; Wayson, Craig; Fellows, Max; Birdsey, Richard; Smyth, Carolyn E.; Magnan, Michael; Dugan, Alexa J.; Mascorro, Vanessa S.; Alanís, Armando; Serrano, Enrique; Kurz, Werner A.

2018-03-01

The Paris Agreement of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change calls for a balance of anthropogenic greenhouse emissions and removals in the latter part of this century. Mexico indicated in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution and its Climate Change Mid-Century Strategy that the land sector will contribute to meeting GHG emission reduction goals. Since 2012, the Mexican government through its National Forestry Commission, with international financial and technical support, has been developing carbon dynamics models to explore climate change mitigation options in the forest sector. Following a systems approach, here we assess the biophysical mitigation potential of forest ecosystems, harvested wood products and their substitution benefits (i.e. the change in emissions resulting from substitution of wood for more emissions-intensive products and fossil fuels), for policy alternatives considered by the Mexican government, such as a net zero deforestation rate and sustainable forest management. We used available analytical frameworks (Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector and a harvested wood products model), parameterized with local input data in two contrasting Mexican states. Using information from the National Forest Monitoring System (e.g. forest inventories, remote sensing, disturbance data), we demonstrate that activities aimed at reaching a net-zero deforestation rate can yield significant CO2e mitigation benefits by 2030 and 2050 relative to a baseline scenario (‘business as usual’), but if combined with increasing forest harvest to produce long-lived products and substitute more energy-intensive materials, emissions reductions could also provide other co-benefits (e.g. jobs, illegal logging reduction). We concluded that the relative impact of mitigation activities is locally dependent, suggesting that mitigation strategies should be designed and implemented at sub-national scales. We were also encouraged about the ability of the modeling framework to effectively use Mexico’s data, and showed the need to include multiple sectors and types of collaborators (scientific and policy-maker communities) to design more comprehensive portfolios for climate change mitigation.

Estimated carbon emission from recent rapid forest loss in Southeast Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, A.; Zeng, Z.; Peng, L.; Fei, S.

2017-12-01

Driven by agricultural expansion, industrial logging, oil palm and rubber plantations, and urbanization, Southeast Asia (SEA) is one of the hotspots for tropical deforestation over recent decades. The extent of the tropical SEA deforestation rate, as well as its impacts on carbon cycle and biodiversity, however, is still highly uncertain. In relevant work using high resolution global maps of the 21st-century forest cover, we find tropical SEA lost 22 million hectares, or 9%, of forest area during 2000-2014, a much higher deforestation rate than previously reported. Here we further conduct research investigating carbon emissions from tropical deforestation in SEA with satellite data of forest cover, a global tropical forest biomass map, and Earth system models. Preliminary results suggest that deforestation in SEA causes about 2.8 Tg C emissions to the atmosphere during the same period, also higher than that of previous studies. Meanwhile, carbon emission from deforestation shows high variations across different countries, topography and between the insular and maritime SEA. Indonesia and Malaysia tops in both total carbon loss and loss from per unit land area. Our results indicates that previous studies have underestimated the carbon loss due to deforestation in SEA. And until further effective forest conservation measures can be adopted, tropical SEA will continue playing a role of atmospheric carbon source in the coming decades.

Near Real Time Change-Point detection in Optical and Thermal Infrared Time Series Using Bayesian Inference over the Dry Chaco Forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barraza Bernadas, V.; Grings, F.; Roitberg, E.; Perna, P.; Karszenbaum, H.

2017-12-01

The Dry Chaco region (DCF) has the highest absolute deforestation rates of all Argentinian forests. The most recent report indicates a current deforestation rate of 200,000 Ha year-1. In order to better monitor this process, DCF was chosen to implement an early warning program for illegal deforestation. Although the area is intensively studied using medium resolution imagery (Landsat), the products obtained have a yearly pace and therefore unsuited for an early warning program. In this paper, we evaluated the performance of an online Bayesian change-point detection algorithm for MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) datasets. The goal was to to monitor the abrupt changes in vegetation dynamics associated with deforestation events. We tested this model by simulating 16-day EVI and 8-day LST time series with varying amounts of seasonality, noise, length of the time series and by adding abrupt changes with different magnitudes. This model was then tested on real satellite time series available through the Google Earth Engine, over a pilot area in DCF, where deforestation was common in the 2004-2016 period. A comparison with yearly benchmark products based on Landsat images is also presented (REDAF dataset). The results shows the advantages of using an automatic model to detect a changepoint in the time series than using only visual inspection techniques. Simulating time series with varying amounts of seasonality and noise, and by adding abrupt changes at different times and magnitudes, revealed that this model is robust against noise, and is not influenced by changes in amplitude of the seasonal component. Furthermore, the results compared favorably with REDAF dataset (near 65% of agreement). These results show the potential to combine LST and EVI to identify deforestation events. This work is being developed within the frame of the national Forest Law for the protection and sustainable development of Native Forest in Argentina in agreement with international legislation (REDD+).

The Use of DNA Barcoding in Identification and Conservation of Rosewood (Dalbergia spp.)

PubMed Central

Hartvig, Ida; Czako, Mihaly; Kjær, Erik Dahl; Nielsen, Lene Rostgaard; Theilade, Ida

2015-01-01

The genus Dalbergia contains many valuable timber species threatened by illegal logging and deforestation, but knowledge on distributions and threats is often limited and accurate species identification difficult. The aim of this study was to apply DNA barcoding methods to support conservation efforts of Dalbergia species in Indochina. We used the recommended rbcL, matK and ITS barcoding markers on 95 samples covering 31 species of Dalbergia, and tested their discrimination ability with both traditional distance-based as well as different model-based machine learning methods. We specifically tested whether the markers could be used to solve taxonomic confusion concerning the timber species Dalbergia oliveri, and to identify the CITES-listed Dalbergia cochinchinensis. We also applied the barcoding markers to 14 samples of unknown identity. In general, we found that the barcoding markers discriminated among Dalbergia species with high accuracy. We found that ITS yielded the single highest discrimination rate (100%), but due to difficulties in obtaining high-quality sequences from degraded material, the better overall choice for Dalbergia seems to be the standard rbcL+matK barcode, as this yielded discrimination rates close to 90% and amplified well. The distance-based method TaxonDNA showed the highest identification rates overall, although a more complete specimen sampling is needed to conclude on the best analytic method. We found strong support for a monophyletic Dalbergia oliveri and encourage that this name is used consistently in Indochina. The CITES-listed Dalbergia cochinchinensis was successfully identified, and a species-specific assay can be developed from the data generated in this study for the identification of illegally traded timber. We suggest that the use of DNA barcoding is integrated into the work flow during floristic studies and at national herbaria in the region, as this could significantly increase the number of identified specimens and improve knowledge about species distributions. PMID:26375850

Brazil's Cuiabá- Santarém (BR-163) Highway: the environmental cost of paving a soybean corridor through the Amazon.

PubMed

Fearnside, Philip M

2007-05-01

Brazil's Cuiabá-Santarém (BR-163) Highway provides a valuable example of ways in which decision-making procedures for infrastructure projects in tropical forest areas need to be reformulated in order to guarantee that environmental concerns are properly weighed. BR-163, which is slated to be paved as an export corridor for soybeans via the Amazon River, traverses an area that is largely outside of Brazilian government control. A climate of generalized lawlessness and impunity prevails, and matters related to environment and to land tenure are especially unregulated. Deforestation and illegal logging have accelerated in anticipation of highway paving. Paving would further speed forest loss in the area, as well as stimulate migration of land thieves (grileiros) to other frontiers. An argument is made that the highway should not be reconstructed and paved until after a state of law has been established and it has been independently certified that sufficient governance prevails to secure protected areas and enforce environmental legislation. A waiting period is needed after this is achieved before proceeding with the highway paving. Above all, the logical sequence of steps must be followed, whereby environmental costs are assessed, reported, and weighed prior to making de facto decisions on implementation of infrastructure projects. Deviation from this logical sequence is a common occurrence in many parts of the world, especially in tropical areas.

Gender, population and environment in the context of deforestation: a Malaysian case study.

PubMed

Heyzer, N

1995-01-01

This article is a case study of the impact of environmental changes on livelihood strategies among the Penan hunter and gatherer communities in the Limbang District of Sarawak, Malaysia. Environmental changes include government timber concessions to companies logging in the tropical rainforest and government policy shifts on land tenure and shifting cultivation. Increased logging has led to deforestation and water quality degradation, which led to declining fish stocks. Logging occurred with a lack of implementation of protective forest policy and regulations. The government blamed shifting cultivation for deforestation. The government continues to pressure nomadic indigenous and largely illiterate people to settle, maintain herds, and cultivate cash crops. Shifting cultivation was outlawed. Livelihood systems in the study area varied in their vulnerability, and people varied in their social adjustment to change. Perceptions of change varied among the upstream and downstream communities and by gender. The Penan communities continue to depend upon increasingly scarce or degraded resources. Poor health and malnutrition are the outcome of a decline in their traditional systems of livelihood. Both men and women have been equally affected by the environmental changes. In upstream communities men have adapted by collecting and selling forest rattan. Women generate income by making baskets that are sold by men in the market. The demand for children has changed. Women desire more children as social insurance that some will adopt the indigenous life style rather than the modern one. The government cut off mobile family planning services due to the Penan protests against loggers. The mid-stream communities were less vulnerable to the environmental changes. For all communities, gender relations were an important factor in understanding community responses to a declining resource base.

Aboveground Biomass Variability Across Intact and Degraded Forests in the Brazilian Amazon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Longo, Marcos; Keller, Michael; Dos-Santos, Maiza N.; Leitold, Veronika; Pinage, Ekena R.; Baccini, Alessandro; Saatchi, Sassan; Nogueira, Euler M.; Batistella, Mateus; Morton, Douglas C.

2016-01-01

Deforestation rates have declined in the Brazilian Amazon since 2005, yet degradation from logging, re, and fragmentation has continued in frontier forests. In this study we quantified the aboveground carbon density (ACD) in intact and degraded forests using the largest data set of integrated forest inventory plots (n 359) and airborne lidar data (18,000 ha) assembled to date for the Brazilian Amazon. We developed statistical models relating inventory ACD estimates to lidar metrics that explained70 of the variance across forest types. Airborne lidar-ACD estimates for intact forests ranged between 5.0 +/- 2.5 and 31.9 +/- 10.8 kg C m(exp -2). Degradation carbon losses were large and persistent. Sites that burned multiple times within a decade lost up to 15.0 +/- 0.7 kg C m(-2)(94%) of ACD. Forests that burned nearly15 years ago had between 4.1 +/- 0.5 and 6.8 +/- 0.3 kg C m(exp -2) (22-40%) less ACD than intact forests. Even for low-impact logging disturbances, ACD was between 0.7 +/- 0.3 and 4.4 +/- 0.4 kg C m(exp -2)(4-21%) lower than unlogged forests. Comparing biomass estimates from airborne lidar to existing biomass maps, we found that regional and pan-tropical products consistently overestimated ACD in degraded forests, under-estimated ACD in intact forests, and showed little sensitivity to res and logging. Fine-scale heterogeneity in ACD across intact and degraded forests highlights the benefits of airborne lidar for carbon mapping. Differences between airborne lidar and regional biomass maps underscore the need to improve and update biomass estimates for dynamic land use frontiers, to better characterize deforestation and degradation carbon emissions for regional carbon budgets and Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation(REDD+).

75 FR 28063 - M & N Distributors; Dismissal of Proceeding

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-19

... Respondent could improve the legibility of his records by either ``typing or carefully handwriting the logs... the originals are illegible. Second, the legibility of a person's handwriting is like beauty--it is in...

Influence of logging on the effects of wildfire in Siberia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kukavskaya, E. A.; Buryak, L. V.; Ivanova, G. A.; Conard, S. G.; Kalenskaya, O. P.; Zhila, S. V.; McRae, D. J.

2013-12-01

The Russian boreal zone supports a huge terrestrial carbon pool. Moreover, it is a tremendous reservoir of wood products concentrated mainly in Siberia. The main natural disturbance in these forests is wildfire, which modifies the carbon budget and has potentially important climate feedbacks. In addition, both legal and illegal logging increase landscape complexity and affect burning conditions and fuel consumption. We investigated 100 individual sites with different histories of logging and fire on a total of 23 study areas in three different regions of Siberia to evaluate the impacts of fire and logging on fuel loads, carbon emissions, and tree regeneration in pine and larch forests. We found large variations of fire and logging effects among regions depending on growing conditions and type of logging activity. Logged areas in the Angara region had the highest surface and ground fuel loads (up to 135 t ha-1), mainly due to logging debris. This resulted in high carbon emissions where fires occurred on logged sites (up to 41 tC ha-1). The Shushenskoe/Minusinsk and Zabaikal regions are characterized by better slash removal and a smaller amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere during fires. Illegal logging, which is widespread in the Zabaikal region, resulted in an increase in fire hazard and higher carbon emissions than legal logging. The highest fuel loads (on average 108 t ha-1) and carbon emissions (18-28 tC ha-1) in the Zabaikal region are on repeatedly burned unlogged sites where trees fell on the ground following the first fire event. Partial logging in the Shushenskoe/Minusinsk region has insufficient impact on stand density, tree mortality, and other forest conditions to substantially increase fire hazard or affect carbon stocks. Repeated fires on logged sites resulted in insufficient tree regeneration and transformation of forest to grasslands. We conclude that negative impacts of fire and logging on air quality, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem sustainability could be decreased by better slash removal in the Angara region, removal of trees killed by fire in the Zabaikal region, and tree planting after fires in drier conditions where natural regeneration is hampered by soil overheating and grass proliferation.

Deforestation and threats to the biodiversity of Amazonia.

PubMed

Vieira, I C G; Toledo, P M; Silva, J M C; Higuchi, H

2008-11-01

This is a review of the main factors currently perceived as threats to the biodiversity of Amazonia. Deforestation and the expansion of the agricultural frontier go hand in hand within the context of occupation and land use in the region, followed by a hasty process of industrialization since the 1950s and, more recently, by a nation-wide attempt to adapt Brazil to economic globalization. Intensive agriculture and cattle-raising, lack of territorial planning, the monoculture of certain crops often promoted by official agencies, and the introduction of exotic species by cultivation are some of the factors affecting Amazonian biodiversity. There are still large gaps in knowledge that need to be dealt with for a better understanding of the local ecosystems so as to allow their preservation, but such investigation is subjected to manifold hindrances by misinformation, disinformation and sheer ignorance from the legal authorities and influential media. Data available for select groups of organisms indicate that the magnitude of the loss and waste of natural resources associated with deforestation is staggering, with estimated numbers of lost birds and primates being over ten times that of such animals illegally commercialized around the world in one year. The challenges to be met for an eventual reversal of this situation demand more systematic and concerted studies, the consolidation of new and existing research groups, and a call for a halt to activities depleting the Amazonian rainforest.

Impacts of forest and land management on biodiversity and carbon

Treesearch

Valerie Kapos; Werner A. Kurz; Toby Gardner; Joice Ferreira; Manuel Guariguata; Lian Pin Koh; Stephanie Mansourian; John A. Parrotta; Nokea Sasaki; Christine B. Schmitt; Jos Barlow; Markku Kanninen; Kimiko Okabe; Yude Pan; Ian D. Thompson; Nathalie van Vliet

2012-01-01

Changes in the management of forest and non-forest land can contribute significantly to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Such changes can include both forest management actions - such as improving the protection and restoration of existing forests, introducing ecologically responsible logging practices and regenerating forest on degraded...

The effect of habitat disturbance on the abundance of nocturnal lemur species on the Masoala Peninsula, northeastern Madagascar.

PubMed

Sawyer, Rachel Mary; Fenosoa, Zo Samuel Ella; Andrianarimisa, Aristide; Donati, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

Madagascar is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. The island's past and current rates of deforestation and habitat disturbance threaten its plethora of endemic biodiversity. On Madagascar, tavy (slash and burn agriculture), land conversion for rice cultivation, illegal hardwood logging and bushmeat hunting are the major contributors to habitat disturbance. Understanding species-specific responses to habitat disturbance across different habitat types is crucial when designing conservation strategies. We surveyed three nocturnal lemur species in four forest types of varying habitat disturbance on the Masoala Peninsula, northeastern Madagascar. We present here updated abundance and density estimates for the Endangered Avahi mooreorum and Lepilemur scottorum, and Microcebus sp. Distance sampling surveys were conducted on 11 transects, covering a total of 33 km after repeated transect walks. We collected data on tree height, bole height, diameter at breast height, canopy cover and tree density using point-quarter sampling to characterise the four forest types (primary lowland, primary littoral, selectively logged and agricultural mosaic). Median encounter rates by forest type ranged from 1 to 1.5 individuals (ind.)/km (Microcebus sp.), 0-1 ind./km (A. mooreorum) and 0-1 ind./km (L. scottorum). Species density estimates were calculated at 232.31 ind./km 2 (Microcebus sp.) and 121.21 ind./km 2 (A. mooreorum), while no density estimate is provided for L. scottorum due to a small sample size. Microcebus sp. was most tolerant to habitat disturbance, exhibiting no significant effect of forest type on abundance. Its small body size, omnivorous diet and generalised locomotion appear to allow it to tolerate a variety of habitat disturbance. Both A. mooreorum and L. scottorum showed significant effects of forest type on their respective abundance. This study suggests that the specialist locomotion and diet of A. mooreorum and L. scottorum make them susceptible to the effects of increasing habitat disturbance.

The Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia: Analyzing Regional Land Use Change Effects.

Treesearch

Michael Keller; Maria Assunção Silva-Dias; Daniel C. Nepstad; Meinrat O. Andreae

2004-01-01

The Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multi-disciplinary, multinational scientific project led by Brazil. LBA researchers seek to understand Amazonia in its global context especially with regard to regional and global climate. Current development activities in Amazonia including deforestation, logging, cattle ranching, and agriculture...

Spatial Pattern of Standing Timber Value across the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Sadia E.; Ewers, Robert M.

2012-01-01

The Amazon is a globally important system, providing a host of ecosystem services from climate regulation to food sources. It is also home to a quarter of all global diversity. Large swathes of forest are removed each year, and many models have attempted to predict the spatial patterns of this forest loss. The spatial patterns of deforestation are determined largely by the patterns of roads that open access to frontier areas and expansion of the road network in the Amazon is largely determined by profit seeking logging activities. Here we present predictions for the spatial distribution of standing value of timber across the Amazon. We show that the patterns of timber value reflect large-scale ecological gradients, determining the spatial distribution of functional traits of trees which are, in turn, correlated with timber values. We expect that understanding the spatial patterns of timber value across the Amazon will aid predictions of logging movements and thus predictions of potential future road developments. These predictions in turn will be of great use in estimating the spatial patterns of deforestation in this globally important biome. PMID:22590520

Protecting tropical forests from the rapid expansion of rubber using carbon payments.

PubMed

Warren-Thomas, Eleanor M; Edwards, David P; Bebber, Daniel P; Chhang, Phourin; Diment, Alex N; Evans, Tom D; Lambrick, Frances H; Maxwell, James F; Nut, Menghor; O'Kelly, Hannah J; Theilade, Ida; Dolman, Paul M

2018-03-02

Expansion of Hevea brasiliensis rubber plantations is a resurgent driver of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian rubber extent is massive, equivalent to 67% of oil palm, with rapid further expansion predicted. Results-based carbon finance could dis-incentivise forest conversion to rubber, but efficacy will be limited unless payments match, or at least approach, the costs of avoided deforestation. These include opportunity costs (timber and rubber profits), plus carbon finance scheme setup (transaction) and implementation costs. Using comprehensive Cambodian forest data, exploring scenarios of selective logging and conversion, and assuming land-use choice is based on net present value, we find that carbon prices of $30-$51 per tCO 2 are needed to break even against costs, higher than those currently paid on carbon markets or through carbon funds. To defend forests from rubber, either carbon prices must be increased, or other strategies are needed, such as corporate zero-deforestation pledges, and governmental regulation and enforcement of forest protection.

Towards a geospatial wikipedia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritz, S.; McCallum, I.; Schill, C.; Perger, C.; Kraxner, F.; Obersteiner, M.

2009-04-01

Based on the Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) platform we have developed a geospatial Wikipedia (geo-wiki.org). The tool allows everybody in the world to contribute to spatial validation and is made available to the internet community interested in that task. We illustrate how this tool can be used for different applications. In our first application we combine uncertainty hotspot information from three global land cover datasets (GLC, MODIS, GlobCover). With an ever increasing amount of high resolution images available on Google Earth, it is becoming increasingly possible to distinguish land cover features with a high degree of accuracy. We first direct the land cover validation community to certain hotspots of land cover uncertainty and then ask them to fill in a small popup menu on type of land cover, possibly a picture at that location with the different cardinal points as well as date and what type of validation was chosen (google earth imagery/panoramio or if the person has ground truth data). We have implemented the tool via a land cover validation community at FACEBOOK which is based on a snowball system which allows the tracking of individuals and the possibility to ignore users which misuse the system. In a second application we illustrate how the tool could possibly be used for mapping malaria occurrence and small water bodies as well as overall malaria risk. For this application we have implemented a polygon as well as attribute function using Google maps as along with virtual earth using openlayers. The third application deals with illegal logging and how an alert system for illegal logging detection within a certain land tenure system could be implemented. Here we show how the tool can be used to document illegal logging via a YouTube video.

A large-scale field assessment of carbon stocks in human-modified tropical forests.

PubMed

Berenguer, Erika; Ferreira, Joice; Gardner, Toby Alan; Aragão, Luiz Eduardo Oliveira Cruz; De Camargo, Plínio Barbosa; Cerri, Carlos Eduardo; Durigan, Mariana; Cosme De Oliveira Junior, Raimundo; Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães; Barlow, Jos

2014-12-01

Tropical rainforests store enormous amounts of carbon, the protection of which represents a vital component of efforts to mitigate global climate change. Currently, tropical forest conservation, science, policies, and climate mitigation actions focus predominantly on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation alone. However, every year vast areas of the humid tropics are disturbed by selective logging, understory fires, and habitat fragmentation. There is an urgent need to understand the effect of such disturbances on carbon stocks, and how stocks in disturbed forests compare to those found in undisturbed primary forests as well as in regenerating secondary forests. Here, we present the results of the largest field study to date on the impacts of human disturbances on above and belowground carbon stocks in tropical forests. Live vegetation, the largest carbon pool, was extremely sensitive to disturbance: forests that experienced both selective logging and understory fires stored, on average, 40% less aboveground carbon than undisturbed forests and were structurally similar to secondary forests. Edge effects also played an important role in explaining variability in aboveground carbon stocks of disturbed forests. Results indicate a potential rapid recovery of the dead wood and litter carbon pools, while soil stocks (0-30 cm) appeared to be resistant to the effects of logging and fire. Carbon loss and subsequent emissions due to human disturbances remain largely unaccounted for in greenhouse gas inventories, but by comparing our estimates of depleted carbon stocks in disturbed forests with Brazilian government assessments of the total forest area annually disturbed in the Amazon, we show that these emissions could represent up to 40% of the carbon loss from deforestation in the region. We conclude that conservation programs aiming to ensure the long-term permanence of forest carbon stocks, such as REDD+, will remain limited in their success unless they effectively avoid degradation as well as deforestation. © 2014 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Quantifying long-term changes in carbon stocks and forest structure from Amazon forest degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rappaport, Danielle I.; Morton, Douglas C.; Longo, Marcos; Keller, Michael; Dubayah, Ralph; Nara dos-Santos, Maiza

2018-06-01

Despite sustained declines in Amazon deforestation, forest degradation from logging and fire continues to threaten carbon stocks, habitat, and biodiversity in frontier forests along the Amazon arc of deforestation. Limited data on the magnitude of carbon losses and rates of carbon recovery following forest degradation have hindered carbon accounting efforts and contributed to incomplete national reporting to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). We combined annual time series of Landsat imagery and high-density airborne lidar data to characterize the variability, magnitude, and persistence of Amazon forest degradation impacts on aboveground carbon density (ACD) and canopy structure. On average, degraded forests contained 45.1% of the carbon stocks in intact forests, and differences persisted even after 15 years of regrowth. In comparison to logging, understory fires resulted in the largest and longest-lasting differences in ACD. Heterogeneity in burned forest structure varied by fire severity and frequency. Forests with a history of one, two, and three or more fires retained only 54.4%, 25.2%, and 7.6% of intact ACD, respectively, when measured after a year of regrowth. Unlike the additive impact of successive fires, selective logging before burning did not explain additional variability in modeled ACD loss and recovery of burned forests. Airborne lidar also provides quantitative measures of habitat structure that can aid the estimation of co-benefits of avoided degradation. Notably, forest carbon stocks recovered faster than attributes of canopy structure that are critical for biodiversity in tropical forests, including the abundance of tall trees. We provide the first comprehensive look-up table of emissions factors for specific degradation pathways at standard reporting intervals in the Amazon. Estimated carbon loss and recovery trajectories provide an important foundation for assessing the long-term contributions from forest degradation to regional carbon cycling and advance our understanding of the current state of frontier forests.

Juvenile Resilience and Adult Longevity Explain Residual Populations of the Andean Wax Palm Ceroxylon quindiuense after Deforestation

PubMed Central

Sanín, María José; Anthelme, Fabien; Pintaud, Jean-Christophe; Galeano, Gloria; Bernal, Rodrigo

2013-01-01

Wax palms are an important element of the cloud forests in the tropical Andes. Despite heavy deforestation, the density of adults seems to be similar in deforested pastures as in forests. We aimed to infer the mechanisms responsible for this apparent resilience in pastures and we tested two hypotheses to explain it: 1) adult palms survived in pastures because they were spared from logging, and 2) adults occurred in pastures through the resilience of large juvenile rosettes, which survived through subterranean meristems and later developed into adults. For this purpose, we characterized the demographic structure of C. quindiuense in a total of 122 plots of 400 m2 in forests and pastures at two sites with contrasted land use histories in Colombia and Peru. Additionally, we implemented growth models that allowed us to estimate the age of individuals at four sites. These data were combined with information collected from local land managers in order to complete our knowledge on the land use history at each site. At two sites, the presence of old individuals up to 169 years and a wide age range evidenced that, at least, a portion of current adults in pastures were spared from logging at the time of deforestation. However, at the two other sites, the absence of older adults in pastures and the narrow age range of the populations indicated that individuals came exclusively from rosette resilience. These interpretations were consistent with the land use history of sites. In consequence, the combination of the two hypotheses (spared individuals and rosette resilience) explained patterns of C. quindiuense in pastures on a regional scale. Regeneration through subterranean meristems in palms is an important, yet overlooked mechanism of resilience, which occurs in a number of palm species and deserves being integrated in the conceptual framework of disturbance ecology. PMID:24194823

The design and implementation of web mining in web sites security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jian; Zhang, Guo-Yin; Gu, Guo-Chang; Li, Jian-Li

2003-06-01

The backdoor or information leak of Web servers can be detected by using Web Mining techniques on some abnormal Web log and Web application log data. The security of Web servers can be enhanced and the damage of illegal access can be avoided. Firstly, the system for discovering the patterns of information leakages in CGI scripts from Web log data was proposed. Secondly, those patterns for system administrators to modify their codes and enhance their Web site security were provided. The following aspects were described: one is to combine web application log with web log to extract more information, so web data mining could be used to mine web log for discovering the information that firewall and Information Detection System cannot find. Another approach is to propose an operation module of web site to enhance Web site security. In cluster server session, Density-Based Clustering technique is used to reduce resource cost and obtain better efficiency.

Remote sensing application challenges in the Mekong region

Treesearch

Jeffrey Himel

2013-01-01

Forest degradation is not just one of the cornerstones of "REDD+", it is a critical element for Lao PDR and other countries where the primary driver of forest carbon loss is selective logging and small-scale conversion of forest for agriculture rather than deforestation. Unless we can reliably and accurately quantify the area of degradation using remote...

Mapping dynamics of deforestation and forest degradation in tropical forests using radar satellite data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Neha; Mitchard, Edward TA; Woo, Natalia; Torres, Jorge; Moll-Rocek, Julian; Ehammer, Andrea; Collins, Murray; Jepsen, Martin R.; Fensholt, Rasmus

2015-03-01

Mapping anthropogenic forest disturbances has largely been focused on distinct delineations of events of deforestation using optical satellite images. In the tropics, frequent cloud cover and the challenge of quantifying forest degradation remain problematic. In this study, we detect processes of deforestation, forest degradation and successional dynamics, using long-wavelength radar (L-band from ALOS PALSAR) backscatter. We present a detection algorithm that allows for repeated disturbances on the same land, and identifies areas with slow- and fast-recovering changes in backscatter in close spatial and temporal proximity. In the study area in Madre de Dios, Peru, 2.3% of land was found to be disturbed over three years, with a false positive rate of 0.3% of area. A low, but significant, detection rate of degradation from sparse and small-scale selective logging was achieved. Disturbances were most common along the tri-national Interoceanic Highway, as well as in mining areas and areas under no land use allocation. A continuous spatial gradient of disturbance was observed, highlighting artefacts arising from imposing discrete boundaries on deforestation events. The magnitude of initial radar backscatter, and backscatter decrease, suggested that large-scale deforestation was likely in areas with initially low biomass, either naturally or since already under anthropogenic use. Further, backscatter increases following disturbance suggested that radar can be used to characterize successional disturbance dynamics, such as biomass accumulation in lands post-abandonment. The presented radar-based detection algorithm is spatially and temporally scalable, and can support monitoring degradation and deforestation in tropical rainforests with the use of products from ALOS-2 and the future SAOCOM and BIOMASS missions.

JPRS Report Environmental Issues.

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-02

Program Views Environmental Effects [0 GLOBO 30 Sep] ............................. 31 Environmental Affairs Institute Fines Illegal Amazon Lumber...ERICA 12 Oct] .................................................................................................. 33 PERU Court Nullifies Soviet Fishing...34. He said loss of forests in Burma remains at only 0.3 He disputed reports that logs are being cut down ran- percent of forest cover per year, or

Aboveground biomass variability across intact and degraded forests in the Brazilian Amazon

Treesearch

Marcos Longo; Michael Keller; Maiza N. dos-Santos; Veronika Leitold; Ekena R. Pinagé; Alessandro Baccini; Sassan Saatchi; Euler M. Nogueira; Mateus Batistella; Douglas C. Morton

2016-01-01

Deforestation rates have declined in the Brazilian Amazon since 2005, yet degradation from logging, fire, and fragmentation has continued in frontier forests. In this study we quantified the aboveground carbon density (ACD) in intact and degraded forests using the largest data set of integrated forest inventory plots (n = 359) and airborne lidar data (18,000 ha)...

Assessing forest degradation in Guyana with GeoEye, Quickbird and Landsat

Treesearch

Bobby Braswell; Steve Hagen; William Salas; Michael Palace; Sandra Brown; Felipe Casarim; Nancy Harris

2013-01-01

Forest degradation is defined as a change in forest quality and condition (e.g. reduction in biomass), while deforestation is a change in forest area. This pilot study evaluated several image processing approaches to map degradation and estimate carbon removals from logging. From the Joint Concept Note on REDD+ cooperation between Guyana and Norway carbon loss as...

Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in Tropical Lowland Dipterocarp Rainforests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

PubMed Central

Saner, Philippe; Loh, Yen Yee; Ong, Robert C.; Hector, Andy

2012-01-01

Deforestation in the tropics is an important source of carbon C release to the atmosphere. To provide a sound scientific base for efforts taken to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) good estimates of C stocks and fluxes are important. We present components of the C balance for selectively logged lowland tropical dipterocarp rainforest in the Malua Forest Reserve of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Total organic C in this area was 167.9 Mg C ha−1±3.8 (SD), including: Total aboveground (TAGC: 55%; 91.9 Mg C ha−1±2.9 SEM) and belowground carbon in trees (TBGC: 10%; 16.5 Mg C ha−1±0.5 SEM), deadwood (8%; 13.2 Mg C ha−1±3.5 SEM) and soil organic matter (SOM: 24%; 39.6 Mg C ha−1±0.9 SEM), understory vegetation (3%; 5.1 Mg C ha−1±1.7 SEM), standing litter (<1%; 0.7 Mg C ha−1±0.1 SEM) and fine root biomass (<1%; 0.9 Mg C ha−1±0.1 SEM). Fluxes included litterfall, a proxy for leaf net primary productivity (4.9 Mg C ha−1 yr−1±0.1 SEM), and soil respiration, a measure for heterotrophic ecosystem respiration (28.6 Mg C ha−1 yr−1±1.2 SEM). The missing estimates necessary to close the C balance are wood net primary productivity and autotrophic respiration. Twenty-two years after logging TAGC stocks were 28% lower compared to unlogged forest (128 Mg C ha−1±13.4 SEM); a combined weighted average mean reduction due to selective logging of −57.8 Mg C ha−1 (with 95% CI −75.5 to −40.2). Based on the findings we conclude that selective logging decreased the dipterocarp stock by 55–66%. Silvicultural treatments may have the potential to accelerate the recovery of dipterocarp C stocks to pre-logging levels. PMID:22235319

Implications of changing national policies on land use in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

PubMed

Thapa, Gopal B; Rasul, Golam

2006-12-01

Land use in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh had undergone changes over the past several centuries. The landscape, which was mostly covered with forest with interspersed shifting cultivation plots until the beginning of the colonial period, has gradually changed into a landscape with a blend of land uses. Overall, the forest area has gradually declined, while the area under shifting cultivation and sedentary agriculture has expanded. The process of the change was multi-directional. National forestry, land use, land taxation, population migration policies, and development activities, such as construction of a hydroelectric dam and roads, played an important role in this process. Shifting cultivation had inflicted little damage on the forest until the beginning of the colonial period. The pace of deforestation accelerated with the nationalization of forests which abolished tribal people's customary use and management rights to the forest, and allowed large-scale commercial logging both legally and illegally. The pace was further intensified by the policy encouraging population migration to CHT and construction of a reservoir on the Karnafuli River. Efforts were made to replace shifting cultivation with more productive types of sedentary agriculture. However, much change could not take place in the absence of secure land rights, supportive trade policies, and the required support services and facilities, including infrastructure. Locationally suitable land use evolved in areas where transportation facilities were available and farmers were granted land title with the necessary extension services and credit facilities. These findings have important policy implications for the promotion of environmentally and economically sound land use in CHT.

Potential trajectories of the upcoming forest trading mechanism in Pará State, Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

In 2012, the Brazilian government revised the federal Forest Code that governs the use of forest resources on rural properties. The revisions included a forest trading mechanism whereby landowners who deforested more than what is legally allowed before 2008 could absolve their deforestation “debts” by purchasing Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA) from landowners who conserved more forest than legally required. CRA holds promise as a tool to complement command-and-control initiatives to reduce deforestation and incentivize restoration. However, the success of this instrument depends on how its implementation is governed. This study builds on a few recent assessments of the potential of the CRA in Brazil–but that are focused on biophysical potential–by assessing how a few key implementation decisions may influence the CRA market development. Specifically, this study estimates how decisions on who can participate will likely influence the potential forest surplus and forest debt for the CRA market, and takes into account governance characteristics relevant to the State of Pará, eastern Amazonia. In particular, the study evaluates the effects in the CRA market eligibility after simulating a validation of properties in the environmental rural registry (CAR) and assessing different scenarios surrounding land tenure status of properties. Results show how regulatory decisions on CRA market eligibility will determine the extent to which CRA will serve as a tool to support forest conservation or as a low-cost path to help illegal deforesters to comply with legislation, but with limited additional environmental benefits. The study reviews regulatory options that would reduce the risk of forest oversupply, and thereby increase the additionality of the areas eligible for CRA. Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of including governance as well as biophysical characteristics in assessing the potential of forest trading tools to deliver additional environmental conservation and restoration benefits. PMID:28379984

Potential trajectories of the upcoming forest trading mechanism in Pará State, Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Brito, Brenda

2017-01-01

In 2012, the Brazilian government revised the federal Forest Code that governs the use of forest resources on rural properties. The revisions included a forest trading mechanism whereby landowners who deforested more than what is legally allowed before 2008 could absolve their deforestation "debts" by purchasing Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA) from landowners who conserved more forest than legally required. CRA holds promise as a tool to complement command-and-control initiatives to reduce deforestation and incentivize restoration. However, the success of this instrument depends on how its implementation is governed. This study builds on a few recent assessments of the potential of the CRA in Brazil-but that are focused on biophysical potential-by assessing how a few key implementation decisions may influence the CRA market development. Specifically, this study estimates how decisions on who can participate will likely influence the potential forest surplus and forest debt for the CRA market, and takes into account governance characteristics relevant to the State of Pará, eastern Amazonia. In particular, the study evaluates the effects in the CRA market eligibility after simulating a validation of properties in the environmental rural registry (CAR) and assessing different scenarios surrounding land tenure status of properties. Results show how regulatory decisions on CRA market eligibility will determine the extent to which CRA will serve as a tool to support forest conservation or as a low-cost path to help illegal deforesters to comply with legislation, but with limited additional environmental benefits. The study reviews regulatory options that would reduce the risk of forest oversupply, and thereby increase the additionality of the areas eligible for CRA. Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of including governance as well as biophysical characteristics in assessing the potential of forest trading tools to deliver additional environmental conservation and restoration benefits.

Committed carbon emissions, deforestation, and community land conversion from oil palm plantation expansion in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

PubMed

Carlson, Kimberly M; Curran, Lisa M; Ratnasari, Dessy; Pittman, Alice M; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S; Asner, Gregory P; Trigg, Simon N; Gaveau, David A; Lawrence, Deborah; Rodrigues, Hermann O

2012-05-08

Industrial agricultural plantations are a rapidly increasing yet largely unmeasured source of tropical land cover change. Here, we evaluate impacts of oil palm plantation development on land cover, carbon flux, and agrarian community lands in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. With a spatially explicit land change/carbon bookkeeping model, parameterized using high-resolution satellite time series and informed by socioeconomic surveys, we assess previous and project future plantation expansion under five scenarios. Although fire was the primary proximate cause of 1989-2008 deforestation (93%) and net carbon emissions (69%), by 2007-2008, oil palm directly caused 27% of total and 40% of peatland deforestation. Plantation land sources exhibited distinctive temporal dynamics, comprising 81% forests on mineral soils (1994-2001), shifting to 69% peatlands (2008-2011). Plantation leases reveal vast development potential. In 2008, leases spanned ∼65% of the region, including 62% on peatlands and 59% of community-managed lands, yet <10% of lease area was planted. Projecting business as usual (BAU), by 2020 ∼40% of regional and 35% of community lands are cleared for oil palm, generating 26% of net carbon emissions. Intact forest cover declines to 4%, and the proportion of emissions sourced from peatlands increases 38%. Prohibiting intact and logged forest and peatland conversion to oil palm reduces emissions only 4% below BAU, because of continued uncontrolled fire. Protecting logged forests achieves greater carbon emissions reductions (21%) than protecting intact forests alone (9%) and is critical for mitigating carbon emissions. Extensive allocated leases constrain land management options, requiring trade-offs among oil palm production, carbon emissions mitigation, and maintaining community landholdings.

Committed carbon emissions, deforestation, and community land conversion from oil palm plantation expansion in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

PubMed Central

Carlson, Kimberly M.; Curran, Lisa M.; Ratnasari, Dessy; Pittman, Alice M.; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S.; Asner, Gregory P.; Trigg, Simon N.; Gaveau, David A.; Lawrence, Deborah; Rodrigues, Hermann O.

2012-01-01

Industrial agricultural plantations are a rapidly increasing yet largely unmeasured source of tropical land cover change. Here, we evaluate impacts of oil palm plantation development on land cover, carbon flux, and agrarian community lands in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. With a spatially explicit land change/carbon bookkeeping model, parameterized using high-resolution satellite time series and informed by socioeconomic surveys, we assess previous and project future plantation expansion under five scenarios. Although fire was the primary proximate cause of 1989–2008 deforestation (93%) and net carbon emissions (69%), by 2007–2008, oil palm directly caused 27% of total and 40% of peatland deforestation. Plantation land sources exhibited distinctive temporal dynamics, comprising 81% forests on mineral soils (1994–2001), shifting to 69% peatlands (2008–2011). Plantation leases reveal vast development potential. In 2008, leases spanned ∼65% of the region, including 62% on peatlands and 59% of community-managed lands, yet <10% of lease area was planted. Projecting business as usual (BAU), by 2020 ∼40% of regional and 35% of community lands are cleared for oil palm, generating 26% of net carbon emissions. Intact forest cover declines to 4%, and the proportion of emissions sourced from peatlands increases 38%. Prohibiting intact and logged forest and peatland conversion to oil palm reduces emissions only 4% below BAU, because of continued uncontrolled fire. Protecting logged forests achieves greater carbon emissions reductions (21%) than protecting intact forests alone (9%) and is critical for mitigating carbon emissions. Extensive allocated leases constrain land management options, requiring trade-offs among oil palm production, carbon emissions mitigation, and maintaining community landholdings. PMID:22523241

Lidar-based multinomial classification algorithms for tropical forest degradation status: Implications for biomass estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffy, P.; Keller, M.; Longo, M.; Morton, D. C.; dos-Santos, M. N.; Pinagé, E. R.

2017-12-01

There is an urgent need to quantify the effects of land use and land cover change on carbon stocks in tropical forests to support REDD+ policies and improve characterization of global carbon budgets. This need is underscored by the fact that the variability in forest biomass estimates from global forest carbon maps is artificially low relative to estimates generated from forest inventory and high-resolution airborne lidar data. Both deforestation and degradation processes (e.g. logging, fire, and fragmentation) affect carbon fluxes at varying spatial and temporal scales. While the spatial extent and impact of deforestation has been relatively well characterized, the quantification of degradation processes is still poorly constrained. In the Brazilian Amazon, the largest source of uncertainty in CO2 emissions estimates is data on changes in tropical forest carbon stocks through time, followed closely by incomplete information on the carbon losses from forest degradation. In this work, we present a method for classifying the degradation status of tropical forests using higher order moments (skewness and kurtosis) of lidar return distributions aggregated at grids with resolution ranging from 50 m to 250 m. Across multiple spatial resolutions, we quantify the strength of the functional relationship between the lidar returns and the classification based on historical time series of Landsat imagery. Our results show that the higher order moments of the lidar return distributions provide sufficient information to build multinomial models that accurately classify the landscape into intact, logged, and burned forests. Model fit improved with coarser spatial resolution with Kappa statistics of 0.70 at 50 m, and 0.77 at 250 m. In addition, multi-class AUC was estimated as 0.87 at 50 m, and 0.95 at 250 m. This classification provides important information regarding the applicability of the use of lidar data for regional monitoring of recent logging, as well as the trajectory of the carbon budget. Differentiating between the biomass changes associated with deforestation and degradation processes is critical for accurate accounting of disturbance impacts on carbon cycling within the Brazilian Amazon and global tropical forests.

Effects of logging and recruitment on community phylogenetic structure in 32 permanent forest plots of Kampong Thom, Cambodia

PubMed Central

Toyama, Hironori; Kajisa, Tsuyoshi; Tagane, Shuichiro; Mase, Keiko; Chhang, Phourin; Samreth, Vanna; Ma, Vuthy; Sokh, Heng; Ichihashi, Ryuji; Onoda, Yusuke; Mizoue, Nobuya; Yahara, Tetsukazu

2015-01-01

Ecological communities including tropical rainforest are rapidly changing under various disturbances caused by increasing human activities. Recently in Cambodia, illegal logging and clear-felling for agriculture have been increasing. Here, we study the effects of logging, mortality and recruitment of plot trees on phylogenetic community structure in 32 plots in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Each plot was 0.25 ha; 28 plots were established in primary evergreen forests and four were established in secondary dry deciduous forests. Measurements were made in 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2010, and logging, recruitment and mortality of each tree were recorded. We estimated phylogeny using rbcL and matK gene sequences and quantified phylogenetic α and β diversity. Within communities, logging decreased phylogenetic diversity, and increased overall phylogenetic clustering and terminal phylogenetic evenness. Between communities, logging increased phylogenetic similarity between evergreen and deciduous plots. On the other hand, recruitment had opposite effects both within and between communities. The observed patterns can be explained by environmental homogenization under logging. Logging is biased to particular species and larger diameter at breast height, and forest patrol has been effective in decreasing logging. PMID:25561669

Effects of logging and recruitment on community phylogenetic structure in 32 permanent forest plots of Kampong Thom, Cambodia.

PubMed

Toyama, Hironori; Kajisa, Tsuyoshi; Tagane, Shuichiro; Mase, Keiko; Chhang, Phourin; Samreth, Vanna; Ma, Vuthy; Sokh, Heng; Ichihashi, Ryuji; Onoda, Yusuke; Mizoue, Nobuya; Yahara, Tetsukazu

2015-02-19

Ecological communities including tropical rainforest are rapidly changing under various disturbances caused by increasing human activities. Recently in Cambodia, illegal logging and clear-felling for agriculture have been increasing. Here, we study the effects of logging, mortality and recruitment of plot trees on phylogenetic community structure in 32 plots in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Each plot was 0.25 ha; 28 plots were established in primary evergreen forests and four were established in secondary dry deciduous forests. Measurements were made in 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2010, and logging, recruitment and mortality of each tree were recorded. We estimated phylogeny using rbcL and matK gene sequences and quantified phylogenetic α and β diversity. Within communities, logging decreased phylogenetic diversity, and increased overall phylogenetic clustering and terminal phylogenetic evenness. Between communities, logging increased phylogenetic similarity between evergreen and deciduous plots. On the other hand, recruitment had opposite effects both within and between communities. The observed patterns can be explained by environmental homogenization under logging. Logging is biased to particular species and larger diameter at breast height, and forest patrol has been effective in decreasing logging. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The impact of logging on biodiversity and carbon sequestration in tropical forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cazzolla Gatti, R.

2012-04-01

Tropical deforestation is one of the most relevant environmental issues at planetary scale. Forest clearcutting has dramatic effect on local biodiversity, on the terrestrial carbon sink and atmospheric GHGs balance. In terms of protection of tropical forests selective logging is, instead, often regarded as a minor or even positive management practice for the ecosystem and it is supported by international certifications. However, few studies are available on changes in the structure, biodiversity and ecosystem services due to the selective logging of African forests. This paper presents the results of a survey on tropical forests of West and Central Africa, with a comparison of long-term dynamics, structure, biodiversity and ecosystem services (such as the carbon sequestration) of different types of forests, from virgin primary to selectively logged and secondary forest. Our study suggests that there is a persistent effect of selective logging on biodiversity and carbon stock losses in the long term (up to 30 years since logging) and after repeated logging. These effects, in terms of species richness and biomass, are greater than the expected losses from commercial harvesting, implying that selective logging in West and Central Africa is impairing long term (at least until 30 years) ecosystem structure and services. A longer selective logging cycle (>30 years) should be considered by logging companies although there is not yet enough information to consider this practice sustainable.

Spatial and temporal sensitivity of hydrogeomorphic responceand recovery to deforestation, Agriculture, and floods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fitzpatrick, F.A.; Knox, J.C.

2000-01-01

Clear-cut logging followed by agricultural activity caused hydrologic and geomorphic changes in North Fish Creek, a Wisconsin tributary to Lake Superior. Hydro-geomorphic responses to changes in land use were sensitive to the location of reaches along the main stem and to the relative timing of large floods. Hydrologic and sediment-load modeling indicates that flood peaks were three times larger and sediment loads were five times larger during maximum agricultural activity in the 1920s and 1930s than prior to about 1890, when forest cover was dominant. Following logging, overbank sedimentation rates in the lower main stem increased four to six times above pre-settlement rates. Accelerated streambank and channel erosion in the upper main stem have been and continue to be primary sources of sediment to downstream reaches. Extreme floods in 1941 and 1946, followed by frequent moderate floods through 1954, caused extensive geomorphic changes along the entire main stem. Sedimentation rates in the lower main stem may have decreased in the last several decades as agricultural activity declined. However, geomorphic recovery is slow, as incised channels in the upper main stem function as efficient conveyors of watershed surface runoff and thereby continue to promote flooding and sedimentation problems downstream. [Key words: fluvial geomorphology, floods, erosion, sedimentation, deforestation, agriculture.].

Lowland forest loss in protected areas of Indonesian Borneo.

PubMed

Curran, L M; Trigg, S N; McDonald, A K; Astiani, D; Hardiono, Y M; Siregar, P; Caniago, I; Kasischke, E

2004-02-13

The ecology of Bornean rainforests is driven by El Niño-induced droughts that trigger synchronous fruiting among trees and bursts of faunal reproduction that sustain vertebrate populations. However, many of these species- and carbon-rich ecosystems have been destroyed by logging and conversion, which increasingly threaten protected areas. Our satellite, Geographic Information System, and field-based analyses show that from 1985 to 2001, Kalimantan's protected lowland forests declined by more than 56% (>29,000 square kilometers). Even uninhabited frontier parks are logged to supply international markets. "Protected" forests have become increasingly isolated and deforested and their buffer zones degraded. Preserving the ecological integrity of Kalimantan's rainforests requires immediate transnational management.

A brief review of machine vision in the context of automated wood identification systems

Treesearch

John C. Hermanson; Alex C. Wiedenhoeft

2011-01-01

The need for accurate and rapid field identification of wood to combat illegal logging around the world is outpacing the ability to train personnel to perform this task. Despite increased interest in non-anatomical (DNA, spectroscopic, chemical) methods for wood identification, anatomical characteristics are the least labile data that can be extracted from solid wood...

SIAM-SERVIR: An Environmental Monitoring and Decision Support System for Mesoamerica

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Irwin, D. E.; Sever, T. L.; Graves, S.; Hardin, Dan

2004-01-01

In 2002/2003 NASA, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) to develop an advanced decision support system for Mesoamerica (named SERVIR) as part of the Mesoamerican Environmental Information System (SIAM). Mesoamerica, composed of the seven Central American countries and the five southernmost states of Mexico, make up only a small fraction of the world's land surface. However, the region is home to seven to eight percent of the planet's biodiversity (14 biosphere reserves, 31 Ramsar sites, 8 world heritage sites, 589 protected areas) and 45 million people including more than 50 different ethnic groups. Today Mesoamerica's biological and cultural diversity is severely threatened by extensive deforestation, illegal logging, water pollution, and uncontrolled slash and burn agriculture. Additionally, Mesoamerica's distinct geology and geography result in disproportionate vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, and volcanic eruptions. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, together with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the SIAM-SERVIR partners are developing state-of-the-art decision support tools for environmental monitoring as well as disaster prevention and mitigation in Mesoamerica. These partners are contributing expertise in space-based observation with information management technologies and intimate knowledge of local ecosystems to create a system that is being used by scientists, educators, and policy makers to monitor and forecast ecological changes, respond to natural disasters and better understand both natural and human induced effects. In its first year of development and operation, the SIAM-SERVIR project has already yielded valuable information on Central American fires, weather conditions, and the first ever real-time data on red tides. This paper presents the progress thus far in the development of SIAM-SERVIR and the plans for the future.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sathaye, Jayant; Andrasko, Ken; Chan, Peter

Greenhouse gas emissions from the forestry sector are estimated to be 8.4 GtCO2-eq./year or about 17percent of the global emissions. We estimate that the cost forreducing deforestation is low in Africa and several times higher in Latin America and Southeast Asia. These cost estimates are sensitive to the uncertainties of how muchunsustainable high-revenue logging occurs, little understood transaction and program implementation costs, and barriers to implementation including governance issues. Due to lack of capacity in the affected countries, achieving reduction or avoidance of carbon emissions will require extensive REDD-plus programs. Preliminary REDD-plus Readiness cost estimates and program descriptions for Indonesia,more » Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guyana and Mexico show that roughly one-third of potential REDD-plus mitigation benefits might come from avoided deforestation and the rest from avoided forest degradation and other REDD-plus activities.« less

Long-term impacts of recurrent logging and fire in Amazon forests: a modeling study using the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED2)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longo, M.; Keller, M.; Scaranello, M. A., Sr.; dos-Santos, M. N.; Xu, Y.; Huang, M.; Morton, D. C.

2017-12-01

Logging and understory fires are major drivers of tropical forest degradation, reducing carbon stocks and changing forest structure, composition, and dynamics. In contrast to deforested areas, sites that are disturbed by logging and fires retain some, albeit severely altered, forest structure and function. In this study we simulated selective logging using the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED-2) to investigate the impact of a broad range of logging techniques, harvest intensities, and recurrence cycles on the long-term dynamics of Amazon forests, including the magnitude and duration of changes in forest flammability following timber extraction. Model results were evaluated using eddy covariance towers at logged sites at the Tapajos National Forest in Brazil and data on long-term dynamics reported in the literature. ED-2 is able to reproduce both the fast (< 5yr) recovery of water, energy fluxes compared to flux tower, and the typical, field-observed, decadal time scales for biomass recovery when no additional logging occurs. Preliminary results using the original ED-2 fire model show that canopy cover loss of forests under high-intensity, conventional logging cause sufficient drying to support more intense fires. These results indicate that under intense degradation, forests may shift to novel disturbance regimes, severely reducing carbon stocks, and inducing long-term changes in forest structure and composition from recurrent fires.

Anthropogenic Land-use Change and the Dynamics of Amazon Forest Biomass

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laurance, William F.

2004-01-01

This project was focused on assessing the effects of prevailing land uses, such as habitat fragmentation, selective logging, and fire, on biomass and carbon storage in Amazonian forests, and on the dynamics of carbon sequestration in regenerating forests. Ancillary goals included developing GIs models to help predict the future condition of Amazonian forests, and assessing the effects of anthropogenic climate change and ENS0 droughts on intact and fragmented forests. Ground-based studies using networks of permanent plots were linked with remote-sensing data (including Landsat TM and AVHRR) at regional scales, and higher-resolution techniques (IKONOS imagery, videography, LIDAR, aerial photographs) at landscape and local scales. The project s specific goals were quite eclectic and included: Determining the effects of habitat fragmentation on forest dynamics, floristic composition, and the various components of above- and below-ground biomass. Assessing historical and physical factors that affect trajectories of forest regeneration and carbon sequestration on abandoned lands. Extrapolating results from local studies of biomass dynamics in fragmented and regenerating forests to landscape and regional scales in Amazonia, using remote sensing and GIS. Testing the hypothesis that intact Amazonian forests are functioning as a significant carbon sink. Examining destructive synergisms between forest fragmentation and fire. Assessing the short-term impacts of selective logging on aboveground biomass. Developing GIS models that integrate current spatial data on forest cover, deforestation, logging, mining, highway and roads, navigable rivers, vulnerability to wild fires, protected areas, and existing and planned infrastructure projects, in an effort to predict the future condition of Brazilian Amazonian forests over the next 20-25 years. Devising predictive spatial models to assess the influence of varied biophysical and anthropogenic predictors on Amazonian deforestation.

Development of molecular markers for determining continental origin of wood from White Oaks (Quercus L. sect. Quercus)

Treesearch

Hilke Schroeder; Richard Cronn; Yulai Yanbaev; Tara Jennings; Malte Mader; Bernd Degen; Birgit Kersten; Dusan Gomory

2016-01-01

To detect and avoid illegal logging of valuable tree species, identification methods for the origin of timber are necessary. We used next-generation sequencing to identify chloroplast genome regions that differentiate the origin of white oaks from the three continents; Asia, Europe, and North America. By using the chloroplast genome of Asian Q. mongolica...

Fire Impact on Surface Fuels and Carbon Emissions in Scots pine Logged Sites of Siberia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanova, G. A.; Kukavskaya, E. A.; Bogorodskaya, A. V.; Ivanov, V. A.; Zhila, S. V.; Conard, S. G.

2012-04-01

Forest fire and large-scale forest harvesting are the two major disturbances in the Russian boreal forests. Non-recovered logged sites total about a million hectares. Logged sites are characterized by higher fire hazard than forest sites due great amounts of logging slash, which dries out much more rapidly compared to understory fuels. Moreover, most logging sites can be easily accessed by local population. Both legal and illegal logging are also increasing rapidly in many forest areas of Siberia. Fire effects on forest overstory, subcanopy woody layer, and ground vegetation biomass were estimated on logged vs. unlogged sites in the Central Siberia region in 2009-2012 as a part of the project "The Influence of Changing Forestry Practices on the Effects of Wildfire and on Interactions Between Fire and Changing Climate in Central Siberia" supported by NASA (NEESPI). Dead down woody fuels are significantly less at unburned/logged area of dry southern regions compared to more humid northern regions. Fuel consumption was typically less in spring fires than during summer fires. Fire-caused carbon emissions on logged sites appeared to be twice that on unlogged sites. Soil respiration is less at logged areas compared to undisturbed forest. After fire soil respiration decreases both at logged and unlogged areas. arbon emissions from fire and post-fire ecosystem damage on logged sites are expected to increase under changing climate conditions and as a result of anticipated increases in future forest harvesting in Siberia.

Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point.

PubMed

Nepstad, Daniel C; Stickler, Claudia M; Filho, Britaldo Soares-; Merry, Frank

2008-05-27

Some model experiments predict a large-scale substitution of Amazon forest by savannah-like vegetation by the end of the twenty-first century. Expanding global demands for biofuels and grains, positive feedbacks in the Amazon forest fire regime and drought may drive a faster process of forest degradation that could lead to a near-term forest dieback. Rising worldwide demands for biofuel and meat are creating powerful new incentives for agro-industrial expansion into Amazon forest regions. Forest fires, drought and logging increase susceptibility to further burning while deforestation and smoke can inhibit rainfall, exacerbating fire risk. If sea surface temperature anomalies (such as El Niño episodes) and associated Amazon droughts of the last decade continue into the future, approximately 55% of the forests of the Amazon will be cleared, logged, damaged by drought or burned over the next 20 years, emitting 15-26Pg of carbon to the atmosphere. Several important trends could prevent a near-term dieback. As fire-sensitive investments accumulate in the landscape, property holders use less fire and invest more in fire control. Commodity markets are demanding higher environmental performance from farmers and cattle ranchers. Protected areas have been established in the pathway of expanding agricultural frontiers. Finally, emerging carbon market incentives for reductions in deforestation could support these trends.

Commercial charcoal production in the Ibarapa district of southwestern Nigeria: forestry dividends and welfare implications.

PubMed

Salami, Kabiru K; Brieger, William R

2010-01-01

Logging activities have long provided both wood fuel and charcoal for household and commercial use in rural and urban communities in developing countries. However, logging problems range from deforestation to threatened household air quality from burning wood and charcoal. This exploratory case study triangulated 15 in-depth interviews among charcoal bulk buyers and the workers, observations of workers at two èédú (charcoal) commercial depots in Igbo-Ora and of workers in the forest, and review of studies in academic database. Three categories of people are working in the business ranging from the producers in the forests (alaake) to the bulk buyers (olowo) in the middle and the wholesalers (ajagunta) in the city. A small team of 4-8 people can produce three pickup truck loads of charcoal in 2 weeks, and a large team between 7-8 loads. The olowo and the alaake have associations, membership cards, and meet to discuss business progress and regulate members' economic behavior. Close to 35,000 bags of charcoal of 450 pickup trucks may make the journey weekly from Ibarapa. Overall, the charcoal business is informal, and the local people also frown at cutting any useful indigenous trees ascertaining that an individual's actions may affect the whole community. The role of community health educators is important in the dissemination of effects of deforestation through charcoal production.

United States and environmental security: Deforestation and conflict in southeast Asia. Master's thesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenwald, P.T.

In the post Cold War era, the East-West conflict may be succeeded by a new confrontation which pits an industrialized North against a developing South. In June 1992, world attention was fixed on the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This event marked a milestone in global environmental awareness; but just as the end of the Cold War has provided new opportunities for the US, the world is now faced with new sources of conflict which have advanced to the forefront of the national security debate. Among the new sources of conflict, environmental problems are rapidly becoming preeminent. Within nationalmore » security debates, those environmental problems which respect no international boundary are of particular concern. Worldwide deforestation, and the related issues of global warming and the loss of biodiversity, represent a clear threat to national security. Two percent of the Earth's rainforests are lost each year; one 'football field' is lost each second. Deforestation has already led to conflict and instability within several regions of the world including Southeast Asia. The United States must recognize the character and dynamics of these new sources of conflict in order to successfully realize its policy aims in national security. The US should preempt conflict through cooperation and develop a shared concern for the environment throughout the world. The US military may play a key role in this effort. Rainforest, Deforestation, Tropical timber, Logging, Southeast Asia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Japan Cambodia, Vietnam, Human rights, Plywood, Pulp, Paper, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development.« less

The natural and social history of the indigenous lands and protected areas corridor of the Xingu River basin

PubMed Central

Schwartzman, Stephan; Boas, André Villas; Ono, Katia Yukari; Fonseca, Marisa Gesteira; Doblas, Juan; Zimmerman, Barbara; Junqueira, Paulo; Jerozolimski, Adriano; Salazar, Marcelo; Junqueira, Rodrigo Prates; Torres, Maurício

2013-01-01

The 280 000 km² Xingu indigenous lands and protected areas (ILPAs) corridor, inhabited by 24 indigenous peoples and about 215 riverine (ribeirinho) families, lies across active agriculture frontiers in some of the historically highest-deforestation regions of the Amazon. Much of the Xingu is anthropogenic landscape, densely inhabited and managed by indigenous populations over the past millennium. Indigenous and riverine peoples' historical management and use of these landscapes have enabled their long-term occupation and ultimately their protection. The corridor vividly demonstrates how ILPAs halt deforestation and why they may account for a large part of the 70 per cent reduction in Amazon deforestation below the 1996–2005 average since 2005. However, ongoing and planned dams, road paving, logging and mining, together with increasing demand for agricultural commodities, continued degradation of upper headwaters outside ILPA borders and climate change impacts may render these gains ephemeral. Local peoples will need new, bottom-up, forms of governance to gain recognition for the high social and biological diversity of these territories in development policy and planning, and finance commensurate with the value of their ecosystem services. Indigenous groups' reports of changing fire and rainfall regimes may themselves evidence climate change impacts, a new and serious threat. PMID:23610170

The natural and social history of the indigenous lands and protected areas corridor of the Xingu River basin.

PubMed

Schwartzman, Stephan; Boas, André Villas; Ono, Katia Yukari; Fonseca, Marisa Gesteira; Doblas, Juan; Zimmerman, Barbara; Junqueira, Paulo; Jerozolimski, Adriano; Salazar, Marcelo; Junqueira, Rodrigo Prates; Torres, Maurício

2013-06-05

The 280,000 km² Xingu indigenous lands and protected areas (ILPAs) corridor, inhabited by 24 indigenous peoples and about 215 riverine (ribeirinho) families, lies across active agriculture frontiers in some of the historically highest-deforestation regions of the Amazon. Much of the Xingu is anthropogenic landscape, densely inhabited and managed by indigenous populations over the past millennium. Indigenous and riverine peoples' historical management and use of these landscapes have enabled their long-term occupation and ultimately their protection. The corridor vividly demonstrates how ILPAs halt deforestation and why they may account for a large part of the 70 per cent reduction in Amazon deforestation below the 1996-2005 average since 2005. However, ongoing and planned dams, road paving, logging and mining, together with increasing demand for agricultural commodities, continued degradation of upper headwaters outside ILPA borders and climate change impacts may render these gains ephemeral. Local peoples will need new, bottom-up, forms of governance to gain recognition for the high social and biological diversity of these territories in development policy and planning, and finance commensurate with the value of their ecosystem services. Indigenous groups' reports of changing fire and rainfall regimes may themselves evidence climate change impacts, a new and serious threat.

Precipitation Based Malaria Patterns in the Amazon -- Will Deforestation Alter Risk?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, S. H.; Durieux, L.; Elguero, E.; Foley, J.; Gagnon, R.; Guegan, J.; Patz, J.

2007-12-01

The World Health Organization, estimates that forty-two percent of malaria cases are "associated with policies and practices regarding land use, deforestation, water resource management, settlement siting and modified house design". This estimate was drawn from expert opinion and studies performed at local scales, but little research has investigated the cumulative impacts of land use and land cover changes occurring in the Amazon Basin on malaria. Much less is understood about the impact of changing land use and subsequent precipitation regimes on malaria risk. To understand how land use practices may alter malaria patterns in the Basin we present an analysis of municipio (n=755) malaria case data and monthly precipitation patterns between 1996 and 1999. Climate data originated from the CRU TS 2.1 half-degree grid resolution climate data set. We present a hierarchical (random coefficients) log-linear Poisson model relating malaria incidence to precipitation for both municipos and states. At the Basin scale precipitation and cases show strong relationships. Precipitation and cases are asynchronous across the period of observation, but detailed inspection of states and individual municipios reveal geographic dependencies of precipitation and malaria incidence. Future research will link the patterns of precipitation and malaria to anticipated changes in climate from deforestation in the Basin.

Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestation.

PubMed

Barlow, Jos; Lennox, Gareth D; Ferreira, Joice; Berenguer, Erika; Lees, Alexander C; Mac Nally, Ralph; Thomson, James R; Ferraz, Silvio Frosini de Barros; Louzada, Julio; Oliveira, Victor Hugo Fonseca; Parry, Luke; Solar, Ricardo Ribeiro de Castro; Vieira, Ima C G; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Begotti, Rodrigo Anzolin; Braga, Rodrigo F; Cardoso, Thiago Moreira; de Oliveira, Raimundo Cosme; Souza, Carlos M; Moura, Nárgila G; Nunes, Sâmia Serra; Siqueira, João Victor; Pardini, Renata; Silveira, Juliana M; Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z; Veiga, Ruan Carlo Stulpen; Venturieri, Adriano; Gardner, Toby A

2016-07-07

Concerted political attention has focused on reducing deforestation, and this remains the cornerstone of most biodiversity conservation strategies. However, maintaining forest cover may not reduce anthropogenic forest disturbances, which are rarely considered in conservation programmes. These disturbances occur both within forests, including selective logging and wildfires, and at the landscape level, through edge, area and isolation effects. Until now, the combined effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the conservation value of remnant primary forests has remained unknown, making it impossible to assess the relative importance of forest disturbance and forest loss. Here we address these knowledge gaps using a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Pará. Catchments retaining more than 69–80% forest cover lost more conservation value from disturbance than from forest loss. For example, a 20% loss of primary forest, the maximum level of deforestation allowed on Amazonian properties under Brazil’s Forest Code, resulted in a 39–54% loss of conservation value: 96–171% more than expected without considering disturbance effects. We extrapolated the disturbance-mediated loss of conservation value throughout Pará, which covers 25% of the Brazilian Amazon. Although disturbed forests retained considerable conservation value compared with deforested areas, the toll of disturbance outside Pará’s strictly protected areas is equivalent to the loss of 92,000–139,000 km2 of primary forest. Even this lowest estimate is greater than the area deforested across the entire Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2015 (ref. 10). Species distribution models showed that both landscape and within-forest disturbances contributed to biodiversity loss, with the greatest negative effects on species of high conservation and functional value. These results demonstrate an urgent need for policy interventions that go beyond the maintenance of forest cover to safeguard the hyper-diversity of tropical forest ecosystems.

REVIEW OF MACROSCOPIC FEATURES FOR HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD IDENTIFICATION AND A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW CHARACTER LIST

Treesearch

Flavio Ruffinatto; Alan Crivellaro; Alex Wiedenhoeft

2015-01-01

With the adoption of a number of anti-illegal logging laws, treaties, memoranda, and international agreements around the world, there is broad and renewed interest in wood identification, especially in the field at the macroscopic level. In response to this interest, and to begin to fill an obvious gap in the corpus of wood anatomical reference material, we review...

A crisis in the making: responses of Amazonian forests to land use and climate change.

PubMed

Laurance, W F

1998-10-01

At least three global-change phenomena are having major impacts on Amazonian forests: (1) accelerating deforestation and logging; (2) rapidly changing patterns of forest loss; and (3) interactions between human land-use and climatic variability. Additional alterations caused by climatic change, rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, mining, overhunting and other large-scale phenomena could also have important effects on the Amazon ecosystem. Consequently, decisions regarding Amazon forest use in the next decade are crucial to its future existence.

Untangling the proximate causes and underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Myanmar.

PubMed

Lim, Cheng Ling; Prescott, Graham W; De Alban, Jose Don T; Ziegler, Alan D; Webb, Edward L

2017-12-01

Political transitions often trigger substantial environmental changes. In particular, deforestation can result from the complex interplay among the components of a system-actors, institutions, and existing policies-adapting to new opportunities. A dynamic conceptual map of system components is particularly useful for systems in which multiple actors, each with different worldviews and motivations, may be simultaneously trying to alter different facets of the system, unaware of the impacts on other components. In Myanmar, a global biodiversity hotspot with the largest forest area in mainland Southeast Asia, ongoing political and economic reforms are likely to change the dynamics of deforestation drivers. A fundamental conceptual map of these dynamics is therefore a prerequisite for interventions to reduce deforestation. We used a system-dynamics approach and causal-network analysis to determine the proximate causes and underlying drivers of forest loss and degradation in Myanmar from 1995 to 2016 and to articulate the linkages among them. Proximate causes included infrastructure development, timber extraction, and agricultural expansion. These were stimulated primarily by formal agricultural, logging, mining, and hydropower concessions and economic investment and social issues relating to civil war and land tenure. Reform of land laws, the link between natural resource extraction and civil war, and the allocation of agricultural concessions will influence the extent of future forest loss and degradation in Myanmar. The causal-network analysis identified priority areas for policy interventions, for example, creating a public registry of land-concession holders to deter corruption in concession allocation. We recommend application of this analytical approach to other countries, particularly those undergoing political transition, to inform policy interventions to reduce forest loss and degradation. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation challenges for the Austral and Neotropical America section.

PubMed

Ceballos, Gerardo; Vale, Mariana M; Bonacic, Cristian; Calvo-Alvarado, Julio; List, Rurik; Bynum, Nora; Medellín, Rodrigo A; Simonetti, Javier A; Rodríguez, Jon Paul

2009-08-01

The Austral and Neotropical America (ANA) section of the Society for Conservation Biology includes a vast territory with some of the largest relatively pristine ecosystems in the world. With more than 573 million people, the economic growth of the region still depends strongly on natural resource exploitation and still has high rates of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. A survey among the ANA section membership, with more than 700 members, including most of the section's prominent ecologists and conservationists, indicates that lack of capacity building for conservation, corruption, and threats such as deforestation and illegal trade of species, are among the most urgent problems that need to be addressed to improve conservation in the region. There are, however, strong universities and ecology groups taking the lead in environmental research and conservation, a most important issue to enhance the ability of the region to solve conservation and development conflicts.

Measuring Hair Cortisol Concentrations to Assess the Effect of Anthropogenic Impacts on Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Carlitz, Esther H D; Miller, Robert; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Gao, Wei; Hänni, Daniel C; van Schaik, Carel P

2016-01-01

Non-human primates face major environmental changes due to increased human impacts all over the world. Although some species are able to survive in certain landscapes with anthropogenic impact, their long-term viability and fitness may be decreased due to chronic stress. Here we assessed long-term stress levels through cortisol analysis in chimpanzee hair obtained from sleeping nests in northwestern Uganda, in order to estimate welfare in the context of ecotourism, forest fragmentation with human-wildlife conflicts, and illegal logging with hunting activity (albeit not of primates), compared with a control without human contact or conflict. Concerning methodological issues, season [F(2,129) = 37.4, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.18] and the age of nests [F(2,178) = 20.3, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.11] significantly predicted hair cortisol concentrations (HCC). With regard to effects of anthropogenic impacts, our results neither showed elevation of HCC due to ecotourism, nor due to illegal logging compared to their control groups. We did, however, find significantly increased HCC in the fragment group compared to chimpanzees living in a nearby intact forest [F(1,88) = 5.0, p = 0.03, r2 = 0.20]. In conclusion, our results suggest that hair cortisol analysis is a powerful tool that can help understanding the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on chimpanzee well-being and could be applied to other great ape species.

Diurnal raptors in the fragmented rain forest of the Sierra Imataca, Venezuela

USGS Publications Warehouse

Alvarez, E.; Ellis, D.H.; Smith, D.G.; LaRue, C.T.; Bird, David M.; Varland, Daniel E.; Negro, Juan Jose

1996-01-01

The rain forest of the Sierra Imataca in eastern Venezuela has been subjected to extensive deforestation for pastures and agricultural settlements. In the last decade the opening of access roads combined with intensified logging and mining activities have fragmented a significant portion of the remaining forest. We noted local distribution and habitat use for 42 species of diurnal raptors observed in affected areas in this region. We observed some raptors considered as forest interior species and other open country species foraging and roosting in man-made openings inside the forest.

Towards an improved understanding of hillslope runoff as a supply for groundwater recharge: Assessing hillslope runoff under regional deforestation and varying climate conditions in a drainage basin in central coastal California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, K. S.; Beganskas, S.; Fisher, A. T.

2017-12-01

We use a hydrologic model to analyze hillslope runoff under a range of climate and land use conditions in the San Lorenzo River Basin (SLRB), central coastal California, including contemporary land use and incremental deforestation. The SLRB is a heavily forested watershed with chronically overdrafted aquifers; in some areas, groundwater levels have been lowered by >50 m in recent decades. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can help mitigate declines in groundwater storage, routing excess surface flows to locations where they can infiltrate. We are especially interested in opportunities for collection of stormwater runoff, particularly where development and other changes in landuse have increased hill slope runoff. To assess hillslope runoff at the subwatershed scale (10-100 ha; 25-250 ac), we apply the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to a high-resolution, digital elevation model and populate the simulation with area- and density-weighted vegetation and soil parameters calculated from high resolution input data. We also develop and apply a catalog of dry, normal, and wet climate scenarios from the historic record (1981-2014). In addition, we simulate conditions ranging from 0 to 100 percent of redwoods harvested (representing the mid-1800s to 1930s logging era) using a historical land use data set to alter soil and vegetation conditions. Results under contemporary land use suggest there are ample opportunities to establish MAR projects during all climate scenarios; hill slope runoff generation is spatially variable and on average exceeds 23,000 ac-ft/yr (3.2 in/yr) during the driest climate scenario. Preliminary results from the deforestation scenarios show notable increases in hillslope runoff with progressive redwood harvesting. Relative to pre-logging conditions, between 1.1 in (dry climates) and 1.5 in (wet climates) more runoff is generated under contemporary conditions, with most of the runoff increase occurring in urban areas. These modeling methods generate understanding of the impacts of changes in land use and vegetation, their sensitivity to differences in climate, and potential for developing MAR projects to benefit from increased stormwater generation.

Forest disturbances, deforestation and timber harvest patterns in the Conterminous United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boschetti, L.; Huo, L. Z.

2016-12-01

Current estimates of carbon-equivalent emissions report the contribution of deforestation as 12% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions (van der Werf et al., 2009), but accurate monitoring of forest carbon balance should discriminate between land use change related to forest natural disturbances, forest management and deforestation. The total change in forest cover (Gross Forest Cover Loss, GFCL) needs to be characterized based on the cause (natural/human) and on the outcome of the change (regeneration to forest/transition to non-forest)(Kurtz et al, 2010). We developed a multitemporal, object-oriented methodology to classify GFCL as either (a) deforestation, (b) fire and insect disturbances (c) forest management practices. The Landsat-derived University of Maryland Global Forest Change product (Hansen, 2013) is used to identify all the areas forest cover loss: those areas are subsequently converted to objects, and used to extract temporal profiles of spectral reflectances and spectral indices from the Landsat WELD dataset. Finally, the temporal profiles and descriptive parameters of shapes, textures, and spatial relationships of the objects are used in a rule-based classifier to identify the type of disturbance. To pathfind a global disturbance type classification, the methods are demonstrated by wall-to-wall classification of the forest cover loss in the conterminous United States for the 2002-2011 period. The results show that deforestation accounts for a small percentage (approximately 2%) of the GFCL in the CONUS, and are in agreement with the known patterns of logging activity, fire and insect damage. The time series of timber harvest clearcut is also in agreement with the national timber extraction statistics, showing reduced harvesting following the 2008 economic crisis. The results also highlight the different management practices on private and public lands: 36% of the US forests are publicly owned (federal, state and local institutions) but account only for 12% of the clearcuts, whereas private lands (64% of the total) account for 88% of the clearcut area. Conversely, stand replacing fire and insect disturbances affect primarily public lands (85% versus 15% on private lands).

Daily monitoring of the land surface of the Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mascaro, J.

2016-12-01

Planet is an integrated aerospace and data analytics company that operates the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites. With more than 140 cube-sats successfully launched to date, Planet is now collecting approximately 10 million square kilometers of imagery per day (3-5m per pixel, in red, green, blue and near infrared spectral bands). By early 2017, Planet's constellation will image the entire land surface of the Earth on a daily basis. Due to investments in cloud storage and computing, approximately 75% of imagery collected is available to Planet's partners within 24 hours of capture through an Application Program Interface. This unique dataset has enormous applications for monitoring the status of Earth's natural ecosystems, as well as human settlements and agricultural welfare. Through our Ambassadors Program, Planet has made data available for researchers in areas as disparate as human rights monitoring in refugee camps, to assessments of the impact of hydroelectric installations, to tracking illegal gold mining in Amazon forests, to assessing the status of the cryosphere. Here, we share early results from Planet's research partner network, including enhanced spatial and temporal resolution of NDVI data for agricultural health in Saudi Arabia, computation of rates of illegal deforestation in Southern Peru, estimates of tropical forest carbon stocks based on data integration with active sensors, and estimates of glacial flow rates. We synthesize the potentially enormous research and scientific value of Planet's persistent monitoring capability, and discuss methods by which the data will be disseminated into the scientific community.

A methodological framework to assess the carbon balance of tropical managed forests.

PubMed

Piponiot, Camille; Cabon, Antoine; Descroix, Laurent; Dourdain, Aurélie; Mazzei, Lucas; Ouliac, Benjamin; Rutishauser, Ervan; Sist, Plinio; Hérault, Bruno

2016-12-01

Managed forests are a major component of tropical landscapes. Production forests as designated by national forest services cover up to 400 million ha, i.e. half of the forested area in the humid tropics. Forest management thus plays a major role in the global carbon budget, but with a lack of unified method to estimate carbon fluxes from tropical managed forests. In this study we propose a new time- and spatially-explicit methodology to estimate the above-ground carbon budget of selective logging at regional scale. The yearly balance of a logging unit, i.e. the elementary management unit of a forest estate, is modelled by aggregating three sub-models encompassing (i) emissions from extracted wood, (ii) emissions from logging damage and deforested areas and (iii) carbon storage from post-logging recovery. Models are parametrised and uncertainties are propagated through a MCMC algorithm. As a case study, we used 38 years of National Forest Inventories in French Guiana, northeastern Amazonia, to estimate the above-ground carbon balance (i.e. the net carbon exchange with the atmosphere) of selectively logged forests. Over this period, the net carbon balance of selective logging in the French Guianan Permanent Forest Estate is estimated to be comprised between 0.12 and 1.33 Tg C, with a median value of 0.64 Tg C. Uncertainties over the model could be diminished by improving the accuracy of both logging damage and large woody necromass decay submodels. We propose an innovating carbon accounting framework relying upon basic logging statistics. This flexible tool allows carbon budget of tropical managed forests to be estimated in a wide range of tropical regions.

SIAM-SERVIR: An Environmental Monitoring and Decision Support System for Mesoamerica

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Irwin, Daniel E.; Sever, Tom; Graves, Sara; Hardin, Danny

2005-01-01

In 2002/2003 NASA, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) to develop an advanced decision support system for Mesoamerica (named SERVIR) as part of the Mesoamerican Environmental Information System (SIAM). Mesoamerica - composed of the seven Central American countries and the five southernmost states of Mexico - make up only a small fraction of the world s land surface. However, the region is home to seven to eight percent of the planet s biodiversity (14 biosphere reserves, 31 Ramsar sites, 8 world heritage sites, 589 protected areas) and 45 million people including more than 50 different ethnic groups. Today Mesoamerica s biological and cultural diversity is severely threatened by extensive deforestation, illegal logging, water pollution, and uncontrolled slash and burn agriculture. Additionally, Mesoamerica's distinct geology and geography result in disproportionate vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, and volcanic eruptions. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, together with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the SIAM-SERVIR partners are developing state-of-the-art decision support tools for environmental monitoring as well as disaster prevention and mitigation in Mesoamerica. These partners are contributing expertise in space-based observation with information management technologies and intimate knowledge of local ecosystems to create a system that is being used by scientists, educators, and policy makers to monitor and forecast ecological changes, respond to natural disasters and better understand both natural and human induced effects. In its first year of development and operation, the SIAM-SERVIR project has already yielded valuable information on Central American fires, weather conditions, and the first ever real-time data on red tides. This paper presents the progress thus far in the development of SIAM-SERVIR and the plans for the future.

Visualizing Earth Science Data for Environmental Monitoring and Decision Support in Mesoamerica: The SERVIR Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardin, D.; Graves, S.; Sever, T.; Irwin, D.

2005-05-01

In 2002 and 2003 NASA, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) to develop an advanced decision support system for Mesoamerica (named SERVIR). Mesoamerica - composed of the seven Central American countries and the five southernmost states of Mexico - makes up only a small fraction of the world's land surface. However, the region is home to approximately eight percent of the planet's biodiversity (14 biosphere reserves, 31 Ramsar sites, 8 world heritage sites, 589 protected areas) and 45 million people including more than 50 different ethnic groups. Mesoamerica's biological and cultural diversity are severely threatened by human impact and natural disasters including extensive deforestation, illegal logging, water pollution, slash and burn agriculture, earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, and volcanic eruption. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA/MSFC), together with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the SERVIR partners are developing state-of-the-art decision support tools for environmental monitoring as well as disaster prevention and mitigation in Mesoamerica. These partners are contributing expertise in space-based observation with information management technologies and intimate knowledge of local ecosystems to create a system that is being used by scientists, educators, and policy makers to monitor and forecast ecological changes, respond to natural disasters, and better understand both natural and human induced effects. The decision support and environmental monitoring data products are typically formatted as conventional two-dimensional, static and animated imagery. However, in addition to conventional data products and as a major portion of our research, we are employing commercial applications that generate three-dimensional interactive visualizations that allow data products to be viewed from multiple angles and at different scales. One of these is a 15 meter resolution mosaic of the entire Mesoamerican region. This paper gives an overview of the SERVIR project and its associated visualization methods.

High-resolution forest carbon stocks and emissions in the Amazon.

PubMed

Asner, Gregory P; Powell, George V N; Mascaro, Joseph; Knapp, David E; Clark, John K; Jacobson, James; Kennedy-Bowdoin, Ty; Balaji, Aravindh; Paez-Acosta, Guayana; Victoria, Eloy; Secada, Laura; Valqui, Michael; Hughes, R Flint

2010-09-21

Efforts to mitigate climate change through the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) depend on mapping and monitoring of tropical forest carbon stocks and emissions over large geographic areas. With a new integrated use of satellite imaging, airborne light detection and ranging, and field plots, we mapped aboveground carbon stocks and emissions at 0.1-ha resolution over 4.3 million ha of the Peruvian Amazon, an area twice that of all forests in Costa Rica, to reveal the determinants of forest carbon density and to demonstrate the feasibility of mapping carbon emissions for REDD. We discovered previously unknown variation in carbon storage at multiple scales based on geologic substrate and forest type. From 1999 to 2009, emissions from land use totaled 1.1% of the standing carbon throughout the region. Forest degradation, such as from selective logging, increased regional carbon emissions by 47% over deforestation alone, and secondary regrowth provided an 18% offset against total gross emissions. Very high-resolution monitoring reduces uncertainty in carbon emissions for REDD programs while uncovering fundamental environmental controls on forest carbon storage and their interactions with land-use change.

Impact of logging on a mangrove swamp in south Mexico: cost/benefit analysis.

PubMed

Tovilla-Hernández, C; Espino de la Lanza, G; Orihuela-Belmonte, D E

2001-06-01

Environmental changes caused by logging in a mangrove swamp were studied in Barra de Tecoanapa, Guerrero, Mexico. Original forest included Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa, Avicennia germinans and halophytic vegetation, and produced wood (164.03 m3/ha) and organic matter (3.9 g/m2/day). A total of 3.5 tons of wood per year were harvested from this area. Later, an average of 2,555 kg of maize per planting cycle were obtained (market value of 88 USD). Succession when the area was abandoned included strictly facultative and glycophyte halophytes (16 families, Cyperaceae and Poaceae were the best represented). After logging, temperatures increased 13 degrees C in the soil and 11 degrees C in the air, whereas salinity reached 52 psu in the dry season. These modified soil color and sand content increased from 42.6 to 63.4%. Logging was deleterious to species, habitat, biogeochemical and biological cycles, organic matter production, seeds, young plants, genetic exchange conservation of soil and its fertility, coastal protection, and aesthetic value; 3,000 m2 had eroded as the river advanced towards the deforested area (the cost/benefit analysis showed a ratio of 246:1). There was long-term economic loss for the community and only 30% of the site has recovered after five years.

Four Decades of Forest Persistence, Clearance and Logging on Borneo

PubMed Central

Gaveau, David L. A.; Sloan, Sean; Molidena, Elis; Yaen, Husna; Sheil, Doug; Abram, Nicola K.; Ancrenaz, Marc; Nasi, Robert; Quinones, Marcela; Wielaard, Niels; Meijaard, Erik

2014-01-01

The native forests of Borneo have been impacted by selective logging, fire, and conversion to plantations at unprecedented scales since industrial-scale extractive industries began in the early 1970s. There is no island-wide documentation of forest clearance or logging since the 1970s. This creates an information gap for conservation planning, especially with regard to selectively logged forests that maintain high conservation potential. Analysing LANDSAT images, we estimate that 75.7% (558,060 km2) of Borneo's area (737,188 km2) was forested around 1973. Based upon a forest cover map for 2010 derived using ALOS-PALSAR and visually reviewing LANDSAT images, we estimate that the 1973 forest area had declined by 168,493 km2 (30.2%) in 2010. The highest losses were recorded in Sabah and Kalimantan with 39.5% and 30.7% of their total forest area in 1973 becoming non-forest in 2010, and the lowest in Brunei and Sarawak (8.4%, and 23.1%). We estimate that the combined area planted in industrial oil palm and timber plantations in 2010 was 75,480 km2, representing 10% of Borneo. We mapped 271,819 km of primary logging roads that were created between 1973 and 2010. The greatest density of logging roads was found in Sarawak, at 0.89 km km−2, and the lowest density in Brunei, at 0.18 km km−2. Analyzing MODIS-based tree cover maps, we estimate that logging operated within 700 m of primary logging roads. Using this distance, we estimate that 266,257 km2 of 1973 forest cover has been logged. With 389,566 km2 (52.8%) of the island remaining forested, of which 209,649 km2 remains intact. There is still hope for biodiversity conservation in Borneo. Protecting logged forests from fire and conversion to plantations is an urgent priority for reducing rates of deforestation in Borneo. PMID:25029192

Four decades of forest persistence, clearance and logging on Borneo.

PubMed

Gaveau, David L A; Sloan, Sean; Molidena, Elis; Yaen, Husna; Sheil, Doug; Abram, Nicola K; Ancrenaz, Marc; Nasi, Robert; Quinones, Marcela; Wielaard, Niels; Meijaard, Erik

2014-01-01

The native forests of Borneo have been impacted by selective logging, fire, and conversion to plantations at unprecedented scales since industrial-scale extractive industries began in the early 1970s. There is no island-wide documentation of forest clearance or logging since the 1970s. This creates an information gap for conservation planning, especially with regard to selectively logged forests that maintain high conservation potential. Analysing LANDSAT images, we estimate that 75.7% (558,060 km2) of Borneo's area (737,188 km2) was forested around 1973. Based upon a forest cover map for 2010 derived using ALOS-PALSAR and visually reviewing LANDSAT images, we estimate that the 1973 forest area had declined by 168,493 km2 (30.2%) in 2010. The highest losses were recorded in Sabah and Kalimantan with 39.5% and 30.7% of their total forest area in 1973 becoming non-forest in 2010, and the lowest in Brunei and Sarawak (8.4%, and 23.1%). We estimate that the combined area planted in industrial oil palm and timber plantations in 2010 was 75,480 km2, representing 10% of Borneo. We mapped 271,819 km of primary logging roads that were created between 1973 and 2010. The greatest density of logging roads was found in Sarawak, at 0.89 km km-2, and the lowest density in Brunei, at 0.18 km km-2. Analyzing MODIS-based tree cover maps, we estimate that logging operated within 700 m of primary logging roads. Using this distance, we estimate that 266,257 km2 of 1973 forest cover has been logged. With 389,566 km2 (52.8%) of the island remaining forested, of which 209,649 km2 remains intact. There is still hope for biodiversity conservation in Borneo. Protecting logged forests from fire and conversion to plantations is an urgent priority for reducing rates of deforestation in Borneo.

Fire modeling in the Brazilian arc of deforestation through nested coupling of atmosphere, dynamic vegetation, LUCC and fire spread models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tourigny, E.; Nobre, C.; Cardoso, M. F.

2012-12-01

Deforestation of tropical forests for logging and agriculture, associated to slash-and-burn practices, is a major source of CO2 emissions, both immediate due to biomass burning and future due to the elimination of a potential CO2 sink. Feedbacks between climate change and LUCC (Land-Use and Land-Cover Change) can potentially increase the loss of tropical forests and increase the rate of CO2 emissions, through mechanisms such as land and soil degradation and the increase in wildfire occurrence and severity. However, current understanding of the processes of fires (including ignition, spread and consequences) in tropical forests and climatic feedbacks are poorly understood and need further research. As the processes of LUCC and associated fires occur at local scales, linking them to large-scale atmospheric processes requires a means of up-scaling higher resolutions processes to lower resolutions. Our approach is to couple models which operate at various spatial and temporal scales: a Global Climate Model (GCM), Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) and local-scale LUCC and fire spread model. The climate model resolves large scale atmospheric processes and forcings, which are imposed on the surface DGVM and fed-back to climate. Higher-resolution processes such as deforestation, land use management and associated (as well as natural) fires are resolved at the local level. A dynamic tiling scheme allows to represent local-scale heterogeneity while maintaining computational efficiency of the land surface model, compared to traditional landscape models. Fire behavior is modeled at the regional scale (~500m) to represent the detailed landscape using a semi-empirical fire spread model. The relatively coarse scale (as compared to other fire spread models) is necessary due to the paucity of detailed land-cover information and fire history (particularly in the tropics and developing countries). This work presents initial results of a spatially-explicit fire spread model coupled to the IBIS DGVM model. Our area of study comprises selected regions in and near the Brazilian "arc of deforestation". For model training and evaluation, several areas have been mapped using high-resolution imagery from the Landsat TM/ETM+ sensors (Figure 1). This high resolution reference data is used for local-scale simulations and also to evaluate the accuracy of the global MCD45 burned area product, which will be used in future studies covering the entire "arc of deforestation".; Area of study along the arc of deforestation and cerrado: landsat scenes used and burned area (2010) from MCD45 product.

Measuring Hair Cortisol Concentrations to Assess the Effect of Anthropogenic Impacts on Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Carlitz, Esther H. D.; Miller, Robert; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Gao, Wei; Hänni, Daniel C.; van Schaik, Carel P.

2016-01-01

Non-human primates face major environmental changes due to increased human impacts all over the world. Although some species are able to survive in certain landscapes with anthropogenic impact, their long-term viability and fitness may be decreased due to chronic stress. Here we assessed long-term stress levels through cortisol analysis in chimpanzee hair obtained from sleeping nests in northwestern Uganda, in order to estimate welfare in the context of ecotourism, forest fragmentation with human-wildlife conflicts, and illegal logging with hunting activity (albeit not of primates), compared with a control without human contact or conflict. Concerning methodological issues, season [F(2,129) = 37.4, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.18] and the age of nests [F(2,178) = 20.3, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.11] significantly predicted hair cortisol concentrations (HCC). With regard to effects of anthropogenic impacts, our results neither showed elevation of HCC due to ecotourism, nor due to illegal logging compared to their control groups. We did, however, find significantly increased HCC in the fragment group compared to chimpanzees living in a nearby intact forest [F(1,88) = 5.0, p = 0.03, r2 = 0.20]. In conclusion, our results suggest that hair cortisol analysis is a powerful tool that can help understanding the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on chimpanzee well-being and could be applied to other great ape species. PMID:27050418

Effects of Chinese Deforestation and Reforestation Policies on Sediment Sourcing in Yunnan, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henck Schmidt, A. C.; Bierman, P. R.; Sosa-Gonzalez, V.; Neilson, T. B.; Singleton, A.; Qiu, Y.; Bower, J.; Rood, D. H.

2015-12-01

Widespread deforestation from the 1960s through 1980s, blamed for catastrophic flooding in the lower Yangtze in 1998, prompted bans on logging and agriculture on steep slopes in western China. However, despite reports of extensive erosion resulting from the deforestation, sediment yield data show no corresponding increase during this time. Prior work suggested that if the deforestation increased erosion, the sediment is stored in floodplains, terraces, and alluvial fans throughout the region. In order to test this hypothesis, we sampled in-channel and overbank sediments at 38 locations, 19 of which are co-located with Chinese hydrology stations with at least five years of daily sediment yield data. Sediments were analyzed for meteoric and in situ 10-Be, unsupported 210-Pb, and 137-Cs. Unsupported 210-Pb activity is uniformly low throughout the study area and 137-Cs was found only in a few high-altitude, low-relief watersheds. Modern sediment yields, determined from Chinese data, are higher than long term in situ 10-Be-derived erosion rates in all but four watersheds, where we hypothesize sediment is being stored in alluvial features and agricultural terraces or that stochastic events such as landslides were not captured in the sediment yield data. Overall there is no relationship between topographic or climatic metrics, including slope, relief, or mean annual rainfall for any of the four isotopes except for a weak but statistically significant negative relationship between in situ 10-Be derived erosion rate and rainfall. Although paired in-channel and overbank samples are statistically indistinguishable for meteoric and in situ 10-Be, the overbank samples have lower unsupported 210-Pb activity, suggesting deeper sediment sourcing during the monsoon. In summary, in addition to suggesting differences between wet- and dry-season sediment sources, preliminary results support previous hypotheses regarding increased contemporary erosion and low hillslope-channel connectivity.

Automated Detection of Selective Logging in Amazon Forests Using Airborne Lidar Data and Pattern Recognition Algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, M. M.; d'Oliveira, M. N.; Takemura, C. M.; Vitoria, D.; Araujo, L. S.; Morton, D. C.

2012-12-01

Selective logging, the removal of several valuable timber trees per hectare, is an important land use in the Brazilian Amazon and may degrade forests through long term changes in structure, loss of forest carbon and species diversity. Similar to deforestation, the annual area affected by selected logging has declined significantly in the past decade. Nonetheless, this land use affects several thousand km2 per year in Brazil. We studied a 1000 ha area of the Antimary State Forest (FEA) in the State of Acre, Brazil (9.304 ○S, 68.281 ○W) that has a basal area of 22.5 m2 ha-1 and an above-ground biomass of 231 Mg ha-1. Logging intensity was low, approximately 10 to 15 m3 ha-1. We collected small-footprint airborne lidar data using an Optech ALTM 3100EA over the study area once each in 2010 and 2011. The study area contained both recent and older logging that used both conventional and technologically advanced logging techniques. Lidar return density averaged over 20 m-2 for both collection periods with estimated horizontal and vertical precision of 0.30 and 0.15 m. A relative density model comparing returns from 0 to 1 m elevation to returns in 1-5 m elevation range revealed the pattern of roads and skid trails. These patterns were confirmed by ground-based GPS survey. A GIS model of the road and skid network was built using lidar and ground data. We tested and compared two pattern recognition approaches used to automate logging detection. Both segmentation using commercial eCognition segmentation and a Frangi filter algorithm identified the road and skid trail network compared to the GIS model. We report on the effectiveness of these two techniques.

Assessing the impact of Amazonia logging with a new ecosystem model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, M.; Asner, G. P.; Keller, M.; Berry, J. A.; Bustamante, M. M.

2006-12-01

Old-growth Amazonian forests play a fundamental role in the global climate and carbon cycle. Land use in old- growth tropical forests contributes to the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere and can alter the hydrological cycle, locally, regionally, and globally. Although deforestation, largely for the conversion of land to food crops or pastures, is the major destructive force in tropical forests worldwide (Houghton et al., 2000), other forest disturbances such as the selective logging have also increased in frequency and extent. Selective logging causes widespread collateral damage to remaining trees, sub-canopy vegetation, and soils, with impacts on hydrological processes, erosion, fire, carbon storage, and plant and animal species. In this study, the impact of selective logging on the carbon budget of the Brazil Amazon region is assessed with a new 3-D version of the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) ecosystem model, which features: (1) an alternative way of estimating absorbed photosynthetically-active radiation (APAR) by taking advantage of new high-resolution maps of forest canopy gap fraction; (2) a pulse disturbance module to realistically modify the carbon pools after timber harvest; (3) a regrowth module considering changes in community composition; and (4) a radiative transfer module for charactering the dynamic 3-D light environment above the canopy and within gaps after logging. The model was calibrated and validated with field observations from the Large-scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment (LBA) and its sensitivity was evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations. The impacts of selected logging on regional carbon budget of the Brazilian Amazon were then assessed under different future climate change scenarios. Results from this study quantify the gross and net carbon storage effects of widespread logging practices throughout the Brazilian Amazon.

Soil charcoal as long-term pyrogenic carbon storage in Amazonian seasonal forests.

PubMed

Turcios, Maryory M; Jaramillo, Margarita M A; do Vale, José F; Fearnside, Philip M; Barbosa, Reinaldo Imbrozio

2016-01-01

Forest fires (paleo + modern) have caused charcoal particles to accumulate in the soil vertical profile in Amazonia. This forest compartment is a long-term carbon reservoir with an important role in global carbon balance. Estimates of stocks remain uncertain in forests that have not been altered by deforestation but that have been impacted by understory fires and selective logging. We estimated the stock of pyrogenic carbon derived from charcoal accumulated in the soil profile of seasonal forest fragments impacted by fire and selective logging in the northern portion of Brazilian Amazonia. Sixty-nine soil cores to 1-m depth were collected in 12 forest fragments of different sizes. Charcoal stocks averaged 3.45 ± 2.17 Mg ha(-1) (2.24 ± 1.41 Mg C ha(-1) ). Pyrogenic carbon was not directly related to the size of the forest fragments. This carbon is equivalent to 1.40% (0.25% to 4.04%) of the carbon stocked in aboveground live tree biomass in these fragments. The vertical distribution of pyrogenic carbon indicates an exponential model, where the 0-30 cm depth range has 60% of the total stored. The total area of Brazil's Amazonian seasonal forests and ecotones not altered by deforestation implies 65-286 Tg of pyrogenic carbon accumulated along the soil vertical profile. This is 1.2-2.3 times the total amount of residual pyrogenic carbon formed by biomass burning worldwide in 1 year. Our analysis suggests that the accumulated charcoal in the soil vertical profile in Amazonian forests is a substantial pyrogenic carbon pool that needs to be considered in global carbon models. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Disabusing cocaine: pervasive myths and enduring realities of a globalised commodity.

PubMed

Dávalos, Liliana M; Bejarano, Adriana C; Correa, H Leonardo

2009-09-01

For more than 30 years Colombia has waged an internal War on Drugs with the support of the international community. During this time, the illegal economy has evolved toward integrating cultivation with processing and trafficking, making Colombia the largest grower of coca in the world. The environmental impact of coca production and processing is vast, accounting for large quantities of toxic chemicals directly dumped onto the soil and watersheds, as well as most deforestation since the 1990s. The policies pursued to stem the coca economy, however, are based on unfounded assumptions about the behaviour of coca growers in the context of international markets. Despite their unfounded premises, these assumptions have acquired a mythical stature. In this article we review the most persistent myths about coca production with a view to understanding its links to environmental degradation. To this end, we present data on the economic and demographic background of coca growers, their impact on the environment, and their behaviour in the larger context of international markets and current eradication policies.

How to Address a Global Problem with Earth Observations? Developing Best Practices to Monitor Forests Around the World

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flores Cordova, Africa I.; Cherrington, Emil A.; Vadrevu, Krishna; Thapa, Rajesh Bahadur; Odour, Phoebe; Mehmood, Hamid; Quyen, Nguyen Hanh; Saah, David; Yero, Kadidia; Mamane, Bako;

Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 2000–2013

PubMed Central

Tyukavina, Alexandra; Hansen, Matthew C.; Potapov, Peter V.; Stehman, Stephen V.; Smith-Rodriguez, Kevin; Okpa, Chima; Aguilar, Ricardo

2017-01-01

Deforestation rates in primary humid tropical forests of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have declined significantly since the early 2000s. Brazil’s national forest monitoring system provides extensive information for the BLA but lacks independent validation and systematic coverage outside of primary forests. We use a sample-based approach to consistently quantify 2000–2013 tree cover loss in all forest types of the region and characterize the types of forest disturbance. Our results provide unbiased forest loss area estimates, which confirm the reduction of primary forest clearing (deforestation) documented by official maps. By the end of the study period, nonprimary forest clearing, together with primary forest degradation within the BLA, became comparable in area to deforestation, accounting for an estimated 53% of gross tree cover loss area and 26 to 35% of gross aboveground carbon loss. The main type of tree cover loss in all forest types was agroindustrial clearing for pasture (63% of total loss area), followed by small-scale forest clearing (12%) and agroindustrial clearing for cropland (9%), with natural woodlands being directly converted into croplands more often than primary forests. Fire accounted for 9% of the 2000–2013 primary forest disturbance area, with peak disturbances corresponding to droughts in 2005, 2007, and 2010. The rate of selective logging exploitation remained constant throughout the study period, contributing to forest fire vulnerability and degradation pressures. As the forest land use transition advances within the BLA, comprehensive tracking of forest transitions beyond primary forest loss is required to achieve accurate carbon accounting and other monitoring objectives. PMID:28439536

An Assessment of the Population of Cotton-Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and Their Habitat in Colombia

PubMed Central

Savage, Anne; Thomas, Len; Kidney, Darren; Soto, Luis H.; Pearson, Mackenzie; Medina, Felix S.; Emeris, German; Guillen, Rosamira R.

2016-01-01

Numerous animals have declining populations due to habitat loss, illegal wildlife trade, and climate change. The cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) is a Critically Endangered primate species, endemic to northwest Colombia, threatened by deforestation and illegal trade. In order to assess the current state of this species, we analyzed changes in the population of cotton-top tamarins and its habitat from 2005 to 2012. We used a tailor-made “lure strip transect” method to survey 43 accessible forest parcels that represent 30% of the species’ range. Estimated population size in the surveyed region was approximately 2,050 in 2005 and 1,900 in 2012, with a coefficient of variation of approximately 10%. The estimated population change between surveys was -7% (a decline of approximately 1.3% per year) suggesting a relatively stable population. If densities of inaccessible forest parcels are similar to those of surveyed samples, the estimated population of cotton-top tamarins in the wild in 2012 was 6,946 individuals. We also recorded little change in the amount of suitable habitat for cotton-top tamarins between sample periods: in 2005, 18% of surveyed forest was preferred habitat for cotton-top tamarins, while in 2012, 17% percent was preferred. We attribute the relatively stable population of this Critically Endangered species to increased conservation efforts of Proyecto Tití, conservation NGOs, and the Colombian government. Due to continued threats to cotton-top tamarins and their habitat such as agriculture and urban expansion, ongoing conservation efforts are needed to ensure the long-term survival of cotton-top tamarins in Colombia. PMID:28030570

Monitoring tropical forest degradation using time series analysis of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bullock, E.; Woodcock, C. E.

2017-12-01

Tropical forest loss is expected to be contribute 5 to 15% of anthropogenic carbon emissions in the coming century. The wide range of expected emissions is indicative of the large uncertainties that exist in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Total carbon loss from forest conversion consists of loss from deforestation plus loss from degradation. There have been significant improvements in the ability to relate plot-level estimates of carbon stocks to remote sensing-derived calculations of deforestation to estimate total carbon emissions from forest loss. These approaches, however, have been limited in their ability to assess the magnitude, extent, and overall impact of forest degradation. The causes of tropical degradation include selective logging, fuel wood collection, fires, and the development of forest plantations. This study demonstrates a newly developed methodology for detecting subtle changes in forest structure and condition using time series analysis of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. The research shows how the ability to detect small changes in forest biomass, in addition to changes in forest composition, can be improved by incorporating historical context and multi-sensor data fusion. Results are demonstrated from two climatically unique tropical forests in Thailand and Brazil.

Amazon Forest maintenance as a source of environmental services.

PubMed

Fearnside, Philip M

2008-03-01

Amazonian forest produces environmental services such as maintenance of biodiversity, water cycling and carbon stocks. These services have a much greater value to human society than do the timber, beef and other products that are obtained by destroying the forest. Yet institutional mechanisms are still lacking to transform the value of the standing forest into the foundation of an economy based on maintaining rather than destroying this ecosystem. Forest management for commodities such as timber and non-timber forest products faces severe limitations and inherent contradictions unless income is supplemented based on environmental services. Amazon forest is threatened by deforestation, logging, forest fires and climate change. Measures to avoid deforestation include repression through command and control, creation of protected areas, and reformulation of infrastructure decisions and development policies. An economy primarily based on the value of environmental services is essential for long-term maintenance of the forest. Much progress has been made in the decades since I first proposed such a transition, but many issues also remain unresolved. These include theoretical issues regarding accounting procedures, improved quantification of the services and of the benefits of different policy options, and effective uses of the funds generated in ways that maintain both the forest and the human population.

Characteristics of smoke emissions from biomass fires of the Amazon region - BASE-A experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ward, Darold E.; Setzer, Alberto W.; Kaufman, Yoram J.; Rasmussen, Rei A.

1991-01-01

The Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment-Amazonia was designed for study of both aerosol and gaseous emissions from fires using an airborne sampling platform. The emission factors for combustion products from four fires suggest that the proportion of carbon released in the form of CO2 is higher than for fires of logging which has been burned in the western U.S. Combustion efficiency was of the order of 97 percent for the Amazonian test fire and 86-94 percent for deforestation fires. The inorganic content of particles from tropical fires are noted to be different from those of fires in the U.S.

Deadwood biomass: an underestimated carbon stock in degraded tropical forests?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfeifer, Marion; Lefebvre, Veronique; Turner, Edgar; Cusack, Jeremy; Khoo, MinSheng; Chey, Vun K.; Peni, Maria; Ewers, Robert M.

2015-04-01

Despite a large increase in the area of selectively logged tropical forest worldwide, the carbon stored in deadwood across a tropical forest degradation gradient at the landscape scale remains poorly documented. Many carbon stock studies have either focused exclusively on live standing biomass or have been carried out in primary forests that are unaffected by logging, despite the fact that coarse woody debris (deadwood with ≥10 cm diameter) can contain significant portions of a forest’s carbon stock. We used a field-based assessment to quantify how the relative contribution of deadwood to total above-ground carbon stock changes across a disturbance gradient, from unlogged old-growth forest to severely degraded twice-logged forest, to oil palm plantation. We measured in 193 vegetation plots (25 × 25 m), equating to a survey area of >12 ha of tropical humid forest located within the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project area, in Sabah, Malaysia. Our results indicate that significant amounts of carbon are stored in deadwood across forest stands. Live tree carbon storage decreased exponentially with increasing forest degradation 7-10 years after logging while deadwood accounted for >50% of above-ground carbon stocks in salvage-logged forest stands, more than twice the proportion commonly assumed in the literature. This carbon will be released as decomposition proceeds. Given the high rates of deforestation and degradation presently occurring in Southeast Asia, our findings have important implications for the calculation of current carbon stocks and sources as a result of human-modification of tropical forests. Assuming similar patterns are prevalent throughout the tropics, our data may indicate a significant global challenge to calculating global carbon fluxes, as selectively-logged forests now represent more than one third of all standing tropical humid forests worldwide.

Prototype system of secure VOD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minemura, Harumi; Yamaguchi, Tomohisa

1997-12-01

Secure digital contents delivery systems are to realize copyright protection and charging mechanism, and aim at secure delivery service of digital contents. Encrypted contents delivery and history (log) management are means to accomplish this purpose. Our final target is to realize a video-on-demand (VOD) system that can prevent illegal usage of video data and manage user history data to achieve a secure video delivery system on the Internet or Intranet. By now, mainly targeting client-server systems connected with enterprise LAN, we have implemented and evaluated a prototype system based on the investigation into the delivery method of encrypted video contents.

Reconciling forest conservation and logging in Indonesian Borneo.

PubMed

Gaveau, David L A; Kshatriya, Mrigesh; Sheil, Douglas; Sloan, Sean; Molidena, Elis; Wijaya, Arief; Wich, Serge; Ancrenaz, Marc; Hansen, Matthew; Broich, Mark; Guariguata, Manuel R; Pacheco, Pablo; Potapov, Peter; Turubanova, Svetlana; Meijaard, Erik

2013-01-01

Combining protected areas with natural forest timber concessions may sustain larger forest landscapes than is possible via protected areas alone. However, the role of timber concessions in maintaining natural forest remains poorly characterized. An estimated 57% (303,525 km²) of Kalimantan's land area (532,100 km²) was covered by natural forest in 2000. About 14,212 km² (4.7%) had been cleared by 2010. Forests in oil palm concessions had been reduced by 5,600 km² (14.1%), while the figures for timber concessions are 1,336 km² (1.5%), and for protected forests are 1,122 km² (1.2%). These deforestation rates explain little about the relative performance of the different land use categories under equivalent conversion risks due to the confounding effects of location. An estimated 25% of lands allocated for timber harvesting in 2000 had their status changed to industrial plantation concessions in 2010. Based on a sample of 3,391 forest plots (1×1 km; 100 ha), and matching statistical analyses, 2000-2010 deforestation was on average 17.6 ha lower (95% C.I.: -22.3 ha- -12.9 ha) in timber concession plots than in oil palm concession plots. When location effects were accounted for, deforestation rates in timber concessions and protected areas were not significantly different (Mean difference: 0.35 ha; 95% C.I.: -0.002 ha-0.7 ha). Natural forest timber concessions in Kalimantan had similar ability as protected areas to maintain forest cover during 2000-2010, provided the former were not reclassified to industrial plantation concessions. Our study indicates the desirability of the Government of Indonesia designating its natural forest timber concessions as protected areas under the IUCN Protected Area Category VI to protect them from reclassification.

The Net Carbon Flux due to Deforestation and Forest Re-Growth in the Brazilian Amazon: Analysis using a Process-Based Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hirsch, A. I.; Little, W. S.; Houghton, R. A.; Scott, N. A.; White, J. D.

2004-01-01

We developed a process-based model of forest growth, carbon cycling, and land cover dynamics named CARLUC (for CARbon and Land Use Change) to estimate the size of terrestrial carbon pools in terra firme (non-flooded) forests across the Brazilian Legal Amazon and the net flux of carbon resulting from forest disturbance and forest recovery from disturbance. Our goal in building the model was to construct a relatively simple ecosystem model that would respond to soil and climatic heterogeneity that allows us to study of the impact of Amazonian deforestation, selective logging, and accidental fire on the global carbon cycle. This paper focuses on the net flux caused by deforestation and forest re-growth over the period from 1970-1998. We calculate that the net flux to the atmosphere during this period reached a maximum of approx. 0.35 PgC/yr (1PgC = 1 x 10(exp I5) gC) in 1990, with a cumulative release of approx. 7 PgC from 1970- 1998. The net flux is higher than predicted by an earlier study by a total of 1 PgC over the period 1989-1 998 mainly because CARLUC predicts relatively high mature forest carbon storage compared to the datasets used in the earlier study. Incorporating the dynamics of litter and soil carbon pools into the model increases the cumulative net flux by approx. 1 PgC from 1970-1998, while different assumptions about land cover dynamics only caused small changes. The uncertainty of the net flux, calculated with a Monte-Carlo approach, is roughly 35% of the mean value (1 SD).

Reconciling Forest Conservation and Logging in Indonesian Borneo

PubMed Central

Gaveau, David L. A.; Kshatriya, Mrigesh; Sheil, Douglas; Sloan, Sean; Molidena, Elis; Wijaya, Arief; Wich, Serge; Ancrenaz, Marc; Hansen, Matthew; Broich, Mark; Guariguata, Manuel R.; Pacheco, Pablo; Potapov, Peter; Turubanova, Svetlana; Meijaard, Erik

2013-01-01

Combining protected areas with natural forest timber concessions may sustain larger forest landscapes than is possible via protected areas alone. However, the role of timber concessions in maintaining natural forest remains poorly characterized. An estimated 57% (303,525 km2) of Kalimantan's land area (532,100 km2) was covered by natural forest in 2000. About 14,212 km2 (4.7%) had been cleared by 2010. Forests in oil palm concessions had been reduced by 5,600 km2 (14.1%), while the figures for timber concessions are 1,336 km2 (1.5%), and for protected forests are 1,122 km2 (1.2%). These deforestation rates explain little about the relative performance of the different land use categories under equivalent conversion risks due to the confounding effects of location. An estimated 25% of lands allocated for timber harvesting in 2000 had their status changed to industrial plantation concessions in 2010. Based on a sample of 3,391 forest plots (1×1 km; 100 ha), and matching statistical analyses, 2000–2010 deforestation was on average 17.6 ha lower (95% C.I.: −22.3 ha–−12.9 ha) in timber concession plots than in oil palm concession plots. When location effects were accounted for, deforestation rates in timber concessions and protected areas were not significantly different (Mean difference: 0.35 ha; 95% C.I.: −0.002 ha–0.7 ha). Natural forest timber concessions in Kalimantan had similar ability as protected areas to maintain forest cover during 2000–2010, provided the former were not reclassified to industrial plantation concessions. Our study indicates the desirability of the Government of Indonesia designating its natural forest timber concessions as protected areas under the IUCN Protected Area Category VI to protect them from reclassification. PMID:23967062

Contrasting Patterns of Damage and Recovery in Logged Amazon Forests From Small Footprint LiDAR Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, D. C.; Keller, M.; Cook, B. D.; Hunter, Maria; Sales, Marcio; Spinelli, L.; Victoria, D.; Andersen, H.-E.; Saleska, S.

2012-01-01

Tropical forests ecosystems respond dynamically to climate variability and disturbances on time scales of minutes to millennia. To date, our knowledge of disturbance and recovery processes in tropical forests is derived almost exclusively from networks of forest inventory plots. These plots typically sample small areas (less than or equal to 1 ha) in conservation units that are protected from logging and fire. Amazon forests with frequent disturbances from human activity remain under-studied. Ongoing negotiations on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks) have placed additional emphasis on identifying degraded forests and quantifying changing carbon stocks in both degraded and intact tropical forests. We evaluated patterns of forest disturbance and recovery at four -1000 ha sites in the Brazilian Amazon using small footprint LiDAR data and coincident field measurements. Large area coverage with airborne LiDAR data in 2011-2012 included logged and unmanaged areas in Cotriguacu (Mato Grosso), Fiona do Jamari (Rondonia), and Floresta Estadual do Antimary (Acre), and unmanaged forest within Reserva Ducke (Amazonas). Logging infrastructure (skid trails, log decks, and roads) was identified using LiDAR returns from understory vegetation and validated based on field data. At each logged site, canopy gaps from logging activity and LiDAR metrics of canopy heights were used to quantify differences in forest structure between logged and unlogged areas. Contrasting patterns of harvesting operations and canopy damages at the three logged sites reflect different levels of pre-harvest planning (i.e., informal logging compared to state or national logging concessions), harvest intensity, and site conditions. Finally, we used multi-temporal LiDAR data from two sites, Reserva Ducke (2009, 2012) and Antimary (2010, 2011), to evaluate gap phase dynamics in unmanaged forest areas. The rates and patterns of canopy gap formation at these sites illustrate potential issues for separating logging damages from natural forest disturbances over longer time scales. Multi-temporal airborne LiDAR data and coincident field measurements provide complementary perspectives on disturbance and recovery processes in intact and degraded Amazon forests. Compared to forest inventory plots, the large size of each individual site permitted analyses of landscape-scale processes that would require extremely high investments to study using traditional forest inventory methods.

Deadwood stocks increase with selective logging and large tree frequency in Gabon.

PubMed

Carlson, Ben S; Koerner, Sally E; Medjibe, Vincent P; White, Lee J T; Poulsen, John R

2017-04-01

Deadwood is a major component of aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests and is important as habitat and for nutrient cycling and carbon storage. With deforestation and degradation taking place throughout the tropics, improved understanding of the magnitude and spatial variation in deadwood is vital for the development of regional and global carbon budgets. However, this potentially important carbon pool is poorly quantified in Afrotropical forests and the regional drivers of deadwood stocks are unknown. In the first large-scale study of deadwood in Central Africa, we quantified stocks in 47 forest sites across Gabon and evaluated the effects of disturbance (logging), forest structure variables (live AGB, wood density, abundance of large trees), and abiotic variables (temperature, precipitation, seasonality). Average deadwood stocks (measured as necromass, the biomass of deadwood) were 65 Mg ha -1 or 23% of live AGB. Deadwood stocks varied spatially with disturbance and forest structure, but not abiotic variables. Deadwood stocks increased significantly with logging (+38 Mg ha -1 ) and the abundance of large trees (+2.4 Mg ha -1 for every tree >60 cm dbh). Gabon holds 0.74 Pg C, or 21% of total aboveground carbon in deadwood, a threefold increase over previous estimates. Importantly, deadwood densities in Gabon are comparable to those in the Neotropics and respond similarly to logging, but represent a lower proportion of live AGB (median of 18% in Gabon compared to 26% in the Neotropics). In forest carbon accounting, necromass is often assumed to be a constant proportion (9%) of biomass, but in humid tropical forests this ratio varies from 2% in undisturbed forest to 300% in logged forest. Because logging significantly increases the deadwood carbon pool, estimates of tropical forest carbon should at a minimum use different ratios for logged (mean of 30%) and unlogged forests (mean of 18%). © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison of sampling designs for estimating deforestation from landsat TM and MODIS imagery: a case study in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

PubMed

Zhu, Shanyou; Zhang, Hailong; Liu, Ronggao; Cao, Yun; Zhang, Guixin

2014-01-01

Sampling designs are commonly used to estimate deforestation over large areas, but comparisons between different sampling strategies are required. Using PRODES deforestation data as a reference, deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil from 2005 to 2006 is evaluated using Landsat imagery and a nearly synchronous MODIS dataset. The MODIS-derived deforestation is used to assist in sampling and extrapolation. Three sampling designs are compared according to the estimated deforestation of the entire study area based on simple extrapolation and linear regression models. The results show that stratified sampling for strata construction and sample allocation using the MODIS-derived deforestation hotspots provided more precise estimations than simple random and systematic sampling. Moreover, the relationship between the MODIS-derived and TM-derived deforestation provides a precise estimate of the total deforestation area as well as the distribution of deforestation in each block.

Comparison of Sampling Designs for Estimating Deforestation from Landsat TM and MODIS Imagery: A Case Study in Mato Grosso, Brazil

PubMed Central

Zhu, Shanyou; Zhang, Hailong; Liu, Ronggao; Cao, Yun; Zhang, Guixin

2014-01-01

Sampling designs are commonly used to estimate deforestation over large areas, but comparisons between different sampling strategies are required. Using PRODES deforestation data as a reference, deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil from 2005 to 2006 is evaluated using Landsat imagery and a nearly synchronous MODIS dataset. The MODIS-derived deforestation is used to assist in sampling and extrapolation. Three sampling designs are compared according to the estimated deforestation of the entire study area based on simple extrapolation and linear regression models. The results show that stratified sampling for strata construction and sample allocation using the MODIS-derived deforestation hotspots provided more precise estimations than simple random and systematic sampling. Moreover, the relationship between the MODIS-derived and TM-derived deforestation provides a precise estimate of the total deforestation area as well as the distribution of deforestation in each block. PMID:25258742

The neglected nonlocal effects of deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winckler, Johannes; Reick, Christian; Pongratz, Julia

2017-04-01

Deforestation changes surface temperature locally via biogeophysical effects by changing the water, energy and momentum balance. Adding to these locally induced changes (local effects), deforestation at a given location can cause changes in temperature elsewhere (nonlocal effects). Most previous studies have not considered local and nonlocal effects separately, but investigated the total (local plus nonlocal) effects, for which global deforestation was found to cause a global mean cooling. Recent modeling and observational studies focused on the isolated local effects: The local effects are relevant for local living conditions, and they can be obtained from in-situ and satellite observations. Observational studies suggest that the local effects of potential deforestation cause a warming when averaged globally. This contrast between local warming and total cooling indicates that the nonlocal effects of deforestation are causing a cooling and thus counteract the local effects. It is still unclear how the nonlocal effects depend on the spatial scale of deforestation, and whether they still compensate the local warming in a more realistic spatial distribution of deforestation. To investigate this, we use a fully coupled climate model and separate local and nonlocal effects of deforestation in three steps: Starting from a forest world, we simulate deforestation in one out of four grid boxes using a regular spatial pattern and increase the number of deforestation grid boxes step-wise up to three out of four boxes in subsequent simulations. To compare these idealized spatial distributions of deforestation to a more realistic case, we separate local and nonlocal effects in a simulation where deforestation is applied in regions where it occurred historically. We find that the nonlocal effects scale nearly linearly with the number of deforested grid boxes, and the spatial distribution of the nonlocal effects is similar for the regular spatial distribution of deforestation and the more realistic pattern. Globally averaged, the deforestation-induced warming of the local effects is counteracted by the nonlocal effects, which are about three times as strong as the local effects (up to 0.1K local warming versus -0.3K nonlocal cooling). Thus, the nonlocal effects are more cooling than the local effects are warming, and this is valid not only for idealized simulations of large-scale deforestation, but also for a more realistic deforestation scenario. We conclude that the local effects of deforestation only yield an incomplete picture of the total climate effects by biogeophysical pathways. While the local effects capture the direct climatic response at the site of deforestation, the nonlocal effects have to be included if the biogeophysical effects of deforestation are considered for an implementation in climate policies.

Landscape-scale changes in forest canopy structure across a partially logged tropical peat swamp

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wedeux, B. M. M.; Coomes, D. A.

2015-11-01

Forest canopy structure is strongly influenced by environmental factors and disturbance, and in turn influences key ecosystem processes including productivity, evapotranspiration and habitat availability. In tropical forests increasingly modified by human activities, the interplay between environmental factors and disturbance legacies on forest canopy structure across landscapes is practically unexplored. We used airborne laser scanning (ALS) data to measure the canopy of old-growth and selectively logged peat swamp forest across a peat dome in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and quantified how canopy structure metrics varied with peat depth and under logging. Several million canopy gaps in different height cross-sections of the canopy were measured in 100 plots of 1 km2 spanning the peat dome, allowing us to describe canopy structure with seven metrics. Old-growth forest became shorter and had simpler vertical canopy profiles on deeper peat, consistent with previous work linking deep peat to stunted tree growth. Gap size frequency distributions (GSFDs) indicated fewer and smaller canopy gaps on the deeper peat (i.e. the scaling exponent of Pareto functions increased from 1.76 to 3.76 with peat depth). Areas subjected to concessionary logging until 2000, and illegal logging since then, had the same canopy top height as old-growth forest, indicating the persistence of some large trees, but mean canopy height was significantly reduced. With logging, the total area of canopy gaps increased and the GSFD scaling exponent was reduced. Logging effects were most evident on the deepest peat, where nutrient depletion and waterlogged conditions restrain tree growth and recovery. A tight relationship exists between canopy structure and peat depth gradient within the old-growth tropical peat swamp forest. This relationship breaks down after selective logging, with canopy structural recovery, as observed by ALS, modulated by environmental conditions. These findings improve our understanding of tropical peat swamp ecology and provide important insights for managers aiming to restore degraded forests.

Classification of CITES-listed and other neotropical Meliaceae wood images using convolutional neural networks.

PubMed

Ravindran, Prabu; Costa, Adriana; Soares, Richard; Wiedenhoeft, Alex C

2018-01-01

The current state-of-the-art for field wood identification to combat illegal logging relies on experienced practitioners using hand lenses, specialized identification keys, atlases of woods, and field manuals. Accumulation of this expertise is time-consuming and access to training is relatively rare compared to the international demand for field wood identification. A reliable, consistent and cost effective field screening method is necessary for effective global scale enforcement of international treaties such as the Convention on the International Trade in Endagered Species (CITES) or national laws (e.g. the US Lacey Act) governing timber trade and imports. We present highly effective computer vision classification models, based on deep convolutional neural networks, trained via transfer learning, to identify the woods of 10 neotropical species in the family Meliaceae, including CITES-listed Swietenia macrophylla , Swietenia mahagoni , Cedrela fissilis , and Cedrela odorata . We build and evaluate models to classify the 10 woods at the species and genus levels, with image-level model accuracy ranging from 87.4 to 97.5%, with the strongest performance by the genus-level model. Misclassified images are attributed to classes consistent with traditional wood anatomical results, and our species-level accuracy greatly exceeds the resolution of traditional wood identification. The end-to-end trained image classifiers that we present discriminate the woods based on digital images of the transverse surface of solid wood blocks, which are surfaces and images that can be prepared and captured in the field. Hence this work represents a strong proof-of-concept for using computer vision and convolutional neural networks to develop practical models for field screening timber and wood products to combat illegal logging.

Moving forward socio-economically focused models of deforestation.

PubMed

Dezécache, Camille; Salles, Jean-Michel; Vieilledent, Ghislain; Hérault, Bruno

2017-09-01

Whilst high-resolution spatial variables contribute to a good fit of spatially explicit deforestation models, socio-economic processes are often beyond the scope of these models. Such a low level of interest in the socio-economic dimension of deforestation limits the relevancy of these models for decision-making and may be the cause of their failure to accurately predict observed deforestation trends in the medium term. This study aims to propose a flexible methodology for taking into account multiple drivers of deforestation in tropical forested areas, where the intensity of deforestation is explicitly predicted based on socio-economic variables. By coupling a model of deforestation location based on spatial environmental variables with several sub-models of deforestation intensity based on socio-economic variables, we were able to create a map of predicted deforestation over the period 2001-2014 in French Guiana. This map was compared to a reference map for accuracy assessment, not only at the pixel scale but also over cells ranging from 1 to approximately 600 sq. km. Highly significant relationships were explicitly established between deforestation intensity and several socio-economic variables: population growth, the amount of agricultural subsidies, gold and wood production. Such a precise characterization of socio-economic processes allows to avoid overestimation biases in high deforestation areas, suggesting a better integration of socio-economic processes in the models. Whilst considering deforestation as a purely geographical process contributes to the creation of conservative models unable to effectively assess changes in the socio-economic and political contexts influencing deforestation trends, this explicit characterization of the socio-economic dimension of deforestation is critical for the creation of deforestation scenarios in REDD+ projects. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Changes in size of deforested patches in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Rosa, Isabel M D; Souza, Carlos; Ewers, Robert M

2012-10-01

Different deforestation agents, such as small farmers and large agricultural businesses, create different spatial patterns of deforestation. We analyzed the proportion of deforestation associated with different-sized clearings in the Brazilian Amazon from 2002 through 2009. We used annual deforestation maps to determine total area deforested and the size distribution of deforested patches per year. The size distribution of deforested areas changed over time in a consistent, directional manner. Large clearings (>1000 ha) comprised progressively smaller amounts of total annual deforestation. The number of smaller clearings (6.25-50.00 ha) remained unchanged over time. Small clearings accounted for 73% of all deforestation in 2009, up from 30% in 2002, whereas the proportion of deforestation attributable to large clearings decreased from 13% to 3% between 2002 and 2009. Large clearings were concentrated in Mato Grosso, but also occurred in eastern Pará and in Rondônia. In 2002 large clearings accounted for 17%, 15%, and 10% of all deforestation in Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia, respectively. Even in these states, where there is a highly developed agricultural business dominated by soybean production and cattle ranching, the proportional contribution of large clearings to total deforestation declined. By 2009 large clearings accounted for 2.5%, 3.5%, and 1% of all deforestation in Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia, respectively. These changes in deforestation patch size are coincident with the implementation of new conservation policies by the Brazilian government, which suggests that these policies are not effectively reducing the number of small clearings in primary forest, whether these are caused by large landholders or smallholders, but have been more effective at reducing the frequency of larger clearings. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Logging Activity in the Trinational Amazonian Region of Pando/Bolivia, Acre and Rond“nia/Brazil, and Madre de Dios/Peru: Analysis of Existing Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza, E.; Brilhante, S. H.; Brown, I.; Peralta, R.; Rivero, S.; Melendez, N.

2002-12-01

Logging activity in the trinational southwestern Amazonia will grow in importance as a driver of regional land-use change as expanding road access facilitates both timber extraction and transport to international markets. Official data on current activity in this ~50 million ha region are limited and inconsistent with differences as much as twenty-fold between official estimates; nevertheless, they serve as guides for understanding the relative magnitude of logging activities. For 2000, an estimated 5 million m3 of timber were commercialized in Rondonia, 400,000 m3 in Acre, Brazil, and 200,000 m3 for the combined departments of Pando, Bolivia and Madre de Dios, Peru. About 70% of this timber originates from clear cutting done for pasture and agriculture activities, nearly a third from unregulated selective logging, and only 2% from managed selective logging. Eight timber species are preferentially extracted. The total area for timber concessions in Acre, Pando and Madre de Dios extends to about 4 million ha for a potential timber supply of 65 million m3. About 150,000 m3/yr of illegal timber is confiscated by federal and state agencies in Acre, Pando and Madre de Dios. Problems of enforcement in the region are due principally to the lack of trained personnel and little cooperation among agencies of the three countries. Proposed development plans indicate a 3- to >10-fold increase in logging activity in the Acre and Pando regions during the coming decade. More detailed studies are urgently needed to guide sustainable development of this resource in southwestern Amazonia.

Long-term deforestation dynamics in the Brazilian Amazon-Uncovering historic frontier development along the Cuiabá-Santarém highway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Hannes; Griffiths, Patrick; Hostert, Patrick

2016-02-01

The great success of the Brazilian deforestation programme "PRODES digital" has shown the importance of annual deforestation information for understanding and mitigating deforestation and its consequences in Brazil. However, there is a lack of similar information on deforestation for the 1990s and 1980s. Such maps are essential to understand deforestation frontier development and related carbon emissions. This study aims at extending the deforestation mapping record backwards into the 1990s and 1980s for one of the major deforestation frontiers in the Amazon. We use an image compositing approach to transform 2224 Landsat images in a spatially continuous and cloud free annual time series of Tasseled Cap Wetness metrics from 1984 to 2012. We then employ a random forest classifier to derive annual deforestation patterns. Our final deforestation map has an overall accuracy of 85% with half of the overall deforestation being detected before the year 2000. The results show for the first time detailed patterns of the expanding deforestation frontier before the 2000s. The high degree of automatization exhibits the great potential for mapping the whole Amazon biome using long-term and freely accessible remote sensing collections, such as the Landsat archive and forthcoming Sentinel-2 data.

Predictive modelling of contagious deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Rosa, Isabel M D; Purves, Drew; Souza, Carlos; Ewers, Robert M

2013-01-01

Tropical forests are diminishing in extent due primarily to the rapid expansion of agriculture, but the future magnitude and geographical distribution of future tropical deforestation is uncertain. Here, we introduce a dynamic and spatially-explicit model of deforestation that predicts the potential magnitude and spatial pattern of Amazon deforestation. Our model differs from previous models in three ways: (1) it is probabilistic and quantifies uncertainty around predictions and parameters; (2) the overall deforestation rate emerges "bottom up", as the sum of local-scale deforestation driven by local processes; and (3) deforestation is contagious, such that local deforestation rate increases through time if adjacent locations are deforested. For the scenarios evaluated-pre- and post-PPCDAM ("Plano de Ação para Proteção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia")-the parameter estimates confirmed that forests near roads and already deforested areas are significantly more likely to be deforested in the near future and less likely in protected areas. Validation tests showed that our model correctly predicted the magnitude and spatial pattern of deforestation that accumulates over time, but that there is very high uncertainty surrounding the exact sequence in which pixels are deforested. The model predicts that under pre-PPCDAM (assuming no change in parameter values due to, for example, changes in government policy), annual deforestation rates would halve between 2050 compared to 2002, although this partly reflects reliance on a static map of the road network. Consistent with other models, under the pre-PPCDAM scenario, states in the south and east of the Brazilian Amazon have a high predicted probability of losing nearly all forest outside of protected areas by 2050. This pattern is less strong in the post-PPCDAM scenario. Contagious spread along roads and through areas lacking formal protection could allow deforestation to reach the core, which is currently experiencing low deforestation rates due to its isolation.

Predictive Modelling of Contagious Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Rosa, Isabel M. D.; Purves, Drew; Souza, Carlos; Ewers, Robert M.

2013-01-01

Tropical forests are diminishing in extent due primarily to the rapid expansion of agriculture, but the future magnitude and geographical distribution of future tropical deforestation is uncertain. Here, we introduce a dynamic and spatially-explicit model of deforestation that predicts the potential magnitude and spatial pattern of Amazon deforestation. Our model differs from previous models in three ways: (1) it is probabilistic and quantifies uncertainty around predictions and parameters; (2) the overall deforestation rate emerges “bottom up”, as the sum of local-scale deforestation driven by local processes; and (3) deforestation is contagious, such that local deforestation rate increases through time if adjacent locations are deforested. For the scenarios evaluated–pre- and post-PPCDAM (“Plano de Ação para Proteção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia”)–the parameter estimates confirmed that forests near roads and already deforested areas are significantly more likely to be deforested in the near future and less likely in protected areas. Validation tests showed that our model correctly predicted the magnitude and spatial pattern of deforestation that accumulates over time, but that there is very high uncertainty surrounding the exact sequence in which pixels are deforested. The model predicts that under pre-PPCDAM (assuming no change in parameter values due to, for example, changes in government policy), annual deforestation rates would halve between 2050 compared to 2002, although this partly reflects reliance on a static map of the road network. Consistent with other models, under the pre-PPCDAM scenario, states in the south and east of the Brazilian Amazon have a high predicted probability of losing nearly all forest outside of protected areas by 2050. This pattern is less strong in the post-PPCDAM scenario. Contagious spread along roads and through areas lacking formal protection could allow deforestation to reach the core, which is currently experiencing low deforestation rates due to its isolation. PMID:24204776

Measurement of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite remote sensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skole, D.L.

1992-01-01

Understanding of the role of the biota in the global carbon cycle is limited by an absence of accurate measurements of deforestation rates in the tropics. This study measures the rate and extent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, the largest extant tropical forest biome in the world. The study uses remote sensing measurements of deforestation rates, the area of secondary vegetation, and tabular data to document deforestation. The analysis concludes: (1) AVHRR will greatly overestimate deforestation and be highly variable; the use of a brightness temperature threshold is highly sensitive and unreliable. The upward bias of AVHRR is amore » function of the density of deforestation. (2) Accurate measurement of deforestation requires Landsat TM data, and can be accomplished using low cost visual interpretation of photographic products at 1:250,000 scales. (3) Secondary growth in the Brazilian Amazon represents a large fraction of the total deforested area, and the abandonment of agricultural land is an important land cover transition. Abandonment rates were 70--83% of clearing rates from primary forests. At any one point in time, approximately 30% of the deforested area is in some stage of abandonment, and quite likely nearly all deforested land becomes abandoned after approximately 5 years. (4) Previous estimates of the total area deforested in the Amazon, as well as deforestation rates, have been too high by as much as 4-fold. A complete assessment of the entire Legal Amazon using over 200 Landsat images measures 251 [times] 10[sup 3] km[sup 2] deforestation as of 1988, or approximately 6% of the closed forests of the region. The average annual rate of deforestation between 1978 and 1988 was 18 [times] 10[sup 3] km[sup 2] yr[sup [minus]1]. These findings suggest the estimates of carbon emissions from the Amazon for the late 1980s have been too high, since the area of regrowth is large and rates of deforestation are lower than previously believed.« less

Land-use in Amazonia and the Cerrado of Brazil: State of Knowledge and GIS Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nepstad, Daniel C.

1997-01-01

We have assembled datasets to strengthen the LargeScale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). These datasets can now be accessed through the Woods Hole Research Center homepage (www.whrc.org), and will soon be linked to the Pre-LBA homepages of the Brazilian Space Research Institute's Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais, Centro de Previsao de Tempo e Estudos Climaticos, INPE/CPTEC) and through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL/DMC). Some of the datasets that we are making available involved new field research and/or the digitization of data available in Brazilian government agencies. For example, during the grant period we conducted interviews at 1,100 sawmills across Amazonia to determine their production of sawn timber, and their harvest intensities. These data provide the basis for the first quantitative assessment of the area of forest affected each year by selective logging (Nepstad et al, submitted to Nature). We digitized the locations of all of the rural households in the State of Para that have been mapped by the Brazilian malaria combat agency (SUCAM). We also mapped and digitized areas of deforestation in the state of Tocantins, which is comprised largely of savanna (cerrado), an ecosystem that has been routinely excluded from deforestation mapping exercises.

Quantifying and understanding carbon storage and sequestration within the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, a tropical biodiversity hotspot.

PubMed

Willcock, Simon; Phillips, Oliver L; Platts, Philip J; Balmford, Andrew; Burgess, Neil D; Lovett, Jon C; Ahrends, Antje; Bayliss, Julian; Doggart, Nike; Doody, Kathryn; Fanning, Eibleis; Green, Jonathan Mh; Hall, Jaclyn; Howell, Kim L; Marchant, Rob; Marshall, Andrew R; Mbilinyi, Boniface; Munishi, Pantaleon Kt; Owen, Nisha; Swetnam, Ruth D; Topp-Jorgensen, Elmer J; Lewis, Simon L

2014-01-01

The carbon stored in vegetation varies across tropical landscapes due to a complex mix of climatic and edaphic variables, as well as direct human interventions such as deforestation and forest degradation. Mapping and monitoring this variation is essential if policy developments such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) are to be known to have succeeded or failed. We produce a map of carbon storage across the watershed of the Tanzanian Eastern Arc Mountains (33.9 million ha) using 1,611 forest inventory plots, and correlations with associated climate, soil and disturbance data. As expected, tropical forest stores more carbon per hectare (182 Mg C ha(-1)) than woody savanna (51 Mg C ha(-1)). However, woody savanna is the largest aggregate carbon store, with 0.49 Pg C over 9.6 million ha. We estimate the whole landscape stores 1.3 Pg C, significantly higher than most previous estimates for the region. The 95% Confidence Interval for this method (0.9 to 3.2 Pg C) is larger than simpler look-up table methods (1.5 to 1.6 Pg C), suggesting simpler methods may underestimate uncertainty. Using a small number of inventory plots with two censuses (n = 43) to assess changes in carbon storage, and applying the same mapping procedures, we found that carbon storage in the tree-dominated ecosystems has decreased, though not significantly, at a mean rate of 1.47 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1) (c. 2% of the stocks of carbon per year). The most influential variables on carbon storage in the region are anthropogenic, particularly historical logging, as noted by the largest coefficient of explanatory variable on the response variable. Of the non-anthropogenic factors, a negative correlation with air temperature and a positive correlation with water availability dominate, having smaller p-values than historical logging but also smaller influence. High carbon storage is typically found far from the commercial capital, in locations with a low monthly temperature range, without a strong dry season, and in areas that have not suffered from historical logging. The results imply that policy interventions could retain carbon stored in vegetation and likely successfully slow or reverse carbon emissions.

The stork, the plow, rural social structure and tropical deforestation in poor countries?

PubMed

Rock, M T

1996-01-01

This study is an exploration of the relationships between income, demographic pressure, technological change in agriculture, and the structure of political economies in light of cross-country differences in deforestation. The study focuses on small farmers and shifting cultivation. The analysis is based on a model developed by Larson (1994) that accounts for rural poverty, rootlessness, and distribution of landholdings. Regression equations model the average annual rate of deforestation, the relative area under forests, and a recursive model that includes both the deforestation rate and the forested area. Deforestation was reasonably well explained by a dummy variable for Asia, a rank order variable of the amount of forested area in 1980, the gross domestic product per capita in 1990, the average annual population growth rate during 1981-90, and the percentage increase in value added to agriculture during 1981-90 in 1990 dollars. Findings indicate that a 10% increase in the population growth rate increased the rate of deforestation by 10.6%. A 10% increase in income per capita increased deforestation by 49.5%. The influence of income on deforestation followed Kuznet's U-shaped curve. The turning point for reduced deforestation was income of $3500 per capita. Only Central and South America are near this income level. An increase in 1 agricultural worker per household increased deforestation by 50%. A 10% increase in smallholders' share of agricultural land reduced deforestation by 3.4%. Countries with high rural rootlessness had 23.6% less relative area under forests, suggesting that rural rootlessness rather than poverty per se leads to deforestation. The recursive model shows that demographic pressures led to deforestation and were mediated by technological change. Political economy theories of deforestation received strong empirical support.

Deforestation Induced Climate Change: Effects of Spatial Scale.

PubMed

Longobardi, Patrick; Montenegro, Alvaro; Beltrami, Hugo; Eby, Michael

2016-01-01

Deforestation is associated with increased atmospheric CO2 and alterations to the surface energy and mass balances that can lead to local and global climate changes. Previous modelling studies show that the global surface air temperature (SAT) response to deforestation depends on latitude, with most simulations showing that high latitude deforestation results in cooling, low latitude deforestation causes warming and that the mid latitude response is mixed. These earlier conclusions are based on simulated large scal land cover change, with complete removal of trees from whole latitude bands. Using a global climate model we examine the effects of removing fractions of 5% to 100% of forested areas in the high, mid and low latitudes. All high latitude deforestation scenarios reduce mean global SAT, the opposite occurring for low latitude deforestation, although a decrease in SAT is simulated over low latitude deforested areas. Mid latitude SAT response is mixed. In all simulations deforested areas tend to become drier and have lower SAT, although soil temperatures increase over deforested mid and low latitude grid cells. For high latitude deforestation fractions of 45% and above, larger net primary productivity, in conjunction with colder and drier conditions after deforestation cause an increase in soil carbon large enough to produce a net decrease of atmospheric CO2. Our results reveal the complex interactions between soil carbon dynamics and other climate subsystems in the energy partition responses to land cover change.

Deforestation Induced Climate Change: Effects of Spatial Scale

PubMed Central

Longobardi, Patrick; Montenegro, Alvaro; Beltrami, Hugo; Eby, Michael

2016-01-01

Deforestation is associated with increased atmospheric CO2 and alterations to the surface energy and mass balances that can lead to local and global climate changes. Previous modelling studies show that the global surface air temperature (SAT) response to deforestation depends on latitude, with most simulations showing that high latitude deforestation results in cooling, low latitude deforestation causes warming and that the mid latitude response is mixed. These earlier conclusions are based on simulated large scal land cover change, with complete removal of trees from whole latitude bands. Using a global climate model we examine the effects of removing fractions of 5% to 100% of forested areas in the high, mid and low latitudes. All high latitude deforestation scenarios reduce mean global SAT, the opposite occurring for low latitude deforestation, although a decrease in SAT is simulated over low latitude deforested areas. Mid latitude SAT response is mixed. In all simulations deforested areas tend to become drier and have lower SAT, although soil temperatures increase over deforested mid and low latitude grid cells. For high latitude deforestation fractions of 45% and above, larger net primary productivity, in conjunction with colder and drier conditions after deforestation cause an increase in soil carbon large enough to produce a net decrease of atmospheric CO2. Our results reveal the complex interactions between soil carbon dynamics and other climate subsystems in the energy partition responses to land cover change. PMID:27100667

Conservation strategies for orangutans: reintroduction versus habitat preservation and the benefits of sustainably logged forest.

PubMed

Wilson, Howard B; Meijaard, Erik; Venter, Oscar; Ancrenaz, Marc; Possingham, Hugh P

2014-01-01

The Sumatran orangutan is currently listed by the IUCN as critically endangered and the Bornean species as endangered. Unless effective conservation measures are enacted quickly, most orangutan populations without adequate protection face a dire future. Two main strategies are being pursued to conserve orangutans: (i) rehabilitation and reintroduction of ex-captive or displaced individuals; and (ii) protection of their forest habitat to abate threats like deforestation and hunting. These strategies are often mirrored in similar programs to save other valued and endangered mega-fauna. Through GIS analysis, collating data from across the literature, and combining this information within a modelling and decision analysis framework, we analysed which strategy or combination of strategies is the most cost-effective at maintaining wild orangutan populations, and under what conditions. We discovered that neither strategy was optimal under all circumstances but was dependent on the relative cost per orangutan, the timescale of management concern, and the rate of deforestation. Reintroduction, which costs twelve times as much per animal as compared to protection of forest, was only a cost-effective strategy at very short timescales. For time scales longer than 10-20 years, forest protection is the more cost-efficient strategy for maintaining wild orangutan populations. Our analyses showed that a third, rarely utilised strategy is intermediate: introducing sustainable logging practices and protection from hunting in timber production forest. Maximum long-term cost-efficiency is achieved by working in conservation forest. However, habitat protection involves addressing complex conservation issues and conflicting needs at the landscape level. We find a potential resolution in that well-managed production forests could achieve intermediate conservation outcomes. This has broad implications for sustaining biodiversity more generally within an economically productive landscape. Insights from this analysis should provide a better framework to prioritize financial investments, and facilitate improved integration between the organizations that implement these strategies.

Conservation Strategies for Orangutans: Reintroduction versus Habitat Preservation and the Benefits of Sustainably Logged Forest

PubMed Central

Wilson, Howard B.; Meijaard, Erik; Venter, Oscar; Ancrenaz, Marc; Possingham, Hugh P.

2014-01-01

The Sumatran orangutan is currently listed by the IUCN as critically endangered and the Bornean species as endangered. Unless effective conservation measures are enacted quickly, most orangutan populations without adequate protection face a dire future. Two main strategies are being pursued to conserve orangutans: (i) rehabilitation and reintroduction of ex-captive or displaced individuals; and (ii) protection of their forest habitat to abate threats like deforestation and hunting. These strategies are often mirrored in similar programs to save other valued and endangered mega-fauna. Through GIS analysis, collating data from across the literature, and combining this information within a modelling and decision analysis framework, we analysed which strategy or combination of strategies is the most cost-effective at maintaining wild orangutan populations, and under what conditions. We discovered that neither strategy was optimal under all circumstances but was dependent on the relative cost per orangutan, the timescale of management concern, and the rate of deforestation. Reintroduction, which costs twelve times as much per animal as compared to protection of forest, was only a cost-effective strategy at very short timescales. For time scales longer than 10–20 years, forest protection is the more cost-efficient strategy for maintaining wild orangutan populations. Our analyses showed that a third, rarely utilised strategy is intermediate: introducing sustainable logging practices and protection from hunting in timber production forest. Maximum long-term cost-efficiency is achieved by working in conservation forest. However, habitat protection involves addressing complex conservation issues and conflicting needs at the landscape level. We find a potential resolution in that well-managed production forests could achieve intermediate conservation outcomes. This has broad implications for sustaining biodiversity more generally within an economically productive landscape. Insights from this analysis should provide a better framework to prioritize financial investments, and facilitate improved integration between the organizations that implement these strategies. PMID:25025134

Ecological Impacts of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in the Peat Swamp Forests of Northwestern Borneo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Ha Thanh

Tropical peatlands have some of the highest carbon densities of any ecosystem and are under enormous development pressure. This dissertation aimed to provide better estimates of the scales and trends of ecological impacts from tropical peatland deforestation and degradation across more than 7,000 hectares of both intact and disturbed peatlands in northwestern Borneo. We combined direct field sampling and airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data to empirically quantify forest structures and aboveground live biomass across a largely intact tropical peat dome. The observed biomass density of 217.7 +/- 28.3 Mg C hectare-1 was very high, exceeding many other tropical rainforests. The canopy trees were 65m in height, comprising 81% of the aboveground biomass. Stem density was observed to increase across the 4m elevational gradient from the dome margin to interior with decreasing stem height, crown area and crown roughness. We also developed and implemented a multi-temporal, Landsat resolution change detection algorithm for identify disturbance events and assessing forest trends in aseasonal tropical peatlands. The final map product achieved more than 92% user's and producer's accuracy, revealing that after more than 25 years of management and disturbances, only 40% of the area was intact forest. Using a chronosequence approach, with a space for time substitution, we then examined the temporal dynamics of peatlands and their recovery from disturbance. We observed widespread arrested succession in previously logged peatlands consistent with hydrological limits on regeneration and degraded peat quality following canopy removal. We showed that clear-cutting, selective logging and drainage could lead to different modes of regeneration and found that statistics of the Enhanced Vegetation Index and LiDAR height metrics could serve as indicators of harvesting intensity, impacts, and regeneration stage. Long-term, continuous monitoring of the hydrology and ecology of peatland can provide key insights regarding best management practices, restoration, and conservation priorities for this unique and rapidly disappearing ecosystem.

Regional dry-season climate changes due to three decades of Amazonian deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanna, Jaya; Medvigy, David; Fueglistaler, Stephan; Walko, Robert

2017-02-01

More than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared in the past three decades, triggering important hydroclimatic changes. Small-scale (a few kilometres) deforestation in the 1980s has caused thermally triggered atmospheric circulations that increase regional cloudiness and precipitation frequency. However, these circulations are predicted to diminish as deforestation increases. Here we use multi-decadal satellite records and numerical model simulations to show a regime shift in the regional hydroclimate accompanying increasing deforestation in Rondônia, Brazil. Compared with the 1980s, present-day deforested areas in downwind western Rondônia are found to be wetter than upwind eastern deforested areas during the local dry season. The resultant precipitation change in the two regions is approximately +/-25% of the deforested area mean. Meso-resolution simulations robustly reproduce this transition when forced with increasing deforestation alone, showing that large-scale climate variability plays a negligible role. Furthermore, deforestation-induced surface roughness reduction is found to play an essential role in the present-day dry-season hydroclimate. Our study illustrates the strong scale sensitivity of the climatic response to Amazonian deforestation and suggests that deforestation is sufficiently advanced to have caused a shift from a thermally to a dynamically driven hydroclimatic regime.

The dynamics of fire regimes in tropical peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Borneo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoscilo, Agata; Page, Susan; Tansey, Kevin

2010-05-01

As a carbon-rich ecosystem, tropical peatland contributes significantly to terrestrial carbon storage and stability of the global carbon cycle. Vast areas of tropical peatland in SE Asia are degraded by the increasingly intensive scale of human activities, illustrated by high rates of deforestation, poor land-use management, selective illegal logging, and frequently repeated fires. Analysis of time-series satellite images performed in this study confirmed that fire regimes have dramatically changed in tropical peatlands over the last three decades (1973-2005). The study was conducted in the southern part of Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). We found that there was an evident increase in fire frequency and a decline in the fire return interval after implementation of the Mega Rice Project (1997-2005). Up until 1997, fires had affected a relatively small area, in total 23% of the study area, and were largely related to land clearance. This situation changed significantly during the last decade (1997-2005), when the widespread, intensive fires of 1997 affected a much larger area. Five years later, in 2002, extensive fires returned, affecting again 22% of the study area. Then, in 2004 and 2005, a further large area of peatland was on fire. Fire frequency analysis showed that during the period 1997-2005, around 45% of the study area was subject to multiple fires, with 37% burnt twice and 8% burnt three or more times. Near-annual occurrence of fire events reduces the rate and nature of vegetation regrowth. Hence, we observed a shift in the fire fuel type and amount over the period of investigation. After 1997, the fire fuel shifted from mainly peat swamp forest biomass towards non-woody biomass, dominated by regenerating vegetation, mainly ferns and a few trees. This secondary vegetation has been shown to be fire prone, although fire propagation is slower than in forest and restricted by both low fuel quality and load. Furthermore, we investigated the interaction between human impacts and presence and extent of fires. We found that the majority of fire events were directly or indirectly associated with human activities (i.e. selective logging, land clearance, intensive drainage and transmigration re-settlement). The intensive drainage infrastructure associated with the Mega Rice Project initiative greatly impaired the peatland hydrological system, increasing the risk of fire. In addition, the network of canals allowed easy access for people whose activities provided ignition sources. Hence, multiple fires were located within close proximity to canals and declined with distance away from canals. These results emphasise the vulnerability of degraded tropical peatlands to fire and confirm that widespread and intensive fires have become an integral part of tropical peatland ecosystem and are now associated with most dry seasons.

The spectral changes of deforestation in the Brazilian tropical savanna.

PubMed

Trancoso, Ralph; Sano, Edson E; Meneses, Paulo R

2015-01-01

The Cerrado is a biome in Brazil that is experiencing the most rapid loss in natural vegetation. The objective of this study was to analyze the changes in the spectral response in the red, near infrared (NIR), middle infrared (MIR), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) when native vegetation in the Cerrado is deforested. The test sites were regions of the Cerrado located in the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso. For each region, a pair of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes from 2008 (before deforestation) and 2009 (after deforestation) was compared. A set of 1,380 samples of deforested polygons and an equal number of samples of native vegetation have their spectral properties statistically analyzed. The accuracy of deforestation detections was also evaluated using high spatial resolution imagery. Results showed that the spectral data of deforested areas and their corresponding native vegetation were statistically different. The red band showed the highest difference between the reflectance data from deforested areas and native vegetation, while the NIR band showed the lowest difference. A consistent pattern of spectral change when native vegetation in the Cerrado is deforested was identified regardless of the location in the biome. The overall accuracy of deforestation detections was 97.75%. Considering both the marked pattern of spectral changes and the high deforestation detection accuracy, this study suggests that deforestation in Cerrado can be accurately monitored, but a strong seasonal and spatial variability of spectral changes might be expected.

Responses of soil fungi to logging and oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asian tropical forests.

PubMed

McGuire, K L; D'Angelo, H; Brearley, F Q; Gedallovich, S M; Babar, N; Yang, N; Gillikin, C M; Gradoville, R; Bateman, C; Turner, B L; Mansor, P; Leff, J W; Fierer, N

2015-05-01

Human land use alters soil microbial composition and function in a variety of systems, although few comparable studies have been done in tropical forests and tropical agricultural production areas. Logging and the expansion of oil palm agriculture are two of the most significant drivers of tropical deforestation, and the latter is most prevalent in Southeast Asia. The aim of this study was to compare soil fungal communities from three sites in Malaysia that represent three of the most dominant land-use types in the Southeast Asia tropics: a primary forest, a regenerating forest that had been selectively logged 50 years previously, and a 25-year-old oil palm plantation. Soil cores were collected from three replicate plots at each site, and fungal communities were sequenced using the Illumina platform. Extracellular enzyme assays were assessed as a proxy for soil microbial function. We found that fungal communities were distinct across all sites, although fungal composition in the regenerating forest was more similar to the primary forest than either forest community was to the oil palm site. Ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are important associates of the dominant Dipterocarpaceae tree family in this region, were compositionally distinct across forests, but were nearly absent from oil palm soils. Extracellular enzyme assays indicated that the soil ecosystem in oil palm plantations experienced altered nutrient cycling dynamics, but there were few differences between regenerating and primary forest soils. Together, these results show that logging and the replacement of primary forest with oil palm plantations alter fungal community and function, although forests regenerating from logging had more similarities with primary forests in terms of fungal composition and nutrient cycling potential. Since oil palm agriculture is currently the mostly rapidly expanding equatorial crop and logging is pervasive across tropical ecosystems, these findings may have broad applicability.

Genetic diversity in mesoamerican populations of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), assessed using RAPDs.

PubMed

Gillies, A C; Navarro, C; Lowe, A J; Newton, A C; Hernández, M; Wilson, J; Cornelius, J P

1999-12-01

Swietenia macrophylla King, a timber species native to tropical America, is threatened by selective logging and deforestation. To quantify genetic diversity within the species and monitor the impact of selective logging, populations were sampled across Mesoamerica, from Mexico to Panama, and analysed for RAPD DNA variation. Ten decamer primers generated 102 polymorphic RAPD bands and pairwise distances were calculated between populations according to Nei, then used to construct a radial neighbour-joining dendrogram and examine intra- and interpopulation variance coefficients, by analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA). Populations from Mexico clustered closely together in the dendrogram and were distinct from the rest of the populations. Those from Belize also clustered closely together. Populations from Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, however, did not cluster closely by country but were more widely scattered throughout the dendrogram. This result was also reflected by an autocorrelation analysis of genetic and geographical distance. Genetic diversity estimates indicated that 80% of detected variation was maintained within populations and regression analysis demonstrated that logging significantly decreased population diversity (P = 0.034). This study represents one of the most wide-ranging surveys of molecular variation within a tropical tree species to date. It offers practical information for the future conservation of mahogany and highlights some factors that may have influenced the partitioning of genetic diversity in this species across Mesoamerica.

Actor-specific contributions to the deforestation slowdown in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Godar, Javier; Gardner, Toby A; Tizado, E Jorge; Pacheco, Pablo

2014-10-28

Annual deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 77% between 2004 and 2011, yet have stabilized since 2009 at 5,000-7,000 km(2). We provide the first submunicipality assessment, to our knowledge, of actor-specific contributions to the deforestation slowdown by linking agricultural census and remote-sensing data on deforestation and forest degradation. Almost half (36,158 km(2)) of the deforestation between 2004 and 2011 occurred in areas dominated by larger properties (>500 ha), whereas only 12% (9,720 km(2)) occurred in areas dominated by smallholder properties (<100 ha). In addition, forests in areas dominated by smallholders tend to be less fragmented and less degraded. However, although annual deforestation rates fell during this period by 68-85% for all actors, the contribution of the largest landholders (>2,500 ha) to annual deforestation decreased over time (63% decrease between 2005 and 2011), whereas that of smallholders went up by a similar amount (69%) during the same period. In addition, the deforestation share attributable to remote areas increased by 88% between 2009 and 2011. These observations are consistent across the Brazilian Amazon, regardless of geographical differences in actor dominance or socioenvironmental context. Our findings suggest that deforestation policies to date, which have been particularly focused on command and control measures on larger properties in deforestation hotspots, may be increasingly limited in their effectiveness and fail to address all actors equally. Further reductions in deforestation are likely to be increasingly costly and require actor-tailored approaches, including better monitoring to detect small-scale deforestation and a shift toward more incentive-based conservation policies.

Carbon emissions from deforestation and forest fragmentation in the Brazilian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Numata, Izaya; Cochrane, Mark A.; Souza, Carlos M., Jr.; Sales, Marcio H.

2011-10-01

Forest-fragmentation-related edge effects are one of the major causes of forest degradation in Amazonia and their spatio-temporal dynamics are highly influenced by annual deforestation patterns. Rapid biomass collapse due to edge effects in forest fragments has been reported in the Brazilian Amazon; however the collective impacts of this process on Amazonian carbon fluxes are poorly understood. We estimated biomass loss and carbon emissions from deforestation and forest fragmentation related to edge effects on the basis of the INPE (Brazilian National Space Research Institute) PRODES deforestation data and forest biomass volume data. The areas and ages of edge forests were calculated annually and the corresponding biomass loss and carbon emissions from these forest edges were estimated using published rates of biomass decay and decomposition corresponding to the areas and ages of edge forests. Our analysis estimated carbon fluxes from deforestation (4195 Tg C) and edge forest (126-221 Tg C) for 2001-10 in the Brazilian Amazon. The impacts of varying rates of deforestation on regional forest fragmentation and carbon fluxes were also investigated, with the focus on two periods: 2001-5 (high deforestation rates) and 2006-10 (low deforestation rates). Edge-released carbon accounted for 2.6-4.5% of deforestation-related carbon emissions. However, the relative importance of carbon emissions from forest fragmentation increased from 1.7-3.0% to 3.3-5.6% of the respective deforestation emissions between the two contrasting deforestation rates. Edge-related carbon fluxes are of increasing importance for basin-wide carbon accounting, especially as regards ongoing reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) efforts in Brazilian Amazonia.

Threshold responses of Amazonian stream fishes to timing and extent of deforestation.

PubMed

Brejão, Gabriel L; Hoeinghaus, David J; Pérez-Mayorga, María Angélica; Ferraz, Silvio F B; Casatti, Lilian

2017-12-06

Deforestation is a primary driver of biodiversity change through habitat loss and fragmentation. Stream biodiversity may not respond to deforestation in a simple linear relationship. Rather, threshold responses to extent and timing of deforestation may occur. Identification of critical deforestation thresholds is needed for effective conservation and management. We tested for threshold responses of fish species and functional groups to degree of watershed and riparian zone deforestation and time since impact in 75 streams in the western Brazilian Amazon. We used remote sensing to assess deforestation from 1984 to 2011. Fish assemblages were sampled with seines and dip nets in a standardized manner. Fish species (n = 84) were classified into 20 functional groups based on ecomorphological traits associated with habitat use, feeding, and locomotion. Threshold responses were quantified using threshold indicator taxa analysis. Negative threshold responses to deforestation were common and consistently occurred at very low levels of deforestation (<20%) and soon after impact (<10 years). Sensitive species were functionally unique and associated with complex habitats and structures of allochthonous origin found in forested watersheds. Positive threshold responses of species were less common and generally occurred at >70% deforestation and >10 years after impact. Findings were similar at the community level for both taxonomic and functional analyses. Because most negative threshold responses occurred at low levels of deforestation and soon after impact, even minimal change is expected to negatively affect biodiversity. Delayed positive threshold responses to extreme deforestation by a few species do not offset the loss of sensitive taxa and likely contribute to biotic homogenization. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Local and Remote Climate Response to Deforestation in Maritime Continent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, C. C.; Lo, M. H.; Yu, J. Y.

2016-12-01

Deforestation in tropical regions would lead to changes in local energy and moisture budget, resulting in further impacts on regional and global climate. Previous studies have indicated that the reduction of evapotranspiration dominates the influence of tropical deforestation, which causes a warmer and drier climate. Most studies agree that the deforestation leads to an increase in temperature and decline in precipitation over the deforested area. However, unlike Amazon or Africa, Maritime Continent consists of islands surrounded by oceans so the drying effects found in Amazon or Africa may not be the case in Maritime Continent. Thus, our objective is to investigate the local and remote climate responses to deforestation in such unique region. We conduct deforestation experiments using NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and through converting the tropical rainforest into grassland. The preliminary results show that deforestation in Maritime Continent leads to an increase in both temperature and precipitation, which is not predicted by earlier studies. We will further perform moisture budget analysis to explore how the precipitation changes with the deforestation forcing.

Changing patterns in deforestation avoidance by different protection types in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Jusys, Tomas

2018-01-01

This study quantifies how much deforestation was avoided due to legal protection in Legal Amazon in strictly protected areas, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands. Only regions that are protected de jure (i.e., where deforestation is avoided due to effective laws rather than remoteness) were considered, so that the potential of legal protection could be better assessed. This is a cross-sectional approach, which allows comparisons in terms of avoided deforestation among the different types of protection in the same period. This study covers three different periods. Regions protected de jure were sampled by estimating a threshold distance at which deforestation starts to diminish and retaining all pixels up to that distance, and deforestation that has been avoided due to legal protection was estimated by matching. Indigenous lands avoided the highest percentage of deforestation during the 2001-2004 and 2005-2008 periods, followed by those under strict protection and sustainable use areas, in respective order. Shifting patterns in deforestation avoidance are clearly noticeable for the 2009-2014 period when 1) strictly protected areas outperformed indigenous lands in terms of the percentage of saved forests, 2) some protected regions began to attract deforestation instead of avoiding it, and 3) sustainable use areas, on average, did not avoid deforestation.

Changing patterns in deforestation avoidance by different protection types in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This study quantifies how much deforestation was avoided due to legal protection in Legal Amazon in strictly protected areas, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands. Only regions that are protected de jure (i.e., where deforestation is avoided due to effective laws rather than remoteness) were considered, so that the potential of legal protection could be better assessed. This is a cross-sectional approach, which allows comparisons in terms of avoided deforestation among the different types of protection in the same period. This study covers three different periods. Regions protected de jure were sampled by estimating a threshold distance at which deforestation starts to diminish and retaining all pixels up to that distance, and deforestation that has been avoided due to legal protection was estimated by matching. Indigenous lands avoided the highest percentage of deforestation during the 2001–2004 and 2005–2008 periods, followed by those under strict protection and sustainable use areas, in respective order. Shifting patterns in deforestation avoidance are clearly noticeable for the 2009–2014 period when 1) strictly protected areas outperformed indigenous lands in terms of the percentage of saved forests, 2) some protected regions began to attract deforestation instead of avoiding it, and 3) sustainable use areas, on average, did not avoid deforestation. PMID:29689071

Annual measurements of gain and loss in aboveground carbon density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baccini, A.; Walker, W. S.; Carvalho, L.; Farina, M.; Sulla-menashe, D. J.; Houghton, R. A.

2017-12-01

Tropical forests hold large stores of carbon, but their net carbon balance is uncertain. Land use and land-cover change (LULCC) are believed to release between 0.81 and 1.14 PgC yr-1, while intact native forests are thought to be a net carbon sink of approximately the same magnitude. Reducing the uncertainty of these estimates is not only fundamental to the advancement of carbon cycle science but is also of increasing relevance to national and international policies designed to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (e.g., REDD+). Contemporary approaches to estimating the net carbon balance of tropical forests rely on changes in forest area between two periods, typically derived from satellite data, together with information on average biomass density. These approaches tend to capture losses in biomass due to deforestation (i.e., wholesale stand removals) but are limited in their sensitivity to forest degradation (e.g., selective logging or single-tree removals), which can account for additional biomass losses on the order of 47-75% of deforestation. Furthermore, while satellite-based estimates of forest area loss have been used successfully to estimate associated carbon losses, few such analyses have endeavored to determine the rate of carbon sequestration in growing forests. Here we use 12 years (2003-2014) of pantropical satellite data to quantify net annual changes in the aboveground carbon density of woody vegetation (MgC ha-1yr-1), providing direct, measurement-based evidence that the world's tropical forests are a net carbon source of 425.2 ± 92.0 Tg C yr-1. This net release of carbon consists of losses of 861.7 ± 80.2 Tg C yr-1 and gains of -436.5 ± 31.0 Tg C yr-1 . Gains result from forest growth; losses result from reductions in forest area due to deforestation and from reductions in biomass density within standing forests (degradation), with the latter accounting for 68.9% of overall losses. Our findings advance previous research by providing novel, annual measurements of carbon losses and gains, from forest loss, degradation, and growth, with reduced uncertainty that stems from an unconventional shift in emphasis away from classifications of land area change toward direct estimation of carbon density dynamics.

Changes in determinants of deforestation and forest degradation in Popa Mountain Park, Central Myanmar.

PubMed

Htun, Naing Zaw; Mizoue, Nobuya; Yoshida, Shigejiro

2013-02-01

Implementing effective conservation requires an understanding of factors affecting deforestation and forest degradation. Previous studies have investigated factors affecting deforestation, while few studies have examined the determinants of both of deforestation and forest degradation for more than one period. To address this gap, this study examined factors influencing deforestation and forest degradation during 1989-2000 and 2000-2005 in the Popa Mountain Park, Myanmar. We applied multinomial logistic regression (MNL) using land cover maps derived from Landsat images as the dependent variables as well as spatial and biophysical factors as the independent variables. The MNL models revealed influences of the determinants on deforestation and forest degradation changes over time. For example, during 1989-2000, deforestation from closed forest was positively correlated to the distance from the park boundary and was negatively correlated with distance from villages, roads, the park circular road, slope, western aspect and elevation. On the other hand, during 2000-2005, deforestation of closed forest was positively correlated with distance from villages, roads, the park circular road, slope and western aspect, and negatively correlated with distance from the park boundary and elevation. Similar scenarios were observed for the deforestation of open forest and forest degradation of closed forest. The study also found most of the determinants influenced deforestation and forest degradation differently. The changes in determinants of deforestation and forest degradation over time might be attributable to the general decrease in resource availability and to the effect of conservation measures conducted by the park.

Air quality and human health improvements from reduced deforestation in Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddington, C.; Butt, E. W.; Ridley, D. A.; Artaxo, P.; Morgan, W.; Coe, H.; Spracklen, D. V.

2015-12-01

Significant areas of the Brazilian Amazon have been deforested over the past few decades, with fire being the dominant method through which forests and vegetation are cleared. Fires emit large quantities of particulate matter into the atmosphere, degrading air quality and negatively impacting human health. Since 2004, Brazil has achieved substantial reductions in deforestation rates and associated deforestation fires. Here we assess the impact of this reduction on air quality and human health. We show that dry season (August - October) aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved by satellite over southwest Brazil and Bolivia is positively related to Brazil's annual deforestation rate (r=0.96, P<0.001). Observed dry season AOD is more than a factor two greater in years with high deforestation rates compared to years with low deforestation rates, suggesting regional air quality is degraded substantially by fire emissions associated with deforestation. This link is further demonstrated by the positive relationship between observed AOD and satellite-derived particulate emissions from deforestation fires (r=0.89, P<0.01). Using a global aerosol model with satellite-derived fire emissions, we show that reductions in fires associated with reduced deforestation have reduced regional dry season mean surface particulate matter concentrations by ~30%. Using concentration response functions we estimate that this reduction in particulate matter may be preventing 1060 (388-1721) premature adult mortalities annually across South America. Future increases in Brazil's deforestation rates and associated fires may threaten the improved air quality reported here.

Changes in Determinants of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Popa Mountain Park, Central Myanmar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Htun, Naing Zaw; Mizoue, Nobuya; Yoshida, Shigejiro

2013-02-01

Implementing effective conservation requires an understanding of factors affecting deforestation and forest degradation. Previous studies have investigated factors affecting deforestation, while few studies have examined the determinants of both of deforestation and forest degradation for more than one period. To address this gap, this study examined factors influencing deforestation and forest degradation during 1989-2000 and 2000-2005 in the Popa Mountain Park, Myanmar. We applied multinomial logistic regression (MNL) using land cover maps derived from Landsat images as the dependent variables as well as spatial and biophysical factors as the independent variables. The MNL models revealed influences of the determinants on deforestation and forest degradation changes over time. For example, during 1989-2000, deforestation from closed forest was positively correlated to the distance from the park boundary and was negatively correlated with distance from villages, roads, the park circular road, slope, western aspect and elevation. On the other hand, during 2000-2005, deforestation of closed forest was positively correlated with distance from villages, roads, the park circular road, slope and western aspect, and negatively correlated with distance from the park boundary and elevation. Similar scenarios were observed for the deforestation of open forest and forest degradation of closed forest. The study also found most of the determinants influenced deforestation and forest degradation differently. The changes in determinants of deforestation and forest degradation over time might be attributable to the general decrease in resource availability and to the effect of conservation measures conducted by the park.

Actor-specific contributions to the deforestation slowdown in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Godar, Javier; Gardner, Toby A.; Tizado, E. Jorge

2014-01-01

Annual deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 77% between 2004 and 2011, yet have stabilized since 2009 at 5,000–7,000 km2. We provide the first submunicipality assessment, to our knowledge, of actor-specific contributions to the deforestation slowdown by linking agricultural census and remote-sensing data on deforestation and forest degradation. Almost half (36,158 km2) of the deforestation between 2004 and 2011 occurred in areas dominated by larger properties (>500 ha), whereas only 12% (9,720 km2) occurred in areas dominated by smallholder properties (<100 ha). In addition, forests in areas dominated by smallholders tend to be less fragmented and less degraded. However, although annual deforestation rates fell during this period by 68–85% for all actors, the contribution of the largest landholders (>2,500 ha) to annual deforestation decreased over time (63% decrease between 2005 and 2011), whereas that of smallholders went up by a similar amount (69%) during the same period. In addition, the deforestation share attributable to remote areas increased by 88% between 2009 and 2011. These observations are consistent across the Brazilian Amazon, regardless of geographical differences in actor dominance or socioenvironmental context. Our findings suggest that deforestation policies to date, which have been particularly focused on command and control measures on larger properties in deforestation hotspots, may be increasingly limited in their effectiveness and fail to address all actors equally. Further reductions in deforestation are likely to be increasingly costly and require actor-tailored approaches, including better monitoring to detect small-scale deforestation and a shift toward more incentive-based conservation policies. PMID:25313087

Land use patterns and related carbon losses following deforestation in South America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Sy, V.; Herold, M.; Achard, F.; Beuchle, R.; Clevers, J. G. P. W.; Lindquist, E.; Verchot, L.

2015-12-01

Land use change in South America, mainly deforestation, is a large source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Identifying and addressing the causes or drivers of anthropogenic forest change is considered crucial for global climate change mitigation. Few countries however, monitor deforestation drivers in a systematic manner. National-level quantitative spatially explicit information on drivers is often lacking. This study quantifies proximate drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America based on remote sensing time series in a systematic, spatially explicit manner. Deforestation areas were derived from the 2010 global remote sensing survey of the Food and Agricultural Organisation Forest Resource Assessment. To assess proximate drivers, land use following deforestation was assigned by visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery. To estimate gross carbon losses from deforestation, default Tier 1 biomass levels per country and eco-zone were used. Pasture was the dominant driver of forest area (71.2%) and related carbon loss (71.6%) in South America, followed by commercial cropland (14% and 12.1% respectively). Hotspots of deforestation due to pasture occurred in Northern Argentina, Western Paraguay, and along the arc of deforestation in Brazil where they gradually moved into higher biomass forests causing additional carbon losses. Deforestation driven by commercial cropland increased in time, with hotspots occurring in Brazil (Mato Grosso State), Northern Argentina, Eastern Paraguay and Central Bolivia. Infrastructure, such as urban expansion and roads, contributed little as proximate drivers of forest area loss (1.7%). Our findings contribute to the understanding of drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America, and are comparable at the national, regional and continental level. In addition, they support the development of national REDD+ interventions and forest monitoring systems, and provide valuable input for statistical analysis and modelling of underlying drivers of deforestation.

Identifying areas of deforestation risk for REDD+ using a species modeling tool

PubMed Central

Riveros, Juan Carlos; Forrest, Jessica L

2014-01-01

Background To implement the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation, countries need to prioritize areas to combat future deforestation CO2 emissions, identify the drivers of deforestation around which to develop mitigation actions, and quantify and value carbon for financial mechanisms. Each comes with its own methodological challenges, and existing approaches and tools to do so can be costly to implement or require considerable technical knowledge and skill. Here, we present an approach utilizing a machine learning technique known as Maximum Entropy Modeling (Maxent) to identify areas at high deforestation risk in the study area in Madre de Dios, Peru under a business-as-usual scenario in which historic deforestation rates continue. We link deforestation risk area to carbon density values to estimate future carbon emissions. We quantified area deforested and carbon emissions between 2000 and 2009 as the basis of the scenario. Results We observed over 80,000 ha of forest cover lost from 2000-2009 (0.21% annual loss), representing over 39 million Mg CO2. The rate increased rapidly following the enhancement of the Inter Oceanic Highway in 2005. Accessibility and distance to previous deforestation were strong predictors of deforestation risk, while land use designation was less important. The model performed consistently well (AUC > 0.9), significantly better than random when we compared predicted deforestation risk to observed. If past deforestation rates continue, we estimate that 132,865 ha of forest could be lost by the year 2020, representing over 55 million Mg CO2. Conclusions Maxent provided a reliable method for identifying areas at high risk of deforestation and the major explanatory variables that could draw attention for mitigation action planning under REDD+. The tool is accessible, replicable and easy to use; all necessary for producing good risk estimates and adapt models after potential landscape change. We propose this approach for developing countries planning to meet requirements under REDD+. PMID:25489336

Identifying areas of deforestation risk for REDD+ using a species modeling tool.

PubMed

Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa; Riveros, Juan Carlos; Forrest, Jessica L

2014-01-01

To implement the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation, countries need to prioritize areas to combat future deforestation CO2 emissions, identify the drivers of deforestation around which to develop mitigation actions, and quantify and value carbon for financial mechanisms. Each comes with its own methodological challenges, and existing approaches and tools to do so can be costly to implement or require considerable technical knowledge and skill. Here, we present an approach utilizing a machine learning technique known as Maximum Entropy Modeling (Maxent) to identify areas at high deforestation risk in the study area in Madre de Dios, Peru under a business-as-usual scenario in which historic deforestation rates continue. We link deforestation risk area to carbon density values to estimate future carbon emissions. We quantified area deforested and carbon emissions between 2000 and 2009 as the basis of the scenario. We observed over 80,000 ha of forest cover lost from 2000-2009 (0.21% annual loss), representing over 39 million Mg CO2. The rate increased rapidly following the enhancement of the Inter Oceanic Highway in 2005. Accessibility and distance to previous deforestation were strong predictors of deforestation risk, while land use designation was less important. The model performed consistently well (AUC > 0.9), significantly better than random when we compared predicted deforestation risk to observed. If past deforestation rates continue, we estimate that 132,865 ha of forest could be lost by the year 2020, representing over 55 million Mg CO2. Maxent provided a reliable method for identifying areas at high risk of deforestation and the major explanatory variables that could draw attention for mitigation action planning under REDD+. The tool is accessible, replicable and easy to use; all necessary for producing good risk estimates and adapt models after potential landscape change. We propose this approach for developing countries planning to meet requirements under REDD+.

Representation of deforestation impacts on climate, water, and nutrient cycles in the ACME earth system model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, X.; Riley, W. J.; Zhu, Q.

2017-12-01

Deforestation causes a series of changes to the climate, water, and nutrient cycles. Employing a state-of-the-art earth system model—ACME (Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy), we comprehensively investigate the impacts of deforestation on these processes. We first assess the performance of the ACME Land Model (ALM) in simulating runoff, evapotranspiration, albedo, and plant productivity at 42 FLUXNET sites. The single column mode of ACME is then used to examine climate effects (temperature cooling/warming) and responses of runoff, evapotranspiration, and nutrient fluxes to deforestation. This approach separates local effects of deforestation from global circulation effects. To better understand the deforestation effects in a global context, we use the coupled (atmosphere, land, and slab ocean) mode of ACME to demonstrate the impacts of deforestation on global climate, water, and nutrient fluxes. Preliminary results showed that the land component of ACME has advantages in simulating these processes and that local deforestation has potentially large impacts on runoff and atmospheric processes.

Regional hydro-climatic impacts of contemporary Amazonian deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanna, Jaya

More than 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared in the past three decades triggering important climatological and societal impacts. This thesis is devoted to identifying and explaining the regional hydroclimatic impacts of this change employing multidecadal satellite observations and numerical simulations providing an integrated perspective on this topic. The climatological nature of this study motivated the implementation and application of a cloud detection technique to a new geostationary satellite dataset. The resulting sub daily, high spatial resolution, multidecadal time series facilitated the detection of trends and variability in deforestation triggered cloud cover changes. The analysis was complemented by satellite precipitation, reanalysis and ground based datasets and attribution with the variable resolution Ocean-Land-Atmosphere-Model. Contemporary Amazonian deforestation affects spatial scales of hundreds of kilometers. But, unlike the well-studied impacts of a few kilometers scale deforestation, the climatic response to contemporary, large scale deforestation is neither well observed nor well understood. Employing satellite datasets, this thesis shows a transition in the regional hydroclimate accompanying increasing scales of deforestation, with downwind deforested regions receiving 25% more and upwind deforested regions receiving 25% less precipitation from the deforested area mean. Simulations robustly reproduce these shifts when forced with increasing deforestation alone, suggesting a negligible role of large-scale decadal climate variability in causing the shifts. Furthermore, deforestation-induced surface roughness variations are found necessary to reproduce the observed spatial patterns in recent times illustrating the strong scale-sensitivity of the climatic response to Amazonian deforestation. This phenomenon, inconsequential during the wet season, is found to substantially affect the regional hydroclimate in the local dry and parts of transition seasons, hence occurring in atmospheric conditions otherwise less conducive to thermal convection. Evidence of this phenomenon is found at two large scale deforested areas considered in this thesis. Hence, the 'dynamical' mechanism, which affects the seasons most important for regional ecology, emerges as an impactful convective triggering mechanism. The phenomenon studied in this thesis provides context for thinking about the climate of a future, more patchily forested Amazonia, by articulating relationships between climate and spatial scales of deforestation.

Modeling Soil Water in the Caatinga Tropical Dry Forest of Northeastern Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, C.; Wilcox, B.; Souza, E.; Lima, J. R. D. S.; West, J. B.

2015-12-01

The Caatinga is a tropical dry forest unique to northeastern Brazil. It has a relatively high degree of endism and supports a population of about 20 million subsistence farmers. However, it is poorly understood, under-researched and often over-looked in regards to other Brazilian ecosystems. It is a highly perturbed system that suffers from deforestation, land use change, and may be threatened by climate change. How these perturbations affect hydrology is unknown, but may have implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services and resiliency. Therefore, understanding key hydrological processes is critical, particularly as related to deforestation. In this study, Hydrus 1D, which is based on van Genuchten parameters to describe the soil water curve and Richard's Equation to describe flow in the vadose zone, was used to model soil moisture in the Caatinga ecosystem. The aim was 1) to compare hydraulic characterization between a forested Caatinga site and a deforested pasture site, 2) to analyze inter-annual variability, and 3) to compare with observed soil moisture data. Hydraulic characterization included hydraulic conductivity, infiltration, water content and pressure head trends. Van Genuchten parameters were derived using the Beerkan method, which is based on soil texture, particle distribution, as well as in-situ small-scale infiltration experiments. Observational data included soil moisture and precipitation logged every half-hour from September 2013 to April 2014 to include the dry season and rainy season. It is expected that the forested Caatinga site will have a higher hydraulic conductivity as well as retain higher soil moisture values. These differences may be amplified during the dry season, as water resources become scarce. Deviations between modeled data and observed data will allow for further hypothesis to be proposed, especially those related to soil water repellency. Hence, these results may indicate difference in soil water dynamics between a forested and non-forested site which will have implications for land use and management strategies that promote water resource conservation and availability.

Overview and forecast on forestry productions worldwide.

PubMed

Wenjun, Zhang

2007-02-01

Our world is largely dependent upon the forestry productions. Through the exploitation of forest reserves, we manufacture various industrial products, furniture, and obtain fuel and energy. Forestry productions should be conducted without large-scale deforestation and environmental degradation. In present study we perform a review and forecast analysis on forestry productions worldwide, with the objectives of providing an insight into the trend for several types of forestry productions in the future, and providing referential data for sustainable forestry productions and environmental management. Polynomial functions are used to fit trajectories of forestry productions since 1961 and forecasts during the coming 20 years are given in detail. If the past pattern continues, world fibreboard production would dramatically grow and reach 224,300,000 +/- 44,400,000 m(3) by the year 2020, an increase up to 240.7 to 408.9% as compared to the present level. Roundwood production of the world would change by -55.5 to 70.4% and reach 3,526,600,000 +/- 2,066,800,000 m(3) by 2020. In 2020 world production of sawlogs and veneer logs would change by -100 to 164.6% and reach 1,212,900,000 +/- 1,242,600,000 m(3). Global wood fuel production would change by -68.9 to 1.4% and reach 1,130,900,000 +/- 600,800,000 m(3) by 2020. Forestry productions in developed countries would largely surpass productions in developing countries in the near future. World forestry production grew since 1961 excluding wood fuel. Roundwood and wood fuel account for the critical proportions in the forestry productions. Wood fuel production has being declined and rapid growing of roundwood production has slowed in recent years. Widespread use of regenerative wood substitutes and worldwide afforestation against deforestation will be among the most effective ways to reduce deforestation and environment degradation associated with forestry productions.

Human impacts on soil carbon dynamics of deep-rooted Amazonian forests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nepstad, Daniel C.; Stone, Thomas A.; Davidson, Eric A.

1994-01-01

Deforestation and logging degrade more forest in eastern and southern Amazonia than in any other region of the world. This forest alteration affects regional hydrology and the global carbon cycle, but our current understanding of these effects is limited by incomplete knowledge of tropical forest ecosystems. It is widely agreed that roots are concentrated near the soil surface in moist tropical forests, but this generalization incorrectly implies that deep roots are unimportant in water and C budgets. Our results indicate that half of the closed-canopy forests of Brazilian Amazonic occur where rainfall is highly seasonal, and these forests rely on deeply penetrating roots to extract soil water. Pasture vegetation extracts less water from deep soil than the forest it replaces, thus increasing rates of drainage and decreasing rates of evapotranspiration. Deep roots are also a source of modern carbon deep in the soil. The soils of the eastern Amazon contain more carbon below 1 m depth than is present in above-ground biomass. As much as 25 percent of this deep soil C could have annual to decadal turnover times and may be lost to the atmosphere following deforestation. We compared the importance of deep roots in a mature, evergreen forest with an adjacent man-made pasture, the most common type of vegetation on deforested land in Amazonia. The study site is near the town of Paragominas, in the Brazilian state of Para, with a seasonal rainfall pattern and deeply-weathered, kaolinitic soils that are typical for large portions of Amazonia. Root distribution, soil water extraction, and soil carbon dynamics were studied using deep auger holes and shafts in each ecosystem, and the phenology and water status of the leaf canopies were measured. We estimated the geographical distribution of deeply-rooting forests using satellite imagery, rainfall data, and field measurements.

Decoupling of deforestation and soy production in the southern Amazon during the late 2000s

PubMed Central

Macedo, Marcia N.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Morton, Douglas C.; Stickler, Claudia M.; Galford, Gillian L.; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.

2012-01-01

From 2006 to 2010, deforestation in the Amazon frontier state of Mato Grosso decreased to 30% of its historical average (1996–2005) whereas agricultural production reached an all-time high. This study combines satellite data with government deforestation and production statistics to assess land-use transitions and potential market and policy drivers associated with these trends. In the forested region of the state, increased soy production from 2001 to 2005 was entirely due to cropland expansion into previously cleared pasture areas (74%) or forests (26%). From 2006 to 2010, 78% of production increases were due to expansion (22% to yield increases), with 91% on previously cleared land. Cropland expansion fell from 10 to 2% of deforestation between the two periods, with pasture expansion accounting for most remaining deforestation. Declining deforestation coincided with a collapse of commodity markets and implementation of policy measures to reduce deforestation. Soybean profitability has since increased to pre-2006 levels whereas deforestation continued to decline, suggesting that antideforestation measures may have influenced the agricultural sector. We found little evidence of direct leakage of soy expansion into cerrado in Mato Grosso during the late 2000s, although indirect land-use changes and leakage to more distant regions are possible. This study provides evidence that reduced deforestation and increased agricultural production can occur simultaneously in tropical forest frontiers, provided that land is available and policies promote the efficient use of already-cleared lands (intensification) while restricting deforestation. It remains uncertain whether government- and industry-led policies can contain deforestation if future market conditions favor another boom in agricultural expansion. PMID:22232692

Decoupling of deforestation and soy production in the southern Amazon during the late 2000s.

PubMed

Macedo, Marcia N; DeFries, Ruth S; Morton, Douglas C; Stickler, Claudia M; Galford, Gillian L; Shimabukuro, Yosio E

2012-01-24

From 2006 to 2010, deforestation in the Amazon frontier state of Mato Grosso decreased to 30% of its historical average (1996-2005) whereas agricultural production reached an all-time high. This study combines satellite data with government deforestation and production statistics to assess land-use transitions and potential market and policy drivers associated with these trends. In the forested region of the state, increased soy production from 2001 to 2005 was entirely due to cropland expansion into previously cleared pasture areas (74%) or forests (26%). From 2006 to 2010, 78% of production increases were due to expansion (22% to yield increases), with 91% on previously cleared land. Cropland expansion fell from 10 to 2% of deforestation between the two periods, with pasture expansion accounting for most remaining deforestation. Declining deforestation coincided with a collapse of commodity markets and implementation of policy measures to reduce deforestation. Soybean profitability has since increased to pre-2006 levels whereas deforestation continued to decline, suggesting that antideforestation measures may have influenced the agricultural sector. We found little evidence of direct leakage of soy expansion into cerrado in Mato Grosso during the late 2000s, although indirect land-use changes and leakage to more distant regions are possible. This study provides evidence that reduced deforestation and increased agricultural production can occur simultaneously in tropical forest frontiers, provided that land is available and policies promote the efficient use of already-cleared lands (intensification) while restricting deforestation. It remains uncertain whether government- and industry-led policies can contain deforestation if future market conditions favor another boom in agricultural expansion.

Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Morton, Douglas C.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.; Anderson, Liana O.; Arai, Egidio; del Bon Espirito-Santo, Fernando; Freitas, Ramon; Morisette, Jeff

2006-01-01

Intensive mechanized agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon grew by >3.6 million hectares (ha) during 2001–2004. Whether this cropland expansion resulted from intensified use of land previously cleared for cattle ranching or new deforestation has not been quantified and has major implications for future deforestation dynamics, carbon fluxes, forest fragmentation, and other ecosystem services. We combine deforestation maps, field surveys, and satellite-based information on vegetation phenology to characterize the fate of large (>25-ha) clearings as cropland, cattle pasture, or regrowing forest in the years after initial clearing in Mato Grosso, the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate and soybean production since 2001. Statewide, direct conversion of forest to cropland totaled >540,000 ha during 2001–2004, peaking at 23% of 2003 annual deforestation. Cropland deforestation averaged twice the size of clearings for pasture (mean sizes, 333 and 143 ha, respectively), and conversion occurred rapidly; >90% of clearings for cropland were planted in the first year after deforestation. Area deforested for cropland and mean annual soybean price in the year of forest clearing were directly correlated (R2 = 0.72), suggesting that deforestation rates could return to higher levels seen in 2003–2004 with a rebound of crop prices in international markets. Pasture remains the dominant land use after forest clearing in Mato Grosso, but the growing importance of larger and faster conversion of forest to cropland defines a new paradigm of forest loss in Amazonia and refutes the claim that agricultural intensification does not lead to new deforestation. PMID:16973742

Decoupling of Deforestation and Soy Production in the Southern Amazon During the Late 2000s

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macedo, Marcia N.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Morton, Douglas C.; Stickler, Claudia M.; Galford, Gillian L.; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.

2011-01-01

From 2006-2010 deforestation in the Amazon frontier state of Mato Grosso decreased to 30% of its historical average (1996-2005) while agricultural production reached an all time high, achieving the oft-cited objective of increasing production while maintaining forest cover. This study combines satellite data with government deforestation and production statistics to assess land-use transitions and potential market and policy drivers associated with these trends. In the forested region of the state, increased soy production from 2001-2005 was entirely due to cropland expansion into previously cleared areas (74%) or forests (26%). From 2006-2010, 78% of production increases were due to expansion (22% to yield increases), with 91% on previously cleared land. Cropland expansion fell from 10% to 2% of deforestation between the two periods, with pasture expansion accounting for most remaining deforestation. Declining deforestation coincided with a collapse of commodity markets and implementation of policy measures to reduce deforestation. Soybean profitability has since increased to pre-2006 levels while deforestation continued to decline, suggesting that anti-deforestation measures may have influenced the agricultural sector. We found little evidence of leakage of soy expansion into cerrado in Mato Grosso or forests in neighboring Amazon states during the late 2000s, although leakage to more distant regions is possible. This study provides empirical evidence that reduced deforestation and increased agricultural production can occur simultaneously in tropical forest frontiers through productive use of already cleared lands. It remains uncertain whether government and industry-led policies can contain deforestation when market conditions again favor a boom in agricultural expansion.

Population growth, human development, and deforestation in biodiversity hotspots.

PubMed

Jha, S; Bawa, K S

2006-06-01

Human population and development activities affect the rate of deforestation in biodiversity hotspots. We quantified the effect of human population growth and development on rates of deforestation and analyzed the relationship between these causal factors in the 1980s and 1990s. We compared the averages of population growth, human development index (HDI, which measures income, health, and education), and deforestation rate and computed correlations among these variables for countries that contain biodiversity hotspots. When population growth was high and HDI was low there was a high rate of deforestation, but when HDI was high, rate of deforestation was low, despite high population growth. The correlation among variables was significant for the 1990s but not for the 1980s. The relationship between population growth and HDI had a regional pattern that reflected the historical process of development. Based on the changes in HDI and deforestation rate over time, we identified two drivers of deforestation: policy choice and human-development constraints. Policy choices that disregard conservation may cause the loss of forests even in countries that are relatively developed. Lack of development in other countries, on the other hand, may increase the pressure on forests to meet the basic needs of the human population. Deforestation resulting from policy choices may be easier to fix than deforestation arising from human development constraints. To prevent deforestation in the countries that have such constraints, transfer of material and intellectual resources from developed countries may be needed. Popular interest in sustainable development in developed countries can facilitate the transfer of these resources.

Mangrove forest distributions and dynamics in Madagascar (1975-2005)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Giri, C.; Muhlhausen, J.

2008-01-01

Mangrove forests of Madagascar are declining, albeit at a much slower rate than the global average. The forests are declining due to conversion to other land uses and forest degradation. However, accurate and reliable information on their present distribution and their rates, causes, and consequences of change have not been available. Earlier studies used remotely sensed data to map and, in some cases, to monitor mangrove forests at a local scale. Nonetheless, a comprehensive national assessment and synthesis was lacking. We interpreted time-series satellite data of 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2005 using a hybrid supervised and unsupervised classification approach. Landsat data were geometrically corrected to an accuracy of ?? one-half pixel, an accuracy necessary for change analysis. We used a postclassification change detection approach. Our results showed that Madagascar lost 7% of mangrove forests from 1975 to 2005, to a present extent of ???2,797 km2. Deforestation rates and causes varied both spatially and temporally. The forests increased by 5.6% (212 km2) from 1975 to 1990, decreased by 14.3% (455 km 2) from 1990 to 2000, and decreased by 2.6% (73 km2) from 2000 to 2005. Similarly, major changes occurred in Bombekota Bay, Mahajamba Bay, the coast of Ambanja, the Tsiribihina River, and Cap St Vincent. The main factors responsible for mangrove deforestation include conversion to agriculture (35%), logging (16%), conversion to aquaculture (3%), and urban development (1%). ?? 2008 by MDPI.

Two-component mixture model: Application to palm oil and exchange rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phoong, Seuk-Yen; Ismail, Mohd Tahir; Hamzah, Firdaus Mohamad

2014-12-01

Palm oil is a seed crop which is widely adopt for food and non-food products such as cookie, vegetable oil, cosmetics, household products and others. Palm oil is majority growth in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, the demand for palm oil is getting growth and rapidly running out over the years. This phenomenal cause illegal logging of trees and destroy the natural habitat. Hence, the present paper investigates the relationship between exchange rate and palm oil price in Malaysia by using Maximum Likelihood Estimation via Newton-Raphson algorithm to fit a two components mixture model. Besides, this paper proposes a mixture of normal distribution to accommodate with asymmetry characteristics and platykurtic time series data.

Spatio-temporal Characteristics of Land Use Land Cover Change Driven by Large Scale Land Transactions in Cambodia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, A.; Smith, J. C.; Hijmans, R. J.

2017-12-01

Since mid-1990s, the Cambodian government granted nearly 300 `Economic Land Concessions' (ELCs), occupying approximately 2.3 million ha to foreign and domestic organizations (primarily agribusinesses). The majority of Cambodian ELC deals have been issued in areas of both relatively low population density and low agricultural productivity, dominated by smallholder production. These regions often contain highly biodiverse areas, thereby increasing the ecological cost associated with land clearing for extractive purposes. These large-scale land transactions have also resulted in substantial and rapid changes in land-use patterns and agriculture practices by smallholder farmers. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal characteristics of land use change associated with large-scale land transactions across Cambodia using multi-temporal multi-reolution remote sensing data. We identified major regions of deforestation during the last two decades using Landsat archive, global forest change data (2000-2014) and georeferenced database of ELC deals. We then mapped the deforestation and land clearing within ELC boundaries as well as areas bordering or near ELCs to quantify the impact of ELCs on local communities. Using time-series from MODIS Vegetation Indices products for the study period, we also estimated the time period over which any particular ELC deal initiated its proposed activity. We found evidence of similar patterns of land use change outside the boundaries of ELC deals which may be associated with i) illegal land encroachments by ELCs and/or ii) new agricultural practices adopted by local farmers near ELC boundaries. We also detected significant time gaps between ELC deal granting dates and initiation of land clearing for ELC purposes. Interestingly, we also found that not all designated areas for ELCs were put into effect indicating the possible proliferation of speculative land deals. This study demonstrates the potential of remote sensing techniques as a tool for monitoring in areas with weak governance and lack of enforcement of land tenure.

Deforestation and Vectorial Capacity of Anopheles gambiae Giles Mosquitoes in Malaria Transmission, Kenya

PubMed Central

Afrane, Yaw A.; Little, Tom J.; Lawson, Bernard W.; Githeko, Andrew K.

2008-01-01

We investigated the effects of deforestation on microclimates and sporogonic development of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes in an area of the western Kenyan highland prone to malaria epidemics. An. gambiae mosquitoes were fed with P. falciparum–infected blood through membrane feeders. Fed mosquitoes were placed in houses in forested and deforested areas in a highland area (1,500 m above sea level) and monitored for parasite development. Deforested sites had higher temperatures and relative humidities, and the overall infection rate of mosquitoes was increased compared with that in forested sites. Sporozoites appeared on average 1.1 days earlier in deforested areas. Vectorial capacity was estimated to be 77.7% higher in the deforested site than in the forested site. We showed that deforestation changes microclimates, leading to more rapid sporogonic development of P. falciparum and to a marked increase of malaria risk in the western Kenyan highland. PMID:18826815

Tropical protected areas reduced deforestation carbon emissions by one third from 2000-2012.

PubMed

Bebber, Daniel P; Butt, Nathalie

2017-10-25

Tropical deforestation is responsible for around one tenth of total anthropogenic carbon emissions, and tropical protected areas (PAs) that reduce deforestation can therefore play an important role in mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services. While the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation has been estimated, the impact on global carbon emissions remains unquantified. Here we show that tropical PAs overall reduced deforestation carbon emissions by 4.88 Pg, or around 29%, between 2000 and 2012, when compared to expected rates of deforestation controlling for spatial variation in deforestation pressure. The largest contribution was from the tropical Americas (368.8 GgC y -1 ), followed by Asia (25.0 GgC y -1 ) and Africa (12.7 GgC y -1 ). Variation in PA effectiveness is largely driven by local factors affecting individual PAs, rather than designations assigned by governments.

Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zemp, D. C.; Schleussner, C.-F.; Barbosa, H. M. J.; Rammig, A.

2017-06-01

Through vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks, rainfall reductions as a result of Amazon deforestation could reduce the resilience on the remaining forest to perturbations and potentially lead to large-scale Amazon forest loss. We track observation-based water fluxes from sources (evapotranspiration) to sinks (rainfall) to assess the effect of deforestation on continental rainfall. By studying 21st century deforestation scenarios, we show that deforestation can reduce dry season rainfall by up to 20% far from the deforested area, namely, over the western Amazon basin and the La Plata basin. As a consequence, forest resilience is systematically eroded in the southwestern region covering a quarter of the current Amazon forest. Our findings suggest that the climatological effects of deforestation can lead to permanent forest loss in this region. We identify hot spot regions where forest loss should be avoided to maintain the ecological integrity of the Amazon forest.

Detecting deforestation with a spectral change detection approach using multitemporal Landsat data: a case study of Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia.

PubMed

Phua, Mui-How; Tsuyuki, Satoshi; Furuya, Naoyuki; Lee, Jung Soo

2008-09-01

Tropical deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate, threatening the ecological integrity of protected areas. This makes it vital to regularly assess protected areas to confirm the efficacy of measures that protect that area from clearing. Satellite remote sensing offers a systematic and objective means for detecting and monitoring deforestation. This paper examines a spectral change approach to detect deforestation using pattern decomposition (PD) coefficients from multitemporal Landsat data. Our results show that the PD coefficients for soil and vegetation can be used to detect deforestation using change vector analysis (CVA). CVA analysis demonstrates that deforestation in the Kinabalu area, Sabah, Malaysia has significantly slowed from 1.2% in period 1 (1973 and 1991) to 0.1% in period 2 (1991 and 1996). A comparison of deforestation both inside and outside Kinabalu Park has highlighted the effectiveness of the park in protecting the tropical forest against clearing. However, the park is still facing pressure from the area immediately surrounding the park (the 1 km buffer zone) where the deforestation rate has remained unchanged.

Governance regime and location influence avoided deforestation success of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Nolte, Christoph; Agrawal, Arun; Silvius, Kirsten M; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S

2013-03-26

Protected areas in tropical countries are managed under different governance regimes, the relative effectiveness of which in avoiding deforestation has been the subject of recent debates. Participants in these debates answer appeals for more strict protection with the argument that sustainable use areas and indigenous lands can balance deforestation pressures by leveraging local support to create and enforce protective regulations. Which protection strategy is more effective can also depend on (i) the level of deforestation pressures to which an area is exposed and (ii) the intensity of government enforcement. We examine this relationship empirically, using data from 292 protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon. We show that, for any given level of deforestation pressure, strictly protected areas consistently avoided more deforestation than sustainable use areas. Indigenous lands were particularly effective at avoiding deforestation in locations with high deforestation pressure. Findings were stable across two time periods featuring major shifts in the intensity of government enforcement. We also observed shifting trends in the location of protected areas, documenting that between 2000 and 2005 strictly protected areas were more likely to be established in high-pressure locations than in sustainable use areas and indigenous lands. Our findings confirm that all protection regimes helped reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Life-table studies revealed significant effects of deforestation on the development and survivorship of Anopheles minimus larvae.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoming; Zhou, Guofa; Zhong, Daibin; Wang, Xiaoling; Wang, Ying; Yang, Zhaoqing; Cui, Liwang; Yan, Guiyun

2016-06-06

Many developing countries are experiencing rapid ecological changes such as deforestation and shifting agricultural practices. These environmental changes may have an important consequence on malaria due to their impact on vector survival and reproduction. Despite intensive deforestation and malaria transmission in the China-Myanmar border area, the impact of deforestation on malaria vectors in the border area is unknown. We conducted life table studies on Anopheles minimus larvae to determine the pupation rate and development time in microcosms under deforested, banana plantation, and forested environments. The pupation rate of An. minimus was 3.8 % in the forested environment. It was significantly increased to 12.5 % in banana plantations and to 52.5 % in the deforested area. Deforestation reduced larval-to-pupal development time by 1.9-3.3 days. Food supplementation to aquatic habitats in forested environments and banana plantations significantly increased larval survival rate to a similar level as in the deforested environment. Deforestation enhanced the survival and development of An. minimus larvae, a major malaria vector in the China-Myanmar border area. Experimental determination of the life table parameters on mosquito larvae under a variety of environmental conditions is valuable to model malaria transmission dynamics and impact by climate and environmental changes.

Small farmers and deforestation in Amazonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brondízio, Eduardo S.; Cak, Anthony; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Mena, Carlos; Bilsborrow, Richard; Futemma, Celia T.; Ludewigs, Thomas; Moran, Emilio F.; Batistella, Mateus

This chapter discusses the relationship between small farmers' land use and deforestation, with particular attention paid to the past 30 years of Amazonian colonization in Brazil and Ecuador. Our analysis calls attention to common features uniting different social groups as small farmers (e.g., social identity, access to land and resources, technology, market, and credit), as well as the variability between small farmers in terms of time in the region (from native populations to recent colonists), contribution to regional deforestation, types of land use systems. At a regional level, small farmers contribute to the majority of deforestation events, but are responsible for only a fraction of the total deforested area in Amazonia. We discuss three misconceptions that have been used to define small farmers and their contribution to the regional economy, development, and deforestation: (1) small farmers have backward land use systems associated with low productivity and extensive deforestation and subsistence production, (2) small farmers contribute to Amazonian deforestation as much as large farmers, and (3) small farmers, particularly colonist farmers, follow an inexorable path of deforestation unless curbed by government action. We conclude the chapter discussing their growing regional importance and the need for more inclusive public policies concerning infrastructure and services and valorization of resources produced in rural areas of Amazonia.

Governance regime and location influence avoided deforestation success of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Nolte, Christoph; Agrawal, Arun; Silvius, Kirsten M.; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S.

2013-01-01

Protected areas in tropical countries are managed under different governance regimes, the relative effectiveness of which in avoiding deforestation has been the subject of recent debates. Participants in these debates answer appeals for more strict protection with the argument that sustainable use areas and indigenous lands can balance deforestation pressures by leveraging local support to create and enforce protective regulations. Which protection strategy is more effective can also depend on (i) the level of deforestation pressures to which an area is exposed and (ii) the intensity of government enforcement. We examine this relationship empirically, using data from 292 protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon. We show that, for any given level of deforestation pressure, strictly protected areas consistently avoided more deforestation than sustainable use areas. Indigenous lands were particularly effective at avoiding deforestation in locations with high deforestation pressure. Findings were stable across two time periods featuring major shifts in the intensity of government enforcement. We also observed shifting trends in the location of protected areas, documenting that between 2000 and 2005 strictly protected areas were more likely to be established in high-pressure locations than in sustainable use areas and indigenous lands. Our findings confirm that all protection regimes helped reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. PMID:23479648

Measuring the effectiveness of protected area networks in reducing deforestation.

PubMed

Andam, Kwaw S; Ferraro, Paul J; Pfaff, Alexander; Sanchez-Azofeifa, G Arturo; Robalino, Juan A

2008-10-21

Global efforts to reduce tropical deforestation rely heavily on the establishment of protected areas. Measuring the effectiveness of these areas is difficult because the amount of deforestation that would have occurred in the absence of legal protection cannot be directly observed. Conventional methods of evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas can be biased because protection is not randomly assigned and because protection can induce deforestation spillovers (displacement) to neighboring forests. We demonstrate that estimates of effectiveness can be substantially improved by controlling for biases along dimensions that are observable, measuring spatial spillovers, and testing the sensitivity of estimates to potential hidden biases. We apply matching methods to evaluate the impact on deforestation of Costa Rica's renowned protected-area system between 1960 and 1997. We find that protection reduced deforestation: approximately 10% of the protected forests would have been deforested had they not been protected. Conventional approaches to evaluating conservation impact, which fail to control for observable covariates correlated with both protection and deforestation, substantially overestimate avoided deforestation (by over 65%, based on our estimates). We also find that deforestation spillovers from protected to unprotected forests are negligible. Our conclusions are robust to potential hidden bias, as well as to changes in modeling assumptions. Our results show that, with appropriate empirical methods, conservation scientists and policy makers can better understand the relationships between human and natural systems and can use this to guide their attempts to protect critical ecosystem services.

Attribution of CO2 emissions from Brazilian deforestation to domestic and international drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karstensen, J.; Peters, G.

2011-12-01

Efforts to address extensive deforestation to reduce climate change and save primary forests are taking place on a global scale. Whilst several studies have estimated the emissions occurring from deforestation in large rainforests, few studies have investigated the domestic and international drivers sustaining and increasing the deforestation rates. Brazil, having the largest rainforest in the world and one of the highest deforestation rates, is also currently one of the world's largest exporters of soybeans and beef. In this case study we establish the link between Brazilian deforestation and cattle and soybean production, and further attribute emissions to countries and economic sectors through export and import of Brazilian commodities. The emissions from deforestation can therefore be allocated to the countries and sectors consuming goods and services produced on deforested land in Brazil. A land-use change model and deforestation data is coupled with a carbon cycle model to create yearly emission estimates and different emission allocation schemes, depending on emission amortizations and discounting functions for past deforestation. We use an economic multi-regional input-output model (with 112 regions and 57 sectors) to distribute these emissions along agricultural trade routes, through domestic and international consumption in 2004. With our implementation we find that around 80 % of emissions from deforested land is due to cattle grazing, while agricultural transition effects suggests soy beans are responsible for about 20 % of the emissions occurring in 2004. Nearly tree quarters of the soy beans are consumed outside Brazil, of which China, Germany and France are the biggest consumers. Soy beans are consumed by a variety of sectors in the food industry. Brazil exports about 30 % of the cattle it produces, where Russia, USA and Germany are among the largest consumers. Cattle consumption mainly occurs in the meat sectors. In this study we estimate the CO2 emissions allocated to the consuming countries and economic sectors, to ultimately distribute responsibility and find the main drivers of Brazilian deforestation.

Coca cultivation and crop eradication in Colombia: The challenges of integrating rural reality into effective anti-drug policy.

PubMed

Rincón-Ruiz, Alexander; Correa, Hyarold Leonardo; León, Daniel Oswaldo; Williams, Stewart

2016-07-01

This paper examines the positive and negative (or intended and unintended) impacts of anti-drug policies such as the aerial spraying of coca crops in Colombia. It provides spatial analysis of coca cultivation and crop eradication at a fine scale of resolution using the latest UNODC data. The findings suggest that anti-drug policy in Colombia between 2001 and 2012 has had some success with a significant decrease in overall levels of coca cultivation, but that it has also led to the displacement of coca cultivation, notably to areas within the Colombian Pacific region. Negative impacts include continued deforestation and damage to ecosystems, and the further marginalization of Afro-Colombian communities whose collective territories have been subject to increased coca cultivation between 2001 and 2012. Alternative development programs have not been well aligned with such areas where other illegal activities such as mining as well as coca cultivation now occur. Hence the importance of designing anti-drug policy that comprehensively integrates the local nuances of those peoples and places affected by coca cultivation and crop eradication according to their particular contexts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Accelerated losses of protected forests from gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asner, Gregory P.; Tupayachi, Raul

2016-09-01

Gold mining in Amazonia involves forest removal, soil excavation, and the use of liquid mercury, which together pose a major threat to biodiversity, water quality, forest carbon stocks, and human health. Within the global biodiversity hotspot of Madre de Dios, Peru, gold mining has continued despite numerous 2012 government decrees and enforcement actions against it. Mining is now also thought to have entered federally protected areas, but the rates of miner encroachment are unknown. Here, we utilize high-resolution remote sensing to assess annual changes in gold mining extent from 1999 to 2016 throughout the Madre de Dios region, including the high-diversity Tambopata National Reserve and buffer zone. Regionally, gold mining-related losses of forest averaged 4437 ha yr-1. A temporary downward inflection in the annual growth rate of mining-related forest loss following 2012 government action was followed by a near doubling of the deforestation rate from mining in 2013-2014. The total estimated area of gold mining throughout the region increased about 40% between 2012 and 2016, including in the Tambopata National Reserve. Our results reveal an urgent need for more socio-environmental effort and law enforcement action to combat illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon.

Man-induced transformation of mountain meadow soils of Aragats mountain massif (Armenia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avetisyan, M. H.

2018-01-01

The article considers issues of degradation of mountain meadow soils of the Aragats mountain massif of the Republic of Armenia and provides the averaged research results obtained for 2013 and 2014. The present research was initiated in the frames of long-term complex investigations of agroecosystems of Armenia’s mountain massifs and covered sod soils of high mountain meadow pasturelands and meadow steppe grasslands lying on southern slope of Mt. Aragats. With a purpose of studying the peculiarities of migration and transformation of flows of major nutrients namely carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus in study mountain meadow and meadow steppe belts of the Aragats massif we investigated water migration of chemical elements and regularities of their leaching depending on different belts. Field measurement data have indicated that organic carbon and humus in a heavily grazed plot are almost twice as low as on a control site. Lysimetric data analysis has demonstrated that heavy grazing and illegal deforestation have brought to an increase in intrasoil water acidity. The results generated from this research support a conclusion that a man’s intervention has brought to disturbance of structure and nutrient and water regimes of soils and loss of significant amounts of soil nutrients throughout the studied region.

Integration of carbon conservation into sustainable forest management using high resolution satellite imagery: A case study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langner, Andreas; Samejima, Hiromitsu; Ong, Robert C.; Titin, Jupiri; Kitayama, Kanehiro

2012-08-01

Conservation of tropical forests is of outstanding importance for mitigation of climate change effects and preserving biodiversity. In Borneo most of the forests are classified as permanent forest estates and are selectively logged using conventional logging techniques causing high damage to the forest ecosystems. Incorporation of sustainable forest management into climate change mitigation measures such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) can help to avert further forest degradation by synergizing sustainable timber production with the conservation of biodiversity. In order to evaluate the efficiency of such initiatives, monitoring methods for forest degradation and above-ground biomass in tropical forests are urgently needed. In this study we developed an index using Landsat satellite data to describe the crown cover condition of lowland mixed dipterocarp forests. We showed that this index combined with field data can be used to estimate above-ground biomass using a regression model in two permanent forest estates in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Tangkulap represented a conventionally logged forest estate while Deramakot has been managed in accordance with sustainable forestry principles. The results revealed that conventional logging techniques used in Tangkulap during 1991 and 2000 decreased the above-ground biomass by an annual amount of average -6.0 t C/ha (-5.2 to -7.0 t C/ha, 95% confidential interval) whereas the biomass in Deramakot increased by 6.1 t C/ha per year (5.3-7.2 t C/ha, 95% confidential interval) between 2000 and 2007 while under sustainable forest management. This indicates that sustainable forest management with reduced-impact logging helps to protect above-ground biomass. In absolute terms, a conservative amount of 10.5 t C/ha per year, as documented using the methodology developed in this study, can be attributed to the different management systems, which will be of interest when implementing REDD+ that rewards the enhancement of carbon stocks.

Trends in size of tropical deforestation events signal increasing dominance of industrial-scale drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Austin, Kemen G.; González-Roglich, Mariano; Schaffer-Smith, Danica; Schwantes, Amanda M.; Swenson, Jennifer J.

2017-05-01

Deforestation continues across the tropics at alarming rates, with repercussions for ecosystem processes, carbon storage and long term sustainability. Taking advantage of recent fine-scale measurement of deforestation, this analysis aims to improve our understanding of the scale of deforestation drivers in the tropics. We examined trends in forest clearings of different sizes from 2000-2012 by country, region and development level. As tropical deforestation increased from approximately 6900 kha yr-1 in the first half of the study period, to >7900 kha yr-1 in the second half of the study period, >50% of this increase was attributable to the proliferation of medium and large clearings (>10 ha). This trend was most pronounced in Southeast Asia and in South America. Outside of Brazil >60% of the observed increase in deforestation in South America was due to an upsurge in medium- and large-scale clearings; Brazil had a divergent trend of decreasing deforestation, >90% of which was attributable to a reduction in medium and large clearings. The emerging prominence of large-scale drivers of forest loss in many regions and countries suggests the growing need for policy interventions which target industrial-scale agricultural commodity producers. The experience in Brazil suggests that there are promising policy solutions to mitigate large-scale deforestation, but that these policy initiatives do not adequately address small-scale drivers. By providing up-to-date and spatially explicit information on the scale of deforestation, and the trends in these patterns over time, this study contributes valuable information for monitoring, and designing effective interventions to address deforestation.

Surveying the area of deforestation of the Amazon by LANDSAT satellite imagery. [Mato grosso, Goias and Para, Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dejesusparada, N. (Principal Investigator); Tardin, A. T.; Dossantos, A. P.; Lee, D. C. L.; Soaresmaia, F. C.; Mendonca, F. J.; Assuncao, G. V.; Rodrigues, J. E.; Demouraabdon, M.; Novaes, R. A.

1979-01-01

LANDSAT imagery was used to determine the amount of deforestation in a study area comprising 55 million hectares of the Amazon region. Results show that more than 4 million hectares were deforested. Maps and pictures of the deforested area in relation to the total area of the Amazon are included.

Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation

PubMed Central

Bala, G.; Caldeira, K.; Wickett, M.; Phillips, T. J.; Lobell, D. B.; Delire, C.; Mirin, A.

2007-01-01

The prevention of deforestation and promotion of afforestation have often been cited as strategies to slow global warming. Deforestation releases CO2 to the atmosphere, which exerts a warming influence on Earth's climate. However, biophysical effects of deforestation, which include changes in land surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and cloud cover also affect climate. Here we present results from several large-scale deforestation experiments performed with a three-dimensional coupled global carbon-cycle and climate model. These simulations were performed by using a fully three-dimensional model representing physical and biogeochemical interactions among land, atmosphere, and ocean. We find that global-scale deforestation has a net cooling influence on Earth's climate, because the warming carbon-cycle effects of deforestation are overwhelmed by the net cooling associated with changes in albedo and evapotranspiration. Latitude-specific deforestation experiments indicate that afforestation projects in the tropics would be clearly beneficial in mitigating global-scale warming, but would be counterproductive if implemented at high latitudes and would offer only marginal benefits in temperate regions. Although these results question the efficacy of mid- and high-latitude afforestation projects for climate mitigation, forests remain environmentally valuable resources for many reasons unrelated to climate. PMID:17420463

Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation.

PubMed

Bala, G; Caldeira, K; Wickett, M; Phillips, T J; Lobell, D B; Delire, C; Mirin, A

2007-04-17

The prevention of deforestation and promotion of afforestation have often been cited as strategies to slow global warming. Deforestation releases CO(2) to the atmosphere, which exerts a warming influence on Earth's climate. However, biophysical effects of deforestation, which include changes in land surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and cloud cover also affect climate. Here we present results from several large-scale deforestation experiments performed with a three-dimensional coupled global carbon-cycle and climate model. These simulations were performed by using a fully three-dimensional model representing physical and biogeochemical interactions among land, atmosphere, and ocean. We find that global-scale deforestation has a net cooling influence on Earth's climate, because the warming carbon-cycle effects of deforestation are overwhelmed by the net cooling associated with changes in albedo and evapotranspiration. Latitude-specific deforestation experiments indicate that afforestation projects in the tropics would be clearly beneficial in mitigating global-scale warming, but would be counterproductive if implemented at high latitudes and would offer only marginal benefits in temperate regions. Although these results question the efficacy of mid- and high-latitude afforestation projects for climate mitigation, forests remain environmentally valuable resources for many reasons unrelated to climate.

Combined Climate and Carbon-Cycle Effects of Large-Scale Deforestation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bala, G; Caldeira, K; Wickett, M

2006-10-17

The prevention of deforestation and promotion of afforestation have often been cited as strategies to slow global warming. Deforestation releases CO{sub 2} to the atmosphere, which exerts a warming influence on Earth's climate. However, biophysical effects of deforestation, which include changes in land surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and cloud cover also affect climate. Here we present results from several large-scale deforestation experiments performed with a three-dimensional coupled global carbon-cycle and climate model. These are the first such simulations performed using a fully three-dimensional model representing physical and biogeochemical interactions among land, atmosphere, and ocean. We find that global-scale deforestation has amore » net cooling influence on Earth's climate, since the warming carbon-cycle effects of deforestation are overwhelmed by the net cooling associated with changes in albedo and evapotranspiration. Latitude-specific deforestation experiments indicate that afforestation projects in the tropics would be clearly beneficial in mitigating global-scale warming, but would be counterproductive if implemented at high latitudes and would offer only marginal benefits in temperate regions. While these results question the efficacy of mid- and high-latitude afforestation projects for climate mitigation, forests remain environmentally valuable resources for many reasons unrelated to climate.« less

Mining drives extensive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Sonter, Laura J; Herrera, Diego; Barrett, Damian J; Galford, Gillian L; Moran, Chris J; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S

2017-10-18

Mining poses significant and potentially underestimated risks to tropical forests worldwide. In Brazil's Amazon, mining drives deforestation far beyond operational lease boundaries, yet the full extent of these impacts is unknown and thus neglected in environmental licensing. Here we quantify mining-induced deforestation and investigate the aspects of mining operations, which most likely contribute. We find mining significantly increased Amazon forest loss up to 70 km beyond mining lease boundaries, causing 11,670 km 2 of deforestation between 2005 and 2015. This extent represents 9% of all Amazon forest loss during this time and 12 times more deforestation than occurred within mining leases alone. Pathways leading to such impacts include mining infrastructure establishment, urban expansion to support a growing workforce, and development of mineral commodity supply chains. Mining-induced deforestation is not unique to Brazil; to mitigate adverse impacts of mining and conserve tropical forests globally, environmental assessments and licensing must considered both on- and off-lease sources of deforestation.

Deforestation control in Mato Grosso: a new model for slowing the loss of Brazil's Amazon forest.

PubMed

Fearnside, Philip M

2003-08-01

Controlling deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region has long been illusive despite repeated efforts of government authorities to slow the process. From 1997 to 2000, deforestation rates in Brazil's 9-state "Legal Amazon" region continually crept upward. Now, a licensing and enforcement program for clearing by large farmers and ranchers in the state of Mato Grosso appears to be having an effect. The deforestation rate in Mato Grosso was already beginning to slacken before initiation of the program in 1999, but examination of county-level data suggests that deforestation in already heavily cleared areas was falling due to lack of suitable uncleared land, while little-cleared areas were experiencing rapid deforestation. Following initiation of the program, the clearing rates declined in the recent frontiers. Areas with greater enforcement effort also appear to have experienced greater declines. Demonstration of government ability to enforce regulations and influence trends is important to domestic and international debates regarding use of avoided deforestation to mitigate global warming.

The 'Geographic Emission Benchmark' model: a baseline approach to measuring emissions associated with deforestation and degradation.

PubMed

Kim, Oh Seok; Newell, Joshua P

2015-10-01

This paper proposes a new land-change model, the Geographic Emission Benchmark (GEB), as an approach to quantify land-cover changes associated with deforestation and forest degradation. The GEB is designed to determine 'baseline' activity data for reference levels. Unlike other models that forecast business-as-usual future deforestation, the GEB internally (1) characterizes 'forest' and 'deforestation' with minimal processing and ground-truthing and (2) identifies 'deforestation hotspots' using open-source spatial methods to estimate regional rates of deforestation. The GEB also characterizes forest degradation and identifies leakage belts. This paper compares the accuracy of GEB with GEOMOD, a popular land-change model used in the UN-REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Program. Using a case study of the Chinese tropics for comparison, GEB's projection is more accurate than GEOMOD's, as measured by Figure of Merit. Thus, the GEB produces baseline activity data that are moderately accurate for the setting of reference levels.

An integrated framework for evaluating the effects of deforestation on ecosystem services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, X. P.; Huang, C.; Townshend, J. R.

2014-03-01

Deforestation often results in massive carbon emissions and loss of ecosystem services. The objective of this paper is to develop an integrated approach to quantitatively derive changes in forest carbon stock and changes in the economic value of forest carbon due to deforestation. Combining the best available remote sensing and socioeconomic datasets, this approach establishes a comprehensive baseline of deforestation in terms of area, carbon and monetary value change. We applied this end-to-end evaluation method in the Brazilian state of Rondonia to assess the ecological and economic effects of its recent deforestation from 2000 to 2005. Our results suggest that deforestation occurred at an average rate of 2834 km2/yr during the study period, leading to 31 TgC/yr "committed carbon emissions" from deforestation. Coupling with the social cost of carbon at 23/tC and a market discount rate at 7%, this translates to 622 million U.S. dollars/yr loss in the economic value of forest carbon.

Assessing deforestation in the coastal zone of the Campeche State, Mexico

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mas, J.F.; Vega, A.P.; Aponte, G.P.

1997-06-01

In order to determine rates of deforestation in the State of Campeche, Mexico, forest maps of 1978/80 and 1992 were compared within a geographic information system (GIS). Results indicate that more than 25 per cent of the tropical forest and mangroves were deforested and other 29 per cent were fragmented during this period. The rate of deforestation in the whole state is about 4.4 per cent per year, but the analysis showed that rates of deforestation are much higher in the coastal zone. For this reason an attempt was made to study deforestation patterns in the coastal zone. Data suchmore » as distance from roads and from settlements images were incorporated in the GIS data base and a model which represents influence of population on its environment was developed in order to establish the influence of socioeconomic factors on forest clearing. Results indicate that deforestation presents a higher correlation with levels of poverty and social abandonment than with demographic aspects.« less

Tropical Deforestation in the Bolivian Amazon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Compton J.; Steininger, Marc K.; Townshend, John R. G.; Killeen, Timothy R.; Desch, Arthur

2000-01-01

Landsat satellite images from the mid-1980s and early 1990s were used to map tropical forest extent and deforestation in approximately 800,000 sq km of Amazonian Bolivia. Forest cover extent, including tropical deciduous forest, totalled 472,000 sq km while the area of natural non-forest formations totalled 298,000 sq km. The area deforested totalled 15,000 sq km in the middle 1980s and 28,800 sq km by the early 1990s. The rate of tropical deforestation in the >1,000 mm/y precipitation forest zone of Bolivia was 2,200 sq km/y from 1985-1986 to 1992-1994. We document a spatially-concentrated "deforestation zone" in Santa Cruz Department where >60% of the Bolivian deforestation is occurring at an accelerating rate in areas of tropical deciduous dry forest.

Deforestation of Peano continua and minimal deformation retracts☆

PubMed Central

Conner, G.; Meilstrup, M.

2012-01-01

Every Peano continuum has a strong deformation retract to a deforested continuum, that is, one with no strongly contractible subsets attached at a single point. In a deforested continuum, each point with a one-dimensional neighborhood is either fixed by every self-homotopy of the space, or has a neighborhood which is a locally finite graph. A minimal deformation retract of a continuum (if it exists) is called its core. Every one-dimensional Peano continuum has a unique core, which can be obtained by deforestation. We give examples of planar Peano continua that contain no core but are deforested. PMID:23471120

Deforestation in Brazil: motivations, journeys and tendencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leite, J. C.; Ferreira, A. J. D.; Esteves, T. C. J.; Bento, C. P. M.

2012-04-01

José Carlos Leite1; António José Dinis Ferreira2; Tanya Cristina de Jesus Esteves2; Célia Patrícia Martins Bento2 1Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Brazil; 2IPC - Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, Portugal Over the last three decades, deforestation in Brazil occurred systematically in the area known as the "arc of deforestation", an extensive geographical area located in the interface of the Cerrado and the Amazon biomes. This work encompasses the reasons, causes and/or motivations of that recent deforestation, focusing on the Central-West and Northern regions. A number of reasons will be presented, seeking to build an approach able to identify the deepest roots of deforestation of those regions. Our actions over the environment are framed by our cultural matrix that stream from a western philosophic attitude. This way, to understand the framework where the deforestation actions are justified requires a multidisciplinary approach to understand the deforestation of the Cerrado and Amazon biomes, since the motivations for forest destruction in Brazil are complex and not entirely understood within the domains of a single disciplinary area. To search for an isolated cause to understand the recent deforestation can only be plausible if we ignore information on what actually happens. The methodology used in this work is based on a bibliographical revision, analysis of georeferrenced information, participative processes implementation and observation of stakeholder behavior, and field research. It departs from a general vision on deforestation that initially occurred at the littoral region, by the Atlantic Rainforest, right after the arrival of the Europeans, and throughout the centuries penetrates towards the interior, hitting the Cerrado and Amazon biomes. In this last case, we focused on the Vale do Alto Guaporé region, near Bolivia, where the intensity of the deforestation was verified from 1970 to 1990. Ultimately, the final result is a mosaic of reasons for deforestation - that has been done by both large and small land owners - that incorporates other views that have been absent in the explanations given by so-called specialized literature of Brazil's deforestation.

Annual Carbon Emissions from Deforestation in the Amazon Basin between 2000 and 2010.

PubMed

Song, Xiao-Peng; Huang, Chengquan; Saatchi, Sassan S; Hansen, Matthew C; Townshend, John R

2015-01-01

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is considered one of the most cost-effective strategies for mitigating climate change. However, historical deforestation and emission rates-critical inputs for setting reference emission levels for REDD+-are poorly understood. Here we use multi-source, time-series satellite data to quantify carbon emissions from deforestation in the Amazon basin on a year-to-year basis between 2000 and 2010. We first derive annual deforestation indicators by using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Fields (MODIS VCF) product. MODIS indicators are calibrated by using a large sample of Landsat data to generate accurate deforestation rates, which are subsequently combined with a spatially explicit biomass dataset to calculate committed annual carbon emissions. Across the study area, the average deforestation and associated carbon emissions were estimated to be 1.59 ± 0.25 M ha•yr(-1) and 0.18 ± 0.07 Pg C•yr(-1) respectively, with substantially different trends and inter-annual variability in different regions. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased between 2001 and 2004 and declined substantially afterwards, whereas deforestation in the Bolivian Amazon, the Colombian Amazon, and the Peruvian Amazon increased over the study period. The average carbon density of lost forests after 2005 was 130 Mg C•ha(-1), ~11% lower than the average carbon density of remaining forests in year 2010 (144 Mg C•ha(-1)). Moreover, the average carbon density of cleared forests increased at a rate of 7 Mg C•ha(-1)•yr(-1) from 2005 to 2010, suggesting that deforestation has been progressively encroaching into high-biomass lands in the Amazon basin. Spatially explicit, annual deforestation and emission estimates like the ones derived in this study are useful for setting baselines for REDD+ and other emission mitigation programs, and for evaluating the performance of such efforts.

Annual Carbon Emissions from Deforestation in the Amazon Basin between 2000 and 2010

PubMed Central

Song, Xiao-Peng; Huang, Chengquan; Saatchi, Sassan S.; Hansen, Matthew C.; Townshend, John R.

2015-01-01

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is considered one of the most cost-effective strategies for mitigating climate change. However, historical deforestation and emission rates―critical inputs for setting reference emission levels for REDD+―are poorly understood. Here we use multi-source, time-series satellite data to quantify carbon emissions from deforestation in the Amazon basin on a year-to-year basis between 2000 and 2010. We first derive annual deforestation indicators by using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Fields (MODIS VCF) product. MODIS indicators are calibrated by using a large sample of Landsat data to generate accurate deforestation rates, which are subsequently combined with a spatially explicit biomass dataset to calculate committed annual carbon emissions. Across the study area, the average deforestation and associated carbon emissions were estimated to be 1.59 ± 0.25 M ha•yr−1 and 0.18 ± 0.07 Pg C•yr−1 respectively, with substantially different trends and inter-annual variability in different regions. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased between 2001 and 2004 and declined substantially afterwards, whereas deforestation in the Bolivian Amazon, the Colombian Amazon, and the Peruvian Amazon increased over the study period. The average carbon density of lost forests after 2005 was 130 Mg C•ha−1, ~11% lower than the average carbon density of remaining forests in year 2010 (144 Mg C•ha−1). Moreover, the average carbon density of cleared forests increased at a rate of 7 Mg C•ha−1•yr−1 from 2005 to 2010, suggesting that deforestation has been progressively encroaching into high-biomass lands in the Amazon basin. Spatially explicit, annual deforestation and emission estimates like the ones derived in this study are useful for setting baselines for REDD+ and other emission mitigation programs, and for evaluating the performance of such efforts. PMID:25951328

Responses of Mean and Extreme Precipitation to Deforestation in the Maritime Continent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, C. C.; Lo, M. H.; Yu, J. Y.

2017-12-01

Anthropogenic land use and land cover change, including tropical deforestation, could have substantial effects on local surface energy and water budgets, and thus on the atmospheric stability which may result in changes in precipitation. Maritime Continent has undergone severe deforestation in recent decades but has received less attention than Amazon or Congo rainforests. Therefore, this study is to decipher the precipitation response to deforestation in the Maritime Continent. We conduct deforestation experiments using Community Earth System Model (CESM) and through converting the tropical rainforest into grassland. The results show that deforestation in Maritime Continent leads to an increase in both mean temperature and mean precipitation. Moisture budget analysis indicates that the increase in precipitation is associated with the vertically integrated vertical moisture advection, especially the dynamic component (changes in convection). In addition, through moist static energy (MSE) budget analysis, we find the atmosphere among deforested areas become unstable owing to the combined effects of positive specific humidity anomalies at around 850 hPa and anomalous warming extended from the surface to 750 hPa. This instability will induce anomalous ascending motion, which could enhance the low-level moisture convergence, providing water vapor from the surrounding warm ocean. To further evaluate the precipitation response to deforestation, we examine the precipitation changes under La Niña events and global warming scenario using CESM Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations and Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 simulations. We find that the precipitation increase caused by deforestation in Maritime Continent is comparable in magnitude to that generated by either natural variability or global warming forcing. Besides the changes in mean precipitation, preliminary results show the extreme precipitation also increases. We will further explore how the extreme precipitation changes with the deforestation forcing.

Using spatial metrics and surveys for the assessment of trans-boundary deforestation in protected areas of the Maya Mountain Massif: Belize-Guatemala border.

PubMed

Chicas, S D; Omine, K; Ford, J B; Sugimura, K; Yoshida, K

2017-02-01

Understanding the trans-boundary deforestation history and patterns in protected areas along the Belize-Guatemala border is of regional and global importance. To assess deforestation history and patterns in our study area along a section of the Belize-Guatemala border, we incorporated multi-temporal deforestation rate analysis and spatial metrics with survey results. This multi-faceted approach provides spatial analysis with relevant insights from local stakeholders to better understand historic deforestation dynamics, spatial characteristics and human perspectives regarding the underlying causes thereof. During the study period 1991-2014, forest cover declined in Belize's protected areas: Vaca Forest Reserve 97.88%-87.62%, Chiquibul National Park 99.36%-92.12%, Caracol Archeological Reserve 99.47%-78.10% and Colombia River Forest Reserve 89.22%-78.38% respectively. A comparison of deforestation rates and spatial metrics indices indicated that between time periods 1991-1995 and 2012-2014 deforestation and fragmentation increased in protected areas. The major underlying causes, drivers, impacts, and barriers to bi-national collaboration and solutions of deforestation along the Belize-Guatemala border were identified by community leaders and stakeholders. The Mann-Whitney U test identified significant differences between leaders and stakeholders regarding the ranking of challenges faced by management organizations in the Maya Mountain Massif, except for the lack of assessment and quantification of deforestation (LD, SH: 18.67, 23.25, U = 148, p > 0.05). The survey results indicated that failure to integrate buffer communities, coordinate among managing organizations and establish strong bi-national collaboration has resulted in continued ecological and environmental degradation. The information provided by this research should aid managing organizations in their continued aim to implement effective deforestation mitigation strategies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A wood density and aboveground biomass variability assessment using pre-felling inventory data in Costa Rica.

PubMed

Svob, Sienna; Arroyo-Mora, J Pablo; Kalacska, Margaret

2014-12-01

The high spatio-temporal variability of aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests is a large source of uncertainty in forest carbon stock estimation. Due to their spatial distribution and sampling intensity, pre-felling inventories are a potential source of ground level data that could help reduce this uncertainty at larger spatial scales. Further, exploring the factors known to influence tropical forest biomass, such as wood density and large tree density, will improve our knowledge of biomass distribution across tropical regions. Here, we evaluate (1) the variability of wood density and (2) the variability of AGB across five ecosystems of Costa Rica. Using forest management (pre-felling) inventories we found that, of the regions studied, Huetar Norte had the highest mean wood density of trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) greater than or equal to 30 cm, 0.623 ± 0.182 g cm -3 (mean ± standard deviation). Although the greatest wood density was observed in Huetar Norte, the highest mean estimated AGB (EAGB) of trees with a DBH greater than or equal to 30 cm was observed in Osa peninsula (173.47 ± 60.23 Mg ha -1 ). The density of large trees explained approximately 50% of EAGB variability across the five ecosystems studied. Comparing our study's EAGB to published estimates reveals that, in the regions of Costa Rica where AGB has been previously sampled, our forest management data produced similar values. This study presents the most spatially rich analysis of ground level AGB data in Costa Rica to date. Using forest management data, we found that EAGB within and among five Costa Rican ecosystems is highly variable. Combining commercial logging inventories with ecological plots will provide a more representative ground level dataset for the calibration of the models and remotely sensed data used to EAGB at regional and national scales. Additionally, because the non-protected areas of the tropics offer the greatest opportunity to reduce rates of deforestation and forest degradation, logging inventories offer a promising source of data to support mechanisms such as the United Nations REDD + (Reducing Emissions from Tropical Deforestation and Degradation) program.

Impacts of tropical deforestation. Part I: Process analysis of local climatic change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, H.; Henderson-Sellers, A.; McGuffie, K.

1996-07-01

The potential impacts of deforestation in the humid Tropics are examined using a version of the National Center for Atmospheric Research`s CCM1 coupled with the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme package. Tropical deforestation in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia is studied using the results from an 11-yr deforestation experiment and a 25-yr control integration. It is found that the local-scale impact (here defined as within the area deforested) varies greatly between the three deforested regions due to the differing controls on the local atmospheric circulation: the Southeast Asian monsoon is much less sensitive to deforestation than the low-level flow over Southmore » America. The analysis of the changes in cloud radiative forcing suggests that reduction in cloud amount can significantly mitigate the imposed increases in surface albedo. The importance of water recycling by the forest canopy is stressed in the simulation of local precipitation changes. Correlation analysis of the changes resulting from the deforestation has been used to determine the nature of the processes that follow from the removal of the forest canopy and to suggest the important processes. The role of large-scale dynamics is explored in a companion paper. 44 refs., 9 figs., 5 tabs.« less

Interpreting participatory Fuzzy Cognitive Maps as complex networks in the social-ecological systems of the Amazonian forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varela, Consuelo; Tarquis, Ana M.; Blanco-Gutiérrez, Irene; Estebe, Paloma; Toledo, Marisol; Martorano, Lucieta

2015-04-01

Social-ecological systems are linked complex systems that represent interconnected human and biophysical processes evolving and adapting across temporal and spatial scales. In the real world, social-ecological systems pose substantial challenges for modeling. In this regard, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) have proven to be a useful method for capturing the functioning of this type of systems. FCMs are a semi-quantitative type of cognitive map that represent a system composed of relevant factors and weighted links showing the strength and direction of cause-effects relationships among factors. Therefore, FCMs can be interpreted as complex system structures or complex networks. In this sense, recent research has applied complex network concepts for the analysis of FCMs that represent social-ecological systems. Key to FCM the tool is its potential to allow feedback loops and to include stakeholder knowledge in the construction of the tool. Also, previous research has demonstrated their potential to represent system dynamics and simulate the effects of changes in the system, such as policy interventions. For illustrating this analysis, we have developed a series of participatory FCM for the study of the ecological and human systems related to biodiversity conservation in two case studies of the Amazonian region, the Bolivia lowlands of Guarayos and the Brazil Tapajos National forest. The research is carried out in the context of the EU project ROBIN1 and it is based on the development of a series of stakeholder workshops to analyze the current state of the socio-ecological environment in the Amazonian forest, reflecting conflicts and challenges for biodiversity conservation and human development. Stakeholders included all relevant actors in the local case studies, namely farmers, environmental groups, producer organizations, local and provincial authorities and scientists. In both case studies we illustrate the use of complex networks concepts, such as the adjacency matrix and centrality properties (e.g.: centrality, page-rank, betweenness centrality). Different measures of network centrality evidence that deforestation and loss of biodiversity are the most relevant factors in the FCM of the two case studies analyzed. In both cases agricultural expansion emerges as a key driver of deforestation. The lack of policy coordination and a weak implementation and enforcement are also highly influential factors. The analysis of the system's dynamics suggest that in the case of Bolivia forest fires and deforestation are likely to continue in the immediate future as illegal activities are maintained and poverty increases. In the case of Brazil a decrease in available viable economic activities is driving further deforestation and ecosystem services loss. Overall, the research evidences how using FCMs together with complex network analysis can support policy development by identifying key elements and processes upon which policy makers and institutions can take action. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the EU project ROBIN (The Role of Biodiversity in Climate Change Mitigation, from the EC FP7, no 283093) and the Spanish project AL14-PID-12 (Biodiversidad y cambio climático en la Amazonía: Perspectivas socio-económicas y ambientales) of the UPM Latin America Cooperation Program for funding this research.

Climate impacts of deforestation/land-use changes in Central South America in the PRECIS regional climate model: mean precipitation and temperature response to present and future deforestation scenarios.

PubMed

Canziani, Pablo O; Carbajal Benitez, Gerardo

2012-01-01

Deforestation/land-use changes are major drivers of regional climate change in central South America, impacting upon Amazonia and Gran Chaco ecoregions. Most experimental and modeling studies have focused on the resulting perturbations within Amazonia. Using the Regional Climate Model PRECIS, driven by ERA-40 reanalysis and ECHAM4 Baseline model for the period 1961-2000 (40-year runs), potential effects of deforestation/land-use changes in these and other neighboring ecoregions are evaluated. Current 2002 and estimated 2030 land-use scenarios are used to assess PRECIS's response during 1960-2000. ERA-40 and ECHAM4 Baseline driven runs yield similar results. Precipitation changes for 2002 and 2030 land-use scenarios, while significant within deforested areas, do not result in significant regional changes. For temperature significant changes are found within deforested areas and beyond, with major temperature enhancements during winter and spring. Given the current climate, primary effects of deforestation/land-use changes remain mostly confined to the tropical latitudes of Gran Chaco, and Amazonia.

Deforestation trend in North Sumatra over 1990-2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basyuni, M.; Sulistiyono, N.; Wati, R.; Hayati, R.

2018-02-01

Deforestation and forest degradation have been previously reported to contributing greenhouse gas emission, the primary driver of global warming. The present paper studies deforestation and reforestation trend in North Sumatra, Indonesia using land-use/land-cover change from 1990-2015. The land-use consists of three classes derived from forest land (primary and secondary dry land forest, primary and secondary swamp forest, primary and secondary mangrove forest). Non-Forest (shrub, oil palm plantation, forest plantation, settlement, barren land, swamp shrub, dry land farming, mixed dry land farming, paddy field, aquaculture, airport, transmigration, and mining), and water body (water and swamp). Results showed that from 33 regencies/city in North Sumatra, among them, 25 districts deforested, which was the highest deforestation rate in Labuhanbatu and South Labuhanbatu (2,238.08 and 1,652.55 ha/year, respectively), only one area reforested, and seven districts showed no deforestation or reforestation. During 25 years observed, the forest has been deforested 22.92%, while nonforest has been increased 11.33% of land-use. The significant increasing loss of North Sumatran forest implies conservation efforts and developing sustainable forest management.

Deforestation and Forest Fragmentation in South Ecuador since the 1970s - Losing a Hotspot of Biodiversity.

PubMed

Tapia-Armijos, María Fernanda; Homeier, Jürgen; Espinosa, Carlos Iván; Leuschner, Christoph; de la Cruz, Marcelino

2015-01-01

Deforestation and fragmentation are major components of global change; both are contributing to the rapid loss of tropical forest area with important implications for ecosystem functioning and biodiversity conservation. The forests of South Ecuador are a biological 'hotspot' due to their high diversity and endemism levels. We examined the deforestation and fragmentation patterns in this area of high conservation value using aerial photographs and Aster satellite scenes. The registered annual deforestation rates of 0.75% (1976-1989) and 2.86% (1989-2008) for two consecutive survey periods, the decreasing mean patch size and the increasing isolation of the forest fragments show that the area is under severe threat. Approximately 46% of South Ecuador's original forest cover had been converted by 2008 into pastures and other anthropogenic land cover types. We found that deforestation is more intense at lower elevations (premontane evergreen forest and shrubland) and that the deforestation front currently moves in upslope direction. Improved awareness of the spatial extent, dynamics and patterns of deforestation and forest fragmentation is urgently needed in biologically diverse areas like South Ecuador.

Climate Impacts of Deforestation/Land-Use Changes in Central South America in the PRECIS Regional Climate Model: Mean Precipitation and Temperature Response to Present and Future Deforestation Scenarios

PubMed Central

Canziani, Pablo O.; Carbajal Benitez, Gerardo

2012-01-01

Deforestation/land-use changes are major drivers of regional climate change in central South America, impacting upon Amazonia and Gran Chaco ecoregions. Most experimental and modeling studies have focused on the resulting perturbations within Amazonia. Using the Regional Climate Model PRECIS, driven by ERA-40 reanalysis and ECHAM4 Baseline model for the period 1961–2000 (40-year runs), potential effects of deforestation/land-use changes in these and other neighboring ecoregions are evaluated. Current 2002 and estimated 2030 land-use scenarios are used to assess PRECIS's response during 1960–2000. ERA-40 and ECHAM4 Baseline driven runs yield similar results. Precipitation changes for 2002 and 2030 land-use scenarios, while significant within deforested areas, do not result in significant regional changes. For temperature significant changes are found within deforested areas and beyond, with major temperature enhancements during winter and spring. Given the current climate, primary effects of deforestation/land-use changes remain mostly confined to the tropical latitudes of Gran Chaco, and Amazonia. PMID:22645487

Deforestation, Rondonia, Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This view of deforestation in Rondonia, far western Brazil, (10.0S, 63.0W) is part of an agricultural resettlement project which ultimately covers an area about 80% the size of France. The patterns of deforestation in this part of the Amazon River Basin are usually aligned adjacent to highways, secondary roads, and streams for ease of access and transportation. Compare this view with the earlier 51G-37-062 for a comparison of deforestation in the region.

Deforestation, Rondonia, Brazil

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-08-08

This view of deforestation in Rondonia, far western Brazil, (10.0S, 63.0W) is part of an agricultural resettlement project which ultimately covers an area about 80% the size of France. The patterns of deforestation in this part of the Amazon River Basin are usually aligned adjacent to highways, secondary roads, and streams for ease of access and transportation. Compare this view with the earlier 51G-37-062 for a comparison of deforestation in the region.

Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains.

PubMed

Nepstad, Daniel; McGrath, David; Stickler, Claudia; Alencar, Ane; Azevedo, Andrea; Swette, Briana; Bezerra, Tathiana; DiGiano, Maria; Shimada, João; Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo; Armijo, Eric; Castello, Leandro; Brando, Paulo; Hansen, Matt C; McGrath-Horn, Max; Carvalho, Oswaldo; Hess, Laura

2014-06-06

The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier. Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation. The supply chain interventions that fed into this deceleration are precariously dependent on corporate risk management, and public policies have relied excessively on punitive measures. Systems for delivering positive incentives for farmers to forgo deforestation have been designed but not fully implemented. Territorial approaches to deforestation have been effective and could consolidate progress in slowing deforestation while providing a framework for addressing other important dimensions of sustainable development. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The mountain-lowland debate: deforestation and sediment transport in the upper Ganga catchment.

PubMed

Wasson, R J; Juyal, N; Jaiswal, M; McCulloch, M; Sarin, M M; Jain, V; Srivastava, P; Singhvi, A K

2008-07-01

The Himalaya-Gangetic Plain region is the iconic example of the debate about the impact on lowlands of upland land-use change. Some of the scientific aspects of this debate are revisited by using new techniques to examine the role of deforestation in erosion and river sediment transport. The approach is whole-of-catchment, combining a history of deforestation with a history of sediment sources from well before deforestation. It is shown that deforestation had some effect on one very large erosional event in 1970, in the Alaknanda subcatchment of the Upper Ganga catchment, but that both deforestation and its effects on erosion and sediment transport are far from uniform in the Himalaya. Large magnitude erosional events occur for purely natural reasons. The impact on the Gangetic Plain of erosion caused by natural events and land cover change remains uncertain.

Elevational Ranges of Montane Birds and Deforestation in the Western Andes of Colombia.

PubMed

Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

2015-01-01

Deforestation causes habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation, and can ultimately cause extinction of the remnant species. Tropical montane birds face these threats with the added natural vulnerability of narrower elevational ranges and higher specialization than lowland species. Recent studies assess the impact of present and future global climate change on species' ranges, but only a few of these evaluate the potentially confounding effect of lowland deforestation on species elevational distributions. In the Western Andes of Colombia, an important biodiversity hotspot, we evaluated the effects of deforestation on the elevational ranges of montane birds along altitudinal transects. Using point counts and mist-nets, we surveyed six altitudinal transects spanning 2200 to 2800 m. Three transects were forested from 2200 to 2800 m, and three were partially deforested with forest cover only above 2400 m. We compared abundance-weighted mean elevation, minimum elevation, and elevational range width. In addition to analysing the effect of deforestation on 134 species, we tested its impact within trophic guilds and habitat preference groups. Abundance-weighted mean and minimum elevations were not significantly different between forested and partially deforested transects. Range width was marginally different: as expected, ranges were larger in forested transects. Species in different trophic guilds and habitat preference categories showed different trends. These results suggest that deforestation may affect species' elevational ranges, even within the forest that remains. Climate change will likely exacerbate harmful impacts of deforestation on species' elevational distributions. Future conservation strategies need to account for this by protecting connected forest tracts across a wide range of elevations.

Deforestation and stream warming affect body size of Amazonian fishes.

PubMed

Ilha, Paulo; Schiesari, Luis; Yanagawa, Fernando I; Jankowski, KathiJo; Navas, Carlos A

2018-01-01

Declining body size has been suggested to be a universal response of organisms to rising temperatures, manifesting at all levels of organization and in a broad range of taxa. However, no study to date evaluated whether deforestation-driven warming could trigger a similar response. We studied changes in fish body size, from individuals to assemblages, in streams in Southeastern Amazonia. We first conducted sampling surveys to validate the assumption that deforestation promoted stream warming, and to test the hypothesis that warmer deforested streams had reduced fish body sizes relative to cooler forest streams. As predicted, deforested streams were up to 6 °C warmer and had fish 36% smaller than forest streams on average. This body size reduction could be largely explained by the responses of the four most common species, which were 43-55% smaller in deforested streams. We then conducted a laboratory experiment to test the hypothesis that stream warming as measured in the field was sufficient to cause a growth reduction in the dominant fish species in the region. Fish reared at forest stream temperatures gained mass, whereas those reared at deforested stream temperatures lost mass. Our results suggest that deforestation-driven stream warming is likely to be a relevant factor promoting observed body size reductions, although other changes in stream conditions, like reductions in organic matter inputs, can also be important. A broad scale reduction in fish body size due to warming may be occurring in streams throughout the Amazonian Arc of Deforestation, with potential implications for the conservation of Amazonian fish biodiversity and food supply for people around the Basin.

Elevational Ranges of Montane Birds and Deforestation in the Western Andes of Colombia

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Deforestation causes habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation, and can ultimately cause extinction of the remnant species. Tropical montane birds face these threats with the added natural vulnerability of narrower elevational ranges and higher specialization than lowland species. Recent studies assess the impact of present and future global climate change on species’ ranges, but only a few of these evaluate the potentially confounding effect of lowland deforestation on species elevational distributions. In the Western Andes of Colombia, an important biodiversity hotspot, we evaluated the effects of deforestation on the elevational ranges of montane birds along altitudinal transects. Using point counts and mist-nets, we surveyed six altitudinal transects spanning 2200 to 2800m. Three transects were forested from 2200 to 2800m, and three were partially deforested with forest cover only above 2400m. We compared abundance-weighted mean elevation, minimum elevation, and elevational range width. In addition to analysing the effect of deforestation on 134 species, we tested its impact within trophic guilds and habitat preference groups. Abundance-weighted mean and minimum elevations were not significantly different between forested and partially deforested transects. Range width was marginally different: as expected, ranges were larger in forested transects. Species in different trophic guilds and habitat preference categories showed different trends. These results suggest that deforestation may affect species’ elevational ranges, even within the forest that remains. Climate change will likely exacerbate harmful impacts of deforestation on species’ elevational distributions. Future conservation strategies need to account for this by protecting connected forest tracts across a wide range of elevations. PMID:26641477

Deforestation and stream warming affect body size of Amazonian fishes

PubMed Central

Yanagawa, Fernando I.; Jankowski, KathiJo; Navas, Carlos A.

2018-01-01

Declining body size has been suggested to be a universal response of organisms to rising temperatures, manifesting at all levels of organization and in a broad range of taxa. However, no study to date evaluated whether deforestation-driven warming could trigger a similar response. We studied changes in fish body size, from individuals to assemblages, in streams in Southeastern Amazonia. We first conducted sampling surveys to validate the assumption that deforestation promoted stream warming, and to test the hypothesis that warmer deforested streams had reduced fish body sizes relative to cooler forest streams. As predicted, deforested streams were up to 6 °C warmer and had fish 36% smaller than forest streams on average. This body size reduction could be largely explained by the responses of the four most common species, which were 43–55% smaller in deforested streams. We then conducted a laboratory experiment to test the hypothesis that stream warming as measured in the field was sufficient to cause a growth reduction in the dominant fish species in the region. Fish reared at forest stream temperatures gained mass, whereas those reared at deforested stream temperatures lost mass. Our results suggest that deforestation-driven stream warming is likely to be a relevant factor promoting observed body size reductions, although other changes in stream conditions, like reductions in organic matter inputs, can also be important. A broad scale reduction in fish body size due to warming may be occurring in streams throughout the Amazonian Arc of Deforestation, with potential implications for the conservation of Amazonian fish biodiversity and food supply for people around the Basin. PMID:29718960

Historic Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Mato Grosso, Brazil: 1. Source Data Uncertainties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, Douglas C.; Sales, Marcio H.; Souza, Carlos M., Jr.; Griscom, Bronson

2011-01-01

Historic carbon emissions are an important foundation for proposed efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks through conservation and sustainable forest management (REDD+). The level of uncertainty in historic carbon emissions estimates is also critical for REDD+, since high uncertainties could limit climate benefits from mitigation actions. Here, we analyzed source data uncertainties based on the range of available deforestation, forest degradation, and forest carbon stock estimates for the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso during 1990-2008. Results: Deforestation estimates showed good agreement for multi-year trends of increasing and decreasing deforestation during the study period. However, annual deforestation rates differed by >20% in more than half of the years between 1997-2008, even for products based on similar input data. Tier 2 estimates of average forest carbon stocks varied between 99-192 Mg C/ha, with greatest differences in northwest Mato Grosso. Carbon stocks in deforested areas increased over the study period, yet this increasing trend in deforested biomass was smaller than the difference among carbon stock datasets for these areas. Conclusions: Patterns of spatial and temporal disagreement among available data products provide a roadmap for future efforts to reduce source data uncertainties for estimates of historic forest carbon emissions. Specifically, regions with large discrepancies in available estimates of both deforestation and forest carbon stocks are priority areas for evaluating and improving existing estimates. Full carbon accounting for REDD+ will also require filling data gaps, including forest degradation and secondary forest, with annual data on all forest transitions.

Predicting the deforestation-trend under different carbon-prices

PubMed Central

Kindermann, Georg E; Obersteiner, Michael; Rametsteiner, Ewald; McCallum, Ian

2006-01-01

Background Global carbon stocks in forest biomass are decreasing by 1.1 Gt of carbon annually, owing to continued deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation emissions are partly offset by forest expansion and increases in growing stock primarily in the extra-tropical north. Innovative financial mechanisms would be required to help reducing deforestation. Using a spatially explicit integrated biophysical and socio-economic land use model we estimated the impact of carbon price incentive schemes and payment modalities on deforestation. One payment modality is adding costs for carbon emission, the other is to pay incentives for keeping the forest carbon stock intact. Results Baseline scenario calculations show that close to 200 mil ha or around 5% of todays forest area will be lost between 2006 and 2025, resulting in a release of additional 17.5 GtC. Today's forest cover will shrink by around 500 million hectares, which is 1/8 of the current forest cover, within the next 100 years. The accumulated carbon release during the next 100 years amounts to 45 GtC, which is 15% of the total carbon stored in forests today. Incentives of 6 US$/tC for vulnerable standing biomass payed every 5 year will bring deforestation down by 50%. This will cause costs of 34 billion US$/year. On the other hand a carbon tax of 12 $/tC harvested forest biomass will also cut deforestation by half. The tax income will, if enforced, decrease from 6 billion US$ in 2005 to 4.3 billion US$ in 2025 and 0.7 billion US$ in 2100 due to decreasing deforestation speed. Conclusion Avoiding deforestation requires financial mechanisms that make retention of forests economically competitive with the currently often preferred option to seek profits from other land uses. Incentive payments need to be at a very high level to be effective against deforestation. Taxes on the other hand will extract budgetary revenues from the regions which are already poor. A combination of incentives and taxes could turn out to be a viable solution for this problem. Increasing the value of forest land and thereby make it less easily prone to deforestation would act as a strong incentive to increase productivity of agricultural and fuelwood production, which could be supported by revenues generated by the deforestation tax. PMID:17150095

Predicting the deforestation-trend under different carbon-prices.

PubMed

Kindermann, Georg E; Obersteiner, Michael; Rametsteiner, Ewald; McCallum, Ian

2006-12-06

Global carbon stocks in forest biomass are decreasing by 1.1 Gt of carbon annually, owing to continued deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation emissions are partly offset by forest expansion and increases in growing stock primarily in the extra-tropical north. Innovative financial mechanisms would be required to help reducing deforestation. Using a spatially explicit integrated biophysical and socio-economic land use model we estimated the impact of carbon price incentive schemes and payment modalities on deforestation. One payment modality is adding costs for carbon emission, the other is to pay incentives for keeping the forest carbon stock intact. Baseline scenario calculations show that close to 200 mil ha or around 5% of today's forest area will be lost between 2006 and 2025, resulting in a release of additional 17.5 GtC. Today's forest cover will shrink by around 500 million hectares, which is 1/8 of the current forest cover, within the next 100 years. The accumulated carbon release during the next 100 years amounts to 45 GtC, which is 15% of the total carbon stored in forests today. Incentives of 6 US$/tC for vulnerable standing biomass payed every 5 year will bring deforestation down by 50%. This will cause costs of 34 billion US$/year. On the other hand a carbon tax of 12 $/tC harvested forest biomass will also cut deforestation by half. The tax income will, if enforced, decrease from 6 billion US$ in 2005 to 4.3 billion US$ in 2025 and 0.7 billion US$ in 2100 due to decreasing deforestation speed. Avoiding deforestation requires financial mechanisms that make retention of forests economically competitive with the currently often preferred option to seek profits from other land uses. Incentive payments need to be at a very high level to be effective against deforestation. Taxes on the other hand will extract budgetary revenues from the regions which are already poor. A combination of incentives and taxes could turn out to be a viable solution for this problem. Increasing the value of forest land and thereby make it less easily prone to deforestation would act as a strong incentive to increase productivity of agricultural and fuelwood production, which could be supported by revenues generated by the deforestation tax.

Hydrological Regimes of Small Catchments in the High Tatra Mountains Before and After Extraordinary Wind-Induced Deforestation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holko, Ladislav; Hlavata, Helena; Kostka, Zdenek; Novak, Jan

2009-01-01

The paper presents the results of rainfall-runoff data analysis for small catchments of the upper Poprad River affected by wind-induced deforestation in November 2004. Before-event and afterevent measured data were compared in order to assess the impact of deforestation on hydrological regimes. Several characteristics were used including water balance, minimum and maximum runoff, runoff thresholds, number of runoff events, selected characteristics of events, runoff coefficients, and flashiness indices. Despite increased spring runoff minima, which in one catchment (Velick Creek) exceeded previously observed values after deforestation took place, it can be generally concluded that the impact of the deforestation was not clearly manifested in the analyzed hydrological data.

Teleconnections Between Tropical Deforestation and Midlatitude Precipitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avissar, R.; Werth, D.

2003-12-01

Past studies have indicated that total deforestation of Amazonia would result in an important reduction of the rainfall in that region, but that this process had no significant impact on the global temperature or precipitation and had only local implications. Here, we show that deforestation of tropical regions activates Rossby waves, which affect significantly precipitation at mid-latitudes by 'teleconnections'. In particular, we find that the deforestation of Amazonia and Central Africa severely reduces rainfall in the US Midwest during spring and summer, when water is crucial for agriculture in that region. Deforestation of South-East Asia reduces winter precipitation in the Western US and, consequently, the water storage that is released from snow melting later in the spring.

Measuring Environmental and Socio-economic Impact of Deforestation at Kalimantan Island

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahib, Irmadi; Trenggana, Soma; Turmudi; Suryanta, Jaka; Lestari Munajati, Sri; Windiastuti, Rizka

2018-05-01

Indonesia’s forests in the period of 2000-2009 has been deforested by about 15.158 million ha out of 103.309 milion ha. Deforestation caused carbon emissions. One method for measuring emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is GeOSIRIS model. A modeled GeOSIRIS policy used a carbon payment system to incentivize emission reductions. Data used in this study were maps of forest cover in 2005 and 2010, map of deforestation 2005-2010, carbon and agricultural price and driver variables for deforestation such as slope, elevation, logarithmic distance to the nearest road or provincial capital, or the amount of area per pixel included in a national park, or a timber plantation. The result of this study showed rate of deforestation was 1.417 million ha/5 years (observed). The REDD policy could decrease deforestation in Kalimantan Island by 0.170 million ha (16.70%), with assumption that international carbon price of US 10/tCO2e. The change of emissions due to REDD was 22.29%, or reduced emissions by 245.03 million tCO2e/5 years. Finally, Gross National Revenue from carbon payments (NPV 5 years) was US 2,450.34 billion, where incentivize emission reductions to sub-national entities (NPV, 5 years) was US 2,150.07 million and net central government surplus from carbon payments was US 300.26 million (NPV, 5 years).

Export-oriented deforestation in Mato Grosso: harbinger or exception for other tropical forests?

PubMed

DeFries, Ruth; Herold, Martin; Verchot, Louis; Macedo, Marcia N; Shimabukuro, Yosio

2013-06-05

The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso was a global deforestation hotspot in the early 2000s. Deforested land is used predominantly to produce meat for distal consumption either through cattle ranching or soya bean for livestock feed. Deforestation declined dramatically in the latter part of the decade through a combination of market forces, policies, enforcement and improved monitoring. This study assesses how representative the national-level drivers underlying Mato Grosso's export-oriented deforestation are in other tropical forest countries based on agricultural exports, commercial agriculture and urbanization. We also assess how pervasive the governance and technical monitoring capacity that enabled Mato Grosso's decline in deforestation is in other countries. We find that between 41 and 54 per cent of 2000-2005 deforestation in tropical forest countries (other than Brazil) occurred in countries with drivers similar to Brazil. Very few countries had national-level governance and capacity similar to Brazil. Results suggest that the ecological, hydrological and social consequences of land-use change for export-oriented agriculture as discussed in this Theme Issue were applicable in about one-third of all tropical forest countries in 2000-2005. However, the feasibility of replicating Mato Grosso's success with controlling deforestation is more limited. Production landscapes to support distal consumption similar to Mato Grosso are likely to become more prevalent and are unlikely to follow a land-use transition model with increasing forest cover.

Cost-effectiveness of reducing emissions from tropical deforestation, 2016-2050

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busch, Jonah; Engelmann, Jens

2017-12-01

Reducing tropical deforestation is potentially a large-scale and low-cost strategy for mitigating climate change. Yet previous efforts to project the cost-effectiveness of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from future deforestation across the tropics were hampered by crude available data on historical forest loss. Here we use recently available satellite-based maps of annual forest loss between 2001-2012, along with information on topography, accessibility, protected status, potential agricultural revenue, and an observed inverted-U-shaped relationship between forest cover loss and forest cover, to project tropical deforestation from 2016-2050 under alternative policy scenarios and to construct new marginal abatement cost curves for reducing emissions from tropical deforestation. We project that without new forest conservation policies 289 million hectares of tropical forest will be cleared from 2016-2050, releasing 169 GtCO2. A carbon price of US20/tCO2 (50/tCO2) across tropical countries would avoid 41 GtCO2 (77 GtCO2) from 2016-2050. By comparison, we estimate that Brazil’s restrictive policies in the Amazon between 2004-2012 successfully decoupled potential agricultural revenue from deforestation and reduced deforestation by 47% below what would have otherwise occurred, preventing the emission of 5.2 GtCO2. All tropical countries enacting restrictive anti-deforestation policies as effective as those in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004-2012 would avoid 58 GtCO2 from 2016-2050.

Export-oriented deforestation in Mato Grosso: harbinger or exception for other tropical forests?

PubMed Central

DeFries, Ruth; Herold, Martin; Verchot, Louis; Macedo, Marcia N.; Shimabukuro, Yosio

2013-01-01

The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso was a global deforestation hotspot in the early 2000s. Deforested land is used predominantly to produce meat for distal consumption either through cattle ranching or soya bean for livestock feed. Deforestation declined dramatically in the latter part of the decade through a combination of market forces, policies, enforcement and improved monitoring. This study assesses how representative the national-level drivers underlying Mato Grosso's export-oriented deforestation are in other tropical forest countries based on agricultural exports, commercial agriculture and urbanization. We also assess how pervasive the governance and technical monitoring capacity that enabled Mato Grosso's decline in deforestation is in other countries. We find that between 41 and 54 per cent of 2000–2005 deforestation in tropical forest countries (other than Brazil) occurred in countries with drivers similar to Brazil. Very few countries had national-level governance and capacity similar to Brazil. Results suggest that the ecological, hydrological and social consequences of land-use change for export-oriented agriculture as discussed in this Theme Issue were applicable in about one-third of all tropical forest countries in 2000–2005. However, the feasibility of replicating Mato Grosso's success with controlling deforestation is more limited. Production landscapes to support distal consumption similar to Mato Grosso are likely to become more prevalent and are unlikely to follow a land-use transition model with increasing forest cover. PMID:23610176

Understorey fire frequency and the fate of burned forests in southern Amazonia.

PubMed

Morton, D C; Le Page, Y; DeFries, R; Collatz, G J; Hurtt, G C

2013-06-05

Recent drought events underscore the vulnerability of Amazon forests to understorey fires. The long-term impact of fires on biodiversity and forest carbon stocks depends on the frequency of fire damages and deforestation rates of burned forests. Here, we characterized the spatial and temporal dynamics of understorey fires (1999-2010) and deforestation (2001-2010) in southern Amazonia using new satellite-based estimates of annual fire activity (greater than 50 ha) and deforestation (greater than 10 ha). Understorey forest fires burned more than 85 500 km(2) between 1999 and 2010 (2.8% of all forests). Forests that burned more than once accounted for 16 per cent of all understorey fires. Repeated fire activity was concentrated in Mato Grosso and eastern Pará, whereas single fires were widespread across the arc of deforestation. Routine fire activity in Mato Grosso coincided with annual periods of low night-time relative humidity, suggesting a strong climate control on both single and repeated fires. Understorey fires occurred in regions with active deforestation, yet the interannual variability of fire and deforestation were uncorrelated, and only 2.6 per cent of forests that burned between 1999 and 2008 were deforested for agricultural use by 2010. Evidence from the past decade suggests that future projections of frontier landscapes in Amazonia should separately consider economic drivers to project future deforestation and climate to project fire risk.

Understorey fire frequency and the fate of burned forests in southern Amazonia

PubMed Central

Morton, D. C.; Le Page, Y.; DeFries, R.; Collatz, G. J.; Hurtt, G. C.

2013-01-01

Recent drought events underscore the vulnerability of Amazon forests to understorey fires. The long-term impact of fires on biodiversity and forest carbon stocks depends on the frequency of fire damages and deforestation rates of burned forests. Here, we characterized the spatial and temporal dynamics of understorey fires (1999–2010) and deforestation (2001–2010) in southern Amazonia using new satellite-based estimates of annual fire activity (greater than 50 ha) and deforestation (greater than 10 ha). Understorey forest fires burned more than 85 500 km2 between 1999 and 2010 (2.8% of all forests). Forests that burned more than once accounted for 16 per cent of all understorey fires. Repeated fire activity was concentrated in Mato Grosso and eastern Pará, whereas single fires were widespread across the arc of deforestation. Routine fire activity in Mato Grosso coincided with annual periods of low night-time relative humidity, suggesting a strong climate control on both single and repeated fires. Understorey fires occurred in regions with active deforestation, yet the interannual variability of fire and deforestation were uncorrelated, and only 2.6 per cent of forests that burned between 1999 and 2008 were deforested for agricultural use by 2010. Evidence from the past decade suggests that future projections of frontier landscapes in Amazonia should separately consider economic drivers to project future deforestation and climate to project fire risk. PMID:23610169

Sensitivity of Regional Climate to Deforestation in the Amazon Basin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.; Bras, Rafael L.

1994-01-01

The deforestation results in several adverse effect on the natural environment. The focus of this paper is on the effects of deforestation on land-surface processes and regional climate of the Amazon basin. In general, the effect of deforestation on climate are likely to depend on the scale of the defrosted area. In this study, we are interested in the effects due to deforestation of areas with a scale of about 250 km. Hence, a meso-scale climate model is used in performing numerical experiments on the sensitivity of regional climate to deforestation of areas with that size. It is found that deforestation results in less net surface radiation, less evaporation, less rainfall, and warmer surface temperature. The magnitude of the of the change in temperature is of the order 0.5 C, the magnitudes of the changes in the other variables are of the order of IO%. In order to verify some of he results of the numerical experiments, the model simulations of net surface radiation are compared to recent observations of net radiation over cleared and undisturbed forest in the Amazon. The results of the model and the observations agree in the following conclusion: the difference in net surface radiation between cleared and undisturbed forest is, almost, equally partioned between net solar radiation and net long-wave radiation. This finding contributes to our understanding of the basic physics in the deforestation problem.

Deforestation and rainfall recycling in Brazil: Is decreased forest cover connectivity associated with decreased rainfall connectivity?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adera, S.; Larsen, L.; Levy, M. C.; Thompson, S. E.

2017-12-01

In the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone, deforestation has the potential to significantly affect rainfall by disrupting rainfall recycling, the process by which regional evapotranspiration contributes to regional rainfall. Understanding rainfall recycling in this region is important not only for sustaining Amazon and Cerrado ecosystems, but also for cattle ranching, agriculture, hydropower generation, and drinking water management. Simulations in previous studies suggest complex, scale-dependent interactions between forest cover connectivity and rainfall. For example, the size and distribution of deforested patches has been found to affect rainfall quantity and spatial distribution. Here we take an empirical approach, using the spatial connectivity of rainfall as an indicator of rainfall recycling, to ask: as forest cover connectivity decreased from 1981 - 2015, how did the spatial connectivity of rainfall change in the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone? We use satellite forest cover and rainfall data covering this period of intensive forest cover loss in the region (forest cover from the Hansen Global Forest Change dataset; rainfall from the Climate Hazards Infrared Precipitation with Stations dataset). Rainfall spatial connectivity is quantified using transfer entropy, a metric from information theory, and summarized using network statistics. Networks of connectivity are quantified for paired deforested and non-deforested regions before deforestation (1981-1995) and during/after deforestation (2001-2015). Analyses reveal a decline in spatial connectivity networks of rainfall following deforestation.

Illegal Drug Use in Orthodox Jewish Adolescents.

PubMed

Fogel, Joshua

2004-01-01

Orthodox Jewish adolescents are increasingly seeking stimulation with illegal drugs. Eleven Orthodox Jewish adolescents were surveyed with semi-structured interviews on the Orthodox Jewish cultural aspects of their illegal drug use. Adolescents had mixed beliefs about religious teachings affecting their illegal drug use. No consistent pattern existed for particular ethnic aspects of Orthodox Jewish religious practice as a risk factor for illegal drug use. Language used to describe illegal drug use in this population is described. Unlike illegal drug use in secular and non-Jewish adolescents, these adolescents reported very little family discord or poor relationships with their parents.

EFFECTIVE REMOVAL METHOD OF ILLEGAL PARKING BICYCLES BASED ON THE QUANTITATIVE CHANGE AFTER REMOVAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toi, Satoshi; Kajita, Yoshitaka; Nishikawa, Shuichirou

This study aims to find an effective removal method of illegal parking bicycles based on the analysis on the numerical change of illegal bicycles. And then, we built the time and space quantitative distribution model of illegal parking bicycles after removal, considering the logistic increase of illegal parking bicycles, several behaviors concerning of direct return or indirect return to the original parking place and avoidance of the original parking place, based on the investigation of real condition of illegal bicycle parking at TENJIN area in FUKUOKA city. Moreover, we built the simulation model including above-mentioned model, and calculated the number of illegal parking bicycles when we change the removal frequency and the number of removal at one time. The next interesting four results were obtained. (1) Recovery speed from removal the illegal parking bicycles differs by each zone. (2) Thorough removal is effective to keep the number of illegal parking bicycles lower level. (3) Removal at one zone causes the increase of bicycles at other zones where the level of illegal parking is lower. (4) The relationship between effects and costs of removing the illegal parking bicycles was clarified.

Deforestation intensifies hot days

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoy, Paul C.

2018-05-01

Deforestation often increases land-surface and near-surface temperatures, but climate models struggle to simulate this effect. Research now shows that deforestation has increased the severity of extreme heat in temperate regions of North America and Europe. This points to opportunities to mitigate extreme heat.

'Manage and mitigate punitive regulatory measures, enhance the corporate image, influence public policy': industry efforts to shape understanding of tobacco-attributable deforestation.

PubMed

Lee, Kelley; Carrillo Botero, Natalia; Novotny, Thomas

2016-09-20

Deforestation due to tobacco farming began to raise concerns in the mid 1970s. Over the next 40 years, tobacco growing increased significantly and shifted markedly to low- and middle-income countries. The percentage of deforestation caused by tobacco farming reached 4 % globally by the early 2000s, although substantially higher in countries such as China (18 %), Zimbabwe (20 %), Malawi (26 %) and Bangladesh (>30 %). Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have argued that tobacco-attributable deforestation is not a serious problem, and that the industry has addressed the issue through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. After reviewing the existing scholarly literature on tobacco and deforestation, we analysed industry sources of public information to understand how the industry framed deforestation, its key causes, and policy responses. To analyse industry strategies between the 1970s and early 2000s to shape understanding of deforestation caused by tobacco farming and curing, the Truth Tobacco Documents Library was systematically searched. The above sources were compiled and triangulated, thematically and chronologically, to derive a narrative of how the industry has framed the problem of, and solutions to, tobacco-attributable deforestation. The industry sought to undermine responses to tobacco-attributable deforestation by emphasising the economic benefits of production in LMICs, blaming alternative causes, and claiming successful forestation efforts. To support these tactics, the industry lobbied at the national and international levels, commissioned research, and colluded through front groups. There was a lack of effective action to address tobacco-attributable deforestation, and indeed an escalation of the problem, during this period. The findings suggest the need for independent data on the varied environmental impacts of the tobacco industry, awareness of how the industry seeks to work with environmental researchers and groups to further its interests, and increased scrutiny of tobacco industry efforts to influence environmental policy.

Deforestation and Forest Fragmentation in South Ecuador since the 1970s – Losing a Hotspot of Biodiversity

PubMed Central

Tapia-Armijos, María Fernanda; Homeier, Jürgen; Espinosa, Carlos Iván; Leuschner, Christoph; de la Cruz, Marcelino

2015-01-01

Deforestation and fragmentation are major components of global change; both are contributing to the rapid loss of tropical forest area with important implications for ecosystem functioning and biodiversity conservation. The forests of South Ecuador are a biological ‘hotspot’ due to their high diversity and endemism levels. We examined the deforestation and fragmentation patterns in this area of high conservation value using aerial photographs and Aster satellite scenes. The registered annual deforestation rates of 0.75% (1976–1989) and 2.86% (1989–2008) for two consecutive survey periods, the decreasing mean patch size and the increasing isolation of the forest fragments show that the area is under severe threat. Approximately 46% of South Ecuador’s original forest cover had been converted by 2008 into pastures and other anthropogenic land cover types. We found that deforestation is more intense at lower elevations (premontane evergreen forest and shrubland) and that the deforestation front currently moves in upslope direction. Improved awareness of the spatial extent, dynamics and patterns of deforestation and forest fragmentation is urgently needed in biologically diverse areas like South Ecuador. PMID:26332681

The national determinants of deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Rudel, Thomas K

2013-01-01

For decades, the dynamics of tropical deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have defied easy explanation. The rates of deforestation have been lower than elsewhere in the tropics, and the driving forces evident in other places, government new land settlement schemes and industrialized agriculture, have largely been absent in SSA. The context and causes for African deforestation become clearer through an analysis of new, national-level data on forest cover change for SSA countries for the 2000-2005 period. The recent dynamic in SSA varies from dry to wet biomes. Deforestation occurred at faster rates in nations with predominantly dry forests. The wetter Congo basin countries had lower rates of deforestation, in part because tax receipts from oil and mineral industries in this region spurred rural to urban migration, declines in agriculture and increased imports of cereals from abroad. In this respect, the Congo basin countries may be experiencing an oil and mineral fuelled forest transition. Small farmers play a more important role in African deforestation than they do in southeast Asia and Latin America, in part because small-scale agriculture remains one of the few livelihoods open to rural peoples.

Increasing beef production could lower greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil if decoupled from deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira Silva, R.; Barioni, L. G.; Hall, J. A. J.; Folegatti Matsuura, M.; Zanett Albertini, T.; Fernandes, F. A.; Moran, D.

2016-05-01

Recent debate about agricultural greenhouse gas emissions mitigation highlights trade-offs inherent in the way we produce and consume food, with increasing scrutiny on emissions-intensive livestock products. Although most research has focused on mitigation through improved productivity, systemic interactions resulting from reduced beef production at the regional level are still unexplored. A detailed optimization model of beef production encompassing pasture degradation and recovery processes, animal and deforestation emissions, soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and upstream life-cycle inventory was developed and parameterized for the Brazilian Cerrado. Economic return was maximized considering two alternative scenarios: decoupled livestock-deforestation (DLD), assuming baseline deforestation rates controlled by effective policy; and coupled livestock-deforestation (CLD), where shifting beef demand alters deforestation rates. In DLD, reduced consumption actually leads to less productive beef systems, associated with higher emissions intensities and total emissions, whereas increased production leads to more efficient systems with boosted SOC stocks, reducing both per kilogram and total emissions. Under CLD, increased production leads to 60% higher emissions than in DLD. The results indicate the extent to which deforestation control contributes to sustainable intensification in Cerrado beef systems, and how alternative life-cycle analytical approaches result in significantly different emission estimates.

Estimating the Impacts of Local Policy Innovation: The Synthetic Control Method Applied to Tropical Deforestation

PubMed Central

Sills, Erin O.; Herrera, Diego; Kirkpatrick, A. Justin; Brandão, Amintas; Dickson, Rebecca; Hall, Simon; Pattanayak, Subhrendu; Shoch, David; Vedoveto, Mariana; Young, Luisa; Pfaff, Alexander

2015-01-01

Quasi-experimental methods increasingly are used to evaluate the impacts of conservation interventions by generating credible estimates of counterfactual baselines. These methods generally require large samples for statistical comparisons, presenting a challenge for evaluating innovative policies implemented within a few pioneering jurisdictions. Single jurisdictions often are studied using comparative methods, which rely on analysts’ selection of best case comparisons. The synthetic control method (SCM) offers one systematic and transparent way to select cases for comparison, from a sizeable pool, by focusing upon similarity in outcomes before the intervention. We explain SCM, then apply it to one local initiative to limit deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The municipality of Paragominas launched a multi-pronged local initiative in 2008 to maintain low deforestation while restoring economic production. This was a response to having been placed, due to high deforestation, on a federal “blacklist” that increased enforcement of forest regulations and restricted access to credit and output markets. The local initiative included mapping and monitoring of rural land plus promotion of economic alternatives compatible with low deforestation. The key motivation for the program may have been to reduce the costs of blacklisting. However its stated purpose was to limit deforestation, and thus we apply SCM to estimate what deforestation would have been in a (counterfactual) scenario of no local initiative. We obtain a plausible estimate, in that deforestation patterns before the intervention were similar in Paragominas and the synthetic control, which suggests that after several years, the initiative did lower deforestation (significantly below the synthetic control in 2012). This demonstrates that SCM can yield helpful land-use counterfactuals for single units, with opportunities to integrate local and expert knowledge and to test innovations and permutations on policies that are implemented in just a few locations. PMID:26173108

Estimating the Impacts of Local Policy Innovation: The Synthetic Control Method Applied to Tropical Deforestation.

PubMed

Sills, Erin O; Herrera, Diego; Kirkpatrick, A Justin; Brandão, Amintas; Dickson, Rebecca; Hall, Simon; Pattanayak, Subhrendu; Shoch, David; Vedoveto, Mariana; Young, Luisa; Pfaff, Alexander

2015-01-01

Quasi-experimental methods increasingly are used to evaluate the impacts of conservation interventions by generating credible estimates of counterfactual baselines. These methods generally require large samples for statistical comparisons, presenting a challenge for evaluating innovative policies implemented within a few pioneering jurisdictions. Single jurisdictions often are studied using comparative methods, which rely on analysts' selection of best case comparisons. The synthetic control method (SCM) offers one systematic and transparent way to select cases for comparison, from a sizeable pool, by focusing upon similarity in outcomes before the intervention. We explain SCM, then apply it to one local initiative to limit deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The municipality of Paragominas launched a multi-pronged local initiative in 2008 to maintain low deforestation while restoring economic production. This was a response to having been placed, due to high deforestation, on a federal "blacklist" that increased enforcement of forest regulations and restricted access to credit and output markets. The local initiative included mapping and monitoring of rural land plus promotion of economic alternatives compatible with low deforestation. The key motivation for the program may have been to reduce the costs of blacklisting. However its stated purpose was to limit deforestation, and thus we apply SCM to estimate what deforestation would have been in a (counterfactual) scenario of no local initiative. We obtain a plausible estimate, in that deforestation patterns before the intervention were similar in Paragominas and the synthetic control, which suggests that after several years, the initiative did lower deforestation (significantly below the synthetic control in 2012). This demonstrates that SCM can yield helpful land-use counterfactuals for single units, with opportunities to integrate local and expert knowledge and to test innovations and permutations on policies that are implemented in just a few locations.

Historic emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Mato Grosso, Brazil: 1) source data uncertainties

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Historic carbon emissions are an important foundation for proposed efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks through conservation and sustainable forest management (REDD+). The level of uncertainty in historic carbon emissions estimates is also critical for REDD+, since high uncertainties could limit climate benefits from credited mitigation actions. Here, we analyzed source data uncertainties based on the range of available deforestation, forest degradation, and forest carbon stock estimates for the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso during 1990-2008. Results Deforestation estimates showed good agreement for multi-year periods of increasing and decreasing deforestation during the study period. However, annual deforestation rates differed by > 20% in more than half of the years between 1997-2008, even for products based on similar input data. Tier 2 estimates of average forest carbon stocks varied between 99-192 Mg C ha-1, with greatest differences in northwest Mato Grosso. Carbon stocks in deforested areas increased over the study period, yet this increasing trend in deforested biomass was smaller than the difference among carbon stock datasets for these areas. Conclusions Estimates of source data uncertainties are essential for REDD+. Patterns of spatial and temporal disagreement among available data products provide a roadmap for future efforts to reduce source data uncertainties for estimates of historic forest carbon emissions. Specifically, regions with large discrepancies in available estimates of both deforestation and forest carbon stocks are priority areas for evaluating and improving existing estimates. Full carbon accounting for REDD+ will also require filling data gaps, including forest degradation and secondary forest, with annual data on all forest transitions. PMID:22208947

Physical and human dimensions of deforestation in Amazonia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skole, D.L.; Chomentowski, W.H.; Salas W.A.

1994-05-01

In the Brazilian Amazon, regional trends are influenced by large scale external forces but mediated by local conditions. Tropical deforestation has a large influence on global hydrology, climate and biogeochemical cycles, but understanding is inadequate because of a lack of accurate measurements of rate, geographic extent and spatial patterns and lack of insight into its causes including interrelated social, economic and environmental factors. This article proposes an interdisciplinary approach for analyzing tropical deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The first part shows how deforestation can be measured from satellite remote sensing and sociodemographic and economic data. The second part proposes anmore » explanatory model, considering the relationship among deforestation and large scale social, economic, and institutional factors. 43 refs., 8 figs.« less

Simulated Changes in Northwest U.S. Climate in Response to Amazon Deforestation

EPA Science Inventory

Numerical models have long predicted that the deforestation of the Amazon would lead to large regional changes in precipitation and temperature, but the extratropical effects of deforestation have been a matter of controversy. This paper investigates the simulated impacts of defo...

Ecology: The Tropical Deforestation Debt.

PubMed

Norris, Ken

2016-08-22

Tropical deforestation is a significant cause of global carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. A new study shows that deforestation today leaves a carbon and biodiversity debt to be paid over subsequent years. This has potentially profound implications for forest conservation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in a Rapidly Transforming Landscape in Northern Borneo.

PubMed

Labrière, Nicolas; Laumonier, Yves; Locatelli, Bruno; Vieilledent, Ghislain; Comptour, Marion

2015-01-01

Because industrial agriculture keeps expanding in Southeast Asia at the expense of natural forests and traditional swidden systems, comparing biodiversity and ecosystem services in the traditional forest-swidden agriculture system vs. monocultures is needed to guide decision making on land-use planning. Focusing on tree diversity, soil erosion control, and climate change mitigation through carbon storage, we surveyed vegetation and monitored soil loss in various land-use areas in a northern Bornean agricultural landscape shaped by swidden agriculture, rubber tapping, and logging, where various levels and types of disturbance have created a fine mosaic of vegetation from food crop fields to natural forest. Tree species diversity and ecosystem service production were highest in natural forests. Logged-over forests produced services similar to those of natural forests. Land uses related to the swidden agriculture system largely outperformed oil palm or rubber monocultures in terms of tree species diversity and service production. Natural and logged-over forests should be maintained or managed as integral parts of the swidden system, and landscape multifunctionality should be sustained. Because natural forests host a unique diversity of trees and produce high levels of ecosystem services, targeting carbon stock protection, e.g. through financial mechanisms such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), will synergistically provide benefits for biodiversity and a wide range of other services. However, the way such mechanisms could benefit communities must be carefully evaluated to counter the high opportunity cost of conversion to monocultures that might generate greater income, but would be detrimental to the production of multiple ecosystem services.

Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in a Rapidly Transforming Landscape in Northern Borneo

PubMed Central

Labrière, Nicolas; Laumonier, Yves; Locatelli, Bruno; Vieilledent, Ghislain; Comptour, Marion

2015-01-01

Because industrial agriculture keeps expanding in Southeast Asia at the expense of natural forests and traditional swidden systems, comparing biodiversity and ecosystem services in the traditional forest–swidden agriculture system vs. monocultures is needed to guide decision making on land-use planning. Focusing on tree diversity, soil erosion control, and climate change mitigation through carbon storage, we surveyed vegetation and monitored soil loss in various land-use areas in a northern Bornean agricultural landscape shaped by swidden agriculture, rubber tapping, and logging, where various levels and types of disturbance have created a fine mosaic of vegetation from food crop fields to natural forest. Tree species diversity and ecosystem service production were highest in natural forests. Logged-over forests produced services similar to those of natural forests. Land uses related to the swidden agriculture system largely outperformed oil palm or rubber monocultures in terms of tree species diversity and service production. Natural and logged-over forests should be maintained or managed as integral parts of the swidden system, and landscape multifunctionality should be sustained. Because natural forests host a unique diversity of trees and produce high levels of ecosystem services, targeting carbon stock protection, e.g. through financial mechanisms such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), will synergistically provide benefits for biodiversity and a wide range of other services. However, the way such mechanisms could benefit communities must be carefully evaluated to counter the high opportunity cost of conversion to monocultures that might generate greater income, but would be detrimental to the production of multiple ecosystem services. PMID:26466120

PERSPECTIVE: REDD pilot project scenarios: are costs and benefits altered by spatial scale?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, Kimberly M.; Curran, Lisa M.

2009-09-01

Kimberly M Carlson Payments for reducing carbon emissions due to deforestation and degradation (REDD) have garnered considerable global interest and investments. These financial incentives aim to alter the drivers of land use change by reducing opportunity costs of retaining forest cover, and are often promoted as multipartite solutions that not only generate profits and reduce carbon emissions but provide benefits for human development and biodiversity. Currently, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is debating a post-Kyoto protocol with national or sub-national emission reduction targets. Anticipating the inclusion of REDD in this agreement, >80% of pilot REDD projects are being established in tropical regions (table 1). While the capacity of REDD projects to meet their stated objectives must be assessed post- implementation, land use change models are powerful tools for generating potential outcomes from these pilot initiatives. Table 1. Extent and emissions reductions for all REDD projects as reported by Ecosystem Marketplace, which maintains a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of REDD projects that are selling credits and/or are verified by a third-party verifier. Adapted from Forest Carbon Portal (2009). Geographical zoneContinentProjects (#) Area (km2) Emissions reductions (Mt C) Tropical and Subtropical Africa2775019.50 Asia28100109.60 South America 9183 880278.24 TemperateAustralia1140.18 North America115N/A Totals15199 759407.52 In this issue of ERL, Gaveau et al (2009) use a spatially-explicit model to explore the potential of a REDD pilot project in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, to reduce deforestation and conserve orangutan biodiversity. This project is conceived by the Provincial Government of Aceh, financed by Merrill Lynch, and co-managed by carbon trading firm Carbon Conservation and NGO Flora and Fauna International. Project managers estimate CO2 emissions reductions at 3.4 Mt y-1 over 30 years across a 7500 km2 area (Forest Carbon Portal 2009). From a time-series of Landsat satellite images, Gaveau et al calculate deforestation rates from 1990-2000 and 2000-2006. They apply these annual rates to deforestation probability maps, generated from forest condition in 2006 and six static spatial variables, to predict potential locations of future deforestation through 2030 under three different scenarios: (i) a business-as- usual with no REDD project; (ii) the current 7500 km2 project; and (iii) an extensive 65 000 km2 REDD scheme extending across the Aceh and Sumatra Utara provinces. Gaveau et al's chief contribution is identifying locations where forest carbon projects potentially have the greatest benefits for forest and orangutan conservation. By processing Landsat satellite imagery - now freely available - with relatively few spatial model inputs, this approach also has great potential for widespread application in tropical countries developing historical deforestation baselines. Yet Landsat satellite data also impose limitations for REDD. For example, Gaveau et al are unable to calculate forest degradation, which is highly problematic both to define and detect with Landsat imagery, yet critical especially in Indonesia with extensive logged forests (Curran et al 2004, Ramankutty et al 2007, Asner et al 2006). Nevertheless, Landsat remains one of the most appropriate satellite data products available for countries calculating previous rates of forest change. Assuming that technical roadblocks to REDD are overcome, another challenge surrounds assessing the feasibility of emission reduction scenarios, including those presented by Gaveau et al. Their estimates show that carbon and biodiversity gains would be 6- to 7-fold greater if the pilot project encompassed the 65 000 km2 northern Sumatra region. Yet, developers chose to implement this REDD project across 7500 km2, ~ 10% of Gaveau et al's expanded scenario region. If REDD programs are to be realized across large spatial scales (e.g., provinces/states), what factors constrain effective implementation? First, high transaction costs and investment risks appear to be major barriers to establishing carbon concessions across large, heterogeneous regions. Identifying who should receive compensation as well as negotiating transparent and effective payment arrangements, is at best challenging especially with ambiguous land use rights and government jurisdiction in Indonesia (Ebeling and Yasué 2008). Protecting fragmented forests from multiple threats of logging, agriculture, and fire is fraught with complexities; who should be held accountable for defending 65 000 km2 from fire especially during ENSO- associated droughts (Siegert et al 2001, Langner and Siegert 2008)? REDD's effectiveness will require support from people who live in and near REDD projects; Gaveau et al address only biodiversity and forest loss in their paper, but incorporating the potential effects of REDD programs on livelihoods and social dynamics is one of the most critical components of effective assessments via scenario-building and modeling (Soares-Filho et al 2006). Another major obstacle to establishing REDD across large regions is the opportunity costs of carbon concessions. Recent estimates show that profits from protecting aboveground biomass for carbon payments in Indonesian non-peat forests are far below the benefits garnered from converting these forests to plantation agriculture (Butler et al 2009). Yet in order to mitigate forest conversion as proposed by Gaveau et al, carbon must compete with alternative high-value commodities (e.g., palm oil). Although forest carbon credits currently are traded in voluntary markets, carbon prices are considerably higher in compliance markets than in voluntary markets (World Bank 2008). If the UNFCCC generates consensus in December 2009 incorporating REDD in formal market-based trading mechanisms to meet compliance targets, REDD may become a financially competitive land use option even in highly-threatened lowland forests, including those in northern Sumatra. Ultimately, REDD implementation is an iterative process, requiring regular appraisals and improvements at local (i.e., REDD projects) through international (i.e., UNFCCC) levels. The overarching value of REDD pilot initiatives such as this groundbreaking Aceh project and Gaveau et al's innovative assessments is to identify suitable approaches as well as shortcomings, allowing revised and refined efforts that will mitigate forest degradation via financial mechanisms. The next iteration of REDD program evaluations will also need to incorporate: (i) empirical measurements of carbon stock change attributed to forest degradation; (ii) evaluations of economic incentives for a diverse suite of agents such as local and urban communities as well as the private sector; and, (iii) explicitly consider the fluctuating price of carbon vis-à-vis competing commodity prices. References Asner G P, Broadbent E N, Oliveira P J C, Keller M, Knapp D E and Silva J N M 2006 Condition and fate of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103 12947-50 Butler R A, Koh L P and Ghazoul J 2009 REDD in the red: palm oil could undermine carbon payment schemes Conserv. Lett. 2 67-73 Curran L M, Trigg S N, Mcdonald A K, Astiani D, Hardiono Y M, Siregar P, Caniago I and Kasischke E 2004 Lowland forest loss in protected areas of Indonesian Borneo Science 303 1000-3 Ebeling J and Yasué M 2008 Generating carbon finance through avoided deforestation and its potential to create climatic, conservation and human development benefits Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363 1917-24 Forest Carbon Portal 2009 Forest Carbon Inventory Project www.forestcarbonportal.com Gaveau D, Wich S, Epting J, Juhn D, Kanninen M and Leader-Williams N 2009 The future of forests and orangutans (Pongo abelii) in Sumatra: predicting impacts of oil palm plantations, road construction, and mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation Environ. Res. Lett. 4 034013 Langner A and Siegert F 2009 Spatiotemporal fire occurrence in Borneo over a period of 10 years Glob. Change Biol. 15 48-62 Ramankutty N, Gibbs H K, Achard F, Defries R, Foley J A and Houghton R A 2007 Challenges to estimating carbon emissions from tropical deforestation Glob. Change Biol. 13 51-66 Siegert F, Ruecker G, Hinrichs A and Hoffmann A A 2001 Increased damage from fires in logged forests during droughts caused by El Nino Nature 414 437-40 Soares-Filho B S, Nepstad D C, Curran L M, Cerqueira G C, Garcia R A, Ramos C A, Voll E, Mcdonald A, Lefebvre P and Schlesinger P 2006 Modelling conservation in the Amazon basin Nature 440 520-3 World Bank 2008 State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008 (Washington, DC: World Bank)

Intensive land use in the Swedish mountains between AD 800 and 1200 led to deforestation and ecosystem transformation with long-lasting effects.

PubMed

Östlund, Lars; Hörnberg, Greger; DeLuca, Thomas H; Liedgren, Lars; Wikström, Peder; Zackrisson, Olle; Josefsson, Torbjörn

2015-10-01

Anthropogenic deforestation has shaped ecosystems worldwide. In subarctic ecosystems, primarily inhabited by native peoples, deforestation is generally considered to be mainly associated with the industrial period. Here we examined mechanisms underlying deforestation a thousand years ago in a high-mountain valley with settlement artifacts located in subarctic Scandinavia. Using the Heureka Forestry Decision Support System, we modeled pre-settlement conditions and effects of tree cutting on forest cover. To examine lack of regeneration and present nutrient status, we analyzed soil nitrogen. We found that tree cutting could have deforested the valley within some hundred years. Overexploitation left the soil depleted beyond the capacity of re-establishment of trees. We suggest that pre-historical deforestation has occurred also in subarctic ecosystems and that ecosystem boundaries were especially vulnerable to this process. This study improves our understanding of mechanisms behind human-induced ecosystem transformations and tree-line changes, and of the concept of wilderness in the Scandinavian mountain range.

Impacts of tropical deforestation. Part II: The role of large-scale dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, H.; Henderson-Sellers, A.; McGuffie, K.

1996-10-01

This is the second in a pair of papers in which the possible impacts of tropical deforestation are examined using a version of the NCAR CCM1. The emphasis in this paper is on the influence of tropical deforestation on the large-scale climate system. This influence is explored through the examination of the regional moisture budget and through an analysis of the Hadley and Walker circulations. Modification of the model surface parameters to simulate tropical deforestation produces significant modifications of both Hadley and Walker circulations, which result in changes distant from the region of deforestation. A mechanism for propagation to middlemore » and high latitudes of disturbances arising form tropical deforestation is proposed based on Rossby wave propagation mechanisms. These mechanisms, which have also been associated with the extratropical influences of ENSO events, provide a pathway for the dispersion of the tropical disturbances to high latitudes. 27 refs., 20 figs., 1 tab.« less

Forest conflict in Thailand: northern minorities in focus.

PubMed

Hares, Minna

2009-03-01

This paper aims at exploring the local background of and solutions to the forest conflict in upland areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, who are called hill tribes, in northern Thailand. A so-called hill tribe problem has been officially identified as a result of the slash-and-burn cultivation and other perceived problems, such as opium poppy cultivation, illegal immigration, and the suspicion of disloyalty to the state. This has created distrust and tension between the groups and authorities. The local conflict has recently been related to the dilemma of conserving the forest from all human interference, while many people live and make their livelihood within and adjacent to the protected areas. Furthermore, as the results imply, strictly protected areas and reforestation have also increased the competition over land and natural resources and, thereby, the likelihood of local conflicts. The scarcity and pollution of water, illegal logging, and poor fire control have contributed to the conflicts between local communities. The conflicts between the local communities and officials have been nourished by political and public discussions. Using definitions and terms with negative connotations and ignoring the heterogeneity between the groups or labeling some groups as malevolent have increased distrust and strengthened existing stereotypical images. Conflict resolution starts with efforts toward better mutual understanding, and changes in structures and attitudes are necessary. Local cooperation, utilization of traditional methods, and local institutions are central to conflict solving.

Forest Conflict in Thailand: Northern Minorities in Focus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hares, Minna

2009-03-01

This paper aims at exploring the local background of and solutions to the forest conflict in upland areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, who are called hill tribes, in northern Thailand. A so-called hill tribe problem has been officially identified as a result of the slash-and-burn cultivation and other perceived problems, such as opium poppy cultivation, illegal immigration, and the suspicion of disloyalty to the state. This has created distrust and tension between the groups and authorities. The local conflict has recently been related to the dilemma of conserving the forest from all human interference, while many people live and make their livelihood within and adjacent to the protected areas. Furthermore, as the results imply, strictly protected areas and reforestation have also increased the competition over land and natural resources and, thereby, the likelihood of local conflicts. The scarcity and pollution of water, illegal logging, and poor fire control have contributed to the conflicts between local communities. The conflicts between the local communities and officials have been nourished by political and public discussions. Using definitions and terms with negative connotations and ignoring the heterogeneity between the groups or labeling some groups as malevolent have increased distrust and strengthened existing stereotypical images. Conflict resolution starts with efforts toward better mutual understanding, and changes in structures and attitudes are necessary. Local cooperation, utilization of traditional methods, and local institutions are central to conflict solving.

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Industrial Forest Clearcuts in the Conterminous United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huo, L. Z.; Boschetti, L.

2015-12-01

Remote sensing has been widely used for mapping and characterizing changes in forest cover, but the available remote sensing forest change products are not discriminating between deforestation (permanent transition from forest to non forest) and industrial forest management (logging followed by regrowth, with no land cover/ land use class change) (Hansen et al, 2010). Current estimates of carbon-equivalent emissions report the contribution of deforestation as 12% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions (van der Werf et al., 2009), but accurate monitoring of forest carbon balance should discriminate between land use change related to forest natural disturbances, and forest management. The total change in forest cover (Gross Forest Cover Loss, GFLC) needs to be characterized based on the cause (natural/human) and on the outcome of the change (regeneration to forest/transition to non/forest)(Kurtz et al, 2010). This paper presents the methodology used to classify the forest loss detected by the University of Maryland Global Forest Change product (Hansen, 2013) into deforestation, disturbances (fires, insect outbreaks) and industrial forest clearcuts. The industrial forest clearcuts were subsequently analysed by converting the pixel based detections into objects, and applying patch level metrics (e.g. size, compactness, straightness of boundaries) and contextual measures. The analysis is stratified by region and by dominant forest specie, to highlight changes in the rate of forest resource utilization in the 2003-2013 period covered by the Maryland Forest Cover Change Product. References Hansen, M.C., Stehman, S.V., & Potapov, P.V. (2010). Reply to Wernick et al.: Global scale quantification of forest change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, E148-E148 Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P.V., Moore, R et al., (2013), "High resolution Global Maps for the 21stCentury Forest Cover Change", Science 342: 850-853 Kurz, W.A. (2010). An ecosystem context for global gross forest cover loss estimates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 9025-9026 van der Werf, G.R., Morton, D.C., DeFries, R.S., Olivier, J.G., Kasibhatla, P.S., Jackson, R.B., Collatz, G.J., & Randerson, J. (2009). CO2 emissions from forest loss. Nature Geoscience, 2, 737-738

Deforestation near Rio Branco, Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Settlement and deforestation surrounding the Brazilian town of Rio Branco are seen here in the striking 'herring bone' deforestation patterns that cut through the rainforest. Rio Brancois the capital of the Brazilian state of Acre and is situated near the border with northeastern Bolivia. The town is a center for the distribution of goods, including rubber, metals, medicinal plants, Brazil nuts and timber. Colonization projects in the region are supported by farming, logging activities, and extensive cattle ranching. Much of the surrounding terrain is of a poorly-draining clay hardpan soil, and heavy rainfall periodically converts parts of the forested region to swamp.

The large overview image was acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on July 28, 2000, and covers an area of 336 kilometers x 333 kilometers. A plume of smoke is visible north of the Rio Branco road, which roughly parallels the slender, twisting Rio Abuna. Most of the major rivers in the image provide reference points for state or international (Bolivia-Brazil) boundaries, and flow northeast to the Rio Madeira (east of the smoke plume). The border between Acre and the Bolivian department of Pando is marked by the Rio Abuna. Pando's southern boundary with the department of Beni is marked by the Rio Madre de Dios, the large river in the lower half of the image.

The two higher-resolution inset images highlight a settled area north of the town of Rio Branco. These nadir views cover an area of 60 kilometers x 67 kilometers, and were acquired eleven months apart during Terra orbits 3251 and 8144. In the later image, more haze is present, possibly due to smoke from fires on that day. Comparing the two images provides a method of measuring the changes and expansion in the area of cleared land. One newly cleared patch is apparent near the middle of the later image, slightly off to the right. This polygon represents an area of about 16 square kilometers, or 4000 acres. Other recent clearings can be observed directly beneath this area, as well as toward the lower right-hand corner.

Changes in land cover and carbon emissions to 2050 from African tropical forests using policy scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laporte, N.; Galford, G. L.; Soares Filho, B. S.

2011-12-01

Africa has the second largest block of rainforest in the world, next to the Amazon basin, with the majority of the carbon being stored in the dense humid forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Historically, political instability in the DRC kept development and deforestation low, with primary forest uses being extensive logging and small scale agriculture. In the last decade, political stability has opened the country to foreign investment in forested areas, largely for industrial-scale oil palm plantations and more recently to rice production. The DRC ranks worst on the IFPRI global hunger index, scoring "extremely serious" based on the proportion of undernourished population, prevalence of underweight in children under 5 and the mortality rates of children under 5. In fact, DRC saw its hunger score increase (worsen) from 1990 to 2010, with a 66% gain compared to the other 8 worsening countries increasing only 21% or less. This is a critical time for policy in the DRC, where business-as-usual (relatively low deforestation rates) is unlikely to continue given today's relative political stability and economic stabilization compared to the 1990s. The country must examine options for forest conservation in balance with foreign investment for use of forest resources, national development of rural livelihoods and domestic production of food. Here we present deforestation trajectories simulated through the year 2050 under a set of scenarios. The scenarios consider the relative carbon emissions from business-as-usual (no new policy), conservation (policy favoring protection and enforcement for forest areas), and a food security scenario (favoring clearing for industrial agriculture, extractive timber resources and development of new agricultural areas). Carbon emissions for each scenario are estimated with a coupled bookkeeping model. These scenarios are not predictive of the future, rather, they are meant to provide an understanding of the outcomes of certain policy that favors specific practices affecting forests (e.g., extent of roads, timber concessions, protected status, etc). These policies will determine the development of a nation and its role in the global economy and biosphere.

The drivers of tropical deforestation: a comprehensive review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanford, T. J.; Boucher, D.; Elias, P.; Lininger, K.; May-Tobin, C.; Roquemore, S.; Saxon, E.; Martin, J.; Mulik, K.

2011-12-01

Tropical forests are disappearing around the world. This clearing causes around 15% of global carbon emissions, leads to the rapid loss of biodiversity, and destroys the livelihoods of many indigenous peoples. We comprehensively reviewed the literature on drivers of tropical deforestation and found a number of trends. While deforestation was predominately driven by small farmers and government action in the 1970s and 1980s, since the 1990s most deforestation has been driven by large scale commercial agriculture. In Latin America, and Brazil in particular, forest clearing has mostly been due to expansion of cattle pastures and for a period in the late 1990s and early 2000s soy bean expansion. In Southeast Asia, deforestation has mainly been due to expansion of oil palm plantations and timber harvesting. In Africa small farmers and wood fuel collection still play a role, although deforestation rates are considerably lower there than in other regions. Additionally, increased urbanization and trends toward a diet based on meat, particularly beef, have help drive deforestation. Biofuels policies around the world are also adding demand, both directly for vegetable oil, and by expanding demand for competing crops such as corn. We examine the extent to which biofuels demand directly and indirectly acts as a driver of deforestation, and the policies that can mitigate this problem by analyzing alternative scenarios of biofuel expansion and their impact on land use change, commodity prices and green house gas emissions.

Deforestation projections for carbon-rich peat swamp forests of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

PubMed

Fuller, Douglas O; Hardiono, Martin; Meijaard, Erik

2011-09-01

We evaluated three spatially explicit land use and cover change (LUCC) models to project deforestation from 2005-2020 in the carbon-rich peat swamp forests (PSF) of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Such models are increasingly used to evaluate the impact of deforestation on carbon fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere. We considered both business-as-usual (BAU) and a forest protection scenario to evaluate each model's accuracy, sensitivity, and total projected deforestation and landscape-level fragmentation patterns. The three models, Dinamica EGO (DE), GEOMOD and the Land Change Modeler (LCM), projected similar total deforestation amounts by 2020 with a mean of 1.01 million ha (Mha) and standard deviation of 0.17 Mha. The inclusion of a 0.54 Mha strict protected area in the LCM simulations reduced projected loss to 0.77 Mha over 15 years. Calibrated parameterizations of the models using nearly identical input drivers produced very different landscape properties, as measured by the number of forest patches, mean patch area, contagion, and Euclidean nearest neighbor determined using Fragstats software. The average BAU outputs of the models suggests that Central Kalimantan may lose slightly less than half (45.1%) of its 2005 PSF by 2020 if measures are not taken to reduce deforestation there. The relatively small reduction of 0.24 Mha in deforestation found in the 0.54 Mha protection scenario suggests that these models can identify potential leakage effects in which deforestation is forced to occur elsewhere in response to a policy intervention.

Low-Cost Evaluation of EO-1 Hyperion and ALI for Detection and Biophysical Characterization of Forest Logging in Amazonia (NCC5-481)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asner, Gregory P.; Keller, Michael M.; Silva, Jose Natalino; Zweede, Johan C.; Pereira, Rodrigo, Jr.

2002-01-01

Major uncertainties exist regarding the rate and intensity of logging in tropical forests worldwide: these uncertainties severely limit economic, ecological, and biogeochemical analyses of these regions. Recent sawmill surveys in the Amazon region of Brazil show that the area logged is nearly equal to total area deforested annually, but conversion of survey data to forest area, forest structural damage, and biomass estimates requires multiple assumptions about logging practices. Remote sensing could provide an independent means to monitor logging activity and to estimate the biophysical consequences of this land use. Previous studies have demonstrated that the detection of logging in Amazon forests is difficult and no studies have developed either the quantitative physical basis or remote sensing approaches needed to estimate the effects of various logging regimes on forest structure. A major reason for these limitations has been a lack of sufficient, well-calibrated optical satellite data, which in turn, has impeded the development and use of physically-based, quantitative approaches for detection and structural characterization of forest logging regimes. We propose to use data from the EO-1 Hyperion imaging spectrometer to greatly increase our ability to estimate the presence and structural attributes of selective logging in the Amazon Basin. Our approach is based on four "biogeophysical indicators" not yet derived simultaneously from any satellite sensor: 1) green canopy leaf area index; 2) degree of shadowing; 3) presence of exposed soil and; 4) non-photosynthetic vegetation material. Airborne, field and modeling studies have shown that the optical reflectance continuum (400-2500 nm) contains sufficient information to derive estimates of each of these indicators. Our ongoing studies in the eastern Amazon basin also suggest that these four indicators are sensitive to logging intensity. Satellite-based estimates of these indicators should provide a means to quantify both the presence and degree of structural disturbance caused by various logging regimes. Our quantitative assessment of Hyperion hyperspectral and ALI multi-spectral data for the detection and structural characterization of selective logging in Amazonia will benefit from data collected through an ongoing project run by the Tropical Forest Foundation, within which we have developed a study of the canopy and landscape biophysics of conventional and reduced-impact logging. We will add to our base of forest structural information in concert with an EO-1 overpass. Using a photon transport model inversion technique that accounts for non-linear mixing of the four biogeophysical indicators, we will estimate these parameters across a gradient of selective logging intensity provided by conventional and reduced impact logging sites. We will also compare our physical ly-based approach to both conventional (e.g., NDVI) and novel (e.g., SWIR-channel) vegetation indices as well as to linear mixture modeling methods. We will cross-compare these approaches using Hyperion and ALI imagers to determine the strengths and limitations of these two sensors for applications of forest biophysics. This effort will yield the first physical ly-based, quantitative analysis of the detection and intensity of selective logging in Amazonia, comparing hyperspectral and improved multi-spectral approaches as well as inverse modeling, linear mixture modeling, and vegetation index techniques.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: A Classroom Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nijman, Jan; Hill, A. David

1991-01-01

Presents a classroom project dealing with tropical deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Addresses environmental consequences and economic, social, and political causes. Involves both lectures and individual research and reports by student groups on deforestation causes. Includes a note-playing activity in which students make recommendations for…

Judgments about illegal performance-enhancing substances: reasoned, reactive, or both?

PubMed

Dodge, Tonya; Stock, Michelle; Litt, Dana

2013-07-01

This study applied aspects of the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Prototype/Willingness model to understand cognitions associated with the use of illegal performance-enhancing substances. There were two study objectives. One was to investigate whether the illegal-is-effective heuristic (i.e. belief that illegal performance-enhancing substances are more effective than legal performance-enhancing substances) affects willingness to use illegal performance-enhancing substances. The second was to examine whether attitudes, norms, and prototypes influence the willingness and intentions to use illegal performance-enhancing substances. The illegal-is-effective heuristic was a significant predictor of willingness but was not a significant predictor of intentions. Implications for future research and prevention efforts are discussed.

The role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambin, Eric F.; Gibbs, Holly K.; Heilmayr, Robert; Carlson, Kimberly M.; Fleck, Leonardo C.; Garrett, Rachael D.; le Polain de Waroux, Yann; McDermott, Constance L.; McLaughlin, David; Newton, Peter; Nolte, Christoph; Pacheco, Pablo; Rausch, Lisa L.; Streck, Charlotte; Thorlakson, Tannis; Walker, Nathalie F.

2018-01-01

A major reduction in global deforestation is needed to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. Recent private sector commitments aim to eliminate deforestation from a company's operations or supply chain, but they fall short on several fronts. Company pledges vary in the degree to which they include time-bound interventions with clear definitions and criteria to achieve verifiable outcomes. Zero-deforestation policies by companies may be insufficient to achieve broader impact on their own due to leakage, lack of transparency and traceability, selective adoption and smallholder marginalization. Public-private policy mixes are needed to increase the effectiveness of supply-chain initiatives that aim to reduce deforestation. We review current supply-chain initiatives, their effectiveness, and the challenges they face, and go on to identify knowledge gaps for complementary public-private policies.

Are Brazil’s Deforesters Avoiding Detection?

PubMed Central

Richards, Peter; Arima, Eugenio; VanWey, Leah; Cohn, Avery; Bhattarai, Nishan

2017-01-01

Rates of deforestation reported by Brazil’s official deforestation monitoring system have declined dramatically in the Brazilian Amazon. Much of Brazil’s success in its fight against deforestation has been credited to a series of policy changes put into place between 2004 and 2008. In this research, we posit that one of these policies, the decision to use the country’s official system for monitoring forest loss in the Amazon as a policing tool, has incentivized landowners to deforest in ways and places that evade Brazil’s official monitoring and enforcement system. As a consequence, we a) show or b) provide several pieces of suggestive evidence that recent successes in protecting monitored forests in the Brazilian Amazon may be doing less to protect the region’s forests than previously assumed. PMID:29270225

Forest extent and deforestation in tropical Africa since 1900.

PubMed

Aleman, Julie C; Jarzyna, Marta A; Staver, A Carla

2018-01-01

Accurate estimates of historical forest extent and associated deforestation rates are crucial for quantifying tropical carbon cycles and formulating conservation policy. In Africa, data-driven estimates of historical closed-canopy forest extent and deforestation at the continental scale are lacking, and existing modelled estimates diverge substantially. Here, we synthesize available palaeo-proxies and historical maps to reconstruct forest extent in tropical Africa around 1900, when European colonization accelerated markedly, and compare these historical estimates with modern forest extent to estimate deforestation. We find that forests were less extensive in 1900 than bioclimatic models predict. Resultantly, across tropical Africa, ~ 21.7% of forests have been deforested, yielding substantially slower deforestation than previous estimates (35-55%). However, deforestation was heterogeneous: West and East African forests have undergone almost complete decline (~ 83.3 and 93.0%, respectively), while Central African forests have expanded at the expense of savannahs (~ 1.4% net forest expansion, with ~ 135,270 km 2 of savannahs encroached). These results suggest that climate alone does not determine savannah and forest distributions and that many savannahs hitherto considered to be degraded forests are instead relatively old. These data-driven reconstructions of historical biome distributions will inform tropical carbon cycle estimates, carbon mitigation initiatives and conservation planning in both forest and savannah systems.

Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano

PubMed Central

le Polain de Waroux, Yann; Garrett, Rachael D.; Heilmayr, Robert; Lambin, Eric F.

2016-01-01

Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in “deforestation havens.” We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation “hot spot” in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching. PMID:27035995

Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano.

PubMed

le Polain de Waroux, Yann; Garrett, Rachael D; Heilmayr, Robert; Lambin, Eric F

2016-04-12

Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in "deforestation havens." We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation "hot spot" in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching.

Deforestation Along the Maya Mountain Massif Belize-Guatemala Border

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chicas, S. D.; Omine, K.; Arevalo, B.; Ford, J. B.; Sugimura, K.

2016-06-01

In recent years trans-boundary incursions from Petén, Guatemala into Belize's Maya Mountain Massif (MMM) have increased. The incursions are rapidly degrading cultural and natural resources in Belize's protected areas. Given the local, regional and global importance of the MMM and the scarcity of deforestation data, our research team conducted a time series analysis 81 km by 12 km along the Belize-Guatemalan border adjacent to the protected areas of the MMM. Analysis drew on Landsat imagery from 1991 to 2014 to determine historic deforestation rates. The results indicate that the highest deforestation rates in the study area were -1.04% and -6.78% loss of forested area per year in 2012-2014 and 1995-1999 respectively. From 1991 to 2014, forested area decreased from 96.9 % to 85.72 % in Belize and 83.15 % to 31.52 % in Guatemala. During the study period, it was clear that deforestation rates fluctuated in Belize's MMM from one time-period to the next. This seems linked to either a decline in deforestation rates in Guatemala, the vertical expansion of deforestation in Guatemalan forested areas and monitoring. The results of this study urge action to reduce incursions and secure protected areas and remaining forest along the Belize-Guatemalan border.

Climate change affecting oil palm agronomy, and oil palm cultivation increasing climate change, require amelioration.

PubMed

Paterson, R Russell M; Lima, Nelson

2018-01-01

Palm oil is used in various valued commodities and is a large global industry worth over US$ 50 billion annually. Oil palms (OP) are grown commercially in Indonesia and Malaysia and other countries within Latin America and Africa. The large-scale land-use change has high ecological, economic, and social impacts. Tropical countries in particular are affected negatively by climate change (CC) which also has a detrimental impact on OP agronomy, whereas the cultivation of OP increases CC. Amelioration of both is required. The reduced ability to grow OP will reduce CC, which may allow more cultivation tending to increase CC, in a decreasing cycle. OP could be increasingly grown in more suitable regions occurring under CC. Enhancing the soil fauna may compensate for the effect of CC on OP agriculture to some extent. The effect of OP cultivation on CC may be reduced by employing reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plans, for example, by avoiding illegal fire land clearing. Other ameliorating methods are reported herein. More research is required involving good management practices that can offset the increases in CC by OP plantations. Overall, OP-growing countries should support the Paris convention on reducing CC as the most feasible scheme for reducing CC.

Characteristics of illegal and legal cigarette packs sold in Guatemala.

PubMed

Arevalo, Rodrigo; Corral, Juan E; Monzon, Diego; Yoon, Mira; Barnoya, Joaquin

2016-11-25

Guatemala, as a party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), is required to regulate cigarette packaging and labeling and eliminate illicit tobacco trade. Current packaging and labeling characteristics (of legal and illegal cigarettes) and their compliance with the FCTC is unknown. We sought to analyze package and label characteristics of illegal and legal cigarettes sold in Guatemala. We visited the 22 largest traditional markets in the country to purchase illegal cigarettes. All brands registered on tobacco industry websites were purchased as legal cigarettes. Analysis compared labeling characteristics of illegal and legal packs. Most (95%) markets and street vendors sold illegal cigarettes; 104 packs were purchased (79 illegal and 25 legal). Ten percent of illegal and none of the legal packs had misleading terms. Half of the illegal packs had a warning label covering 26 to 50% of the pack surface. All legal packs had a label covering 25% of the surface. Illegal packs were more likely to have information on constituents and emissions (85% vs. 45%, p < 0.001) and were less expensive than legal ones (USD 0.70 ± 0.7 and 1.9 ± 1.8, p < 0.001). In Guatemala, neither illegal nor legal cigarette packs comply with FCTC labeling mandates. Urgent implementation and enforcement of the FCTC is necessary to halt the tobacco epidemic.

The feasibility study based on e-commerce instructions-focuses on detection and deletion of illegal content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Tianze; Bi, Siyu; Liu, Jiaming

2018-04-01

This essay legally restrains the illegal content based on the e-commerce directive and introduces that the European countries detect and notify illegal content through the instructions of competent authorities, notification of credible flaggers, user reports and technical tools. The illegal content should be deleted through the service terms and transparency report basing on prevent excessive deletions system. At the same time, use filters to detect and filter to against the recurrence of illegal content. By analyzing the advantages of China under the environment of cracking down on illegal content, this essay concludes that the success of China in cracking down on illegal content lies in all-round collaborative management model of countries, governments, enterprises and individuals. At the end of the essay, one is to build a training corpus that can automatically update the ability to identify the illegal content. And it proposes an optimization scheme that establish a complete set of address resolution procedures and classify IP address data according to big data analysis and DNS protection module to prevent hackers from spreading illegal content by tampering with DNS segments.

Combined Effects of Deforestation and Doubled Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations on the Climate of Amazonia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa, Marcos Heil; Foley, Jonathan A.

2000-01-01

It is generally expected that the Amazon basin will experience at least two major environmental changes during the next few decades and centuries: 1) increasing areas of forest will be converted to pasture and cropland, and 2) concentrations of atmospheric CO2 will continue to rise. In this study, the authors use the National Center for Atmospheric Research GENESIS atmospheric general circulation model, coupled to the Integrated Biosphere Simulator, to determine the combined effects of large-scale deforestation and increased CO2 concentrations (including both physiological and radiative effects) on Amazonian climate.In these simulations, deforestation decreases basin-average precipitation by 0.73 mm day1 over the basin, as a consequence of the general reduction in vertical motion above the deforested area (although there are some small regions with increased vertical motion). The overall effect of doubled CO2 concentrations in Amazonia is an increase in basin-average precipitation of 0.28 mm day1. The combined effect of deforestation and doubled CO2, including the interactions among the processes, is a decrease in the basin-average precipitation of 0.42 mm day1. While the effects of deforestation and increasing CO2 concentrations on precipitation tend to counteract one another, both processes work to warm the Amazon basin. The effect of deforestation and increasing CO2 concentrations both tend to increase surface temperature, mainly because of decreases in evapotranspiration and the radiative effect of CO2. The combined effect of deforestation and doubled CO2, including the interactions among the processes, increases the basin-average temperature by roughly 3.5°C.

Evaluating the effectiveness of conservation and development investments in reducing deforestation and fires in Ankeniheny-Zahemena Corridor, Madagascar.

PubMed

Tabor, Karyn; Jones, Kelly W; Hewson, Jennifer; Rasolohery, Andriambolantsoa; Rambeloson, Andoniaina; Andrianjohaninarivo, Tokihenintsoa; Harvey, Celia A

2017-01-01

Forest conservation and REDD+ projects invest millions of dollars each year to reduce local communities' dependence on forests and prevent forest loss and degradation. However, to date, there is limited evidence on whether these investments are effective at delivering conservation outcomes. We explored the relationships between 600+ small-scale conservation and development investments that occurred from 2007 to 2014 and conservation outcomes (deforestation rates and fire detections) within Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor in Madagascar using linear fixed effects panel regressions. We derived annual changes in forest cover and fires from satellite remote sensing. We found a statistically significant correlation between presence of any investment and reduced deforestation rates in 2010 and 2011 -years with accelerated deforestation elsewhere in the study area. This result indicated investments abated deforestation rates during times of political instability and lack of governance following a 2009 coup in Madagascar. We also found a statistically significant relationship between presence of any investment and reduced fire detections in the study area, suggesting investments had an impact on reducing burning of forest for agriculture. For both outcomes (i.e., deforestation rates and fire detections), we found that more dollars invested led to greater conservation outcomes (i.e. fewer fires or less deforestation), particularly when funding was sustained for one to two years. Our findings suggest that conservation and development investments can reduce deforestation and fire incidence, but also highlight the many challenges and complexities in assessing relationships between investments and conservation outcomes in a dynamic landscape and a volatile political context.

Evaluating the effectiveness of conservation and development investments in reducing deforestation and fires in Ankeniheny-Zahemena Corridor, Madagascar

PubMed Central

Jones, Kelly W.; Hewson, Jennifer; Rasolohery, Andriambolantsoa; Rambeloson, Andoniaina; Andrianjohaninarivo, Tokihenintsoa; Harvey, Celia A.

2017-01-01

Forest conservation and REDD+ projects invest millions of dollars each year to reduce local communities’ dependence on forests and prevent forest loss and degradation. However, to date, there is limited evidence on whether these investments are effective at delivering conservation outcomes. We explored the relationships between 600+ small-scale conservation and development investments that occurred from 2007 to 2014 and conservation outcomes (deforestation rates and fire detections) within Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor in Madagascar using linear fixed effects panel regressions. We derived annual changes in forest cover and fires from satellite remote sensing. We found a statistically significant correlation between presence of any investment and reduced deforestation rates in 2010 and 2011 –years with accelerated deforestation elsewhere in the study area. This result indicated investments abated deforestation rates during times of political instability and lack of governance following a 2009 coup in Madagascar. We also found a statistically significant relationship between presence of any investment and reduced fire detections in the study area, suggesting investments had an impact on reducing burning of forest for agriculture. For both outcomes (i.e., deforestation rates and fire detections), we found that more dollars invested led to greater conservation outcomes (i.e. fewer fires or less deforestation), particularly when funding was sustained for one to two years. Our findings suggest that conservation and development investments can reduce deforestation and fire incidence, but also highlight the many challenges and complexities in assessing relationships between investments and conservation outcomes in a dynamic landscape and a volatile political context. PMID:29267356

Interactions between rainfall, deforestation and fires during recent years in the Brazilian Amazonia.

PubMed

Aragão, Luiz Eduardo O C; Malhi, Yadvinder; Barbier, Nicolas; Lima, Andre; Shimabukuro, Yosio; Anderson, Liana; Saatchi, Sassan

2008-05-27

Understanding the interplay between climate and land-use dynamics is a fundamental concern for assessing the vulnerability of Amazonia to climate change. In this study, we analyse satellite-derived monthly and annual time series of rainfall, fires and deforestation to explicitly quantify the seasonal patterns and relationships between these three variables, with a particular focus on the Amazonian drought of 2005. Our results demonstrate a marked seasonality with one peak per year for all variables analysed, except deforestation. For the annual cycle, we found correlations above 90% with a time lag between variables. Deforestation and fires reach the highest values three and six months, respectively, after the peak of the rainy season. The cumulative number of hot pixels was linearly related to the size of the area deforested annually from 1998 to 2004 (r2=0.84, p=0.004). During the 2005 drought, the number of hot pixels increased 43% in relation to the expected value for a similar deforested area (approx. 19000km2). We demonstrated that anthropogenic forcing, such as land-use change, is decisive in determining the seasonality and annual patterns of fire occurrence. Moreover, droughts can significantly increase the number of fires in the region even with decreased deforestation rates. We may expect that the ongoing deforestation, currently based on slash and burn procedures, and the use of fires for land management in Amazonia will intensify the impact of droughts associated with natural climate variability or human-induced climate change and, therefore, a large area of forest edge will be under increased risk of fires.

Simulating Deforestation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, under Changing Government Policies and Socioeconomic Conditions.

PubMed

Stan, Kayla; Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo; Espírito-Santo, Mário; Portillo-Quintero, Carlos

2015-01-01

Agricultural expansion is causing deforestation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, converting savanna and tropical dry forest to farmland, and in 2012, Brazil's Forest Code was revised with the government reducing deforestation restrictions. Understanding the effects of policy change on rates and locations of natural ecosystem loss is imperative. In this paper, deforestation in Minas Gerais was simulated annually until 2020 using Dinamica Environment for Geoprocessing Objects (Dinamica EGO). This system is a state-of-the-art land use and cover change (LUCC) model which incorporates government policy, landscape maps, and other biophysical and anthropogenic datasets. Three studied scenarios: (i) business as usual, (ii) increased deforestation, and (iii) decreased deforestation showed more transition to agriculture from shrubland compared to forests, and consistent locations for most deforestation. The probability of conversion to agriculture is strongly tied to areas with the smallest patches of original biome remaining. Increases in agricultural revenue are projected to continue with a loss of 25% of the remaining Cerrado land in the next decade if profit is maximized. The addition of biodiversity value as a tax on land sale prices, estimated at over $750,000,000 USD using the cost of extracting and maintaining current species ex-situ, can save more than 1 million hectares of shrubland with minimal effects on the economy of the State of Minas Gerais. With environmental policy determining rates of deforestation and economics driving the location of land clearing, site-specific protection or market accounting of externalities is needed to balance economic development and conservation.

The rate and extent of deforestation in watersheds of the southwestern Amazon basin.

PubMed

Biggs, Trent W; Dunne, Thomas; Roberts, Dar A; Matricardi, E

2008-01-01

The rate and extent of deforestation determine the timing and magnitude of disturbance to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Rapid change can lead to transient impacts to hydrology and biogeochemistry, while complete and permanent conversion to other land uses can lead to chronic changes. A large population of watershed boundaries (N=4788) and a time series of Landsat TM imagery (1975-1999) in the southwestern Amazon Basin showed that even small watersheds (2.5-15 km2) were deforested relatively slowly over 7-21 years. Less than 1% of all small watersheds were more than 50% cleared in a single year, and clearing rates averaged 5.6%/yr during active clearing. A large proportion (26%) of the small watersheds had a cumulative deforestation extent of more than 75%. The cumulative deforestation extent was highly spatially autocorrelated up to a 100-150 km lag due to the geometry of the agricultural zone and road network, so watersheds as large as approximately 40000 km2 were more than 50% deforested by 1999. The rate of deforestation had minimal spatial autocorrelation beyond a lag of approximately 30 km, and the mean rate decreased rapidly with increasing area. Approximately 85% of the cleared area remained in pasture, so deforestation in watersheds of Rondônia was a relatively slow, permanent, and complete transition to pasture, rather than a rapid, transient, and partial cutting with regrowth. Given the observed landcover transitions, the regional stream biogeochemical response is likely to resemble the chronic changes observed in streams draining established pastures, rather than a temporary pulse from slash-and-burn.

Deforestation and Forest Fires in Roraima and Their Relationship with Phytoclimatic Regions in the Northern Brazilian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barni, Paulo Eduardo; Pereira, Vaneza Barreto; Manzi, Antonio Ocimar; Barbosa, Reinaldo Imbrozio

2015-05-01

Deforestation and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon are a regional-scale anthropogenic process related to biomass burning, which has a direct impact on global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. Containment of this process requires characterizing its spatial distribution and that of the environmental factors related to its occurrence. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of deforested areas and forest fires in the State of Roraima from 2000 to 2010. We mapped deforested areas and forest fires using Landsat images and associated their occurrence with two phytoclimatic zones: zone with savanna influence (ZIS), and zone without savanna influence (ZOS). Total deforested area during the interval was estimated at 3.06 × 103 km2 (ZIS = 55 %; ZOS = 45 %) while total area affected by forest fires was estimated at 3.02 × 103 km2 (ZIS = 97.7 %; ZOS = 2.3 %). Magnitude of deforestation in Roraima was not related to the phytoclimatic zones, but small deforested areas (≤17.9 ha) predominated in ZOS while larger deforestation classes (>17.9 ha) predominated in ZIS, which is an area with a longer history of human activities. The largest occurrence of forest fires was observed in the ZIS in years with El Niño events. Our analysis indicates that the areas most affected by forest fires in Roraima during 2000-2010 were associated with strong climatic events and the occurrence these fires was amplified in ZIS, a sensitive phytoclimatic zone with a higher risk of anthropogenic fires given its drier climate and open forest structure.

Simulating Deforestation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, under Changing Government Policies and Socioeconomic Conditions

PubMed Central

Stan, Kayla; Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo; Espírito-Santo, Mário; Portillo-Quintero, Carlos

2015-01-01

Agricultural expansion is causing deforestation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, converting savanna and tropical dry forest to farmland, and in 2012, Brazil’s Forest Code was revised with the government reducing deforestation restrictions. Understanding the effects of policy change on rates and locations of natural ecosystem loss is imperative. In this paper, deforestation in Minas Gerais was simulated annually until 2020 using Dinamica Environment for Geoprocessing Objects (Dinamica EGO). This system is a state-of-the-art land use and cover change (LUCC) model which incorporates government policy, landscape maps, and other biophysical and anthropogenic datasets. Three studied scenarios: (i) business as usual, (ii) increased deforestation, and (iii) decreased deforestation showed more transition to agriculture from shrubland compared to forests, and consistent locations for most deforestation. The probability of conversion to agriculture is strongly tied to areas with the smallest patches of original biome remaining. Increases in agricultural revenue are projected to continue with a loss of 25% of the remaining Cerrado land in the next decade if profit is maximized. The addition of biodiversity value as a tax on land sale prices, estimated at over $750,000,000 USD using the cost of extracting and maintaining current species ex-situ, can save more than 1 million hectares of shrubland with minimal effects on the economy of the State of Minas Gerais. With environmental policy determining rates of deforestation and economics driving the location of land clearing, site-specific protection or market accounting of externalities is needed to balance economic development and conservation. PMID:26371876

National forest cover change in Congo Basin: deforestation, reforestation, degradation and regeneration for the years 1990, 2000 and 2005.

PubMed

Céline, Ernst; Philippe, Mayaux; Astrid, Verhegghen; Catherine, Bodart; Musampa, Christophe; Pierre, Defourny

2013-04-01

This research refers to an object-based automatic method combined with a national expert validation to produce regional and national forest cover change statistics over Congo Basin. A total of 547 sampling sites systematically distributed over the whole humid forest domain are required to cover the six Central African countries containing tropical moist forest. High resolution imagery is used to accurately estimate not only deforestation and reforestation but also degradation and regeneration. The overall method consists of four steps: (i) image automatic preprocessing and preinterpretation, (ii) interpretation by national expert, (iii) statistic computation and (iv) accuracy assessment. The annual rate of net deforestation in Congo Basin is estimated to 0.09% between 1990 and 2000 and of net degradation to 0.05%. Between 2000 and 2005, this unique exercise estimates annual net deforestation to 0.17% and annual net degradation to 0.09%. An accuracy assessment reveals that 92.7% of tree cover (TC) classes agree with independent expert interpretation. In the discussion, we underline the direct causes and the drivers of deforestation. Population density, small-scale agriculture, fuelwood collection and forest's accessibility are closely linked to deforestation, whereas timber extraction has no major impact on the reduction in the canopy cover. The analysis also shows the efficiency of protected areas to reduce deforestation. These results are expected to contribute to the discussion on the reduction in CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and serve as reference for the period. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Rethinking the causes of deforestation: lessons from economic models.

PubMed

Angelsen, A; Kaimowitz, D

1999-02-01

Concern is rising over the deleterious effects of tropical deforestation. For example, the loss of forest cover influences the climate and reduces biodiversity, while reduced timber supplies, siltation, flooding, and soil degradation affect economic activity and threaten the livelihoods and cultural integrity of forest-dependent people. Such concerns have led economists to expand their efforts to model why, where, and to what extent forests are being converted to other land uses. This synthesis of the results of more than 140 economic models analyzing the causes of tropical deforestation brings into question many conventional hypotheses upon deforestation. More roads, higher agricultural prices, lower wages, and a shortage of off-farm employment generally lead to more deforestation. However, it is not known how technical change, agricultural input prices, household income levels, and tenure security affect deforestation. The role of macroeconomic factors such as population growth, poverty reduction, national income, economic growth, and foreign debt is also unclear. The authors nonetheless determine through their review that policy reforms included in current economic liberalization and adjustment efforts may increase pressure upon forests.

Amazonian freshwater habitats experiencing environmental and socioeconomic threats affecting subsistence fisheries.

PubMed

Alho, Cleber J R; Reis, Roberto E; Aquino, Pedro P U

2015-09-01

Matching the trend seen among the major large rivers of the globe, the Amazon River and its tributaries are facing aquatic ecosystem disruption that is affecting freshwater habitats and their associated biodiversity, including trends for decline in fishery resources. The Amazon's aquatic ecosystems, linked natural resources, and human communities that depend on them are increasingly at risk from a number of identified threats, including expansion of agriculture; cattle pastures; infrastructure such as hydroelectric dams, logging, mining; and overfishing. The forest, which regulates the hydrological pulse, guaranteeing the distribution of rainfall and stabilizing seasonal flooding, has been affected by deforestation. Flooding dynamics of the Amazon Rivers are a major factor in regulating the intensity and timing of aquatic organisms. This study's objective was to identify threats to the integrity of freshwater ecosystems, and to seek instruments for conservation and sustainable use, taking principally fish diversity and fisheries as factors for analysis.

[IXODID TICKS (PARASITIFORMES: IXODIDAE) FROM SMALL MAMMALS IN DEFORESTED BOREAL HABITATS IN THE NORTHERN EUROPEAN RUSSIA].

PubMed

Bespyatova, L A; Bugmyrin, S V

2015-01-01

Changes in the population density of two hard tick species, Ixodes (Exopalpiger) trianguliceps Birula, 1895 and Ixodes persulcatus Schulze, 1930, were examined in 1998-2001, and in 2003-2004 near Gomselga Village (Kondopoga District, 62° 04' N, 33° 55' E) in central Karelia. Data on the abundance of ixodid ticks and the species composition of their hosts in 4 forest sites at different stages of post-felling regeneration (secondary succession), i. e. 7-14, 12-19, 25-32, and 80-87 after logging were obtained. I. persulcatus dominated, comprising 73 % of the total tick number in samples. Regenera- tion of the forest resulted in fluctuations of the population density of two examined tick species: I. (Exopalpiger) trianguliceps (larvae 2.8-5.3; nymphs 1.5-2.2; adults 0-0.09) and I. persulcatus (larvae 4.3-10.6; nymphs 0.6-4.2).

Unlikely alliances: encounters between state science, nature spirits, and indigenous industrial forestry in Mexico, 1926-2008.

PubMed

Mathews, Andrew S

2009-02-01

Indigenous community leaders and conservationists in Oaxaca, Mexico, believe that deforestation causes streams to dry up and threatens rainfall, authorizing popular mobilizations against industrial logging. This belief was produced by a combination of indigenous beliefs in nature spirits and early-twentieth-century state-sponsored desiccation theory, which was brought to the Valley of Mexico in the 1920s. Desiccation theory acquires political significance because it allows rural people to build political and epistemic alliances that bypass industrial forestry institutions and find sympathetic urban audiences and environmentalist allies, undermining state claims to reason and scientific authority. These alliances require the skillful translation and mistranslation of local environmental concerns by activists and conservationists, who link the concerns of urban audiences with those of rural people. Popular beliefs about climate and forests in Mexico structure the authority and credibility of the state and will powerfully affect efforts to protect forests to mitigate climate change.

Landscape hydrology. The hydrological legacy of deforestation on global wetlands.

PubMed

Woodward, C; Shulmeister, J; Larsen, J; Jacobsen, G E; Zawadzki, A

2014-11-14

Increased catchment erosion and nutrient loading are commonly recognized impacts of deforestation on global wetlands. In contrast, an increase in water availability in deforested catchments is well known in modern studies but is rarely considered when evaluating past human impacts. We used a Budyko water balance approach, a meta-analysis of global wetland response to deforestation, and paleoecological studies from Australasia to explore this issue. After complete deforestation, we demonstrated that water available to wetlands increases by up to 15% of annual precipitation. This can convert ephemeral swamps to permanent lakes or even create new wetlands. This effect is globally significant, with 9 to 12% of wetlands affected, including 20 to 40% of Ramsar wetlands, but is widely unrecognized because human impact studies rarely test for it. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Agriculture-driven deforestation in the tropics from 1990-2015: emissions, trends and uncertainties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carter, Sarah; Herold, Martin; Avitabile, Valerio; de Bruin, Sytze; De Sy, Veronique; Kooistra, Lammert; Rufino, Mariana C.

2018-01-01

Limited data exists on emissions from agriculture-driven deforestation, and available data are typically uncertain. In this paper, we provide comparable estimates of emissions from both all deforestation and agriculture-driven deforestation, with uncertainties for 91 countries across the tropics between 1990 and 2015. Uncertainties associated with input datasets (activity data and emissions factors) were used to combine the datasets, where most certain datasets contribute the most. This method utilizes all the input data, while minimizing the uncertainty of the emissions estimate. The uncertainty of input datasets was influenced by the quality of the data, the sample size (for sample-based datasets), and the extent to which the timeframe of the data matches the period of interest. Area of deforestation, and the agriculture-driver factor (extent to which agriculture drives deforestation), were the most uncertain components of the emissions estimates, thus improvement in the uncertainties related to these estimates will provide the greatest reductions in uncertainties of emissions estimates. Over the period of the study, Latin America had the highest proportion of deforestation driven by agriculture (78%), and Africa had the lowest (62%). Latin America had the highest emissions from agriculture-driven deforestation, and these peaked at 974 ± 148 Mt CO2 yr-1 in 2000-2005. Africa saw a continuous increase in emissions between 1990 and 2015 (from 154 ± 21-412 ± 75 Mt CO2 yr-1), so mitigation initiatives could be prioritized there. Uncertainties for emissions from agriculture-driven deforestation are ± 62.4% (average over 1990-2015), and uncertainties were highest in Asia and lowest in Latin America. Uncertainty information is crucial for transparency when reporting, and gives credibility to related mitigation initiatives. We demonstrate that uncertainty data can also be useful when combining multiple open datasets, so we recommend new data providers to include this information.

Relationships Between Fire and Land Use Change in the Brazilian Amazon Based on Satellite Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanin, T.; van der Werf, G.

2014-12-01

Fires are used as a tool in the process of deforestation. The relationship between fire and deforestation varies temporally and spatially according to the type of deforestation and climatic conditions. This study evaluates spatiotemporal variability between fire and deforestation over the 2002-2012 period in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). We based our study on four datasets: deforestation estimates from PRODES (Amazon Deforestation Monitoring Project) and forest cover loss from the Global Forest Change (GFC) project based on Landsat data, and burned area and land cover based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. While GFC and PRODES supported similar findings on spatial and temporal dynamics, the Landsat-scale comparison also highlighted a number of differences. Both datasets show a decrease after 2004 in forest loss or deforestation extent mainly from decreasing clearing rates in evergreen broadleaf forest, mostly in the states of Mato Grosso and Rondonia. However, the drop is larger and more gradual in PRODES than in GFC, with the former having less than half the forest loss of the latter. GFC indicates anomalous high forest loss in the years 2007 and 2010 not seen in PRODES. Rescaling these forest dynamics datasets to 500-meter resolution, allowed for a comparison against the MODIS datasets. The burned area data indicates that the mismatch between PRODES and GFC is largely related to increased fire occurrence during these dry years, mainly in Para. In addition it indicates that the time interval between deforestation and fire differs according to land cover, which is important when estimating the atmospheric impact of forest loss. We found that evergreen broadleaf forests are burned shortly after deforestation due to slash and burn techniques, while croplands have longer intervals depending on the crop variety. As a final step, we used these insights to better quantify carbon emissions from this region.

Regional Hydroclimatic Impacts of Contemporary Amazonian Deforestation and Their Spatiotemporal Variability - An Integrated Study Using Remotely Sensed Data and Numerical Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medvigy, D.; Khanna, J.

2016-12-01

The Amazon rainforest has been under deforestation for more than four decades. Recent investigation of the regional hydroclimatic impacts of the past three decades of deforestation has revealed a strong scale-dependence of the atmospheric response to land use change. Contemporary deforestation, affecting spatial scales of a few hundreds of kilometers, has resulted in a spatial redistribution of the local dry season rainfall, with downwind and upwind deforested regions receiving respectively 30% more and 30% less rainfall from the area mean. This phenomenon is attributable to a `dynamical' response of the boundary layer air to a reduction in surface roughness due to deforestation, apparent in both satellite and numerically simulated data. This response is starkly different from a spatially uniform increase in non-precipitating cloudiness triggered by small scale clearings, prevalent in the early phases of deforestation. This study investigates the `generalizability' of the dynamical mechanism to understand its impacts on a continually deforested Amazonia. In particular, we investigate the spatiotemporal variability of the dynamical mechanism. The nature of this investigation demands long time series and large spatial converge datasets of the hydroclimate. As such, satellite imagery of clouds (GridSat) and precipitation (PERSIANN and TRMM) has proven particularly useful in facilitating this analysis. The analysis is further complemented by a reanalysis product (ERA-interim) and numerical simulations (using a variable resolution GCM). Results indicate the presence of the dynamical mechanism during local dry and transition seasons effecting the mean precipitation during this period. Its effect on the transition season precipitation can be important for the local dry season length. The dynamical mechanism also occurs in atmospheric conditions which are otherwise less conducive to thermally triggered convection. Hence, this mechanism, which effects the seasons most important for regional ecology, emerges as a possibly impactful convective triggering mechanism. This study provides context for thinking about the climate of a future, more patchily deforested Amazonia that is more favorable to the dynamical mechanism.

Development of national database on long-term deforestation (1930-2014) in Bangladesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddy, C. Sudhakar; Pasha, S. Vazeed; Jha, C. S.; Diwakar, P. G.; Dadhwal, V. K.

2016-04-01

The aim of the present study is to prepare a nation-wide spatial database on forest cover to assess and monitor the land use changes associated with deforestation in Bangladesh. The multi-source data were interpreted to get the forest cover map of 1930, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2006 and 2014. The spatial information generated on total area under forest cover, rate of deforestation and afforestation, changes across forest types, forest canopy density, replacement land use in deforested area and deforestation hotspots. This spatial analysis has indicated that forest cover is undergoing significant negative change in area and quality. We report that forests in Bangladesh covered an area of 23,140 km2 in 1930 which has decreased to 14,086 km2 in 2014, a net loss of 9054 km2 (39.1%) in eight decades. Analysis of annual rate of gross deforestation for the recent period indicates 0.77% during 2006-2014. During the past eight decades, semi-evergreen forests show loss of 56.4% of forest cover followed by moist deciduous forests (51.5%), dry deciduous forests (43.1%) and mangroves (6.5%). The loss of 23.5% of dense forest cover was found from 1975 to 2014. Dense semi-evergreen forests shows more negative change (36.9%) followed by dense moist deciduous forest (32.7%) from 1975 to 2014. Annual rate of deforestation is higher in dense forests compared to open forests from 2006 to 2014 and indicates increased threat due to anthropogenic pressures. The spatial analysis of forest cover change in mangroves has shown a lower rate of deforestation. Most of the forest conversions have led to the degradation of forests to scrub and transition to agriculture and plantation. The study has identified the 'deforestation hotspots' can help in strategic planning for conservation and management of forest resources.

Germination and initial growth of tree seedlings on deforested and natural forest soil at Dulhazara, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Hossain, M Mohitul

2012-12-01

The destruction of natural forest is increasing due to urbanization, industrialization, settlement and for the agricultural expansion over last few decades, and studies for their recovery need to be undertaken. With this aim, this comparative study was designed to see the effects of deforested soil on germination and growth performance of five different tree species. In the experiment, five species namely Gmelina arborea, Swietenia mahagoni, Dipterocarpus turbinatus, Acacia auriculiformis and Syzygium grande were germinated for six weeks on seedbeds and raised in pots (25cm diameter, 30cm height), that were filled with two soil and type of land use: deforested and adjacent natural forest of Dulhazara Safari Park. Growth performance of seedling was observed up to 15 months based on height, collar diameter and biomass production at the end. Our results showed that the germination rate was almost similar in both type of land uses. Height growth of D. turbinatus, G. arborea and S. mahagoni seedlings was almost similar and A. auriculi formis and S. grande lower in deforested soil compared to natural forest soil, while collar diameter ofA. auriculi formis, G. arborea, S. grande and S. mahagoni lower and D. turbinatus similar in deforested soil compared to natural forest soil. After uprooting at 19 months, S. mahagoni seedlings were showed significantly (p< or =0.05) higher oven dry biomass, D. turbinatus and A. auriculiformis higher, while G. arborea showed significantly (p< or =0.05) lower and S. grande almost similar oven dry biomass in deforested soil compared to natural forest soil. Oven dry biomass of D. turbinatus seedlings at 19 month age in deforested soil was 21.96g (n=5) and in natural forest soil 18.86g (n=5). However, differences in germination rate and growth performance for different tree species indicated that soil are not too much deteriorated through deforestation at Dulhazara and without any failure such deforested lands would be possible to bring under forest through plantation.

Roads Investments, Spatial Intensification and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfaff, Alexander; Robalino, Juan; Walker, Robert; Aldrich, Steven; Caldas, Marcellus; Reis, Eustaquio; Perz, Stephen; Bohrer, Claudio; Arima, Eugenio; Laurance, William;

Exploring the likelihood and mechanism of a climate-change-induced dieback of the Amazon rainforest

PubMed Central

Malhi, Yadvinder; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Galbraith, David; Huntingford, Chris; Fisher, Rosie; Zelazowski, Przemyslaw; Sitch, Stephen; McSweeney, Carol; Meir, Patrick

2009-01-01

We examine the evidence for the possibility that 21st-century climate change may cause a large-scale “dieback” or degradation of Amazonian rainforest. We employ a new framework for evaluating the rainfall regime of tropical forests and from this deduce precipitation-based boundaries for current forest viability. We then examine climate simulations by 19 global climate models (GCMs) in this context and find that most tend to underestimate current rainfall. GCMs also vary greatly in their projections of future climate change in Amazonia. We attempt to take into account the differences between GCM-simulated and observed rainfall regimes in the 20th century. Our analysis suggests that dry-season water stress is likely to increase in E. Amazonia over the 21st century, but the region tends toward a climate more appropriate to seasonal forest than to savanna. These seasonal forests may be resilient to seasonal drought but are likely to face intensified water stress caused by higher temperatures and to be vulnerable to fires, which are at present naturally rare in much of Amazonia. The spread of fire ignition associated with advancing deforestation, logging, and fragmentation may act as nucleation points that trigger the transition of these seasonal forests into fire-dominated, low biomass forests. Conversely, deliberate limitation of deforestation and fire may be an effective intervention to maintain Amazonian forest resilience in the face of imposed 21st-century climate change. Such intervention may be enough to navigate E. Amazonia away from a possible “tipping point,” beyond which extensive rainforest would become unsustainable. PMID:19218454

Carbon storage and emissions offset potential in an African dry forest, the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya.

PubMed

Glenday, Julia

2008-07-01

Concerns about rapid tropical deforestation, and its contribution to rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, increase the importance of monitoring terrestrial carbon storage in changing landscapes. Emerging markets for carbon emission offsets may offer developing nations needed incentives for reforestation, rehabilitation, and avoided deforestation. However, relatively little empirical data exists regarding carbon storage in African tropical forests, particularly for those in arid or semi-arid regions. Kenya's 416 km(2) Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) is the largest remaining fragment of East African coastal dry forest and is considered a global biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al. 2000), but has been significantly altered by past commercial logging and ongoing extraction. Forest carbon storage for ASF was estimated using allometric equations for tree biomass, destructive techniques for litter and herbaceous vegetation biomass, and spectroscopy for soils. Satellite imagery was used to assess land cover changes from 1992 to 2004. Forest and thicket types (Cynometra webberi dominated, Brachystegia spiciformis dominated, and mixed species forest) had carbon densities ranging from 58 to 94 Mg C/ha. The ASF area supported a 2.8-3.0 Tg C carbon stock. Although total forested area in ASF did not change over the analyzed time period, ongoing disturbances, quantified by the basal area of cut tree stumps per sample plot, correlated with decreased carbon densities. Madunguni Forest, an adjoining forest patch, lost 86% of its forest cover and at least 76% of its terrestrial carbon stock in the time period. Improved management of wood harvesting in ASF and rehabilitation of Madunguni Forest could substantially increase terrestrial carbon sequestration in the region.

Mobile devices for community-based REDD+ monitoring: a case study for Central Vietnam.

PubMed

Pratihast, Arun Kumar; Herold, Martin; Avitabile, Valerio; de Bruin, Sytze; Bartholomeus, Harm; Souza, Carlos M; Ribbe, Lars

2012-12-20

Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation is one of the central elements for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) scheme. Current arrangements for monitoring are based on remote sensing and field measurements. Since monitoring is the periodic process of assessing forest stands properties with respect to reference data, adopting the current REDD+ requirements for implementing monitoring at national levels is a challenging task. Recently, the advancement in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and mobile devices has enabled local communities to monitor their forest in a basic resource setting such as no or slow internet connection link, limited power supply, etc. Despite the potential, the use of mobile device system for community based monitoring (CBM) is still exceptional and faces implementation challenges. This paper presents an integrated data collection system based on mobile devices that streamlines the community-based forest monitoring data collection, transmission and visualization process. This paper also assesses the accuracy and reliability of CBM data and proposes a way to fit them into national REDD+ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme. The system performance is evaluated at Tra Bui commune, Quang Nam province, Central Vietnam, where forest carbon and change activities were tracked. The results show that the local community is able to provide data with accuracy comparable to expert measurements (index of agreement greater than 0.88), but against lower costs. Furthermore, the results confirm that communities are more effective to monitor small scale forest degradation due to subsistence fuel wood collection and selective logging, than high resolution remote sensing SPOT imagery.

Exploring the likelihood and mechanism of a climate-change-induced dieback of the Amazon rainforest.

PubMed

Malhi, Yadvinder; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Galbraith, David; Huntingford, Chris; Fisher, Rosie; Zelazowski, Przemyslaw; Sitch, Stephen; McSweeney, Carol; Meir, Patrick

2009-12-08

We examine the evidence for the possibility that 21st-century climate change may cause a large-scale "dieback" or degradation of Amazonian rainforest. We employ a new framework for evaluating the rainfall regime of tropical forests and from this deduce precipitation-based boundaries for current forest viability. We then examine climate simulations by 19 global climate models (GCMs) in this context and find that most tend to underestimate current rainfall. GCMs also vary greatly in their projections of future climate change in Amazonia. We attempt to take into account the differences between GCM-simulated and observed rainfall regimes in the 20th century. Our analysis suggests that dry-season water stress is likely to increase in E. Amazonia over the 21st century, but the region tends toward a climate more appropriate to seasonal forest than to savanna. These seasonal forests may be resilient to seasonal drought but are likely to face intensified water stress caused by higher temperatures and to be vulnerable to fires, which are at present naturally rare in much of Amazonia. The spread of fire ignition associated with advancing deforestation, logging, and fragmentation may act as nucleation points that trigger the transition of these seasonal forests into fire-dominated, low biomass forests. Conversely, deliberate limitation of deforestation and fire may be an effective intervention to maintain Amazonian forest resilience in the face of imposed 21st-century climate change. Such intervention may be enough to navigate E. Amazonia away from a possible "tipping point," beyond which extensive rainforest would become unsustainable.

How do protected landscapes associated with high biodiversity and population levels change?

PubMed Central

Echeverria, Cristian

2017-01-01

Most protected areas (PA) try to limit logging of forests by means of restrictions on access and use, especially in areas where local communities coexist with the forests and depend on resources derived from PAs. In such contexts, achieving full or effective protection of the forests is almost impossible. This fact has led to researching beyond PAs boundaries in order to examine large surrounding landscapes with multiple forms of properties and restriction on forests use. The present study assessed the change in forest cover and fragmentation between 1990 and 2014, in addition to the drivers that explain such changes in a landscape with the presence of PAs and high-density population belonging to the Chocó-Darien biodiversity hotspot. Results indicated differences in the extent and spatial patterns of change in forest cover of PAs and their surrounding landscapes. Two PAs exhibited a tendency to increase fragmentation and lose their forests in comparison with the stable protection of the forests in other PAs during this period. However, the greatest change in forest cover and fragmentation was observed in the surrounding landscapes, where the best connection to markets and transport networks were the dominating deforestation drivers. Our findings corroborated that the PAs were a shield against the deforestation of the tropical Andean forest, especially in landscapes with high-density population. However, the fragmentation of the forest cannot be avoided around the PAs limits. It is expected that, if this tendency continues in the future, the biodiversity in the Chocó-Darien hotspot will be seriously affected. PMID:28672002

Mobile Devices for Community-Based REDD+ Monitoring: A Case Study for Central Vietnam

PubMed Central

Pratihast, Arun Kumar; Herold, Martin; Avitabile, Valerio; de Bruin, Sytze; Bartholomeus, Harm; Souza, Carlos M.; Ribbe, Lars

2013-01-01

Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation is one of the central elements for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) scheme. Current arrangements for monitoring are based on remote sensing and field measurements. Since monitoring is the periodic process of assessing forest stands properties with respect to reference data, adopting the current REDD+ requirements for implementing monitoring at national levels is a challenging task. Recently, the advancement in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and mobile devices has enabled local communities to monitor their forest in a basic resource setting such as no or slow internet connection link, limited power supply, etc. Despite the potential, the use of mobile device system for community based monitoring (CBM) is still exceptional and faces implementation challenges. This paper presents an integrated data collection system based on mobile devices that streamlines the community-based forest monitoring data collection, transmission and visualization process. This paper also assesses the accuracy and reliability of CBM data and proposes a way to fit them into national REDD+ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme. The system performance is evaluated at Tra Bui commune, Quang Nam province, Central Vietnam, where forest carbon and change activities were tracked. The results show that the local community is able to provide data with accuracy comparable to expert measurements (index of agreement greater than 0.88), but against lower costs. Furthermore, the results confirm that communities are more effective to monitor small scale forest degradation due to subsistence fuel wood collection and selective logging, than high resolution remote sensing SPOT imagery. PMID:23344371

Impact of Long-Term Forest Enrichment Planting on the Biological Status of Soil in a Deforested Dipterocarp Forest in Perak, Malaysia

PubMed Central

Karam, D. S.; Arifin, A.; Radziah, O.; Shamshuddin, J.; Majid, N. M.; Hazandy, A. H.; Zahari, I.; Nor Halizah, A. H.; Rui, T. X.

2012-01-01

Deforestation leads to the deterioration of soil fertility which occurs rapidly under tropical climates. Forest rehabilitation is one of the approaches to restore soil fertility and increase the productivity of degraded areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare soil biological properties under enrichment planting and secondary forests at Tapah Hill Forest Reserve, Perak after 42 years of planting. Both areas were excessively logged in the 1950s and left idle without any appropriate forest management until 1968 when rehabilitation program was initiated. Six subplots (20 m × 20 m) were established within each enrichment planting (F1) and secondary forest (F2) plots, after which soil was sampled at depths of 0–15 cm (topsoil) and 15–30 cm (subsoil). Results showed that total mean microbial enzymatic activity, as well as biomass C and N content, was significantly higher in F1 compared to F2. The results, despite sample variability, suggest that the rehabilitation program improves the soil biological activities where high rate of soil organic matter, organic C, N, suitable soil acidity range, and abundance of forest litter is believed to be the predisposing factor promoting higher population of microbial in F1 as compared to F2. In conclusion total microbial enzymatic activity, biomass C and biomass N evaluation were higher in enrichment planting plot compared to secondary forest. After 42 years of planting, rehabilitation or enrichment planting helps to restore the productivity of planted forest in terms of biological parameters. PMID:22606055

Including carbon emissions from deforestation in the carbon footprint of Brazilian beef.

PubMed

Cederberg, Christel; Persson, U Martin; Neovius, Kristian; Molander, Sverker; Clift, Roland

2011-03-01

Effects of land use changes are starting to be included in estimates of life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, so-called carbon footprints (CFs), from food production. Their omission can lead to serious underestimates, particularly for meat. Here we estimate emissions from the conversion of forest to pasture in the Legal Amazon Region (LAR) of Brazil and present a model to distribute the emissions from deforestation over products and time subsequent to the land use change. Expansion of cattle ranching for beef production is a major cause of deforestation in the LAR. The carbon footprint of beef produced on newly deforested land is estimated at more than 700 kg CO(2)-equivalents per kg carcass weight if direct land use emissions are annualized over 20 years. This is orders of magnitude larger than the figure for beef production on established pasture on non-deforested land. While Brazilian beef exports have originated mainly from areas outside the LAR, i.e. from regions not subject to recent deforestation, we argue that increased production for export has been the key driver of the pasture expansion and deforestation in the LAR during the past decade and this should be reflected in the carbon footprint attributed to beef exports. We conclude that carbon footprint standards must include the more extended effects of land use changes to avoid giving misleading information to policy makers, retailers, and consumers.

A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia, Peru

PubMed Central

Arima, E. Y.

2016-01-01

Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD+ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200–300 km2. This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 106 tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads. PMID:27010739

A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia, Peru.

PubMed

Arima, E Y

2016-01-01

Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD+ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200-300 km2. This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 106 tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads.

Understanding smallholders’ intended deforestation behavior in the Brazilian Cerrado following environmental registry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vang Rasmussen, Laura; Jung, Suhyun; Dantas Brites, Alice; Watkins, Cristy; Agrawal, Arun

2016-09-01

Brazil’s Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) is a potentially promising avenue to slow deforestation on private properties as it facilitates the monitoring of land use. Yet limited empirical evidence exists on how the CAR affects smallholders’ behavior and recent scholarly efforts have in fact indicated that it may be doing less to protect forests than previously assumed. Based on 1177 smallholder surveys conducted in the Cerrado, we assess 1) whether the CAR might incentivize smallholders to pursue deforestation and 2) which factors are associated with smallholders’ intended deforestation behavior. We find that upon CAR registration, factors significantly associated with smallholders’ intention to deforest are: the existing percentage of native vegetation on the property, the use of agricultural loans, property owner’s age, and livestock production experience. To curb deforestation that may follow expressed intentions of smallholders, the CAR, and environmental registration programs alike, should account for existing land use by, for example, improving the system already in place for trading areas of native vegetation as this system is not widely adopted by those smallholders with more native vegetation than the legal cut-off. Also, such programs should assess the role of whether conditions related to land cover maintenance may protect against deforestation if credit access is supported especially to younger smallholders and/or livestock producers with a high percentage of native vegetation in their properties.

Loss in species caused by tropical deforestation and their recovery through management

Treesearch

Ariel E. Lugo; John A. Parrotta; Sandra Brown

1993-01-01

The loss of species as a result of deforestation and degradation of tropical forest lands is widely discussed. Models based on island biogeography theory are used to evaluate the relationship between extinctions of species and deforestation. The analysis shows that natural resiliency causes the models to overestimate the rates of species extinctions for given...

Detecting and monitoring deforestation and forest degradation: Issues and obstacles for Southeast Asia

Treesearch

Douglas Muchoney; Sharon Hamann

2013-01-01

Forest degradation can be defined as the loss of forest volume, biomass and/or forest productivity caused by natural or human influences. Achieving Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) requires that deforestation and degradation can be efficiently, reliably, and cost-effectively detected and quantified, often where ground and aerial...

Mapping deforestation and forest degradation using Landsat time series: a case of Sumatra—Indonesia

Treesearch

Belinda Arunarwati Margono

2013-01-01

Indonesia experiences the second highest rate of deforestation among tropical countries (FAO 2005, 2010). Consequently, timely and accurate forest data are required to combat deforestation and forest degradation in support of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation policy initiatives. Remote sensing is considered as a significant data source for forest...

Nonmedical prescription opioid use and illegal drug use: initiation trajectory and related risks among people who use illegal drugs in Vancouver, Canada.

PubMed

Cheng, Tessa; Small, Will; Nosova, Ekaterina; Hogg, Bob; Hayashi, Kanna; Kerr, Thomas; DeBeck, Kora

2018-01-16

We investigated the prevalence of and risk factors associated with initiating nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) before and after illegal drugs using data from two linked cohort studies of street youth and adults who use illegal drugs in Vancouver, Canada. All participants who attended a study visit between 2013 and 2016 were eligible for the primary analyses. Among 512 youth and 833 adult participants, the prevalence of NMPOU was extremely high (88% among street youth; 90% among adults), and over one-third of those who reported engaging in NMPOU had initiated NMPOU before illegal drug use (vs. transitioning from illegal drugs to NMPOU). Participants who reported either transitioning to or from NMPOU had higher risk profiles, particularly related to substance use, when compared with those who reported never engaging in NMPOU. Sub-analyses restricted to only those who engaged in NMPOU found few statistically significant differences between those who initiated NMPOU prior to illegal drugs versus those who initiated illegal drugs prior to NMPOU. Findings suggest that among people who use illegal drugs, early NMPOU trajectories do not appear to critically shape future patterns and practices.

Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing

PubMed Central

Agnew, David J.; Pearce, John; Pramod, Ganapathiraju; Peatman, Tom; Watson, Reg; Beddington, John R.; Pitcher, Tony J.

2009-01-01

Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to overexploitation of fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of fish populations and ecosystems. This study is the first to undertake a world-wide analysis of illegal and unreported fishing. Reviewing the situation in 54 countries and on the high seas, we estimate that lower and upper estimates of the total value of current illegal and unreported fishing losses worldwide are between $10 bn and $23.5 bn annually, representing between 11 and 26 million tonnes. Our data are of sufficient resolution to detect regional differences in the level and trend of illegal fishing over the last 20 years, and we can report a significant correlation between governance and the level of illegal fishing. Developing countries are most at risk from illegal fishing, with total estimated catches in West Africa being 40% higher than reported catches. Such levels of exploitation severely hamper the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Although there have been some successes in reducing the level of illegal fishing in some areas, these developments are relatively recent and follow growing international focus on the problem. This paper provides the baseline against which successful action to curb illegal fishing can be judged. PMID:19240812

Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the dark web.

PubMed

Harrison, Joseph R; Roberts, David L; Hernandez-Castro, Julio

2016-08-01

Use of the internet as a trade platform has resulted in a shift in the illegal wildlife trade. Increased scrutiny of illegal wildlife trade has led to concerns that online trade of wildlife will move onto the dark web. To provide a baseline of illegal wildlife trade on the dark web, we downloaded and archived 9852 items (individual posts) from the dark web, then searched these based on a list of 121 keywords associated with illegal online wildlife trade, including 30 keywords associated with illegally traded elephant ivory on the surface web. Results were compared with items known to be illegally traded on the dark web, specifically cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, to compare the extent of the trade. Of these 121 keywords, 4 resulted in hits, of which only one was potentially linked to illegal wildlife trade. This sole case was the sale and discussion of Echinopsis pachanoi (San Pedro cactus), which has hallucinogenic properties. This negligible level of activity related to the illegal trade of wildlife on the dark web relative to the open and increasing trade on the surface web may indicate a lack of successful enforcement against illegal wildlife trade on the surface web. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Carrot or stick? Modelling how landowner behavioural responses can cause incentive-based forest governance to backfire.

PubMed

Henderson, Kirsten A; Anand, Madhur; Bauch, Chris T

2013-01-01

Mitigating the negative impacts of declining worldwide forest cover remains a significant socio-ecological challenge, due to the dominant role of human decision-making. Here we use a Markov chain model of land-use dynamics to examine the impact of governance on forest cover in a region. Each land parcel can be either forested or barren (deforested), and landowners decide whether to deforest their parcel according to perceived value (utility). We focus on three governance strategies: yearly incentive for conservation, one-time penalty for deforestation and one-time incentive for reforestation. The incentive and penalty are incorporated into the expected utility of forested land, which decreases the net gain of deforestation. By analyzing the equilibrium and stability of the landscape dynamics, we observe four possible outcomes: a stationary-forested landscape, a stationary-deforested landscape, an unstable landscape fluctuating near the equilibrium, and a cyclic-forested landscape induced by synchronized deforestation. We find that the two incentive-based strategies often result in highly fluctuating forest cover over decadal time scales or longer, and in a few cases, reforestation incentives actually decrease the average forest cover. In contrast, a penalty for deforestation results in the stable persistence of forest cover (generally >30%). The idea that larger conservation incentives will always yield higher and more stable forest cover is not supported in our findings. The decision to deforest is influenced by more than a simple, "rational" cost-benefit analysis: social learning and myopic, stochastic decision-making also have important effects. We conclude that design of incentive programs may need to account for potential counter-productive long-term effects due to behavioural feedbacks.

Deforestation and forest fires in Roraima and their relationship with phytoclimatic regions in the northern Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Barni, Paulo Eduardo; Pereira, Vaneza Barreto; Manzi, Antonio Ocimar; Barbosa, Reinaldo Imbrozio

2015-05-01

Deforestation and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon are a regional-scale anthropogenic process related to biomass burning, which has a direct impact on global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. Containment of this process requires characterizing its spatial distribution and that of the environmental factors related to its occurrence. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of deforested areas and forest fires in the State of Roraima from 2000 to 2010. We mapped deforested areas and forest fires using Landsat images and associated their occurrence with two phytoclimatic zones: zone with savanna influence (ZIS), and zone without savanna influence (ZOS). Total deforested area during the interval was estimated at 3.06 × 10(3) km(2) (ZIS = 55 %; ZOS = 45 %) while total area affected by forest fires was estimated at 3.02 × 10(3) km(2) (ZIS = 97.7 %; ZOS = 2.3 %). Magnitude of deforestation in Roraima was not related to the phytoclimatic zones, but small deforested areas (≤17.9 ha) predominated in ZOS while larger deforestation classes (>17.9 ha) predominated in ZIS, which is an area with a longer history of human activities. The largest occurrence of forest fires was observed in the ZIS in years with El Niño events. Our analysis indicates that the areas most affected by forest fires in Roraima during 2000-2010 were associated with strong climatic events and the occurrence these fires was amplified in ZIS, a sensitive phytoclimatic zone with a higher risk of anthropogenic fires given its drier climate and open forest structure.

Combined effects of deforestation and doubled atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations on the climate of Amazonia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Costa, M.H.; Foley, J.A.

2000-01-01

It is generally expected that the Amazon basin will experience at least two major environmental changes during the next few decades and centuries: (1) increasing areas of forest will be converted to pasture and cropland, and (2) concentrations of atmospheric CO{sub 2} will continue to rise. In this study, the authors use the National Center for Atmospheric Research GENESIS atmospheric general circulation model, coupled to the Integrated Biosphere Simulator, to determine the combined effects of large-scale deforestation and increased CO{sub 2} concentrations (including both physiological and radiative effects) on Amazonian climate. In these simulations, deforestation decreases basin-average precipitation by 0.73more » mm day{sup {minus}1} over the basin, as a consequence of the general reduction in vertical motion above the deforested area (although there are some small regions with increased vertical motion). The overall effect of doubled CO{sub 2} concentrations in Amazonia is an increase in basin-average precipitation of 0.28 mm day{sup {minus}1}. The combined effect of deforestation and doubled CO{sub 2}, including the interactions among the processes, is a decrease in the basin-average precipitation of 0.42 mm day{sup {minus}1}. While the effects of deforestation and increasing CO{sub 2} concentrations on precipitation tend to counteract one another, both processes work to warm the Amazon basin. The effect of deforestation and increasing CO{sub 2} concentrations both tent to increase surface temperature, mainly because of decreases in evapotranspiration and the radiative effect of CO{sub 2}. The combined effect of deforestation and doubled CO{sub 2}, including the interactions among the processes, increases the basin-average temperature by roughly 3.5 C.« less

Carrot or Stick? Modelling How Landowner Behavioural Responses Can Cause Incentive-Based Forest Governance to Backfire

PubMed Central

Henderson, Kirsten A.; Anand, Madhur; Bauch, Chris T.

2013-01-01

Mitigating the negative impacts of declining worldwide forest cover remains a significant socio-ecological challenge, due to the dominant role of human decision-making. Here we use a Markov chain model of land-use dynamics to examine the impact of governance on forest cover in a region. Each land parcel can be either forested or barren (deforested), and landowners decide whether to deforest their parcel according to perceived value (utility). We focus on three governance strategies: yearly incentive for conservation, one-time penalty for deforestation and one-time incentive for reforestation. The incentive and penalty are incorporated into the expected utility of forested land, which decreases the net gain of deforestation. By analyzing the equilibrium and stability of the landscape dynamics, we observe four possible outcomes: a stationary-forested landscape, a stationary-deforested landscape, an unstable landscape fluctuating near the equilibrium, and a cyclic-forested landscape induced by synchronized deforestation. We find that the two incentive-based strategies often result in highly fluctuating forest cover over decadal time scales or longer, and in a few cases, reforestation incentives actually decrease the average forest cover. In contrast, a penalty for deforestation results in the stable persistence of forest cover (generally >30%). The idea that larger conservation incentives will always yield higher and more stable forest cover is not supported in our findings. The decision to deforest is influenced by more than a simple, “rational” cost-benefit analysis: social learning and myopic, stochastic decision-making also have important effects. We conclude that design of incentive programs may need to account for potential counter-productive long-term effects due to behavioural feedbacks. PMID:24204942

Soil microbiome responses to the short-term effects of Amazonian deforestation.

PubMed

Navarrete, Acacio A; Tsai, Siu M; Mendes, Lucas W; Faust, Karoline; de Hollander, Mattias; Cassman, Noriko A; Raes, Jeroen; van Veen, Johannes A; Kuramae, Eiko E

2015-05-01

Slash-and-burn clearing of forest typically results in increase in soil nutrient availability. However, the impact of these nutrients on the soil microbiome is not known. Using next generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and shotgun metagenomic DNA, we compared the structure and the potential functions of bacterial community in forest soils to deforested soils in the Amazon region and related the differences to soil chemical factors. Deforestation decreased soil organic matter content and factors linked to soil acidity and raised soil pH, base saturation and exchangeable bases. Concomitant to expected changes in soil chemical factors, we observed an increase in the alpha diversity of the bacterial microbiota and relative abundances of putative copiotrophic bacteria such as Actinomycetales and a decrease in the relative abundances of bacterial taxa such as Chlamydiae, Planctomycetes and Verrucomicrobia in the deforested soils. We did not observe an increase in genes related to microbial nutrient metabolism in deforested soils. However, we did observe changes in community functions such as increases in DNA repair, protein processing, modification, degradation and folding functions, and these functions might reflect adaptation to changes in soil characteristics due to forest clear-cutting and burning. In addition, there were changes in the composition of the bacterial groups associated with metabolism-related functions. Co-occurrence microbial network analysis identified distinct phylogenetic patterns for forest and deforested soils and suggested relationships between Planctomycetes and aluminium content, and Actinobacteria and nitrogen sources in Amazon soils. The results support taxonomic and functional adaptations in the soil bacterial community following deforestation. We hypothesize that these microbial adaptations may serve as a buffer to drastic changes in soil fertility after slash-and-burning deforestation in the Amazon region. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tropical deforestation and the global carbon budget

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Melillo, J.M.; Kicklighter, D.W.; Houghton, R.A.

1996-12-31

The CO{sub 2} concentration of the atmosphere has increased by almost 30% since 1800. This increase is due largely to two factors: the combustion of fossil fuel and deforestation to create croplands and pastures. Deforestation results in a net flux of carbon to the atmospheric because forests contain 20--50 times more carbon per unit area than agricultural lands. In recent decades, the tropics have been the primary region of deforestation.The annual rate of CO{sub 2} released due to tropical deforestation during the early 1990s has been estimated at between 1.2 and 2.3 gigatons C. The range represents uncertainties about bothmore » the rates of deforestation and the amounts of carbon stored in different types of tropical forests at the time of cutting. An evaluation of the role of tropical regions in the global carbon budget must include both the carbon flux to the atmosphere due to deforestation and carbon accumulation, if any, in intact forests. In the early 1990s, the release of CO{sub 2} from tropical deforestation appears to have been mostly offset by CO{sub 2} uptake occurring elsewhere in the tropics, according to an analysis of recent trends in the atmospheric concentrations of O{sub 2} and N{sub 2}. Interannual variations in climate and/or CO{sub 2} fertilization may have been responsible for the CO{sub 2} uptake in intact forests. These mechanisms are consistent with site-specific measurements of net carbon fluxes between tropical forests and the atmosphere, and with regional and global simulations using process-based biogeochemistry models. 86 refs., 1 fig., 6 tabs.« less

An exploratory study of illegal gamblers in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Tessler, Andrew; El Beyrouty, Kareen; Crapnell, Natasha

2017-01-01

This study investigates the nature and behaviour of illegal gamblers in Hong Kong. A face-to-face street survey of 512 gamblers was conducted in Hong Kong between September and December 2015 with supplementary convenience sampling allowing for analysis of a total sample of 103 illegal gamblers. 56% of illegal gamblers recorded results consistent with this study's definition of 'excessive gambling' [i.e. moderate risk and problem gamblers under the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)]. 81% of surveyed illegal gamblers were male, 77% were aged between 30 and 49 and 67% were in blue collar occupations. Illegal gamblers bet more frequently on both legal and illegal games than their legal counterparts and spent more when they did bet. While this research did not indicate the direction of causality between illegal and excessive gambling, international work (de Bruin et al. in verslingerd aan meer dan een spel: Een onderzoek naar de aard en omvang van kansspelproblematiek in Nederland, WODC/CVO, Utrecht, http://www.lexandgaming.eu/nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Verslingerd-aan-meer-dan-een-spel.pdf, 2005; Binde in What are the most harmful forms of gambling? Analysing problem gambling prevalence surveys, http://www.utbildning.gu.se/digitalAssets/1327/1327132_cefos-wp12.pdf, 2011) suggests that excessive gamblers are drawn to illegal gambling. Reform could allow excessive gambling by illegal gamblers to be better addressed and initial work suggests some financial benefits to Hong Kong.

Do immigrants working illegally reduce the natives' legal employment? Evidence from Italy.

PubMed

Venturini, A

1999-01-01

This paper examines how immigrants working illegally in the shadow economy affect the legal employment of native and foreign workers in the official economy of Italy. The data set used was provided by the Central Statistical Office and includes information regarding the units of labor employed both in official production and in underground production; employment in the latter is subdivided into native workers and foreign workers. Estimates were then made as to how "legal employment" has reacted to changes in "illegal employment", with special reference to the effect of the foreign component of "illegal labor". The results of the cross sector-time series analysis of the demand for legal labor in the Italian economy from 1980 to 1995 showed that the increase of illegal units of labor produces a reduction in the use of legal labor, albeit a very limited one. An analysis by sectors shows that the competitive effects of illegal foreign workers is not homogeneous and is strongest in the agricultural sector while complementarity between the two categories of labor is evident in the nontradable services sector. When comparing the number of effects of illegal foreign and illegal native workers, illegal native workers are lower than the illegal foreign workers. Despite regularization in Italy and the lack of flexibility in the labor market, neither regular nor nonregular foreign workers have begun to openly displace native workers.

Tropical forest cover change in the 1990s and options for future monitoring

PubMed Central

Mayaux, Philippe; Holmgren, Peter; Achard, Frédéric; Eva, Hugh; Stibig, Hans-Jürgen; Branthomme, Anne

2005-01-01

Despite the importance of the world's humid tropical forests, our knowledge concerning their rates of change remains limited. Two recent programmes (FAO 2000 Forest Resources Assessment and TREES II), exploiting the global imaging capabilities of Earth observing satellites, have recently been completed to provide information on the dynamics of tropical forest cover. The results from these independent studies show a high degree of conformity and provide a good understanding of trends at the pan-tropical level. In 1990 there were some 1150 million ha of tropical rain forest with the area of the humid tropics deforested annually estimated at 5.8 million ha (approximately twice the size of Belgium). A further 2.3 million ha of humid forest is apparently degraded annually through fragmentation, logging and/or fires. In the sub-humid and dry tropics, annual deforestation of tropical moist deciduous and tropical dry forests comes to 2.2 and 0.7 million ha, respectively. Southeast Asia is the region where forests are under the highest pressure with an annual change rate of −0.8 to −0.9%. The annual area deforested in Latin America is large, but the relative rate (−0.4 to −0.5%) is lower, owing to the vast area covered by the remaining Amazonian forests. The humid forests of Africa are being converted at a similar rate to those of Latin America (−0.4 to −0.5% per year). During this period, secondary forests have also been established, through re-growth on abandoned land and forest plantations, but with different ecological, biophysical and economic characteristics compared with primary forests. These trends are significant in all regions, but the extent of new forest cover has proven difficult to establish. These results, as well as the lack of more detailed knowledge, clearly demonstrate the need to improve sound scientific evidence to support policy. The two projects provide useful guidance for future monitoring efforts in the context of multilateral environmental agreements and of international aid, trade and development partnerships. Methodologically, the use of high-resolution remote sensing in representative samples has been shown to be cost-effective. Close collaboration between tropical institutions and inter-governmental organizations proved to be a fruitful arrangement in the different projects. To properly assist decision-making, monitoring and assessments should primarily be addressed at the national level, which also corresponds to the ratification level of the multilateral environmental agreements. The Forest Resources Assessment 2000 deforestation statistics from countries are consistent with the satellite-based estimates in Asia and America, but are significantly different in Africa, highlighting the particular need for long-term capacity-building activities in this continent. PMID:15814351

Tropical forest cover change in the 1990s and options for future monitoring.

PubMed

Mayaux, Philippe; Holmgren, Peter; Achard, Frédéric; Eva, Hugh; Stibig, Hans-Jürgen; Branthomme, Anne

2005-02-28

Despite the importance of the world's humid tropical forests, our knowledge concerning their rates of change remains limited. Two recent programmes (FAO 2000 Forest Resources Assessment and TREES II), exploiting the global imaging capabilities of Earth observing satellites, have recently been completed to provide information on the dynamics of tropical forest cover. The results from these independent studies show a high degree of conformity and provide a good understanding of trends at the pan-tropical level. In 1990 there were some 1150 million ha of tropical rain forest with the area of the humid tropics deforested annually estimated at 5.8 million ha (approximately twice the size of Belgium). A further 2.3 million ha of humid forest is apparently degraded annually through fragmentation, logging and/or fires. In the sub-humid and dry tropics, annual deforestation of tropical moist deciduous and tropical dry forests comes to 2.2 and 0.7 million ha, respectively. Southeast Asia is the region where forests are under the highest pressure with an annual change rate of -0.8 to -0.9%. The annual area deforested in Latin America is large, but the relative rate (-0.4 to -0.5%) is lower, owing to the vast area covered by the remaining Amazonian forests. The humid forests of Africa are being converted at a similar rate to those of Latin America (-0.4 to -0.5% per year). During this period, secondary forests have also been established, through re-growth on abandoned land and forest plantations, but with different ecological, biophysical and economic characteristics compared with primary forests. These trends are significant in all regions, but the extent of new forest cover has proven difficult to establish. These results, as well as the lack of more detailed knowledge, clearly demonstrate the need to improve sound scientific evidence to support policy. The two projects provide useful guidance for future monitoring efforts in the context of multilateral environmental agreements and of international aid, trade and development partnerships. Methodologically, the use of high-resolution remote sensing in representative samples has been shown to be cost-effective. Close collaboration between tropical institutions and inter-governmental organizations proved to be a fruitful arrangement in the different projects. To properly assist decision-making, monitoring and assessments should primarily be addressed at the national level, which also corresponds to the ratification level of the multilateral environmental agreements. The Forest Resources Assessment 2000 deforestation statistics from countries are consistent with the satellite-based estimates in Asia and America, but are significantly different in Africa, highlighting the particular need for long-term capacity-building activities in this continent.

Deforestation and climate feedbacks threaten the ecological integrity of south–southeastern Amazonia

PubMed Central

Coe, Michael T.; Marthews, Toby R.; Costa, Marcos Heil; Galbraith, David R.; Greenglass, Nora L.; Imbuzeiro, Hewlley M. A.; Levine, Naomi M.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Moorcroft, Paul R.; Muza, Michel Nobre; Powell, Thomas L.; Saleska, Scott R.; Solorzano, Luis A.; Wang, Jingfeng

2013-01-01

A mosaic of protected areas, including indigenous lands, sustainable-use production forests and reserves and strictly protected forests is the cornerstone of conservation in the Amazon, with almost 50 per cent of the region now protected. However, recent research indicates that isolation from direct deforestation or degradation may not be sufficient to maintain the ecological integrity of Amazon forests over the next several decades. Large-scale changes in fire and drought regimes occurring as a result of deforestation and greenhouse gas increases may result in forest degradation, regardless of protected status. How severe or widespread these feedbacks will be is uncertain, but the arc of deforestation in south–southeastern Amazonia appears to be particularly vulnerable owing to high current deforestation rates and ecological sensitivity to climate change. Maintaining forest ecosystem integrity may require significant strengthening of forest conservation on private property, which can in part be accomplished by leveraging existing policy mechanisms. PMID:23610166

The Climate Effects of Deforestation the Amazon Rainforest under Global Warming Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werth, D.; Avissar, R.

2006-12-01

Replacement of tropical rainforests has been observed to have a strong drying effect in Amazon simulations, with effects reaching high into the atmospheric column and into the midlatitudes. The drying effects of deforestation, however, can be moderated by the effects of global warming, which should accelerate the hydrologic cycle of the Amazon. The effects of a prescribed, time-varying Amazon deforestation done in conjunction with a steady, moderate increase in CO2 concentrations are determined using a climate model. The model agrees with previous studies when each forcing is applied individually - compared to a control run, Amazon deforestation decreases the local precipitation and global warming increases it. When both are applied, however, the precipitation and other hydrologic variables decrease, but to a lesser extent than when deforestation alone was applied. In effect, the two effects act opposite to one another and bring the simulated climate closer to that of the control.

The Impact of Amazonian Deforestation on Dry-Season Rainfall

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Negri, Andrew J.; Adler, Robert F.; Xu, Li-Ming; Surratt, Jason; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Many modeling studies have concluded that widespread deforestation of Amazonia would lead to decreased rainfall. We analyze geosynchronous infrared satellite data with respect percent cloudiness, and analyze rain estimates from microwave sensors aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. We conclude that in the dry-season, when the effects of the surface are not overwhelmed by synoptic-scale weather disturbances, deep convective cloudiness, as well as rainfall occurrence, all increase over the deforested and non-forested (savanna) regions. This is in response to a local circulation initiated by the differential heating of the region's varying forestation. Analysis of the diurnal cycle of cloudiness reveals a shift toward afternoon hours in the deforested and savanna regions, compared to the forested regions. Analysis of 14 years of data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager data revealed that only in August did rainfall amounts increase over the deforested region.

Deforestation and climate feedbacks threaten the ecological integrity of south-southeastern Amazonia.

PubMed

Coe, Michael T; Marthews, Toby R; Costa, Marcos Heil; Galbraith, David R; Greenglass, Nora L; Imbuzeiro, Hewlley M A; Levine, Naomi M; Malhi, Yadvinder; Moorcroft, Paul R; Muza, Michel Nobre; Powell, Thomas L; Saleska, Scott R; Solorzano, Luis A; Wang, Jingfeng

2013-06-05

A mosaic of protected areas, including indigenous lands, sustainable-use production forests and reserves and strictly protected forests is the cornerstone of conservation in the Amazon, with almost 50 per cent of the region now protected. However, recent research indicates that isolation from direct deforestation or degradation may not be sufficient to maintain the ecological integrity of Amazon forests over the next several decades. Large-scale changes in fire and drought regimes occurring as a result of deforestation and greenhouse gas increases may result in forest degradation, regardless of protected status. How severe or widespread these feedbacks will be is uncertain, but the arc of deforestation in south-southeastern Amazonia appears to be particularly vulnerable owing to high current deforestation rates and ecological sensitivity to climate change. Maintaining forest ecosystem integrity may require significant strengthening of forest conservation on private property, which can in part be accomplished by leveraging existing policy mechanisms.

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not discriminate on the basis of illegal use of drugs against an individual who is not engaging in current illegal...) A public entity shall not deny health services, or services provided in connection with drug...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... connection with drug rehabilitation, to an individual on the basis of that individual's current illegal use... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public... engaging in current illegal use of drugs and who— (i) Has successfully completed a supervised drug...

Can a sample of Landsat sensor scenes reliably estimate the global extent of tropical deforestation?

Treesearch

R. L. Czaplewski

2003-01-01

Tucker and Townshend (2000) conclude that wall-to-wall coverage is needed to avoid gross errors in estimations of deforestation rates' because tropical deforestation is concentrated along roads and rivers. They specifically question the reliability of the 10% sample of Landsat sensor scenes used in the global remote sensing survey conducted by the Food and...

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

PubMed Central

Carr, David L.

2009-01-01

Forest conversion for agriculture expansion is the most salient signature of human occupation of the earth’s land surface. Although population growth and deforestation are significantly associated at the global and regional scales, evidence for population links to deforestation at micro-scales—where people are actually clearing0020forests—is scant. Much of the planet’s forest elimination is proceeding along tropical agricultural frontiers. This article examines the evolution of thought on population–environment theories relevant to deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers. Four primary ways by which population dynamics interact with frontier forest conversion are examined: population density, fertility, and household demographic composition, and in-migration. PMID:19672475

Social and economic causes of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon basin: Natives and colonists. Working paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garland, E.B.

1991-03-01

The people in the Peruvian Amazon directly engaged in agriculture are the leading cause of deforestation; and can be divided into two groups, colonists and indigenous groups. The factors affecting the rate at which each group causes deforestation differ. The paper explores these differences in Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley (the principal coca producing region in the world), focusing on the interrelationships between land availability, land tenure laws, and market forces on one hand, and agricultural intensification and deforestation on the other. The study concludes that the technological decisions of the two groups are guided by diverse sets of socioeconomic factors.

The process of deforestation in weak democracies and the role of Intelligence.

PubMed

Obydenkova, Anastassia; Nazarov, Zafar; Salahodjaev, Raufhon

2016-07-01

This article examines the interconnection between national intelligence, political institutions, and the mismanagement of public resources (deforestations). The paper examines the reasons for deforestation and investigates the factors accountable for it. The analysis builds on authors-compiled cross-national dataset on 185 countries over the time period of twenty years, from 1990 to 2010. We find that, first, nation's intelligence reduces significantly the level of deforestation in a state. Moreover, the nations' IQ seems to play an offsetting role in the natural resource conservation (forest management) in the countries with weak democratic institutions. The analysis also discovered the presence of the U-shaped relationship between democracy and deforestation. Intelligence sheds more light on this interconnection and explains the results. Our results are robust to various sample selection strategies and model specifications. The main implication from our study is that intelligence not only shapes formal rules and informal regulations such as social trust, norms and traditions but also it has the ability to reverse the paradoxical process known as "resource curse." The study contributes to better understanding of reasons of deforestation and shed light on the debated impact of political regime on forest management. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pre-Columbian deforestation as an amplifier of drought in Mesoamerica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, B. I.; Anchukaitis, K. J.; Kaplan, J. O.; Puma, M. J.; Kelley, M.; Gueyffier, D.

2012-08-01

Droughts in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica caused significant societal disruptions during the Late Classic and Post-Classic Periods. While the primary causes of these droughts are still debated, it has been speculated that they may be linked to extensive deforestation associated with high population densities during these intervals. Here we show that pre-Columbian deforestation would have biased the climate in Mesoamerica towards a drier mean state, amplifying drought in the region. In climate model simulations using a pre-Columbian land cover reconstruction, annual precipitation decreases by 5%-15% throughout southern Mexico and the Yucatán compared to simulations using either natural forest cover or forest regrowth associated with population declines after 1500 C.E. These changes are driven primarily by large reductions (10%-20%) in precipitation during the late summer wet season (August-September). When compared to precipitation changes estimated to have occurred during the Maya collapse, our results suggest that deforestation could account for up to sixty percent of the mean drying during this interval. Many regions previously deforested in the pre-Columbian era are now under dense forest cover, indicating potential future climate impacts should tropical deforestation of these areas accelerate.

Environmental predictors of pre-European deforestation on Pacific islands.

PubMed

Rolett, Barry; Diamond, Jared

2004-09-23

Some Pacific island societies, such as those of Easter Island and Mangareva, inadvertently contributed to their own collapse by causing massive deforestation. Others retained forest cover and survived. How can those fateful differences be explained? Although the answers undoubtedly involve both different cultural responses of peoples and different susceptibilities of environments, how can one determine which environmental factors predispose towards deforestation and which towards replacement of native trees with useful introduced tree species? Here we code European-contact conditions and nine environmental variables for 81 sites on 69 Pacific islands from Yap in the west to Easter in the east, and from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south. We thereby detect statistical decreases in deforestation and/or forest replacement with island rainfall, elevation, area, volcanic ash fallout, Asian dust transport and makatea terrain (uplifted reef), and increases with latitude, age and isolation. Comparative analyses of deforestation therefore lend themselves to much more detailed interpretations than previously possible. These results might be relevant to similar deforestation-associated collapses (for example, Fertile Crescent, Maya and Anasazi) or the lack thereof (Japan and highland New Guinea) elsewhere in the world.

Evaluating Regional Scale Deforestation in the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longobardi, P.; Montenegro, A.; Beltrami, H.; Eby, M.

2011-12-01

Forests play a key role in influencing the Earths climate and at the same time are affected by changing climates. At this point it is estimated that 15-30% of Earths natural forests have already been converted to pasture or cropland. With such large amounts of forest being converted to cropland and grassland, it is important to determine the climatic effects of these actions. To date, most modelling efforts towards understanding the climatic effects of deforestation have simulated global deforestation or have been based on experiments where trees were removed from large areas, i.e. the entire Amazon or all forests above 50 N. Here we use the University of Victoria Earth System Climate model which contains a fully coupled carbon cycle, to evaluate the response to deforestation of 10%, 25%, 50% and 100% of the forested areas in three latitude bands: high (above 50°N), mid (above ± 30°) and low (between ± 30°). All simulations were transient simulations, allowing for changes to atmospheric forcings following the A2 emissions scenario. High latitude deforestation lead to cooling (-.05 °C to -0.45 °C) and increase in soil carbon (0.5 to 3 x 1014 kg) for all fractions of deforestation. Due in part to the increase in soil carbon, there was a decrease in atmospheric CO2 in the 50% (-20 ppm) and 100% (-60 ppm) high-latitude deforestation simulations. Low-latitude deforestation initially produced warming in all scenarios (0.1 to 0.25 °C), although all were colder (-0.05 to -0.1 °C) than the control by the end of the simulation. Atmospheric CO2 increased in all simulations (40 to 80 ppm), as well as soil carbon (2 to 16 x 1013 kg). Mid-latitude deforestation also lead to initial warming (0.01 to 0.1 °C) followed by cooling (-0.01 to -0.1 °C). Mid latitude deforestation also produced an increase in soil carbon (2 to 10 x 1013 kg), and atmospheric CO2 (0 to 25ppm). In all three latitude bands forest dieback was observed. Results range from 7% to 37% for high latitudes, 21% to 40% for mid latitudes and 36% to 70% in low latitudes.

Deforestation scenarios for the Bolivian lowlands.

PubMed

Tejada, Graciela; Dalla-Nora, Eloi; Cordoba, Diana; Lafortezza, Raffaele; Ovando, Alex; Assis, Talita; Aguiar, Ana Paula

2016-01-01

Tropical forests in South America play a key role in the provision of ecosystem services such as carbon sinks, biodiversity conservation, and global climate regulation. In previous decades, Bolivian forests have mainly been deforested by the expansion of agricultural frontier development, driven by the growing demands for beef and other productions. In the mid-2000s the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party rose to power in Bolivia with the promise of promoting an alternative development model that would respect the environment. The party passed the world's first laws granting rights to the environment, which they termed Mother Earth (Law No. 300 of 2012), and proposed an innovative framework that was expected to develop radical new conservation policies. The MAS conservationist discourse, policies, and productive practices, however, have since been in permanent tension. The government continues to guarantee food production through neo-extractivist methods by promoting the notion to expand agriculture from 3 to 13 million ha, risking the tropical forests and their ecosystem services. These actions raise major environmental and social concerns, as the potential impacts of such interventions are still unknown. The objective of this study is to explore an innovative land use modeling approach to simulate how the growing demand for land could affect future deforestation trends in Bolivia. We use the LuccME framework to create a spatially-explicit land cover change model and run it under three different deforestation scenarios, spanning from the present-2050. In the Sustainability scenario, deforestation reaches 17,703,786 ha, notably in previously deforested or degraded areas, while leaving forest extensions intact. In the Middle of the road scenario, deforestation and degradation move toward new or paved roads spreading across 25,698,327 ha in 2050, while intact forests are located in Protected Areas (PAs). In the Fragmentation scenario, deforestation expands to almost all Bolivian lowlands reaching 37,944,434 ha and leaves small forest patches in a few PAs. These deforestation scenarios are not meant to predict the future but to show how current and future decisions carried out by the neo-extractivist practices of MAS government could affect deforestation and carbon emission trends. In this perspective, recognizing land use systems as open and dynamic systems is a central challenge in designing efficient land use policies and managing a transition towards sustainable land use. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The carbon debt from Amazon forest degradation: integrating airborne lidar, field measurements, and an ecosystem demography model.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longo, M.; Keller, M. M.; dos-Santos, M. N.; Scaranello, M. A., Sr.; Pinagé, E. R.; Leitold, V.; Morton, D. C.

2016-12-01

Amazon deforestation has declined over the last decade, yet forest degradation from logging, fire, and fragmentation continue to impact forest carbon stocks and fluxes. The magnitude of this impact remains uncertain, and observation-based studies are often limited by short time intervals or small study areas. To better understand the long-term impact of forest degradation and recovery, we have been developing a framework that integrates field plot measurements and airborne lidar surveys into an individual- and process-based model (Ecosystem Demography model, ED). We modeled forest dynamics for three forest landscapes in the Amazon with diverse degradation histories: conventional and reduced-impact logging, logging and burning, and multiple burns. Based on the initialization with contemporary forest structure and composition, model results suggest that degraded forests rapidly recover (30 years) water and energy fluxes compared with old-growth, even at sites that were affected by multiple fires. However, degraded forests maintained different carbon stocks and fluxes even after 100 years without further disturbances, because of persistent differences in forest structure and composition. Recurrent disturbances may hinder the recovery of degraded forests. Simulations using a simple fire model entirely dependent on environmental controls indicate that the most degraded forests would take much longer to reach biomass typical of old-growth forests, because drier conditions near the ground make subsequent fires more intense and more recurrent. Fires in tropical forests are also closely related to nearby human activities; while results suggest an important feedback between fires and the microenvironment, additional work is needed to improve how the model represents the human impact on current and future fire regimes. Our study highlights that recovery of degraded forests may act as an important carbon sink, but efficient recovery depends on controlling future disturbances.

Allocating Logging Rights in Peruvian Amazonia—Does It Matter to Be Local?

PubMed Central

Salo, Matti; Helle, Samuli; Toivonen, Tuuli

2011-01-01

Background The fate of tropical forests is a global concern, yet many far-reaching decisions affecting forest resources are made locally. We explore allocation of logging rights using a case study from Loreto, Peruvian Amazonia, where millions of hectares of tropical rainforest were offered for concession in a competitive tendering process that addressed issues related to locality. Methodology/Principal Findings After briefly presenting the study area and the tendering process, we identify and define local and non-local actors taking part in the concession process. We then analyse their tenders, results of the tendering, and attributes of the concession areas. Our results show that there was more offer than demand for concession land in the tendering. The number of tenders the concession areas received was related to their size and geographic location in relation to the major cities, but not to their estimated timber volumes or median distances from transport routes. Small and Loreto-based actors offered lower yearly area-based fees compared to larger ones, but the offers did not significantly affect the results of the tenders. Local experience in the form of logging history or residence near the solicited concession areas, as well as being registered in the region of Loreto, improved the success of the tenders. Conclusions/Significance The allocation process left a considerable number of forest areas under the management of small and local actors, and if Peru is to reach its goal of zero deforestation rate by safeguarding 75 per cent of its forests by 2020, the small and the local actors need to be integrated to the forest regime as important constituents of its legitimacy. PMID:21589922

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

50 CFR 12.32 - Effect of prior illegality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Effect of prior illegality. 12.32 Section... PLANTS SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE PROCEDURES Disposal of Forfeited or Abandoned Property § 12.32 Effect of prior illegality. The effect of any prior illegality on a subsequent holder of any wildlife or plant...

Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting.

PubMed

Duffy, Rosaleen; St John, Freya A V; Büscher, Bram; Brockington, Dan

2016-02-01

Conservation organizations have increasingly raised concerns about escalating rates of illegal hunting and trade in wildlife. Previous studies have concluded that people hunt illegally because they are financially poor or lack alternative livelihood strategies. However, there has been little attempt to develop a richer understanding of the motivations behind contemporary illegal wildlife hunting. As a first step, we reviewed the academic and policy literatures on poaching and illegal wildlife use and considered the meanings of poverty and the relative importance of structure and individual agency. We placed motivations for illegal wildlife hunting within the context of the complex history of how wildlife laws were initially designed and enforced to indicate how hunting practices by specific communities were criminalized. We also considered the nature of poverty and the reasons for economic deprivation in particular communities to indicate how particular understandings of poverty as material deprivation ultimately shape approaches to illegal wildlife hunting. We found there is a need for a much better understanding of what poverty is and what motivates people to hunt illegally. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting

PubMed Central

Duffy, Rosaleen; St John, Freya A. V.; Büscher, Bram; Brockington, Dan

2015-01-01

Abstract Conservation organizations have increasingly raised concerns about escalating rates of illegal hunting and trade in wildlife. Previous studies have concluded that people hunt illegally because they are financially poor or lack alternative livelihood strategies. However, there has been little attempt to develop a richer understanding of the motivations behind contemporary illegal wildlife hunting. As a first step, we reviewed the academic and policy literatures on poaching and illegal wildlife use and considered the meanings of poverty and the relative importance of structure and individual agency. We placed motivations for illegal wildlife hunting within the context of the complex history of how wildlife laws were initially designed and enforced to indicate how hunting practices by specific communities were criminalized. We also considered the nature of poverty and the reasons for economic deprivation in particular communities to indicate how particular understandings of poverty as material deprivation ultimately shape approaches to illegal wildlife hunting. We found there is a need for a much better understanding of what poverty is and what motivates people to hunt illegally. PMID:26332105

Simulating Deforestation and Carbon Loss in Amazonia: Impacts in Brazil's Roraima State from Reconstructing Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barni, Paulo Eduardo; Fearnside, Philip Martin; Graça, Paulo Maurício Lima de Alencastro

2015-02-01

Reconstruction of Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) would allow for access from the "arc of deforestation" in the southern part of Brazil's Amazon region to vast blocks of forests in central and northern Amazonia. Building roads is known to be a major driver of deforestation, allowing entry of squatters, and other actors. Rather than deforestation along the highway route, here we consider the road's potential for stimulating deforestation in a separate location, approximately 550 km north of BR-319's endpoint in Manaus. Reconstructing BR-319 has great potential impact to start a new wave of migration to this remote region. The southern portion of the state of Roraima, the focus of our study, is already connected to Manaus by Highway BR-174. We modeled deforestation in southern Roraima and simulated carbon emissions between 2007 and 2030 under four scenarios. Simulations used the AGROECO model in DINAMICA-EGO software. Two scenarios were considered with reconstruction of BR-319 and two without this road connection. For each of the two possibilities regarding BR-319, simulations were developed for (1) a "conservation" (CONSERV) scenario that assumes the creation of a series of protected areas, and (2) a "business-as-usual" (BAU) scenario that assumes no additional protected areas. Results show that by 2030, with BR-319 rebuilt, deforestation carbon emissions would increase between 19 % (CONSERV) and 42 % (BAU) over and above those corresponding to no-road scenarios.

Simulating deforestation and carbon loss in Amazonia: impacts in Brazil's Roraima state from reconstructing Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho).

PubMed

Barni, Paulo Eduardo; Fearnside, Philip Martin; Graça, Paulo Maurício Lima de Alencastro

2015-02-01

Reconstruction of Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) would allow for access from the "arc of deforestation" in the southern part of Brazil's Amazon region to vast blocks of forests in central and northern Amazonia. Building roads is known to be a major driver of deforestation, allowing entry of squatters, and other actors. Rather than deforestation along the highway route, here we consider the road's potential for stimulating deforestation in a separate location, approximately 550 km north of BR-319's endpoint in Manaus. Reconstructing BR-319 has great potential impact to start a new wave of migration to this remote region. The southern portion of the state of Roraima, the focus of our study, is already connected to Manaus by Highway BR-174. We modeled deforestation in southern Roraima and simulated carbon emissions between 2007 and 2030 under four scenarios. Simulations used the AGROECO model in DINAMICA-EGO © software. Two scenarios were considered with reconstruction of BR-319 and two without this road connection. For each of the two possibilities regarding BR-319, simulations were developed for (1) a "conservation" (CONSERV) scenario that assumes the creation of a series of protected areas, and (2) a "business-as-usual" (BAU) scenario that assumes no additional protected areas. Results show that by 2030, with BR-319 rebuilt, deforestation carbon emissions would increase between 19% (CONSERV) and 42% (BAU) over and above those corresponding to no-road scenarios.

Local and remote climatic impacts due to land use degradation in the Amazon "Arc of Deforestation"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Maria Elisa Siqueira; Pereira, Gabriel; da Rocha, Rosmeri Porfírio

2016-08-01

Many numerical studies, among them, global and regional models, have been used to simulate climatic impact due to Amazon deforestation. Most of them did not consider deforestation as usually observed and the induced dynamic changes. The present study explores the physical impacts due to Amazon deforestation by considering local and remote changes in the circulation and thermodynamics. For this, numerical experiments were conducted with RegCM3 using a relatively fine horizontal grid spacing (50 km), more realistic deforested areas (similar to the highway-network-shaped), and an updated land use map. The studied period was 2001-2006 October-March. As in most previous studies focusing on Amazon deforestation, the RegCM3-simulated air temperature increases over degraded areas, ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 °C, and precipitation decreases of around 10 %. This result is mainly related to depletion in evapotranspiration rates provided by lesser soil water extraction by the degraded vegetation. The weakening of upward motion in the mid-upper troposphere is an associated mechanism that explains the precipitation decrease after Amazon deforestation. A new result is the simulated precipitation increase, about 10 %, over the eastern South America and the adjacent South Atlantic Ocean. In these areas, the precipitation increase during October-March is associated with intensification of upper-level high pressure (the Bolivian high) coupled with negative geopotential height anomalies southeastward of the center of the high.

Spatial and temporal patterns of deforestation in Rio Cajarí Extrative Reserve, Amapá, Brazil.

PubMed

Funi, Claudia; Paese, Adriana

2012-01-01

The Rio Cajarí Extractive Reserve (RCER) is a sustainable use protected area located in Southern Amapá state, Brazil. This protected area is home to traditional agro-extractive families, but has been increasingly invaded by commercial agriculture producers. In this work, we test the hypothesis that the RCER implementation has distinctly affected spatial patterns of deforestation and rates of bare soil and secondary forest formation by the social groups occupying the protected area and its surrounding area. Detailed maps of vegetation cover and deforestation were elaborated, based on Landsat TM images from 1991, 1998, 2007 and 2008 and Linear Spectral Mixture Models. Based on an extensive fieldwork, patches were classified according to the agents causing deforestation and characterized with ten explanatory variables. A discriminant function analysis was used to identify homogeneous groups based on the data. Results show increased rates and distinct spatial patterns of deforestation by three groups: extractivists, non traditional commercial agriculture producers, and a less representative group constituted of miners, cattle and timber producers. In all analyzed dates, clearings by the extrativist community presented the highest total area and smaller average sizes and were located in close proximity to villages. Deforestation patches by the non-traditional group were exclusively associated with ombrophilous forests; these presented higher average sizes and proximity indexes, and showed increased aggregation and large cluster formation. No significant differences were observed in deforestation patterns by the three groups inside or outside the reserve.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Deforestation in Rio Cajarí Extrative Reserve, Amapá, Brazil

PubMed Central

Funi, Claudia; Paese, Adriana

2012-01-01

The Rio Cajarí Extractive Reserve (RCER) is a sustainable use protected area located in Southern Amapá state, Brazil. This protected area is home to traditional agro-extractive families, but has been increasingly invaded by commercial agriculture producers. In this work, we test the hypothesis that the RCER implementation has distinctly affected spatial patterns of deforestation and rates of bare soil and secondary forest formation by the social groups occupying the protected area and its surrounding area. Detailed maps of vegetation cover and deforestation were elaborated, based on Landsat TM images from 1991, 1998, 2007 and 2008 and Linear Spectral Mixture Models. Based on an extensive fieldwork, patches were classified according to the agents causing deforestation and characterized with ten explanatory variables. A discriminant function analysis was used to identify homogeneous groups based on the data. Results show increased rates and distinct spatial patterns of deforestation by three groups: extractivists, non traditional commercial agriculture producers, and a less representative group constituted of miners, cattle and timber producers. In all analyzed dates, clearings by the extrativist community presented the highest total area and smaller average sizes and were located in close proximity to villages. Deforestation patches by the non-traditional group were exclusively associated with ombrophilous forests; these presented higher average sizes and proximity indexes, and showed increased aggregation and large cluster formation. No significant differences were observed in deforestation patterns by the three groups inside or outside the reserve. PMID:23284806

Quantifying the risk of deforestation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manners, Rhys; Varela-Ortega, Consuelo

2015-04-01

Latin American and Caribbean countries have seen considerable deforestation due to a complex web of interconnected and interdependent causes, which include agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, social demographics and governmental policies and activity. It is necessary for successful and efficient policy development to understand how variability in these causes can potentially result in increased or decreased deforestation. The purpose of this study is to develop a tool that can quantify the risk, as in the threat or pressure, of potential deforestation, whilst identifying the key indicators that contribute to this risk. This tool will take the form of a composite index that will provide spatial and temporal trends of deforestation risk across Latin America and the Caribbean. The development of the Deforestation Risk Index (DRI) was based upon work performed in the EU project ROBIN1. Indicators of deforestation included in the index were identified based upon the multi-scalar approach adopted in ROBIN- nationally from principal component analysis and econometric modelling, provincially from extensive interviews with experts and farmers (subsistence and commercial) in Amazonian regions of Bolivia and Brazil, and locally from stakeholder workshops in Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico. The identification process was supported by an extensive literature review. In total, 11 indicators were identified and grouped into four components (biophysical, economic, governance and social) capable of explaining the risk of deforestation in Latin America and Caribbean countries. The DRI was calculated for 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the years 2000, 2005 and 2010 using national-level data collected from open access databases (FAOStat, WorldBank and UNDP). The DRI was subjected to two weighting schemes; the first based upon the opinions of experts from ROBIN (weighted biophysical and governance components heavily), and the second developed from the results of the ROBIN stakeholder workshops (heavily weighted the governance component). The results from the DRI were categorised as; low risk, moderate risk, at risk, elevated risk, high risk and extreme risk. The DRI demonstrated that in over 60% of countries, the risk of deforestation reduced between 2000-2010 with Belize, Costa Rica, Guyana and Venezuela being notable exceptions. Countries that saw reductions in their risk did so through economic growth (per capita GDP), institutional development (governmental effectiveness and regulatory quality), as well reductions in the scale of agricultural expansion. Despite the general trend towards lower risk, Amazonian countries were still found to be subject to potential deforestation. Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Suriname were estimated to have an elevated risk of deforestation, with Brazil, Colombia and Peru considered to be at risk in 2010. The DRI provides an innovative, potentially multi-scalar tool, that can be used by national policy makers to identify where policies should be developed and directed, where specific measures in international programs such as REDD/+ could be most effectively pursued, and for international policy makers to identify and to tailor development or aid packages that reduce rather than contribute to deforestation.

Which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition? About OPPIDUM survey.

PubMed

Frauger, Elisabeth; Nordmann, Sandra; Orleans, Veronica; Pradel, Vincent; Pauly, Vanessa; Thirion, Xavier; Micallef, Joëlle

2012-08-01

The objective of the study was to determine which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition. OPPIDUM is an annual national study. It is based on specialized care centers that included subjects presenting a drug dependency or under opiate maintenance treatment. All their psychoactive substances consumed are reported. This work focuses on the different ways of acquisition specially the illegal ways of acquisition (bought on the street, forged prescription, stolen, given, internet). For each medication illegally obtained, a ratio has been calculated (number of illegal acquisitions divided by the number of described acquisitions). In 2008, 5542 subjects have been included and have described the consumption of 11 027 substances including 63.8% of prescription drugs. Among them, 11% were illegally obtained. The different illegal acquisition ways were 'street market' (77.6%), 'gift' (16.6%), 'theft' (2.3%), 'forged prescription' (2.3%), and 'internet' (0.7%). The third first drugs illegally obtained were high dosage buprenorphine, methadone, and clonazepam. Some prescription drugs, less consumed, have an important ratio of illegal acquisition like ketamine, flunitrazepam, morphine, trihexyphenidyl, or methylphenidate. This study confirms that theft, forged prescription and internet are few used and permits to highlight diversion of prescription drugs. It is important to inform healthcare professionals on the different prescription drugs that are illegally obtained. © 2011 The Authors Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology © 2011 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.

Spatiotemporal trends of illegal activities from ranger-collected data in a Ugandan national park.

PubMed

Critchlow, R; Plumptre, A J; Driciru, M; Rwetsiba, A; Stokes, E J; Tumwesigye, C; Wanyama, F; Beale, C M

2015-10-01

Within protected areas, biodiversity loss is often a consequence of illegal resource use. Understanding the patterns and extent of illegal activities is therefore essential for effective law enforcement and prevention of biodiversity declines. We used extensive data, commonly collected by ranger patrols in many protected areas, and Bayesian hierarchical models to identify drivers, trends, and distribution of multiple illegal activities within the Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA), Uganda. Encroachment (e.g., by pastoralists with cattle) and poaching of noncommercial animals (e.g., snaring bushmeat) were the most prevalent illegal activities within the QECA. Illegal activities occurred in different areas of the QECA. Poaching of noncommercial animals was most widely distributed within the national park. Overall, ecological covariates, although significant, were not useful predictors for occurrence of illegal activities. Instead, the location of illegal activities in previous years was more important. There were significant increases in encroachment and noncommercial plant harvesting (nontimber products) during the study period (1999-2012). We also found significant spatiotemporal variation in the occurrence of all activities. Our results show the need to explicitly model ranger patrol effort to reduce biases from existing uncorrected or capture per unit effort analyses. Prioritization of ranger patrol strategies is needed to target illegal activities; these strategies are determined by protected area managers, and therefore changes at a site-level can be implemented quickly. These strategies should also be informed by the location of past occurrences of illegal activity: the most useful predictor of future events. However, because spatial and temporal changes in illegal activities occurred, regular patrols throughout the protected area, even in areas of low occurrence, are also required. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Non-sanctioning of illegal tackles in South African youth community rugby.

PubMed

Brown, J C; Boucher, S J; Lambert, M; Viljoen, W; Readhead, C; Hendricks, S; Kraak, W J

2018-06-01

The tackle event in rugby union ('rugby') contributes to the majority of players' injuries. Referees can reduce this risk by sanctioning dangerous tackles. A study in elite adult rugby suggests that referees only sanction a minority of illegal tackles. The aim of this study was to assess if this finding was similar in youth community rugby. Observational study. Using EncodePro, 99 South African Rugby Union U18 Youth Week tournament matches were coded between 2011 and 2015. All tackles were coded by a researcher and an international referee to ensure that laws were interpreted correctly. The inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were 0.97-1.00. A regression analysis compared the non-sanctioned rates over time. In total, 12 216 tackles were coded, of which less than 1% (n=113) were 'illegal'. The majority of the 113 illegal tackles were front-on (75%), high tackles (72%) and occurred in the 2nd/4th quarters (29% each). Of the illegal tackles, only 59% were sanctioned. The proportions of illegal tackles and sanctioning of these illegal tackles to all tackles improved by 0.2% per year from 2011-2015 (p<0.05). In these youth community rugby players, 59% of illegal tackles were not sanctioned appropriately. This was better than a previous study in elite adult rugby, where only 7% of illegal tackles were penalised. Moreover, the rates of illegal tackles and non-sanctioned illegal tackles both improved over time. However, it is critical that referees consistently enforce all laws to enhance injury prevention efforts. Further studies should investigate the reasons for non-sanctioning. Copyright © 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Illegal use of natural resources in federal protected areas of the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Silva, Jose M.C.; Michalski, Fernanda

2017-01-01

Background The Brazilian Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest regions and plays a key role in biodiversity conservation as well as climate adaptation and mitigation. The government has created a network of protected areas (PAs) to ensure long-term conservation of the region. However, despite the importance of and positive advances in the establishment of PAs, natural resource depletion in the Brazilian Amazon is pervasive. Methods We evaluated a total of 4,243 official law enforcement records generated between 2010 and 2015 to understand the geographical distribution of the illegal use of resources in federal PAs in the Brazilian Amazon. We classified illegal activities into ten categories and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to evaluate the relationship between illegal use of natural resources inside PAs with management type, age of PAs, population density, and accessibility. Results We found 27 types of illegal use of natural resources that were grouped into 10 categories of illegal activities. Most infractions were related to suppression and degradation of vegetation (37.40%), followed by illegal fishing (27.30%) and hunting activities (18.20%). The explanatory power of the GAMs was low for all categories of illegal activity, with a maximum explained variation of 41.2% for illegal activities as a whole, and a minimum of 14.6% for hunting activities. Discussion These findings demonstrate that even though PAs are fundamental for nature conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, the pressures and threats posed by human activities include a broad range of illegal uses of natural resources. Population density up to 50 km from a PA is a key variable, influencing illegal activities. These threats endanger long-term conservation and many efforts are still needed to maintain PAs that are large enough and sufficiently intact to maintain ecosystem functions and protect biodiversity. PMID:29038758

Illegal use of natural resources in federal protected areas of the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Kauano, Érico E; Silva, Jose M C; Michalski, Fernanda

2017-01-01

The Brazilian Amazon is the world's largest rainforest regions and plays a key role in biodiversity conservation as well as climate adaptation and mitigation. The government has created a network of protected areas (PAs) to ensure long-term conservation of the region. However, despite the importance of and positive advances in the establishment of PAs, natural resource depletion in the Brazilian Amazon is pervasive. We evaluated a total of 4,243 official law enforcement records generated between 2010 and 2015 to understand the geographical distribution of the illegal use of resources in federal PAs in the Brazilian Amazon. We classified illegal activities into ten categories and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to evaluate the relationship between illegal use of natural resources inside PAs with management type, age of PAs, population density, and accessibility. We found 27 types of illegal use of natural resources that were grouped into 10 categories of illegal activities. Most infractions were related to suppression and degradation of vegetation (37.40%), followed by illegal fishing (27.30%) and hunting activities (18.20%). The explanatory power of the GAMs was low for all categories of illegal activity, with a maximum explained variation of 41.2% for illegal activities as a whole, and a minimum of 14.6% for hunting activities. These findings demonstrate that even though PAs are fundamental for nature conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, the pressures and threats posed by human activities include a broad range of illegal uses of natural resources. Population density up to 50 km from a PA is a key variable, influencing illegal activities. These threats endanger long-term conservation and many efforts are still needed to maintain PAs that are large enough and sufficiently intact to maintain ecosystem functions and protect biodiversity.

Life-table analysis of Anopheles arabiensis in western Kenya highlands: effects of land covers on larval and adult survivorship.

PubMed

Afrane, Yaw A; Zhou, Goufa; Lawson, Bernard W; Githeko, Andrew K; Yan, Guiyun

2007-10-01

In high-elevation areas in western Kenya, the abundance of Anopheles arabiensis is either very low or absent. The western Kenya highlands (an area with an elevation > 1,500m above sea level) have also been experiencing extensive deforestation, and deforestation has been suggested as one of the important factors that facilitate malaria transmission in the highlands. This study investigated whether climate conditions in the western Kenya highlands (Kakamega, elevation 1,500 m above sea level) were permissive to the development and survival of An. arabiensis and whether deforestation promoted An. arabiensis survivorship of immature and adult stages, using life-table analysis. We found that in larval habitats located in forested areas, only 4-9% of first-instar larvae developed into adults and the development length exceeded 20 days. Mean water temperature of aquatic habitats in the deforested area was 4.8-6.1 degrees C higher than that in the forested area, larval-to-adult survivorship was increased to 65-82%, and larval-to-adult development time was shortened by 8-9 days. The average indoor temperature in houses in the deforested area was 1.7-1.8 degrees C higher than in the forested area, and the relative humidity was 22-25% lower. The median survival time of adult mosquitoes in the deforested area was 49-55% higher than those in the forested area. The net reproductive rate of female mosquitoes in the deforested area was 1.7- to 2.6-fold higher than that in the forested area. Compared with previously published data on An. gambiae, the net reproductive rate of An. arabiensis was only 0.8-1.3% of Anopheles gambiae in the forested area and 2.3-2.6% in the deforested area. Therefore, the current ambient climate condition is less permissive to An. arabiensis than to An. gambiae in western Kenya highlands. However, environmental changes such as deforestation and global warming may facilitate the establishment of An. arabiensis populations in the highlands.

Quantifying rate of deforestation and CO2 emission in Peninsular Malaysia using Palsar imageries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdan, O.; Abd Rahman, K.; Samsudin, M.

2016-06-01

Increasing human population and the rapid growth of Malaysia's economy are often associated with various environmental disturbances which have been contributing to depletion of natural resources and climate change. The need for more spaces for numerous land development activities has made the existing forests suffer deforestation. The study was carried out in Peninsular Malaysia, which currently has about 5.9 million ha of forests. Phased array type L-band SAR (Palsar) and Palsar-2 images over the years 2010 and 2015, respectively were used to identify forest cover and deforestation occurrences resulted from various conversion of forests to other land uses. Forests have been identified from horizontal-vertical (HV) polarization and then classified into three major categories, which are inland, peat swamp and mangrove. Pixel subtraction technique was used to determine areas that have been changing from forests to other land uses. Forest areas have been found declined from about 6.1 million ha in year 2010 to some 5.9 million ha in 2015 due to conversion of forests to other land uses. Causes of deforestation have been identified and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that has been emitted due to the deforestation activity has been determined in this study. Oil palm and rubber plantations expansion has been found the most prominent factor that caused deforestation in Peninsular Malaysia, especially in the states of Pahang, Terengganu, Johor and Kelantan. The rate of deforestation in the period was at 0.66% yr-1, which amounted a total of about 200,225 ha over the five years. Carbon loss was estimated at about 30.2 million Mg C, which has resulted in CO2 emission accounted at about 110.6 million Mg CO2. The rate of CO2 emission that has been resulted from deforestation was estimated at 22.1 million Mg CO2 yr-1. The study found that the use of a series of Palsar and Palsar-2 images, with a consistent, cloud-free images, are the most appropriate sensors to be used for monitoring of deforestation over the Peninsular Malaysia region.

Effects of large scale deforestation on precipitation in the monsoon regions: Remote versus local effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bala, G.; N, D.; Modak, A.

2015-12-01

In this study, we investigate the bio-geophysical effects of large-scale deforestation on monsoon regions using idealized deforestation simulations. The simulations are performed using the NCAR CAM5 atmospheric model coupled to a mixed layer ocean model. The four deforestation experiments are named Global, Boreal, Temperate and Tropical, respectively. In these deforestation experiments, trees are replaced by grasses around the globe, between 20oS and 20oN, between 20oN and 50oN and poleward of 50oN, respectively. We find that the remote forcing from large-scale deforestation in the Temperate and Boreal cases shift the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) southward. This results in a significant decrease in precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere monsoon regions (East Asia, North America, North Africa, South Asia) and moderate precipitation increases in the Southern Hemisphere monsoon regions (South Africa, South America and Australia). The magnitude of the monsoonal precipitation changes depend on the location of deforestation with remote effects showing a larger influence than local effects. The South Asian Monsoon region is affected the most with 18% decline in precipitation over India in the Global deforestation case. Our results indicate that any comprehensive assessment of afforestation/reforestation as climate change mitigation strategies should carefully evaluate the remote effects on monsoonal precipitation besides the large local impacts on temperatures and carbon sequestration benefits. Our results also demonstrate the linkages between any large scale forcing that causes large warming/cooling in the high latitudes and rainfall changes in tropical monsoonal regions via ITCZ shifts. Figure Caption: Changes in annual mean precipitation (mm/day) between the deforestation experiments and the control simulation. Hatched areas are regions where changes are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Shading in line plots represents the ±1 standard deviation estimated from the control simulation. Comparison of (b) with (d) clearly indicates that the remote effect has a larger influence on tropical precipitation than local effect.The location of the precipitation centroid in the ITCZ region in the CTL case and the shifts in the experiments are shown above the panels.

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

Impacts of future deforestation and climate change on the hydrology of the Amazon Basin: a multi-model analysis with a new set of land-cover change scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guimberteau, Matthieu; Ciais, Philippe; Ducharne, Agnès; Boisier, Juan Pablo; Dutra Aguiar, Ana Paula; Biemans, Hester; De Deurwaerder, Hannes; Galbraith, David; Kruijt, Bart; Langerwisch, Fanny; Poveda, German; Rammig, Anja; Andres Rodriguez, Daniel; Tejada, Graciela; Thonicke, Kirsten; Von Randow, Celso; Von Randow, Rita C. S.; Zhang, Ke; Verbeeck, Hans

2017-03-01

Deforestation in Amazon is expected to decrease evapotranspiration (ET) and to increase soil moisture and river discharge under prevailing energy-limited conditions. The magnitude and sign of the response of ET to deforestation depend both on the magnitude and regional patterns of land-cover change (LCC), as well as on climate change and CO2 levels. On the one hand, elevated CO2 decreases leaf-scale transpiration, but this effect could be offset by increased foliar area density. Using three regional LCC scenarios specifically established for the Brazilian and Bolivian Amazon, we investigate the impacts of climate change and deforestation on the surface hydrology of the Amazon Basin for this century, taking 2009 as a reference. For each LCC scenario, three land surface models (LSMs), LPJmL-DGVM, INLAND-DGVM and ORCHIDEE, are forced by bias-corrected climate simulated by three general circulation models (GCMs) of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (AR4). On average, over the Amazon Basin with no deforestation, the GCM results indicate a temperature increase of 3.3 °C by 2100 which drives up the evaporative demand, whereby precipitation increases by 8.5 %, with a large uncertainty across GCMs. In the case of no deforestation, we found that ET and runoff increase by 5.0 and 14 %, respectively. However, in south-east Amazonia, precipitation decreases by 10 % at the end of the dry season and the three LSMs produce a 6 % decrease of ET, which is less than precipitation, so that runoff decreases by 22 %. For instance, the minimum river discharge of the Rio Tapajós is reduced by 31 % in 2100. To study the additional effect of deforestation, we prescribed to the LSMs three contrasted LCC scenarios, with a forest decline going from 7 to 34 % over this century. All three scenarios partly offset the climate-induced increase of ET, and runoff increases over the entire Amazon. In the south-east, however, deforestation amplifies the decrease of ET at the end of dry season, leading to a large increase of runoff (up to +27 % in the extreme deforestation case), offsetting the negative effect of climate change, thus balancing the decrease of low flows in the Rio Tapajós. These projections are associated with large uncertainties, which we attribute separately to the differences in LSMs, GCMs and to the uncertain range of deforestation. At the subcatchment scale, the uncertainty range on ET changes is shown to first depend on GCMs, while the uncertainty of runoff projections is predominantly induced by LSM structural differences. By contrast, we found that the uncertainty in both ET and runoff changes attributable to uncertain future deforestation is low.

Deforestation contributed to droughts that influenced Maya decline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balcerak, Ernie

2011-12-01

New studies show that deforestation throughout much of southern Mexico in pre-Columbian times contributed to droughts that led to the decline of the Maya and Aztec civilizations. Significant droughts are known to have affected these civilizations between about 800 and 950 C.E.; it has been debated whether solar forcing, random natural variability, or clearing of rain forests to create pasture or farmlands primarily caused these droughts. Reconstructions of past land cover can be made based on population estimates. Central America was significantly deforested by Maya and Aztec societies before Europeans arrived about 1500 C.E. Forest then recovered as native populations declined, although more deforestation has been taking place in recent years.

21st Century drought-related fires counteract the decline of Amazon deforestation carbon emissions.

PubMed

Aragão, Luiz E O C; Anderson, Liana O; Fonseca, Marisa G; Rosan, Thais M; Vedovato, Laura B; Wagner, Fabien H; Silva, Camila V J; Silva Junior, Celso H L; Arai, Egidio; Aguiar, Ana P; Barlow, Jos; Berenguer, Erika; Deeter, Merritt N; Domingues, Lucas G; Gatti, Luciana; Gloor, Manuel; Malhi, Yadvinder; Marengo, Jose A; Miller, John B; Phillips, Oliver L; Saatchi, Sassan

2018-02-13

Tropical carbon emissions are largely derived from direct forest clearing processes. Yet, emissions from drought-induced forest fires are, usually, not included in national-level carbon emission inventories. Here we examine Brazilian Amazon drought impacts on fire incidence and associated forest fire carbon emissions over the period 2003-2015. We show that despite a 76% decline in deforestation rates over the past 13 years, fire incidence increased by 36% during the 2015 drought compared to the preceding 12 years. The 2015 drought had the largest ever ratio of active fire counts to deforestation, with active fires occurring over an area of 799,293 km 2 . Gross emissions from forest fires (989 ± 504 Tg CO 2 year -1 ) alone are more than half as great as those from old-growth forest deforestation during drought years. We conclude that carbon emission inventories intended for accounting and developing policies need to take account of substantial forest fire emissions not associated to the deforestation process.

Impact on short-lived climate forcers increases projected warming due to deforestation.

PubMed

Scott, C E; Monks, S A; Spracklen, D V; Arnold, S R; Forster, P M; Rap, A; Äijälä, M; Artaxo, P; Carslaw, K S; Chipperfield, M P; Ehn, M; Gilardoni, S; Heikkinen, L; Kulmala, M; Petäjä, T; Reddington, C L S; Rizzo, L V; Swietlicki, E; Vignati, E; Wilson, C

2018-01-11

The climate impact of deforestation depends on the relative strength of several biogeochemical and biogeophysical effects. In addition to affecting the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and moisture with the atmosphere and surface albedo, vegetation emits biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) that alter the formation of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), which include aerosol, ozone and methane. Here we show that a scenario of complete global deforestation results in a net positive radiative forcing (RF; 0.12 W m -2 ) from SLCFs, with the negative RF from decreases in ozone and methane concentrations partially offsetting the positive aerosol RF. Combining RFs due to CO 2 , surface albedo and SLCFs suggests that global deforestation could cause 0.8 K warming after 100 years, with SLCFs contributing 8% of the effect. However, deforestation as projected by the RCP8.5 scenario leads to zero net RF from SLCF, primarily due to nonlinearities in the aerosol indirect effect.

Deforestation and Malaria in Mâncio Lima County, Brazil

PubMed Central

Gangnon, Ronald; Silveira, Guilherme Abbad; Patz, Jonathan A.

2010-01-01

Malaria is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the Amazon. We used malaria reports for health districts collected in 2006 by the Programa Nacional de Controle da Malária to determine whether deforestation is associated with malaria incidence in the county (município) of Mâncio Lima, Acre State, Brazil. Cumulative percent deforestation was calculated for the spatial catchment area of each health district by using 60 × 60–meter, resolution-classified imagery. Statistical associations were identified with univariate and multivariate general additive negative binomial models adjusted for spatial effects. Our cross-sectional study shows malaria incidence across health districts in 2006 is positively associated with greater changes in percentage of cumulative deforestation within respective health districts. After adjusting for access to care, health district size, and spatial trends, we show that a 4.3%, or 1 SD, change in deforestation from August 1997 through August 2000 is associated with a 48% increase of malaria incidence. PMID:20587182

Linking national agrarian policy to deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon: a case study of Tambopata, 1986-1997.

PubMed

Alvarez, Nora L; Naughton-Treves, Lisa

2003-06-01

Amazonian deforestation rates vary regionally, and ebb and flow according to macroeconomic policy and local social factors. We used remote sensing and field interviews to investigate deforestation patterns and drivers at a Peruvian frontier during 1986-1991, when rural credit and guaranteed markets were available; and 1991-1997, when structural adjustment measures were imposed. The highest rate of clearing (1.5% gross) was observed along roads during 1986-1991. Roadside deforestation slowed in 1991-1997 (0.7% gross) and extensive regrowth yielded a net increase in forest cover (0.5%). Deforestation along rivers was relatively constant. Riverside farms today retain more land in both crops and forest than do roadside farms where pasture and successional growth predominate. Long-term residents maintain more forest on their farms than do recent colonists, but proximity to urban markets is the strongest predictor of forest cover. Future credit programs must reflect spatial patterns of development and ecological vulnerability, and support the recuperation of fallow lands and secondary forest.

Carbon accumulation and storage capacity in mangrove sediments three decades after deforestation within a eutrophic bay.

PubMed

Pérez, A; Machado, W; Gutiérrez, D; Borges, A C; Patchineelam, S R; Sanders, C J

2018-01-01

A dated sediment core from an eutrophic mangrove area presented non-significant differences in carbon accumulation rates before (55.7±10.2gm -2 yr -1 ) and after three decades of deforestation (59.7±7.2gm -2 yr -1 ). Although eutrophication effects appear to compensate the loss of mangrove organic matter input, the results in this work show a threefold lower carbon accumulation than the global averages estimated for mangrove sediments. The effects of increasing eutrophication and enhanced sediment dry bulk density observed after deforestation (~30% higher) did not result in higher carbon stocks. Moreover, the lower TOC:OP (<400) and C:N (~20) molar ratios, as well as increased nutrient accumulation, reflect the dominance of phytoplankton-derived organic matter after deforestation, resulting in less-efficient sedimentary carbon sinks. These results indicate that the organic material deposited from eutrophication may not compensate mangrove deforestation losses on carbon accumulation in mangrove ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential biodiversity benefits from international programs to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation.

PubMed

Siikamäki, Juha; Newbold, Stephen C

2012-01-01

Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide emissions and options for its reduction are integral to climate policy. In addition to providing potentially low cost and near-term options for reducing global carbon emissions, reducing deforestation also could support biodiversity conservation. However, current understanding of the potential benefits to biodiversity from forest carbon offset programs is limited. We compile spatial data on global forest carbon, biodiversity, deforestation rates, and the opportunity cost of land to examine biodiversity conservation benefits from an international program to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation. Our results indicate limited geographic overlap between the least-cost areas for retaining forest carbon and protecting biodiversity. Therefore, carbon-focused policies will likely generate substantially lower benefits to biodiversity than a more biodiversity-focused policy could achieve. These results highlight the need to systematically consider co-benefits, such as biodiversity in the design and implementation of forest conservation programs to support international climate policy.

Illegal drug use among female university students in Slovakia.

PubMed

Matejovičová, Barbora; Trandžík, Jozef; Schlarmannová, Janka; Boledovičová, Mária; Velemínský, Miloš

2015-01-20

This study is focused on the issue of illegal drug use among female university students preparing to become teachers. The main aim was to determine the frequency of drug abuse in a group of young women (n=215, mean age 20.44 years). Using survey methods, we determined that 33.48% of female university students in Slovakia use illegal drugs and 66.51% of students have never used illegal drugs. Differences between these groups were determined using statistical analysis, mostly in 4 areas of survey questions. We determined that education of parents has a statistically significant influence on use of illegal drugs by their children (χ2=10.14; P<0.05). Communication between parents and children and parental attention to children have a significant role in determining risky behavior (illegal drug use, χ2=8.698, P<0.05). Parents of students not using illegal drugs were interested in how their children spend their free time (68.53%). We confirmed the relationship between consumption of alcohol and illegal drug use (χ2=16.645; P<0.001) and smoking (χ2=6.226; P<0.05). The first contact with drugs occurs most frequently at high school age. The most consumed "soft" drug in our group of female university students is marijuana. Our findings are relevant for comparison and generalization regarding causes of the steady increase in number of young people using illegal drugs.

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

36 CFR § 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA property while under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol. Using alcoholic beverages on NARA property...

The Carbon Cycle: Implications for Climate Change and Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-13

burning of fossil fuels, deforestation , and other land use activities, have significantly altered the carbon cycle. As a result, atmospheric...80% of human-related CO2 emissions results from fossil fuel combustion, and 20% from land use change (primarily deforestation ). Fossil fuel burning...warming the planet. At present, the oceans and land surface are acting as sinks for CO2 emitted from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation , but

Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia.

PubMed

Schneider, Maurício; Peres, Carlos A

2015-01-01

Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970's, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration.

Unsustainable development pathways caused by tropical deforestation.

PubMed

Carrasco, Luis Roman; Nghiem, Thi Phuong Le; Chen, Zhirong; Barbier, Edward B

2017-07-01

Global sustainability strategies require assessing whether countries' development trajectories are sustainable over time. However, sustainability assessments are limited because losses of natural capital and its ecosystem services through deforestation have not been comprehensively incorporated into national accounts. We update the national accounts of 80 nations that underwent tropical deforestation from 2000 to 2012 and evaluate their development trajectories using weak and strong sustainability criteria. Weak sustainability requires that countries do not decrease their aggregate capital over time. We adopt a strong sustainability criterion that countries do not decrease the value of their forest ecosystem services with respect to the year 2000. We identify several groups of countries: countries, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India, that present sustainable development trajectories under both weak and strong sustainability criteria; countries, such as Brazil, Peru, and Indonesia, that present weak sustainable development but fail the strong sustainability criterion as a result of rapid losses of ecosystem services; countries, such as Madagascar, Laos, and Papua New Guinea, that present unsustainable development pathways as a result of deforestation; and countries, such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, in which deforestation aggravates already unsustainable pathways. Our results reveal a large number of countries where tropical deforestation is both damaging to nature and not compensated by development in other sectors, thus compromising the well-being of their future generations.

Forests and drugs: coca-driven deforestation in tropical biodiversity hotspots.

PubMed

Dávalos, Liliana M; Bejarano, Adriana C; Hall, Mark A; Correa, H Leonardo; Corthals, Angelique; Espejo, Oscar J

2011-02-15

Identifying drivers of deforestation in tropical biodiversity hotspots is critical to assess threats to particular ecosystems and species and proactively plan for conservation. We analyzed land cover change between 2002 and 2007 in the northern Andes, Chocó, and Amazon forests of Colombia, the largest producer of coca leaf for the global cocaine market, to quantify the impact of this illicit crop on forest dynamics, evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas in this context, and determine the effects of eradication on deforestation. Landscape-level analyses of forest conversion revealed that proximity to new coca plots and a greater proportion of an area planted with coca increased the probability of forest loss in southern Colombia, even after accounting for other covariates and spatial autocorrelation. We also showed that protected areas successfully reduced forest conversion in coca-growing regions. Neither eradication nor coca cultivation predicted deforestation rates across municipalities. Instead, the presence of new coca cultivation was an indicator of municipalities, where increasing population led to higher deforestation rates. We hypothesize that poor rural development underlies the relationship between population density and deforestation in coca-growing areas. Conservation in Colombia's vast forest frontier, which overlaps with its coca frontier, requires a mix of protected areas and strategic rural development to succeed.

Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970’s, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration. PMID:26247467

Human impacts flatten rainforest-savanna gradient and reduce adaptive diversity in a rainforest bird.

PubMed

Freedman, Adam H; Buermann, Wolfgang; Mitchard, Edward T A; Defries, Ruth S; Smith, Thomas B

2010-09-30

Ecological gradients have long been recognized as important regions for diversification and speciation. However, little attention has been paid to the evolutionary consequences or conservation implications of human activities that fundamentally change the environmental features of such gradients. Here we show that recent deforestation in West Africa has homogenized the rainforest-savanna gradient, causing a loss of adaptive phenotypic diversity in a common rainforest bird, the little greenbul (Andropadus virens). Previously, this species was shown to exhibit morphological and song divergence along this gradient in Central Africa. Using satellite-based estimates of forest cover, recent morphological data, and historical data from museum specimens collected prior to widespread deforestation, we show that the gradient has become shallower in West Africa and that A. virens populations there have lost morphological variation in traits important to fitness. In contrast, we find no loss of morphological variation in Central Africa where there has been less deforestation and gradients have remained more intact. While rainforest deforestation is a leading cause of species extinction, the potential of deforestation to flatten gradients and inhibit rainforest diversification has not been previously recognized. More deforestation will likely lead to further flattening of the gradient and loss of diversity, and may limit the ability of species to persist under future environmental conditions.

Human Impacts Flatten Rainforest-Savanna Gradient and Reduce Adaptive Diversity in a Rainforest Bird

PubMed Central

Freedman, Adam H.; Buermann, Wolfgang; Mitchard, Edward T. A.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Smith, Thomas B.

2010-01-01

Ecological gradients have long been recognized as important regions for diversification and speciation. However, little attention has been paid to the evolutionary consequences or conservation implications of human activities that fundamentally change the environmental features of such gradients. Here we show that recent deforestation in West Africa has homogenized the rainforest-savanna gradient, causing a loss of adaptive phenotypic diversity in a common rainforest bird, the little greenbul (Andropadus virens). Previously, this species was shown to exhibit morphological and song divergence along this gradient in Central Africa. Using satellite-based estimates of forest cover, recent morphological data, and historical data from museum specimens collected prior to widespread deforestation, we show that the gradient has become shallower in West Africa and that A. virens populations there have lost morphological variation in traits important to fitness. In contrast, we find no loss of morphological variation in Central Africa where there has been less deforestation and gradients have remained more intact. While rainforest deforestation is a leading cause of species extinction, the potential of deforestation to flatten gradients and inhibit rainforest diversification has not been previously recognized. More deforestation will likely lead to further flattening of the gradient and loss of diversity, and may limit the ability of species to persist under future environmental conditions. PMID:20941360

The Effectiveness of Contrasting Protected Areas in Preventing Deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vuohelainen, Anni Johanna; Coad, Lauren; Marthews, Toby R.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Killeen, Timothy J.

2012-10-01

Accurate monitoring of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in decreasing deforestation is increasingly important given the vital role of forest protection in climate change mitigation. Recent studies on PA effectiveness have used remote-sensing imagery to compare deforestation rates within PAs to surrounding areas. However, remote-sensing data used in isolation provides limited information on the factors contributing to effectiveness. We used landscape-modelling techniques to estimate the effectiveness of ten PAs in Madre de Dios, Peru. Factors influencing PA effectiveness were investigated using in situ key-informant interviews. Although all of the PAs studied had positive effectiveness scores, those with the highest scores were ecotourism and conservation concessions, where monitoring and surveillance activities and good relations with surrounding communities were reported as possible factors in decreasing deforestation rates. Native community areas had the lowest scores, with deforestation mainly driven by internal resource use and population growth. Weak local governance and immigration were identified as underlying factors decreasing the effectiveness of protection, whereas good relations with surrounding communities and monitoring activity increased effectiveness. The results highlight the need to combine remote sensing with in situ information on PA management because identification of drivers and deterrents of deforestation is vital for improving the effectiveness of protection.

Protected area types, strategies and impacts in Brazil's Amazon: public protected area strategies do not yield a consistent ranking of protected area types by impact

PubMed Central

Pfaff, Alexander; Robalino, Juan; Sandoval, Catalina; Herrera, Diego

2015-01-01

The leading policy to conserve forest is protected areas (PAs). Yet, PAs are not a single tool: land users and uses vary by PA type; and public PA strategies vary in the extent of each type and in the determinants of impact for each type, i.e. siting and internal deforestation. Further, across regions and time, strategies respond to pressures (deforestation and political). We estimate deforestation impacts of PA types for a critical frontier, the Brazilian Amazon. We separate regions and time periods that differ in their deforestation and political pressures and document considerable variation in PA strategies across regions, time periods and types. The siting of PAs varies across regions. For example, all else being equal, PAs in the arc of deforestation are relatively far from non-forest, while in other states they are relatively near. Internal deforestation varies across time periods, e.g. it is more similar across the PA types for PAs after 2000. By contrast, after 2000, PA extent is less similar across PA types with little non-indigenous area created inside the arc. PA strategies generate a range of impacts for PA types—always far higher within the arc—but not a consistent ranking of PA types by impact. PMID:26460126

The effectiveness of contrasting protected areas in preventing deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru.

PubMed

Vuohelainen, Anni Johanna; Coad, Lauren; Marthews, Toby R; Malhi, Yadvinder; Killeen, Timothy J

2012-10-01

Accurate monitoring of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in decreasing deforestation is increasingly important given the vital role of forest protection in climate change mitigation. Recent studies on PA effectiveness have used remote-sensing imagery to compare deforestation rates within PAs to surrounding areas. However, remote-sensing data used in isolation provides limited information on the factors contributing to effectiveness. We used landscape-modelling techniques to estimate the effectiveness of ten PAs in Madre de Dios, Peru. Factors influencing PA effectiveness were investigated using in situ key-informant interviews. Although all of the PAs studied had positive effectiveness scores, those with the highest scores were ecotourism and conservation concessions, where monitoring and surveillance activities and good relations with surrounding communities were reported as possible factors in decreasing deforestation rates. Native community areas had the lowest scores, with deforestation mainly driven by internal resource use and population growth. Weak local governance and immigration were identified as underlying factors decreasing the effectiveness of protection, whereas good relations with surrounding communities and monitoring activity increased effectiveness. The results highlight the need to combine remote sensing with in situ information on PA management because identification of drivers and deterrents of deforestation is vital for improving the effectiveness of protection.

The Environmental Legacy of Modern Tropical Deforestation.

PubMed

Rosa, Isabel M D; Smith, Matthew J; Wearn, Oliver R; Purves, Drew; Ewers, Robert M

2016-08-22

Tropical deforestation has caused a significant share of carbon emissions and species losses, but historical patterns have rarely been explicitly considered when estimating these impacts [1]. A deforestation event today leads to a time-delayed future release of carbon, from the eventual decay either of forest products or of slash left at the site [2]. Similarly, deforestation often does not result in the immediate loss of species, and communities may exhibit a process of "relaxation" to their new equilibrium over time [3]. We used a spatially explicit land cover change model [4] to reconstruct the annual rates and spatial patterns of tropical deforestation that occurred between 1950 and 2009 in the Amazon, in the Congo Basin, and across Southeast Asia. Using these patterns, we estimated the resulting gross vegetation carbon emissions [2, 5] and species losses over time [6]. Importantly, we accounted for the time lags inherent in both the release of carbon and the extinction of species. We show that even if deforestation had completely halted in 2010, time lags ensured there would still be a carbon emissions debt of at least 8.6 petagrams, equivalent to 5-10 years of global deforestation, and an extinction debt of more than 140 bird, mammal, and amphibian forest-specific species, which if paid, would increase the number of 20(th)-century extinctions in these groups by 120%. Given the magnitude of these debts, commitments to reduce emissions and biodiversity loss are unlikely to be realized without specific actions that directly address this damaging environmental legacy. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Land Use Change Increases Streamflow Across the Arc of Deforestation in Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levy, M. C.; Lopes, A. V.; Cohn, A.; Larsen, L. G.; Thompson, S. E.

2018-04-01

Nearly half of recent decades' global forest loss occurred in the Amazon and Cerrado (tropical savanna) biomes of Brazil, known as the arc of deforestation. Despite prior analysis in individual river basins, a generalizable empirical understanding of the effect of deforestation on streamflow across this region is lacking. We frame land use change in Brazil as a natural experiment and draw on in situ and remote sensing evidence in 324 river basins covering more than 3 × 106 km2 to estimate streamflow changes caused by deforestation and agricultural development between 1950 and 2013. Deforestation increased dry season low flow by between 4 and 10 percentage points (relative to the forested condition), corresponding to a regional- and time-averaged rate of increase in specific streamflow of 1.29 mm/year2, equivalent to a 4.08 km3/year2 increase, assuming a stationary climate. In conjunction with rainfall and temperature variations, the net (observed) average increase in streamflow over the same period was 0.76 mm/year2, or 2.41 km3/year2. Thus, net increases in regional streamflow in the past half century are 58% of those that would have been experienced with deforestation given a stationary climate. This study uses a causal empirical analysis approach novel to the water sciences to verify the regional applicability of prior basin-scale studies, provides a proof of concept for the use of observational causal identification methods in the water sciences, and demonstrates that deforestation masks the streamflow-reducing effects of climate change in this region.

Emerging deforestation trends in tropical dry forests ecoregions of Mexico and Central America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Portillo, C. A.; Cao, G.; Smith, V.

2015-12-01

Neotropical dry forests (TDF) have experienced an unprecedented deforestation that is leading to the loss of tropical biodiversity at a rapid pace, but information on deforestation dynamics in TDF is scarce. In this study, we present a sub-continental and national level assessment of TDF loss patterns in Mexico and Central America at high spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing and GIS technologies. We used the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset published by Hansen et al. (2013) which shows results from time-series analysis of Landsat images in characterizing global forest extent and change from 2000 through 2013. We analyzed forest loss within and around mapped TDF cover mapped by Portillo-Quintero et al. 2010. In order to minimize errors in source data, we overlaid a 25 x 25 km grid on top of the regional dataset and conducted a cell by cell and country by country inspection at multiple scales using high resolution ancillary data. We identified trends in the clustering of space-time TDF deforestation data using ArcGIS, categorizing trends in: new, consecutive, intensifying, persistent, diminishing, sporadic, oscillating and historical hotspots (high frequency of deforestation events) and cold spots (low frequency of deforestation). In general, the region is experiencing less frequent deforestation events with a higher number of intensifying and new cold spots across TDF landscapes. However, an important number of intensifying and persistent hotspots exist so no general trend in forest loss was detected for the period 2001-2013, except for El Salvador which shows a significant decreasing trend in forest loss. Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are the major sources of intensifying, persistent and new deforestation hot spots. These were identified in the southern pacific coast and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, northwestern Guatemala, both western and eastern Honduras and around Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

Emerging deforestation trends in tropical dry forests ecoregions of Mexico and Central America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Rodriguez, I. M.; Sievert, S. M.; Fogel, M. L.; Foustoukos, D.

2014-12-01

Neotropical dry forests (TDF) have experienced an unprecedented deforestation that is leading to the loss of tropical biodiversity at a rapid pace, but information on deforestation dynamics in TDF is scarce. In this study, we present a sub-continental and national level assessment of TDF loss patterns in Mexico and Central America at high spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing and GIS technologies. We used the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset published by Hansen et al. (2013) which shows results from time-series analysis of Landsat images in characterizing global forest extent and change from 2000 through 2013. We analyzed forest loss within and around mapped TDF cover mapped by Portillo-Quintero et al. 2010. In order to minimize errors in source data, we overlaid a 25 x 25 km grid on top of the regional dataset and conducted a cell by cell and country by country inspection at multiple scales using high resolution ancillary data. We identified trends in the clustering of space-time TDF deforestation data using ArcGIS, categorizing trends in: new, consecutive, intensifying, persistent, diminishing, sporadic, oscillating and historical hotspots (high frequency of deforestation events) and cold spots (low frequency of deforestation). In general, the region is experiencing less frequent deforestation events with a higher number of intensifying and new cold spots across TDF landscapes. However, an important number of intensifying and persistent hotspots exist so no general trend in forest loss was detected for the period 2001-2013, except for El Salvador which shows a significant decreasing trend in forest loss. Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are the major sources of intensifying, persistent and new deforestation hot spots. These were identified in the southern pacific coast and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, northwestern Guatemala, both western and eastern Honduras and around Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

Effectiveness of Protected Areas in the Pan-Tropics and International Aid for Conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, D. H.

2015-12-01

Protected areas are crucial for tropical forest conservation efforts. Estimation of the effectiveness of protected areas is thus important for evaluating the efficacy of forest conservation policies and priorities. However, comprehensive evaluation of the long-term effects of Protected Areas and international aid is lacking. However, with the recent availability of long-term, large-scale forest cover change data at 30-m resolution, it has become possible to address some of the issues surrounding the effectiveness of protected areas. To evaluate the effectiveness of Protected Areas in the pan-tropics and international aid for conservation, we use the 30m resolution data along with econometrics 1) to estimate avoided deforestation by PAs in the tropics during the 2000s, 2) estimate effects of international aid on avoided deforestation by PAs and 3) analyze the relationships between the socio-economic variables and increases in deforestation, avoided deforestation by PAs and effects of international aid. Our results show that protected areas avoided 83,500 ± 21,200 km2 of deforestation during the 2000s. Brazil showed the highest estimates of effects of international aid on the avoided deforestation of 22 m2/USD, which is about 50 times higher compared to Indonesia (0.5 m2/USD). The regression analysis between avoided deforestation, effects of international aid and socio-economic factors demonstrates that PAs have been relatively more effective in the countries where the deforestation pressures were increasing and that governance and forest change monitoring capacity may be important factors enhancing the efficacy of international aid. Our study presents the first pan-tropical analysis of the long-term evaluation of the effectiveness of protected areas, international aid and their regulating factors using spatially explicit fine resolution data. Our findings allow us to pinpoint where conservation initiatives and resource management are effectively practiced and to discover the link with socio-economic factors and their significance and underlying implications for the effectiveness of PAs.

Effects of national forest-management regimes on unprotected forests of the Himalaya.

PubMed

Brandt, Jodi S; Allendorf, Teri; Radeloff, Volker; Brooks, Jeremy

2017-12-01

Globally, deforestation continues, and although protected areas effectively protect forests, the majority of forests are not in protected areas. Thus, how effective are different management regimes to avoid deforestation in non-protected forests? We sought to assess the effectiveness of different national forest-management regimes to safeguard forests outside protected areas. We compared 2000-2014 deforestation rates across the temperate forests of 5 countries in the Himalaya (Bhutan, Nepal, China, India, and Myanmar) of which 13% are protected. We reviewed the literature to characterize forest management regimes in each country and conducted a quasi-experimental analysis to measure differences in deforestation of unprotected forests among countries and states in India. Countries varied in both overarching forest-management goals and specific tenure arrangements and policies for unprotected forests, from policies emphasizing economic development to those focused on forest conservation. Deforestation rates differed up to 1.4% between countries, even after accounting for local determinants of deforestation, such as human population density, market access, and topography. The highest deforestation rates were associated with forest policies aimed at maximizing profits and unstable tenure regimes. Deforestation in national forest-management regimes that emphasized conservation and community management were relatively low. In India results were consistent with the national-level results. We interpreted our results in the context of the broader literature on decentralized, community-based natural resource management, and our findings emphasize that the type and quality of community-based forestry programs and the degree to which they are oriented toward sustainable use rather than economic development are important for forest protection. Our cross-national results are consistent with results from site- and regional-scale studies that show forest-management regimes that ensure stable land tenure and integrate local-livelihood benefits with forest conservation result in the best forest outcomes. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Mapping and spatiotemporal characterization of degraded forests in the Brazilian Amazon through remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Souza, Carlos Moreira, Jr.

Large forested areas have recently been impoverished by degradation caused by selective logging, forest fires and fragmentation in the Amazon region, causing partial change of the original forest structure and composition. As opposed to deforestation that has been monitored with Landsat images since the late 70's, degraded forests have not been monitored in the Amazon region. In this dissertation, remote sensing techniques for identifying and mapping unambiguously degraded forests with Landsat images are proposed. The test area was the region of Sinop, located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This region was selected because a gradient of degraded forest environments exist and a robust time-series of Landsat images and forest transect data were available. First, statistical analyses were applied to identify the best set of spectral information extracted from Landsat images to detect several types of degraded forest environments. Fraction images derived from Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) were the best type of information for that purpose. A new spectral index based on fraction images---Normalized Difference Fraction Index (NDFI)---was proposed to enhance the detection of canopy damaged areas in degraded forests. Second, a contextual classification algorithm was implemented to separate unambiguously forest degradation caused by anthropogenic activities from natural forest disturbances. These techniques were validated using forest transects and high resolution aerial videography images and proved to be highly accurate. Next, these techniques were applied to a time-series data set of Landsat images, encompassing 20 years, to evaluate the relationship between forest degradation and deforestation. The most important finding of the forest change detection analysis was that forest degradation and deforestation are independent events in the study area, making worse the current forest impacts in the Amazon region. Finally, the techniques developed and tested in the Sinop region were successfully applied to forty Landsat images covering other regions of the Brazilian Amazon. Standard fractions and NDFI images were computed for these other regions and both physically and spatially consistent results were obtained. An automated decision tree classification using genetic algorithm was implemented successfully to classify land cover types and sub-classes of degraded forests. The remote sensing techniques proposed in this dissertation are fully automated and have the potential to be used in tropical forest monitoring programs.

After the forest. AIDs as ecological collapse in Thailand.

PubMed

Usher, A D

1992-01-01

Numerous parallels can be drawn between the systematic destruction of Thailand's forests and the emergence, in the same time period, of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as an irreversible societal crisis. Both the disintegration of the body's defense system implicit in AIDS and the erosion of Thailand's ecosystem provoked by deforestation policies are examples of assaults by capitalist economic policies on previously self-regulating systems. Centralization and industrial development have driven a substantial proportion of young Thai villagers to the cities, where they sell their labor as sex workers (there may be as many as 2 million prostitutes in Thailand) or become heroin users. Conservative estimates project 1.6 million AIDS-infected Thais by the end of 1995. Just as generally benign conditions such as the common cold can annihilate a body ravaged by the AIDS virus, Thailand's ecosystem, degraded by unregulated logging and state-subsidized, for-profit rubber planting, is no longer able to absorb natural occurrences such as heavy rainfall. The loss of forestland--the traditional source of food, shelter, tools, and medicine and the repository of cultural icons--has forced villagers to obtain cash to meet their needs, and Thailand's sex industry offers one of the highest rates of remuneration. Legislation enacted in response to AIDS and deforestation shares an emphasis on the victims (e.g., the prostitutes and not their clients or the owners of sex establishments, and impoverished forest squatters rather than plantation companies and land speculators). A powerful, combative environmental movement is successfully resisting government attempts to destroy living communities. Needed as well is resistance on the part of women growing up in the age of AIDS to societal definitions that polarize females (virgins and prostitutes) and uphold one-sided monogamy.

Remote Sensing of The Carbon Stocks of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Mt. Apo Natural Park, Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Washington-Allen, R. A.; Rubas, L. C.; Conner, J. R.; Delgado, A.; Popescu, S. C.

2013-12-01

Tropical forest cover has reduced to 20% of the Philippines (6.1 M ha) by 1996 from 90% or 27 M ha in the 16th century. Land use is a major cause of deforestation including shifting cultivation, permanent agriculture, ranching, logging, fuel-wood gathering and charcoal-making. The UN's Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Program's (REDD) Tier 1 evaluation of the Philippines estimates that between 0.8 to 2.5 Pg C are emitted per year with high uncertainty levels. The purpose of this study was to reduce this uncertainty by implementing a Tier 3 high resolution field and satellite remote sensing approach to assess above-ground forest carbon stocks over time in the 54,975 ha UNESCO World Heritage site: Mt. Apo Natural Park (MANP) in Mindanao Island, Philippines. We established approximately 25 30-m X 30-m pixel resolution tree stands in MANP measuring species diversity, composition, height, crown area, and diameter-at-breast height (dbh) both manually and with a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). Both these data were used to calibrate the tree heights of 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 90-m C-band and 2004 Intermap 5-m X-band IFSAR, and 2009 30-m ASTER Global digital elevation model (GDEM) digital surface models (DSM). The 5-m IFSAR also includes a 5-m last return DEM, where DSM - DEM = Tree Height. A tree density map was derived using a minima-maxima convolution filter in conjunction with a land cover map developed by the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). A 'universal allometric equation' for tropical forests that inputs crown diameter and tree height was then used to generate both Tropical forest biomass and forest carbon maps of MANP.

A Generalized Deforestation and Land-Use Change Scenario Generator for Use in Climate Modelling Studies

PubMed Central

Tompkins, Adrian Mark; Caporaso, Luca; Biondi, Riccardo; Bell, Jean Pierre

2015-01-01

A new deforestation and land-use change scenario generator model (FOREST-SAGE) is presented that is designed to interface directly with dynamic vegetation models used in latest generation earth system models. The model requires a regional-scale scenario for aggregate land-use change that may be time-dependent, provided by observational studies or by regional land-use change/economic models for future projections. These land-use categories of the observations/economic model are first translated into equivalent plant function types used by the particular vegetation model, and then FOREST-SAGE disaggregates the regional-scale scenario to the local grid-scale of the earth system model using a set of risk-rules based on factors such as proximity to transport networks, distance weighted population density, forest fragmentation and presence of protected areas and logging concessions. These rules presently focus on the conversion of forest to agriculture and pasture use, but could be generalized to other land use change conversions. After introducing the model, an evaluation of its performance is shown for the land-cover changes that have occurred in the Central African Basin from 2001–2010 using retrievals from MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Field data. The model is able to broadly reproduce the spatial patterns of forest cover change observed by MODIS, and the use of the local-scale risk factors enables FOREST-SAGE to improve land use change patterns considerably relative to benchmark scenarios used in the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project integrations. The uncertainty to the various risk factors is investigated using an ensemble of investigations, and it is shown that the model is sensitive to the population density, forest fragmentation and reforestation factors specified. PMID:26394392

Sensitivity to high temperature and water stress in recalcitrant Baccaurea ramiflora seeds.

PubMed

Wen, Bin; Liu, Minghang; Tan, Yunhong; Liu, Qiang

2016-07-01

Southeast Asia experiences one of the highest rates of deforestation in the tropics due to agricultural expansion, logging, habitat fragmentation and urbanization. As tropical rainforests harbour abundant recalcitrant-seeded species, it is important to understand how recalcitrant seeds respond to deforestation and fragmentation. Baccaurea ramiflora is a recalcitrant-seeded species, widely distributed in Southeast Asian tropical rainforest. In this study, B. ramiflora seeds were sown in three plots, one in a nature reserve and two in disturbed holy hill forests, to investigate seed germination and seedling establishment in the field, while laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of high temperature and water stress on germination. It was found that seed germination and seedling establishment in B. ramiflora were clearly reduced in holy hills compared to the nature reserve, although the seeds were only moderately to minimally recalcitrant. This was potentially caused by increased temperature and decreased moisture in holy hills, for laboratory experiments showed that seed germination was greatly inhibited by temperatures ≥35 °C or water potentials ≤-0.5 MPa, and depressed by heat treatment at 40 °C when the continuous heating period lasted for 240 h or daily periodic heating exceeded 10 h. Unlike orthodox seeds, which can endure much higher temperatures in the air-dried state than in the imbibed state, both blotted and immersed B. ramiflora seeds lost viability within a narrow temperature range between 50 and 60 °C. As recalcitrant seeds can be neither air-dried nor heated, species producing recalcitrant seeds will suffer more than those producing orthodox seeds in germination and seedling establishment from increased temperature and decreased moisture in fragmented rainforests, which results in sensitivity of recalcitrant-seeded species to rainforest fragmentation.

Assessment of big floods in the Eastern Black Sea Basin of Turkey.

PubMed

Yüksek, Ömer; Kankal, Murat; Üçüncü, Osman

2013-01-01

In this study, general knowledge and some details of the floods in Eastern Black Sea Basin of Turkey are presented. Brief hydro-meteorological analysis of selected nine floods and detailed analysis of the greatest flood are given. In the studied area, 51 big floods have taken place between 1955-2005 years, causing 258 deaths and nearly US $500,000,000 of damage. Most of the floods have occurred in June, July and August. It is concluded that especially for the rainstorms that have caused significantly damages, the return periods of the rainfall heights and resultant flood discharges have gone up to 250 and 500 years, respectively. A general agreement is observed between the return periods of rains and resultant floods. It is concluded that there has been no significant climate change to cause increases in flood harms. The most important human factors to increase the damage are determined as wrong and illegal land use, deforestation and wrong urbanization and settlement, psychological and technical factors. Some structural and non-structural measures to mitigate flood damages are also included in the paper. Structural measures include dykes and flood levees. Main non-structural measures include flood warning system, modification of land use, watershed management and improvement, flood insurance, organization of flood management studies, coordination between related institutions and education of the people and informing of the stakeholders.

Pregnancy and Substance Abuse

MedlinePlus

... baby. If you smoke, use alcohol or take illegal drugs, so does your unborn baby. First, don't ... children, including fetal alcohol syndrome. Don't use illegal drugs. Using illegal drugs may cause underweight babies, birth ...

Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants

PubMed Central

Wittemyer, George; Northrup, Joseph M.; Blanc, Julian; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Omondi, Patrick; Burnham, Kenneth P.

2014-01-01

Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species. As a driver of biodiversity loss, quantifying illegal harvest is essential for conservation and sociopolitical affairs but notoriously difficult. Here we combine field-based carcass monitoring with fine-scale demographic data from an intensively studied wild African elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, to partition mortality into natural and illegal causes. We then expand our analytical framework to model illegal killing rates and population trends of elephants at regional and continental scales using carcass data collected by a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species program. At the intensively monitored site, illegal killing increased markedly after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local black market ivory price and increased seizures of ivory destined for China. More broadly, results from application to continental data indicated illegal killing levels were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012, peaking to ∼8% in 2011 which extrapolates to ∼40,000 elephants illegally killed and a probable species reduction of ∼3% that year. Preliminary data from 2013 indicate overharvesting continued. In contrast to the rest of Africa, our analysis corroborates that Central African forest elephants experienced decline throughout the last decade. These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable. Further, our approach provides a powerful basis to determine cryptic mortality and gain understanding of the demography of at-risk species. PMID:25136107

Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants.

PubMed

Wittemyer, George; Northrup, Joseph M; Blanc, Julian; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Omondi, Patrick; Burnham, Kenneth P

2014-09-09

Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species. As a driver of biodiversity loss, quantifying illegal harvest is essential for conservation and sociopolitical affairs but notoriously difficult. Here we combine field-based carcass monitoring with fine-scale demographic data from an intensively studied wild African elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, to partition mortality into natural and illegal causes. We then expand our analytical framework to model illegal killing rates and population trends of elephants at regional and continental scales using carcass data collected by a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species program. At the intensively monitored site, illegal killing increased markedly after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local black market ivory price and increased seizures of ivory destined for China. More broadly, results from application to continental data indicated illegal killing levels were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012, peaking to ∼ 8% in 2011 which extrapolates to ∼ 40,000 elephants illegally killed and a probable species reduction of ∼ 3% that year. Preliminary data from 2013 indicate overharvesting continued. In contrast to the rest of Africa, our analysis corroborates that Central African forest elephants experienced decline throughout the last decade. These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable. Further, our approach provides a powerful basis to determine cryptic mortality and gain understanding of the demography of at-risk species.

Reality Television Programs Are Associated With Illegal Drug Use and Prescription Drug Misuse Among College Students.

PubMed

Fogel, Joshua; Shlivko, Alexander

2016-01-02

Reality television watching and social media use are popular activities. Reality television can include mention of illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. To determine if reality television and social media use of Twitter are associated with either illegal drug use or prescription drug misuse. Survey of 576 college students in 2011. Independent variables included watching reality television (social cognitive theory), parasocial interaction (parasocial interaction theory), television hours watched (cultivation theory), following a reality television character on Twitter, and demographics. Outcome variables were illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. Watching reality television and also identifying with reality TV program characters were each associated with greater odds for illegal drug use. Also, following a reality TV character on Twitter had greater odds for illegal drug use and also in one analytical model for prescription drug misuse. No support was seen for cultivation theory. Those born in the United States had greater odds for illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. Women and Asians had lower odds for illegal drug use. African Americans and Asians had lower odds for prescription drug misuse. Physicians, psychologists, and other healthcare practitioners may find it useful to include questions in their clinical interview about reality television watching and Twitter use. Physician and psychology groups, public health practitioners, and government health agencies should consider discussing with television broadcasting companies the potential negative impact of including content with illegal drugs and prescription drug misuse on reality television programs.

An Efficient and Examinable Illegal Fallow Fields Detecting Method with Spatio-Temporal Information Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Hao; Chu, Tzu-How

2017-04-01

To control the rice production and farm usage in Taiwan, Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) has published a series of policies to subsidize farmers to plant different crops or to practice fallow science 1983. Because of no efficient and examinable mechanism to verify the fallow fields surveyed by township office, illegal fallow fields were still repeated each year. In this research, we used remote sensing images, GIS data of Fields, and application records of fallow fields to establish an illegal fallow fields detecting method in Yulin County in central Taiwan. This method included: 1. collected multi-temporal images from FS-2 or SPOT series with 4 time periods; 2. combined the application records and GIS data of fields to verify the location of fallow fields; 3. conducted ground truth survey and classified images with ISODATA and Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC); 4. defined the land cover type of fallow fields by zonal statistic; 5. verified accuracy with ground truth; 6. developed potential illegal fallow fields survey method and benefit estimation. We use 190 fallow fields with 127 legal and 63 illegal as ground truth and accuracies of illegal fallow field interpretation in producer and user are 71.43% and 38.46%. If township office surveyed 117 classified illegal fallow fields, 45 of 63 illegal fallow fields will be detected. By using our method, township office can save 38.42% of the manpower to detect illegal fallow fields and receive an examinable 71.43% producer accuracy.

Combined impacts due to deforestation and the forest fires in the Amazonia and the global climate change on the future climate of South America: a modelling study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira, G. S.; Cardoso, M. F.; Sanches, M. B.; Alexandre, F. F.

2014-12-01

Since the late 1980s a large number of numerical experiments with atmospheric general circulation models has been used to assess the impacts of deforestation on global and regional climate, and one of the main motivations is the Amazon rainforest. In the same way, in the last decade several studies have shown that a higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere could lead changes in climate in the Amazon region. In this study we performed new analyses to quantify how deforestation, fire and the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration may combine to affect the climate in Amazonia during this century. For the projection of land use was considered a spatially explicit land use scenario from Aguiar et al. (2013). The scenario was built using LuccME generic modelling framework and the potential of change considering the proximity to previously deforested areas and also spatial drivers (roads and protected areas). In order to quantify the response of Brazilian Earth System Model, with INLAND-IBIS surface model, to climate change, deforestation and forest fire we performed a suite of simulations in two main categories: 1) the model was running under historical and RCP8.5 greenhouse gas concentration, and 2) the model was forced by the same configuration in 1 but also considering the effects of deforestation and forest fire in Amazon. In summary, the most important changes occur in the East/Northeast and South of the Amazonia and are more evident when are considered all effects (climate change, deforestation and fire). The results show warmer near-surface air temperature in all cases compared to the control case. This relative warming of the deforested land surface is consistent with the reduction in evapotranspiration, the lower leaf area and the lower surface roughness length. There is a reduction in annual precipitation in both cases mainly over eastern/northeastern Amazonia. The reduction in precipitation occurs mainly during the dry season (June-November) in both cases, and there is an increase in dry season length that is more evident when are considered all effects. In summary, we conclude that the synergistic combination of deforestation and climate change resulting from global warming may lead to important impacts that add considerably to the vulnerability of tropical forest ecosystems in the region.

Coupled Climate-Economy-Biosphere (CoCEB) model - Part 2: Deforestation control and investment in carbon capture and storage technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogutu, K. B. Z.; D'Andrea, F.; Ghil, M.; Nyandwi, C.; Manene, M. M.; Muthama, J. N.

2015-04-01

This study uses the global climate-economy-biosphere (CoCEB) model developed in Part 1 to investigate economic aspects of deforestation control and carbon sequestration in forests, as well as the efficiency of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as policy measures for climate change mitigation. We assume - as in Part 1 - that replacement of one technology with another occurs in terms of a logistic law, so that the same law also governs the dynamics of reduction in carbon dioxide emission using CCS technologies. In order to take into account the effect of deforestation control, a slightly more complex description of the carbon cycle than in Part 1 is needed. Consequently, we add a biomass equation into the CoCEB model and analyze the ensuing feedbacks and their effects on per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Integrating biomass into the CoCEB and applying deforestation control as well as CCS technologies has the following results: (i) low investment in CCS contributes to reducing industrial carbon emissions and to increasing GDP, but further investment leads to a smaller reduction in emissions, as well as in the incremental GDP growth; and (ii) enhanced deforestation control contributes to a reduction in both deforestation emissions and in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, thus reducing the impacts of climate change and contributing to a slight appreciation of GDP growth. This effect is however very small compared to that of low-carbon technologies or CCS. We also find that the result in (i) is very sensitive to the formulation of CCS costs, while to the contrary, the results for deforestation control are less sensitive.

Elements for the expected mechanisms on 'reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, REDD' under UNFCCC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mollicone, D.; Freibauer, A.; Schulze, E. D.; Braatz, S.; Grassi, G.; Federici, S.

2007-10-01

Carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation account for about 20% of global anthropogenic emissions. Strategies and incentives for reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) have emerged as one of the most active areas in the international climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While the current negotiations focus on a REDD mechanism in developing countries, it should be recognized that risks of carbon losses from forests occur in all climate zones and also in industrialized countries. A future climate change agreement would be more effective if it included all carbon losses and gains from land use in all countries and climate zones. The REDD mechanism will be an important step towards reducing emissions from land use change in developing countries, but needs to be followed by steps in other land use systems and regions. A national approach to REDD and significant coverage globally are needed to deal with the risk that deforestation and degradation activities are displaced rather than avoided. Favourable institutional and governance conditions need to be established that guarantee in the long-term a stable incentive and control system for maintaining forest carbon stocks. Ambitious emission reductions from deforestation and forest degradation need sustained financial incentives, which go beyond positive incentives for reduced emissions but also give incentives for sustainable forest management. Current data limitations need—and can be—overcome in the coming years to allow accurate accounting of reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation. A proper application of the conservativeness approach in the REDD context could allow a simplified reporting of emissions from deforestation in a first phase, consistent with the already agreed UNFCCC reporting principles.

Integrating remotely sensed fires for predicting deforestation for REDD.

PubMed

Armenteras, Dolors; Gibbes, Cerian; Anaya, Jesús A; Dávalos, Liliana M

2017-06-01

Fire is an important tool in tropical forest management, as it alters forest composition, structure, and the carbon budget. The United Nations program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to sustainably manage forests, as well as to conserve and enhance their carbon stocks. Despite the crucial role of fire management, decision-making on REDD+ interventions fails to systematically include fires. Here, we address this critical knowledge gap in two ways. First, we review REDD+ projects and programs to assess the inclusion of fires in monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. Second, we model the relationship between fire and forest for a pilot site in Colombia using near-real-time (NRT) fire monitoring data derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The literature review revealed fire remains to be incorporated as a key component of MRV systems. Spatially explicit modeling of land use change showed the probability of deforestation declined sharply with increasing distance to the nearest fire the preceding year (multi-year model area under the curve [AUC] 0.82). Deforestation predictions based on the model performed better than the official REDD early-warning system. The model AUC for 2013 and 2014 was 0.81, compared to 0.52 for the early-warning system in 2013 and 0.68 in 2014. This demonstrates NRT fire monitoring is a powerful tool to predict sites of forest deforestation. Applying new, publicly available, and open-access NRT fire data should be an essential element of early-warning systems to detect and prevent deforestation. Our results provide tools for improving both the current MRV systems, and the deforestation early-warning system in Colombia. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Late Holocene vegetation dynamics and deforestation in Rano Aroi: Implications for Easter Island's ecological and cultural history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rull, Valentí; Cañellas-Boltà, Núria; Margalef, Olga; Sáez, Alberto; Pla-Rabes, Sergi; Giralt, Santiago

2015-10-01

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) has been considered an example of how societies can cause their own destruction through the overexploitation of natural resources. The flagship of this ecocidal paradigm is the supposed abrupt, island-wide deforestation that occurred about one millennium ago, a few centuries after the arrival of Polynesian settlers to the island. Other hypotheses attribute the forest demise to different causes such as fruit consumption by rats or aridity but the occurrence of an abrupt, island-wide deforestation during the last millennium has become paradigmatic in Rapa Nui. We argue that such a view can be questioned, as it is based on the palynological study of incomplete records, owing to the existence of major sedimentary gaps. Here, we present a multiproxy (pollen, charcoal and geochemistry) study of the Aroi core, the first gap-free sedimentary sequence of the last millennia obtained to date in the island. Our results show changing vegetation patterns under the action of either climatic or anthropogenic drivers, or both, depending on the time interval considered. Palm forests were present in Aroi until the 16th century, when deforestation started, coinciding with fire exacerbation -likely of human origin- and a dry climate. This is the latest deforestation event recorded so far in the island and took place roughly a century before European contact. In comparison to other Easter Island records, this record shows that deforestation was neither simultaneous nor proceeded at the same pace over the whole island. These findings suggest that Easter Island's deforestation was a heterogeneous process in space and time, and highlights the relevance of local catchment traits in the island's environmental and land management history.

The role of bank credit for cattle raising in financing tropical deforestation: An economic case study from Panama

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ledec, G.

1992-01-01

Panama's rapid deforestation for cattle pasture is causing serious environmental problems, as well as negative economic and social consequences. Bank credit encourages deforestation by making cattle pasture expansion more affordable, more profitable, or less risky. Two governmental banks in Panama supply most of the institutional credit provided to small- and medium-scale ranchers, through loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank. Panama's large-scale ranchers obtain credit mostly from private commercial banks at subsidized interest rates. This study estimates that at least 7-10 percent of Panama's annual deforestation is due to governmental bank cattle credit. Cattle credit is more importantmore » in the loss of remaining forest fragments in long-settled areas than in forest-to-pasture conversion in frontier areas. However, because of the high environmental value of these forest remnants, their credit-induced loss is a serious public policy problem. Other incentives for cattle pasture expansion include beef markets, securing land claims, land price speculation, tax advantages, and the prestige value of cattle ranching. With care, the findings from this study can be generalized to many other tropical Latin American countries. Options available for minimizing deforestation include prohibiting or reducing institutional credit to cattle ranchers, restricting cattle credit to areas where little or no potential exists for additional deforestation, and eliminating interest rate subsidies on cattle credit. Such credit policy reforms would also improve economic efficiency and income distribution. other policy variables also influence Panama's deforestation rate: road construction and improvement, establishment and enforcement of protected areas, land titling laws and procedures, taxes, commercial forestry policies, beef pricing and export policies, the siting of hydroelectric projects, and policies that promote alternative employment for forest settlers.« less

National Scale Monitoring Reporting and Verification of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Guyana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bholanath, P.; Cort, K.

2015-04-01

Monitoring deforestation and forest degradation at national scale has been identified as a national priority under Guyana's REDD+ Programme. Based on Guyana's MRV (Monitoring Reporting and Verification) System Roadmap developed in 2009, Guyana sought to establish a comprehensive, national system to monitor, report and verify forest carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation in Guyana. To date, four national annual assessments have been conducted: 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Monitoring of forest change in 2010 was completed with medium resolution imagery, mainly Landsat 5. In 2011, assessment was conducted using a combination of Landsat (5 and 7) and for the first time, 5m high resolution imagery, with RapidEye coverage for approximately half of Guyana where majority of land use changes were taking place. Forest change in 2013 was determined using high resolution imagery for the whole of Guyana. The current method is an automated-assisted process of careful systematic manual interpretation of satellite imagery to identify deforestation based on different drivers of change. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) for deforestation is 1 ha (Guyana's forest definition) and a country-specific definition of 0.25 ha for degradation. The total forested area of Guyana is estimated as 18.39 million hectares (ha). In 2012 as planned, Guyana's forest area was reevaluated using RapidEye 5 m imagery. Deforestation in 2013 is estimated at 12 733 ha which equates to a total deforestation rate of 0.068%. Significant progress was made in 2012 and 2013, in mapping forest degradation. The area of forest degradation as measured by interpretation of 5 m RapidEye satellite imagery in 2013 was 4 352 ha. All results are subject to accuracy assessment and independent third party verification.

Climate Impact on South America due to Land Use Degradation of Amazon Rainforest during Winter and Summer Periods by RegCM3 Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, M. E. S.; Da Rocha, R.; Pereira, G.

2015-12-01

In this study we investigated the climatic impact over South America region due to the increasing of deforestation at the eastern and southern regions of Amazon through the use of the climate model RegCM3 with 50 km of spatial resolution. Many studies, among global and regional models have been used to simulate climatic impact due to deforestation. Most of them used relatively coarse resolution, small domains over South America, besides do not consider deforestation as usually observed. In order to verify the RegCM3 ability to simulate climate impacts due to Amazon deforestation including relatively higher horizontal resolutions, 50 km, a larger domain, the whole South America, deforested areas more similar to the route-shaped commonly seen, and a landuse updating, the model was run for the 2001-2006 period. As the major part of the previous studies focusing Amazon deforestation, RegCM3-50km simulated over degraded areas air temperature increase, ranging from 1.0 to 2.5oC, and precipitation decreasing, ~10%. These aspects are mainly resulting from soil water depletion and roughness vegetation decreasing, both inhibiting evapotranspiration processes. Apart from these results, the model with 50 km simulated precipitation increasing, ~10%, over the eastern South America and adjacent South Atlantic ocean, after Amazon deforestation. Seeking for physical related reasons able to provide the precipitation increasing during rainy seasons, over eastern South America, we found out that upper levels high pressure system (the Bolivian High) intensification, coupled to the southeastward trough, what follows the low troposphere warming, seems to contribute to the precipitation increasing. The climatic impact simulated for winter seasons presents strongest values for areas with altered landuse, over the north region of South America.

Deforestation and cultivation mobilize mercury from topsoil.

PubMed

Gamby, Rebecca L; Hammerschmidt, Chad R; Costello, David M; Lamborg, Carl H; Runkle, James R

2015-11-01

Terrestrial biomass and soils are a primary global reservoir of mercury (Hg) derived from natural and anthropogenic sources; however, relatively little is known about the fate and stability of Hg in the surface soil reservoir and its susceptibility to change as a result of deforestation and cultivation. In southwest Ohio, we measured Hg concentrations in soils of deciduous old- and new-growth forests, as well as fallow grassland and agricultural soils that had once been forested to examine how, over decadal to century time scales, man-made deforestation and cultivation influence Hg mobility from temperate surface soils. Mercury concentrations in surficial soils were significantly greater in the old-growth than new-growth forest, and both forest soils had greater Hg concentrations than cultivated and fallow fields. Differences in Hg:lead ratios between old-growth forest and agricultural topsoils suggest that about half of the Hg lost from deforested and cultivated Ohio soils may have been volatilized and the other half eroded. The estimated mobilization potential of Hg as a result of deforestation was 4.1 mg m(-2), which was proportional to mobilization potentials measured at multiple locations in the Amazon relative to concentrations in forested surface soils. Based on this relationship and an estimate of the global average of Hg concentrations in forested soils, we approximate that about 550 M mol of Hg has been mobilized globally from soil as a result of deforestation during the past two centuries. This estimate is comparable to, if not greater than, the amount of anthropogenic Hg hypothesized by others to have been sequestered by the soil reservoir since Industrialization. Our results suggest that deforestation and soil cultivation are significant anthropogenic processes that exacerbate Hg mobilization from soil and its cycling in the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biogeophysical consequences of a tropical deforestation scenario: A GCM simulation study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sud, Y.C.; Lau, W.K.M.; Walker, G.K.

1996-12-01

Two 3-year (1979-1982) integrations were carried out with a version of the GLA GCM that contains the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB) for simulating land-atmosphere interactions. The control case used the usual SiB vegetation cover (comprising 12 vegetation types), while its twin, the deforestation case, imposed a scenario in which all tropical rainforests were entirely replaced by grassland. Except for this difference, all other initial and prescribed boundary conditions were kept identical in both integrations. An intercomparison of the integrations shows that tropical: deforestation decreases evapotranspiration and increases land surface outgoing longwave radiation and sensible heat flux, thereby warming and dryingmore » the planetary boundary layer. This happens despite the reduced absorption of solar radiation due to higher surface albedo of the deforested land. Produces significant and robust local as well as global climate changes. The local effect includes significant changes (mostly reductions) in precipitation and diabatic heating, while the large-scale effect is to weaken the Hadley circulation but invigorate the southern Ferrel cell, drawing larger air mass from the indirect polar cells. Decreases the surface stress (drag force) owing to reduced surface roughness of deforested land, which in turn intensifies winds in the planetary boundary layer, thereby affecting the dynamic structure of moisture convergence. The simulated surface winds are about 70% stronger and are accompanied by significant changes in the power spectrum of the annual cycle of surface and PBL winds and precipitation. Our results broadly confirm several findings of recent tropical deforestation simulation experiments. In addition, some global-scale climatic influences of deforestation not identified in earlier studies are delineated. 57 refs., 10 figs., 3 tabs.« less

Impact of the ongoing Amazonian deforestation on local precipitation: A GCM simulation study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, G.K.; Sud, Y.C.; Atlas, R.

1995-03-01

Numerical simulation experiments were conducted to delineate the influence of in situ deforestation data on episodic rainfall by comparing two ensembles of five 5-day integrations performed with a recent version of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres GCM that has a simple biosphere model (SiB). The first set, called control cases, used the standard SiB vegetation cover (comprising 12 biomes) and assumed a fully forested Amazonia, while the second set, called deforestation cases, distinguished the partially deforested regions of Amazonia as savanna. Except for this difference, all other initial and prescribed boundary conditions were kept identical in both sets of integrations.more » The differential analyses of these five cases show the following local effects of deforestation. (1) A discernible decrease in evapotranspiration of about 0.80 mm d{sup {minus}1} (roughly 18%) that is quite robust in the averages for 1-, 2-, and 5-day forecasts. (2) A decrease in precipitation of about 1.18 mm d{sup {minus}1} (roughly 8%) that begins to emerge even in 1-2-day averages and exhibits complex evolution that extends downstream with the winds. A larger decrease in precipitation as compared to evapotranspiration produces some drying and warming. The precipitation differences are consistent with the decrease in atmospheric moisture flux convergence and are consistent with earlier simulation studies of local climate change due to large-scale deforestation. (3) A significant decrease in the surface drag force (as a consequence of reduced surface roughness of deforested regions) that, in turn, affects the dynamical structure of moisture convergence and circulation. The surface winds increase significantly during the first day, and thereafter the increase is well maintained even in the 2- and 5-day averages. 34 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs.« less

Secondary Forests from Agricultural Abandonment in Amazonia 2000-2009

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, Douglas

2010-01-01

Ongoing negotiations to include reducing emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in a post-Kyoto climate agreement highlight the critical role of satellite data for accurate and transparent accounting of forest cover changes. In addition to deforestation and degradation, knowledge of secondary forest dynamics is essential for full carbon accounting under REDD+. Land abandonment to secondary forests also frames one of the key tradeoffs for agricultural production in tropical forest countries-whether to incentivize secondary forest growth (for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation) or low-carbon expansion of agriculture or biofuels production in areas of secondary forests. We examined patterns of land abandonment to secondary forest across the arc of deforestation in Brazil and Bolivia using time series of annual Landsat and MODIS data from 2000-2009. Rates of land abandonment to secondary forest during 2002-2006 were less than 5% of deforestation rates in these years. Small areas of new secondary forest were scattered across the entire arc of deforestation, rather than concentrated in any specific region of the basin. Taken together, our analysis of the satellite data record emphasizes the difficulties of addressing the pool of new secondary forests in the context of REDD+ in Amazonia. Due to the small total area of secondary forests, land sparing through agricultural intensification will be an important element of efforts to reduce deforestation rates under REDD+ while improving agricultural productivity in Amazonia.

Post-crackdown effectiveness of field-based forest law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Börner, Jan; Kis-Katos, Krisztina; Hargrave, Jorge; König, Konstantin

2015-01-01

Regulatory enforcement of forest conservation laws is often dismissed as an ineffective approach to reducing tropical forest loss. Yet, effective enforcement is often a precondition for alternative conservation measures, such as payments for environmental services, to achieve desired outcomes. Fair and efficient policies to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) will thus crucially depend on understanding the determinants and requirements of enforcement effectiveness. Among potential REDD candidate countries, Brazil is considered to possess the most advanced deforestation monitoring and enforcement infrastructure. This study explores a unique dataset of over 15 thousand point coordinates of enforcement missions in the Brazilian Amazon during 2009 and 2010, after major reductions of deforestation in the region. We study whether local deforestation patterns have been affected by field-based enforcement and to what extent these effects vary across administrative boundaries. Spatial matching and regression techniques are applied at different spatial resolutions. We find that field-based enforcement operations have not been universally effective in deterring deforestation during our observation period. Inspections have been most effective in reducing large-scale deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará, where average conservation effects were 4.0 and 9.9 hectares per inspection, respectively. Despite regional and actor-specific heterogeneity in inspection effectiveness, field-based law enforcement is highly cost-effective on average and might be enhanced by closer collaboration between national and state-level authorities.

Carbon emissions risk map from deforestation in the tropical Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ometto, J.; Soler, L. S.; Assis, T. D.; Oliveira, P. V.; Aguiar, A. P.

2011-12-01

Assis, Pedro Valle This work aims to estimate the carbon emissions from tropical deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon associated to the risk assessment of future land use change. The emissions are estimated by incorporating temporal deforestation dynamics, accounting for the biophysical and socioeconomic heterogeneity in the region, as well secondary forest growth dynamic in abandoned areas. The land cover change model that supported the risk assessment of deforestation, was run based on linear regressions. This method takes into account spatial heterogeneity of deforestation as the spatial variables adopted to fit the final regression model comprise: environmental aspects, economic attractiveness, accessibility and land tenure structure. After fitting a suitable regression models for each land cover category, the potential of each cell to be deforested (25x25km and 5x5 km of resolution) in the near future was used to calculate the risk assessment of land cover change. The carbon emissions model combines high-resolution new forest clear-cut mapping and four alternative sources of spatial information on biomass distribution for different vegetation types. The risk assessment map of CO2 emissions, was obtained by crossing the simulation results of the historical land cover changes to a map of aboveground biomass contained in the remaining forest. This final map represents the risk of CO2 emissions at 25x25km and 5x5 km until 2020, under a scenario of carbon emission reduction target.

Post-Crackdown Effectiveness of Field-Based Forest Law Enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Börner, Jan; Kis-Katos, Krisztina; Hargrave, Jorge; König, Konstantin

2015-01-01

Regulatory enforcement of forest conservation laws is often dismissed as an ineffective approach to reducing tropical forest loss. Yet, effective enforcement is often a precondition for alternative conservation measures, such as payments for environmental services, to achieve desired outcomes. Fair and efficient policies to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) will thus crucially depend on understanding the determinants and requirements of enforcement effectiveness. Among potential REDD candidate countries, Brazil is considered to possess the most advanced deforestation monitoring and enforcement infrastructure. This study explores a unique dataset of over 15 thousand point coordinates of enforcement missions in the Brazilian Amazon during 2009 and 2010, after major reductions of deforestation in the region. We study whether local deforestation patterns have been affected by field-based enforcement and to what extent these effects vary across administrative boundaries. Spatial matching and regression techniques are applied at different spatial resolutions. We find that field-based enforcement operations have not been universally effective in deterring deforestation during our observation period. Inspections have been most effective in reducing large-scale deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará, where average conservation effects were 4.0 and 9.9 hectares per inspection, respectively. Despite regional and actor-specific heterogeneity in inspection effectiveness, field-based law enforcement is highly cost-effective on average and might be enhanced by closer collaboration between national and state-level authorities. PMID:25875656

Sources of water vapor to economically relevant regions in Amazonia and the effect of deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pires, G. F.; Fontes, V. C.

2017-12-01

The Amazon rain forest helps regulate the regional humid climate. Understanding the effects of Amazon deforestation is important to preserve not only the climate, but also economic activities that depend on it, in particular, agricultural productivity and hydropower generation. This study calculates the source of water vapor contributing to the precipitation on economically relevant regions in Amazonia according to different scenarios of deforestation. These regions include the state of Mato Grosso, which produces about 9% of the global soybean production, and the basins of the Xingu and Madeira, with infrastructure under construction that will be capable to generate 20% of the electrical energy produced in Brazil. The results show that changes in rainfall after deforestation are stronger in regions nearest to the ocean and indicate the importance of the continental water vapor source to the precipitation over southern Amazonia. In the two more continental regions (Madeira and Mato Grosso), decreases in the source of water vapor in one region were offset by increases in contributions from other continental regions, whereas in the Xingu basin, which is closer to the ocean, this mechanism did not occur. As a conclusion, the geographic location of the region is an important determinant of the resiliency of the regional climate to deforestation-induced regional climate change. The more continental the geographic location, the less climate changes after deforestation.

Unsustainable development pathways caused by tropical deforestation

PubMed Central

Carrasco, Luis Roman; Nghiem, Thi Phuong Le; Chen, Zhirong; Barbier, Edward B.

2017-01-01

Global sustainability strategies require assessing whether countries’ development trajectories are sustainable over time. However, sustainability assessments are limited because losses of natural capital and its ecosystem services through deforestation have not been comprehensively incorporated into national accounts. We update the national accounts of 80 nations that underwent tropical deforestation from 2000 to 2012 and evaluate their development trajectories using weak and strong sustainability criteria. Weak sustainability requires that countries do not decrease their aggregate capital over time. We adopt a strong sustainability criterion that countries do not decrease the value of their forest ecosystem services with respect to the year 2000. We identify several groups of countries: countries, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India, that present sustainable development trajectories under both weak and strong sustainability criteria; countries, such as Brazil, Peru, and Indonesia, that present weak sustainable development but fail the strong sustainability criterion as a result of rapid losses of ecosystem services; countries, such as Madagascar, Laos, and Papua New Guinea, that present unsustainable development pathways as a result of deforestation; and countries, such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, in which deforestation aggravates already unsustainable pathways. Our results reveal a large number of countries where tropical deforestation is both damaging to nature and not compensated by development in other sectors, thus compromising the well-being of their future generations. PMID:28706988

Global cost estimates of reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation

PubMed Central

Kindermann, Georg; Obersteiner, Michael; Sohngen, Brent; Sathaye, Jayant; Andrasko, Kenneth; Rametsteiner, Ewald; Schlamadinger, Bernhard; Wunder, Sven; Beach, Robert

2008-01-01

Tropical deforestation is estimated to cause about one-quarter of anthropogenic carbon emissions, loss of biodiversity, and other environmental services. United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change talks are now considering mechanisms for avoiding deforestation (AD), but the economic potential of AD has yet to be addressed. We use three economic models of global land use and management to analyze the potential contribution of AD activities to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. AD activities are found to be a competitive, low-cost abatement option. A program providing a 10% reduction in deforestation from 2005 to 2030 could provide 0.3–0.6 Gt (1 Gt = 1 × 105 g) CO2·yr−1 in emission reductions and would require $0.4 billion to $1.7 billion·yr−1 for 30 years. A 50% reduction in deforestation from 2005 to 2030 could provide 1.5–2.7 Gt CO2·yr−1 in emission reductions and would require $17.2 billion to $28.0 billion·yr−1. Finally, some caveats to the analysis that could increase costs of AD programs are described. PMID:18650377

Naming and Shaming for Conservation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Cisneros, Elías; Zhou, Sophie Lian; Börner, Jan

2015-01-01

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped substantially after a peak of over 27 thousand square kilometers in 2004. Starting in 2008, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment has regularly published blacklists of critical districts with high annual forest loss. Farms in blacklisted districts face additional administrative hurdles to obtain authorization for clearing forests. In this paper we add to the existing literature on evaluating the Brazilian anti-deforestation policies by specifically quantifying the impact of blacklisting on deforestation. We first use spatial matching techniques using a set of covariates that includes official blacklisting criteria to identify control districts. We then explore the effect of blacklisting on change in deforestation in double difference regressions with panel data covering the period from 2002 to 2012. Multiple robustness checks are conducted including an analysis of potential causal mechanisms behind the success of the blacklist. We find that the blacklist has considerably reduced deforestation in the affected districts even after controlling for the potential mechanism effects of field-based enforcement, environmental registration campaigns, and rural credit. PMID:26398096

Deforestation and child diet diversity: A geospatial analysis of 15 Sub-Saharan African countries.

PubMed

Galway, Lindsay P; Acharya, Yubraj; Jones, Andrew D

2018-05-01

Deforestation worldwide could have important consequences for diet quality and human nutrition given the numerous ecosystem services that are provided by forests and biodiverse landscapes. Yet, empirical research assessing the links between deforestation and diets is lacking. In this study, we examined the association between deforestation and diet diversity among children using geolocated Demographic and Health Survey data for 33,777 children across 15 countries of sub-Saharan Africa coupled with remotely-sensed data on forest cover loss. Deforestation was negatively associated with diet diversity (regression coefficient (95% CI): - 0.47 (- 0.76, - 0.18)), as well as recent consumption of legumes and nuts, flesh foods, and fruits and vegetables among children aged 6 months to 24 months. Regionally, these trends were statistically significant only in the West Africa region. This hypothesis-generating research adds to the growing body of evidence that forests and forest-based ecosystems are associated with diet quality and nutrition and provides support for future studies that examine mechanisms linking forest loss and human nutrition. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Big earth-observation data analytics for modelling pan-tropical land-use change trajectories for newly deforested areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coca Castro, Alejandro; Reymondin, Louis; Rebetez, Julien; Fabio Satizabal Mejia, Hector; Perez-Uribe, Andres; Mulligan, Mark; Smith, Thomas; Hyman, Glenn

2017-04-01

Global land use monitoring is important to the the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The latest advances in storage and manipulation of big earth-observation data have been key to developing multiple operational forest monitoring initiatives such as FORMA, Terra-i and Global Forest Change. Although the data provided by these systems are useful for identifying and estimating newly deforested areas (from 2000), they do not provide details about the land use to which these deforested areas are transitioned. This information is critical to understand the biodiversity and ecosystem services impact of deforestation and the resulting impacts on human wellbeing, locally and downstream. With the aim of contributing to current forest monitoring initiatives, this research presents a set of experimental case studies in Latin America which integrate existing land-change information derived from remote sensing image and aerial photography/ground datasets, high-temporal resolution MODIS data, advanced machine learning (i.e deep learning) and big data technologies (i.e. Hadoop and Spark) to assess land-use change trajectories in newly deforested areas in near real time.

Predicting Deforestation Patterns in Loreto, Peru from 2000-2010 Using a Nested GLM Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijay, V.; Jenkins, C.; Finer, M.; Pimm, S.

2013-12-01

Loreto is the largest province in Peru, covering about 370,000 km2. Because of its remote location in the Amazonian rainforest, it is also one of the most sparsely populated. Though a majority of the region remains covered by forest, deforestation is being driven by human encroachment through industrial activities and the spread of colonization and agriculture. The importance of accurate predictive modeling of deforestation has spawned an extensive body of literature on the topic. We present a nested GLM approach based on predictions of deforestation from 2000-2010 and using variables representing the expected drivers of deforestation. Models were constructed using 2000 to 2005 changes and tested against data for 2005 to 2010. The most complex model, which included transportation variables (roads and navigable rivers), spatial contagion processes, population centers and industrial activities, performed better in predicting the 2005 to 2010 changes (75.8% accurate) than did a simpler model using only transportation variables (69.2% accurate). Finally we contrast the GLM approach with a more complex spatially articulated model.

Assessing Impacts of Selective Logging on Water, Energy, and Carbon Fluxes in Amazon Forests Using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Y.; Huang, M.; Keller, M. M.; Longo, M.; Knox, R. G.; Koven, C.; Fisher, R.

2016-12-01

As a key component in the climate system, old-growth tropical forests act as carbon sinks that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. However, these forests could be easily turned into C sources when disturbed. In fact, over half of tropical forests have been cleared or logged, and almost half of standing primary tropical forests are designated for timber production. Existing literature suggests that timber harvests alone could contribute up to 25% as much C losses as deforestation in Amazon. Yet, the spatial extent and recovery trajectory of disturbed forests in a changing climate are highly uncertain. This study constitutes our first attempt to quantify impacts of selective logging on water, energy, and carbon budgets in Amazon forests using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES). The Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5), with and without FATES turned on, are configured to run at two flux towers established in the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). One tower is located at in an old-growth forest (i.e. KM67) and the other is located in a selectively logged site (i.e., KM83). The three CLM4.5 options, (1) Satellite Phenology (CLM4.5-SP), (2) Century-based biogeochemical cycling with prognostic phenology (CLM4.5-BGC), and (3) CLM4.5-FATES, are spun up to equilibrium by recycling the observed meteorology at the towers, respectively. The simulated fluxes (i.e., sensible heat, latent heat, and net ecosystem exchange) are then compared to observations at KM67 to evaluate the capability of the models in capturing water and carbon dynamics in old-growth tropical forests. Our results suggest that all three models perform reasonably well in capturing the fluxes but demographic features simulated by FATES, such as distributions of diameter at breast height (DBH) and stem density (SD), are skewed heavily toward extremely large trees (e.g., > 100 cm in DBH) when compared to site surveys at the forest plots. Efforts are underway to evaluate parametric sensitivity in FATES to improve simulations in old-growth forests, and to implement parameterization to represent pulse disturbance to carbon pools created by logging events at different intensities, and follow-up recovery closely related to gap-phase regeneration and competition for lights within the gaps.

Calculating the social cost of illegal drugs: a theoretical approach.

PubMed

Diomidous, Marianna; Zimeras, Stelios; Mechili, Aggelos

2013-01-01

The use of illegal drugs generates a wide range of social harms depending on various ways, according to the policy definition of the problem. The challenge is the way to model the impact of illegal drugs use during a long time period considering the factors that affects the process. Based on these models, estimation could be measured and prediction could be achieved. The illegal drugs use might affect the economic and social structure of the public system leading to direct and effective decisions to overcome the problematic. For that reason, calculation of social cost related to the use of illegal could be introduced over time (t) as a proposed social measure to define the variability of social indicator on society. In this work, a theoretical approach for the calculation of social cost of illegal drugs is proposed and models over time are defined.

Fire patterns in the Amazonian biome

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aragao, Luiz E. O. C.; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.; Lima, Andre; Anderson, Liana O.; Barbier, Nicolas; Saatchi, Sassan

2010-05-01

This paper aims to provide an overview of our recent findings on the interplay between climate and land use dynamics in defining fire patterns in Amazonia. Understanding these relationships is currently a fundamental concern for assessing the vulnerability of Amazonia to climate change and its potential for mitigating current increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases. Reducing carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), for instance, could contribute to a cumulative emission reduction of 13-50 billion tons of carbon (GtC) by 2100. In Amazonia, though, forest fires can release similar quantities of carbon to the atmosphere (~0.2 GtC yr-1) as deforestation alone. Therefore, to achieve carbon savings through REDD mechanism there is an urgent need of understanding and subsequently restraining related Amazonian fire drivers. In this study, we analyze satellite-derived monthly and annual time-series of fires, rainfall and deforestation in Amazonia to: (1) quantify the seasonal patterns and relationships between these variables; (2) quantify fire and rainfall anomalies to evaluate the impact of recent drought on fire patterns; (3) quantify recent trends in fire and deforestation to understand how land use affects fire patterns in Amazonia. Our results demonstrate a marked seasonality of fires. The majority of fires occurs along the Arc of Deforestation, the expanding agricultural frontier in southern and eastern Amazonia, indicating humans are the major ignition sources determining fire seasonality, spatial distribution and long-term patterns. There is a marked seasonality of fires, which is highly correlated (p<0.05) with monthly rainfall and deforestation rates. Deforestation and fires reach their highest values three and six months, respectively, after the peak of the rainy season. This result clearly describes the impact of major human activities on fire incidence, which is generally characterized by the slash-and-burn of Amazonian vegetation for implementation of pastures and agricultural fields. The cumulative number of hot pixels is exponentially related to the monthly rainfall, which ultimately defines where and when fire can potentially strike. During the 2005 Amazonian drought, the number of hot pixels increased 33% in relation to mean 1998-2005. However, even with a large fraction of the basin experiencing considerable water deficits, fires have only affect areas with extensive human activity. Our spatially explicit trend analysis on deforestation and fire data revealed that more than half of the area experiencing increased fire occurrence have reduced deforestation rates. This reverse pattern is likely to be associated with the slash-and-burn of secondary forests and the increase of fragmentation and forest edges, favouring the leakage of fires from deforested lands into forests. Finally, our analysis points towards a reduction of fire incidence due to land use intensification in this region. In this study, we demonstrated that anthropogenic forcing, such as deforestation rates, is decisive in determining the seasonality and annual patterns of fire occurrence. Moreover, droughts can significantly increase the number of fires in the region exacerbating human impacts in Amazonia. Due to ongoing deforestation and the predicted intensification of climate change induced droughts, it is anticipated that a large area of forest edge will be under increased risk of fires and carbon savings from REDD may be partially offset by increased emissions following fire events. Improved fire-free land management practices may provide a sustainable solution for reducing emissions from the world's largest rainforest. Acknowledges The first author would like to thank the financial support of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC-UK/grant NE/F015356/1).

Perception of illegal practice of medicine by Brazilian medical students.

PubMed

Lins, Liliane; Herbas, Suzana; Lisboa, Larissa; Damasceno, Hannah; Menezes, Marta

2014-06-01

Illegal practice of medicine by medical students is a worldwide problem. In Brazil, information about this issue is scarce. To describe the perception of illegal practice of medicine by medical students. A cross-sectional study in a stratified random sample of 130 medical students in the 6th to 12th semesters from a private faculty of medicine in Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil, from September to October 2011. Students responded to a standardised questionnaire about the illegal practice of medicine by medical students. Knowing medical students who practised medical activities without supervision was reported by 86% of the respondents, and 93.8% had heard about someone who performed such practices. Medical specialties most often associated with illegal practice were general medicine (78.8%) and occupational health (55.9%). Illegal practice of medicine was more common in peripheral cities/towns (83.9%) than in the State capital, Salvador City (52.4%). Only 10.5% of illegal activities were reported to the authorities. Unsupervised medical practice was more often reported in the 8th-9th semester (56.8%) and 10th-11th semester (54.4%) of medical school. Illegal practice of medicine was commonly reported by the medical students questioned. The high frequency of reported illegal practice for financial reasons highlights the need for greater availability of paid internships for medical students. Educational institutions represent the social control responsible for supervising the activities of academics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Climate change, allergy and asthma, and the role of tropical forests.

PubMed

D'Amato, Gennaro; Vitale, Carolina; Rosario, Nelson; Neto, Herberto Josè Chong; Chong-Silva, Deborah Carla; Mendonça, Francisco; Perini, Josè; Landgraf, Loraine; Solé, Dirceu; Sánchez-Borges, Mario; Ansotegui, Ignacio; D'Amato, Maria

2017-01-01

Tropical forests cover less than 10 per cent of all land area (1.8 × 107 km 2 ) and over half of the tropical-forest area (1.1 × 107 Km 2 ) is represented by humid tropical forests (also called tropical rainforests). The Amazon basin contains the largest rainforest on Earth, almost 5.8 million km 2 , and occupies about 40% of South America; more than 60% of the basin is located in Brazil and the rest in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Over the past decade the positive role of tropical rainforests in capturing large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has been demonstrated. In response to the increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration, tropical forests act as a global carbon sink. Accumulation of carbon in the tropical terrestrial biosphere strongly contributes to slowing the rate of increase of CO 2 into the atmosphere, thus resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas effect. Tropical rainforests have been estimated to account for 32-36% of terrestrial Net Primary Productivity (NPP) that is the difference between total forest photosynthesis and plant respiration. Tropical rainforests have been acting as a strong carbon sink in this way for decades. However, over the past years, increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, and especially CO 2 , in the atmosphere have significantly affected the net carbon balance of tropical rainforests, and have warmed the planet substantially driving climate changes through more severe and prolonged heat waves, variability in temperature, increased air pollution, forest fires, droughts, and floods. The role of tropical forests in mitigating climate change is therefore critical. Over the past 30 years almost 600,000 km 2 have been deforested in Brazil alone due to the rapid development of Amazonia, this is the reason why currently the region is one of the 'hotspots' of global environmental change on the planet. Deforestation represents the second largest anthropogenic source of CO 2 to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. There are many causes of deforestation, including socioeconomic and natural factors, such as clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, as well as droughts, fires and degradation due to climate change. About natural causes of forest degradation, in the context of the Amazon, the major agent of change in the forest ecosystem would most likely be decreased dry-season precipitation. Of the 23 global climate models employed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their 2007 report, 50-70% predict a substantial (above 20%) reduction of dry-season rainfall in eastern Amazonia under mid-range greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, 40% in central Amazonia and 20% in the west. While annual carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion have been continually increasing since 1960s, historical trends of deforestation and associated carbon emissions have remained poorly understood.

[Current and future legislation of illegal drugs in Tokyo].

PubMed

Abe, Tetsuya

2013-01-01

Abuse of illegal drugs is widespread among young people, especially in the so-called "dance club scene" or "rave scene". Severe and even fatal poisonings have been attributed to the consumption of such drugs of abuse. The actions against these drugs by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and subsequently by the Government of Japan have gone some way to reducing the potential harm caused by these substances. However, alternative products have been advertised on a number of websites. During our careful surveillance of illegal drugs in 2011, we found seven unregulated drugs advertised. This means that we have an obligation to continue strict surveillance of illegal drugs and to structure a system of temporary bans on illegal drugs.

Survey of Hylobates agilis albibarbis in a logged peat-swamp forest: Sabangau catchment, Central Kalimantan.

PubMed

Buckley, Cara; Nekaris, K A I; Husson, Simon John

2006-10-01

Few data are available on gibbon populations in peat-swamp forest. In order to assess the importance of this habitat for gibbon conservation, a population of Hylobates agilis albibarbis was surveyed in the Sabangau peat-swamp forest, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. This is an area of about 5,500 km(2) of selectively logged peat-swamp forest, which was formally gazetted as a national park during 2005. The study was conducted during June and July 2004 using auditory sampling methods. Five sample areas were selected and each was surveyed for four consecutive days by three teams of researchers at designated listening posts. Researchers recorded compass bearings of, and estimated distances to, singing groups. Nineteen groups were located. Population density is estimated to be 2.16 (+/-0.46) groups/km(2). Sightings occurring either at the listening posts or that were obtained by tracking in on calling groups yielded a mean group size of 3.4 individuals, hence individual gibbon density is estimated to be 7.4 (+/-1.59) individuals/km(2). The density estimates fall at the mid-range of those calculated for other gibbon populations, thus suggesting that peat-swamp forest is an important habitat for gibbon conservation in Borneo. A tentative extrapolation of results suggests a potential gibbon population size of 19,000 individuals within the mixed-swamp forest habitat sub-type in the Sabangau. This represents one of the largest remaining continuous populations of Bornean agile gibbons. The designation of the Sabangau forest as a national park will hopefully address the problem of illegal logging and hunting in the region. Further studies should note any difference in gibbon density post protection.

Effectiveness of China's National Forest Protection Program and nature reserves.

PubMed

Ren, Guopeng; Young, Stephen S; Wang, Lin; Wang, Wei; Long, Yongcheng; Wu, Ruidong; Li, Junsheng; Zhu, Jianguo; Yu, Douglas W

2015-10-01

There is profound interest in knowing the degree to which China's institutions are capable of protecting its natural forests and biodiversity in the face of economic and political change. China's 2 most important forest-protection policies are its National Forest Protection Program (NFPP) and its national-level nature reserves (NNRs). The NFPP was implemented in 2000 in response to deforestation-caused flooding. We undertook the first national, quantitative assessment of the NFPP and NNRs to examine whether the NFPP achieved its deforestation-reduction target and whether the NNRs deter deforestation altogether. We used MODIS data to estimate forest cover and loss across mainland China (2000-2010). We also assembled the first-ever polygon dataset for China's forested NNRs (n = 237, 74,030 km(2) in 2000) and used both conventional and covariate-matching approaches to compare deforestation rates inside and outside NNRs (2000-2010). In 2000, 1.765 million km(2) or 18.7% of mainland China was forested (12.3% with canopy cover of ≥70%)) or woodland (6.4% with canopy cover <70% and tree plus shrub cover ≥40%). By 2010, 480,203 km(2) of forest and woodland had been lost, an annual deforestation rate of 2.7%. Forest-only loss was 127,473 km(2) (1.05% annually). In the NFPP provinces, the forest-only loss rate was 0.62%, which was 3.3 times lower than in the non-NFPP provinces. Moreover, the Landsat data suggest that these loss rates are overestimates due to large MODIS pixel size. Thus, China appears to have achieved, and even exceeded, its target of reducing deforestation to 1.1% annually in the NFPP provinces. About two-thirds of China's NNRs were effective in protecting forest cover (prevented loss 4073 km(2) unmatched approach; 3148 km(2) matched approach), and within-NNR deforestation rates were higher in provinces with higher overall deforestation. Our results indicate that China's existing institutions can protect domestic forest cover. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Differential response of surface temperature and atmospheric temperature to the biogeophysical effects of deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winckler, J.; Reick, C. H.; Lejeune, Q.; Pongratz, J.

2017-12-01

Deforestation influences temperature locally by changing the water, energy and momentum balance. While most observation-based studies and some modeling studies focused on the effects on surface temperature, other studies focused on the effects on near-surface air temperature. However, these two variables may respond differently to deforestation because changes in albedo and surface roughness may alter the land-atmosphere coupling and thus the vertical temperature distribution. Thus it is unclear whether it is possible to compare studies that assess the impacts of deforestation on these two different variables. Here, we analyze the biogeophysical effects of global-scale deforestation in the climate model MPI-ESM separately for surface temperature, 2m-air temperature and temperature the lowest atmospheric model layer. We investigate why the response of these variables differs by isolating the effects of only changing surface albedo and only changing surface roughness and by separating effects that are induced at the location of deforestation (local effects) from effects that are induced by advection and changes in circulation (nonlocal effects). Concerning surface temperature, we find that the local effects of deforestation lead to a global mean warming which is overcompensated by the nonlocal effects (up to 0.1K local warming versus -0.3K nonlocal cooling). The surface warming in the local effects is largely driven by the change in surface roughness while the cooling in the nonlocal effects is largely driven by the change in surface albedo. The nonlocal effects are largely consistent across surface temperature, 2m-air temperature, and the temperature of the lowest atmospheric layer. However, the local effects strongly differ across the three considered variables. The local effects are strong for surface temperature, but substantially weaker in the 2m-air temperature and largely absent in the lowest atmospheric layer. We conclude that studies focusing on the deforestation effects on surface temperature should not be compared to studies focusing on the effects on air temperature. While the local effects on surface temperature are useful for model evaluation, they might be less relevant for local adaptation and mitigation than previously thought because they might largely be absent in the atmosphere.

Present-day central African forest is a legacy of the 19th century human history.

PubMed

Morin-Rivat, Julie; Fayolle, Adeline; Favier, Charly; Bremond, Laurent; Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie; Bayol, Nicolas; Lejeune, Philippe; Beeckman, Hans; Doucet, Jean-Louis

2017-01-17

The populations of light-demanding trees that dominate the canopy of central African forests are now aging. Here, we show that the lack of regeneration of these populations began ca. 165 ya (around 1850) after major anthropogenic disturbances ceased. Since 1885, less itinerancy and disturbance in the forest has occurred because the colonial administrations concentrated people and villages along the primary communication axes. Local populations formerly gardened the forest by creating scattered openings, which were sufficiently large for the establishment of light-demanding trees. Currently, common logging operations do not create suitable openings for the regeneration of these species, whereas deforestation degrades landscapes. Using an interdisciplinary approach, which included paleoecological, archaeological, historical, and dendrological data, we highlight the long-term history of human activities across central African forests and assess the contribution of these activities to present-day forest structure and composition. The conclusions of this sobering analysis present challenges to current silvicultural practices and to those of the future.

EDITORIAL: Tropical deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibbs, Holly K.; Herold, Martin

2007-10-01

Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation have long been recognized as a key component of the global carbon budget, and more recently of our global climate system. Tropical forest clearing accounts for roughly 20% of anthropogenic carbon emissions and destroys globally significant carbon sinks (IPCC 2007). Global climate policy initiatives are now being proposed to address these emissions and to more actively include developing countries in greenhouse gas mitigation (e.g. Santilli et al 2005, Gullison et al 2007). In 2005, at the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Montreal, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched a new initiative to assess the scientific and technical methods and issues for developing policy approaches and incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in developing countries (Gullison et al 2007). Over the last two years the methods and tools needed to estimate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation have quickly evolved, as the scientific community responded to the UNFCCC policy needs. This focus issue highlights those advancements, covering some of the most important technical issues for measuring and monitoring emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and emphasizing immediately available methods and data, as well as future challenges. Elements for effective long-term implementation of a REDD mechanism related to both environmental and political concerns are discussed in Mollicone et al. Herold and Johns synthesize viewpoints of national parties to the UNFCCC on REDD and expand upon key issues for linking policy requirements and forest monitoring capabilities. In response to these expressed policy needs, they discuss a remote-sensing-based observation framework to start REDD implementation activities and build historical deforestation databases on the national level. Achard et al offer an assessment of remote sensing measurements across the world's tropical forests that can provide key consistency and prioritization for national-level efforts. Gibbs et al calculate a range of national-level forest carbon stock estimates that can be used immediately, and also review ground-based and remote sensing approaches to estimate national-level tropical carbon stocks with increased accuracy. These papers help illustrate that methodologies and tools are indeed available to estimate emissions from deforestation. Clearly, important technical challenges remain (e.g. quantifying degradation, assessing uncertainty, verification procedures, capacity building, and Landsat data continuity) but we now have a sufficient technical base to support REDD early actions and readiness mechanisms for building national monitoring systems. Thus, we enter the COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia with great hope for a more inclusive climate policy encompassing all countries and emissions sources from both land-use and energy sectors. Our understanding of tropical deforestation and carbon emissions is improving and with that, opportunities to conserve tropical forests and the host of ecosystem services they provide while also increasing revenue streams in developing countries through economic incentives to avoid deforestation and degradation. References Gullison R E et al 2007 Tropical forests and climate policy Science 316 985 6 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf Santilli M et al 2005 Tropical deforestation and the Kyoto Protocol: an editorial essay Clim. Change 71 267 76 Focus on Tropical Deforestation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Contents The articles below represent the first accepted contributions and further additions will appear in the near future. Pan-tropical monitoring of deforestation F Achard, R DeFries, H Eva, M Hansen, P Mayaux and H-J Stibig Monitoring and estimating tropical forest carbon stocks: making REDD a reality Holly K Gibbs, Sandra Brown, John O Niles and Jonathan A Foley Elements for the expected mechanisms on 'reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, REDD' under UNFCCC D Mollicone, A Freibauer, E D Schulze, S Braatz, G Grassi and S Federici

Remote sensing in forestry: Application to the Amazon region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dejesusparada, N. (Principal Investigator); Tardin, A. T.; Dossantos, A.; Filho, P. H.; Shimabukuro, Y. E.

1981-01-01

The utilization of satellite remote sensing in forestry is reviewed with emphasis on studies performed for the Brazilian Amazon Region. Timber identification, deforestation, and pasture degradation after deforestation are discussed.

The implications of new forest tenure reforms and forestry property markets for sustainable forest management and forest certification in China.

PubMed

Chen, Juan; Innes, John L

2013-11-15

This study examines issues existing in the southern collective forests in China, particularly prior to the implementation of new forest tenure reforms, such as continued illegal logging and timber theft, inadequate availability of finance and inconsistent forest-related policies. Such problems are believed to be hindering the adoption of sustainable forest management (SFM) and forest certification by forest farmers in China. Two strategies were introduced by the Chinese government with the purpose of addressing these issues, namely forest tenure reforms and their associated supporting mechanism, forestry property markets. Through two case studies in southern China, we investigated the effectiveness of the two strategies as well as their implications for the adoption of SFM and forest certification. The two cases were Yong'an in Fujian province and Tonggu in Jiangxi province. Personal interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with small-scale forest farmers who had already benefited from the two strategies as well as market officers working for the two selected forestry property markets. The study identified eight issues constraining the potential adoption of SFM and certification in China, including limited finance, poorly developed infrastructure and transport systems, insecure forest tenures, inconsistent forest policies, low levels of awareness, illegal forest management practices, lack of local cooperative organizations, and inadequate knowledge and technical transfer. We found that the new forest tenure reforms and forestry property markets had generally fulfilled their original objectives and had the capacity to assist in addressing many of the issues facing forests prior to the reforms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Medicinal and illegal drugs among Danish car drivers.

PubMed

Behrensdorff, Inge; Steentoft, Anni

2003-11-01

The objective of this study was to get an insight into the prevalence of medicinal and illegal drugs among car drivers in a Danish rural area. The police randomly stopped about 1000 car drivers and asked them to deliver a saliva sample and gave them a questionnaire to fill in at home. Laboratory analyses by specific methods of samples, which a screening found positive, confirmed that 2% were positive for benzodiazepines or illegal drugs (amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine or opiates): 1.3% were positive for illegal drugs and 0.7% for benzodiazepines. Questionnaire statements from some of the drivers confirm that occasionally some of these drive despite a suspicion to be under the influence of an illegal drug (2.8%), an illegal drug including alcohol (4%), a hazardous medicinal drug including alcohol (8.5%), or alcohol alone above the legal limit (24.5%). These results are considered reliable for the survey area and may not reflect national conditions. The overall results indicate that in this study driving under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol seems to be associated to especially men, aged 22-44 years. Driving under the influence of hazardous medicinal drugs seems to be associated to middle-aged/elderly drivers, both men and women.

[Illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe].

PubMed

Manouana, M; Kadhel, P; Koffi, A; Janky, E

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to describe the typical profile, and to assess the motivations of women who underwent illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). We conducted a 1-year prospective study on women who consulted after failure or complication of an illegal abortion with misoprostol. Fifty-two cases of illegal abortion with misoprostol were recorded. The most common profile was an unemployed woman, who was unmarried, foreign-born, had no medical insurance, and a low level of education; the median age was 28 (range 17 to 40). The justifications given were that the legal procedure was considered to be too slow, the young age of the woman, the ease of the self-medication procedure, a history of illegal abortion by misoprostol in the woman's country of origin, ignorance of the legal process, and financial and/or administrative problems. The problem of illegal abortion is probably underestimated in Guadeloupe and possibly France. This description of the profile of the population concerned and the justifications for choosing illegal abortion by misoprostol provides elements allowing better focus of education concerning abortion, contraception and family planning. Access to legal abortion centers should also be improved. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the Effect of Macroeconomic and Social Factors on Illegal E-Waste Trade.

PubMed

Efthymiou, Loukia; Mavragani, Amaryllis; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P

2016-08-05

As illegal e-waste trade has been significantly growing over the course of the last few years, the consequences on human health and the environment demand immediate action on the part of the global community. Though it is argued that e-waste flows from developed to developing countries, this subject seems to be more complex than that, with a variety of studies suggesting that income per capita is not the only factor affecting the choice of regions that e-waste is illegally shipped to. How is a country's economic and social development associated with illegal e-waste trade? Is legislation an important factor? This paper aims at quantifying macroeconomic (per capita income and openness of economy) and social (human development and social progress) aspects, based on qualitative data on illegal e-waste trade routes, by examining the percentage differences in scorings in selected indicators for all known and suspected routes. The results show that illegal e-waste trade occurs from economically and socially developed regions to countries with significantly lower levels of overall development, with few exceptions, which could be attributed to the fact that several countries have loose regulations on e-waste trade, thus deeming them attractive for potential illegal activities.

Users' and GPs' causal attributions of illegal substance use: an exploratory interview study.

PubMed

Wynn, Rolf; Karlsen, Kjetil; Lorntzsen, Bianca; Bjerke, Trond Nergaard; Bergvik, Svein

2009-08-01

There is a need to explore the beliefs regarding the causes of illegal substance use of the people who themselves use the substances (SU) and their GPs. Increased knowledge about such beliefs--often referred to as causal attributions--may improve mutual understanding and communication between SU and GPs. Eight SU and five GPs were interviewed about the causes of illegal substance use. They also talked about how substance use was discussed in consultations. Data were analysed qualitatively. Both the SU and the GPs believed that several factors usually were important in each case of illegal substance use. The SU more often than the GPs emphasised the positive aspects of illegal substance use. We discerned five main causes: biological, social, lack of self-control, positive experiences, and chance. Several of the SU and GPs emphasised that it was difficult to communicate about substance use. The GPs and the SU believed illegal substance use is caused by many factors, including biological, social, and lack of self-control. Communicating about illegal substance use is challenging. GPs should be aware of the clinical importance of causal attributions and should explore beliefs held by SU about the causes of their substance use.

Won't get fooled again: An event-related potential study of task and repetition effects on the semantic processing of items without semantics.

PubMed

Laszlo, Sarah; Stites, Mallory; Federmeier, Kara D

2012-01-01

A growing body of evidence suggests that semantic access is obligatory. Several studies have demonstrated that brain activity associated with semantic processing, measured in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), is elicited even by meaningless, orthographically illegal strings, suggesting that semantic access is not gated by lexicality. However, the downstream consequences of that activity vary by item type, exemplified by the typical finding that N400 activity is reduced by repetition for words and pronounceable nonwords but not for illegal strings. We propose that this lack of repetition effect for illegal strings is caused not by lack of contact with semantics, but by the unrefined nature of that contact under conditions in which illegal strings can be readily categorised as task-irrelevant. To test this, we collected ERPs from participants performing a modified Lexical Decision Task, in which the presence of orthographically illegal acronyms rendered meaningless illegal strings more difficult lures than normal. Confirming our hypothesis, under these conditions illegal strings elicited robust N400 repetition effects, quantitatively and qualitatively similar to those elicited by words, pseudowords, and acronyms.

Modelling deforestation trends in Costa Rica and predicting future forest sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stan, Kayla; Sanchez, Arturo

2017-04-01

Deforestation in Costa Rica has historically varied between the original degradation of primary forest due to land-based industries, followed by secondary regrowth. The regeneration of forests largely came into effect with incentive based programs such as payments for ecosystem services, creation of large protected areas, and a new industry of ecotourism in the country. Given the changes that have occurred within the last 50 years from heavy deforestation pressures to regeneration patterns, and a correlation between deforestation and policy/economic influences, it is important to understand the historical changes that have occurred and how the forests will change in the future, which provides the objective of this study. Future projections are increasingly important given changes in the global socio-political structure, climatic change, and the ever increasing globalization of capitalistic endeavours. The trajectory of the forest in the country can also serve as a way to track both these global pressures on the natural landscape in Costa Rica, and as a proxy for how to manage deforestation in other similar political and geographic areas of the tropics. To determine the historical deforestation trends and link them to the different biogeophysical and socioeconomic variables, forest maps from 1960-2013 were used in the Dinamica Environment for Geoprocessing Objects (Dinamica EGO) to create deforestation models for Costa Rica. Dinamica EGO is a cellular automata model which utilizes Bayesian statistics and expert opinion to replicate both patterns and quantities of land cover change over time with both static and dynamic variables. Additional legislative variables can be used to track how political pressures shift deforestation both spatially and temporally. The historical model was built and analyzed for changes in landscape metrics such as patch size and distance between 1960 and 2013. After validation of the model's ability to replicate patterns, first between 2005 and 2013, and then back to 1997, a future model was created to determine future country wide changes. There was a significant decrease in patch size between 1960 and 2013 in forests and a non-significant decrease is patch size for non-forests. The historical model validated at 85% accuracy within 600m for both the 2005-2013 and 1997-2005 iterations. Future scenario building determines the point in time and area at which the forest area equilibrates, indicating the approximate maximal forest extent under extreme scenarios. None of the scenarios were sufficiently damaging to decrease the forest area below present day levels. The Puntarenas province is the only region which had deforestation in the most extreme scenario. Using the inclusion and exclusion of protected areas within the model, it was determined which of the parks suffers from high pressure of deforestation should there be policy removing protected area status. These parks are predominantly limited to small areas on coastal regions, while the large central parks suffer relatively little pressure from deforestation. This indicates that even under the most extreme scenarios, the secondary forests are likely to remain permanently and continue to regenerate as time progresses.

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... participation to individuals who engage in illegal use of drugs while they are in the program. (c) Drug testing... procedures, including but not limited to drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual who formerly... of testing for the illegal use of drugs. ...

Factors driving deforestation in common-pool resources in northern Mexico.

PubMed

Perez-Verdin, Gustavo; Kim, Yeon-Su; Hospodarsky, Denver; Tecle, Aregai

2009-01-01

The theory of collective action has been extensively used to explain the relationship between common-based property regimes and the conservation of natural resources. However, there are two key components of the theory that literature reports as puzzles in which no consensus exists about their effect on the performance of common-pool resources. These are group size and heterogeneity. This study analyzes the effects of these two key components on the effectiveness of community-based forestry, called ejidos, to protect their forest resources in northern Mexico. We used a multinomial logit model to determine the contribution of 16 explanatory variables to the dependent variable, a measure of success of ejidos defined by the presence of deforested, degraded, or forested conditions. The results show that corn yield, marginality, percent of forest area, total population, a forest value index, distance to markets, roads and towns, were all statistically significant in driving deforested conditions. Deforestation becomes more attractive for poor communities and as corn yield and distance to towns, roads, and markets decrease. In general, group size and heterogeneity had no significant effects on the presence of deforested conditions. Deforestation is driven by resource-specific characteristics, such as location and soil productivity, not by ejidos' attributes, such as total area or number of members. We argue that current institutional policies focusing on the structure of property right arrangements should be shifted (1) to provide better technology for land cultivation; (2) to reduce the marginality problem in poor communities; and (3) to strengthen local institutions.

Impact of the ongoing Amazonian deforestation on local precipitation: A GCM simulation study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, G. K.; Sud, Y. C.; Atlas, R.

1995-01-01

Numerical simulation experiments were conducted to delineate the influence of in situ deforestation data on episodic rainfall by comparing two ensembles of five 5-day integrations performed with a recent version of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres General Circulation Model (GCM) that has a simple biosphere model (SiB). The first set, called control cases, used the standard SiB vegetation cover (comprising 12 biomes) and assumed a fully forested Amazonia, while the second set, called deforestation cases, distinguished the partially deforested regions of Amazonia as savanna. Except for this difference, all other initial and prescribed boundary conditions were kept identical in both sets of integrations. The differential analyses of these five cases show the following local effects of deforestation. (1) A discernible decrease in evapotranspiration of about 0.80 mm/d (roughly 18%) that is quite robust in the averages for 1-, 2-, and 5-day forecasts. (2) A decrease in precipitation of about 1.18 mm/d (roughly 8%) that begins to emerge even in 1-2 day averages and exhibits complex evolution that extends downstream with the winds. (3) A significant decrease in the surface drag force (as a consequence of reduced surface roughness of deforested regions) that, in turn, affects the dynamical structure of moisture convergence and circulation. The surface winds increase significantly during the first day, and thereafter the increase is well maintained even in the 2- and 5-day averages.

Dependence of hydropower energy generation on forests in the Amazon Basin at local and regional scales.

PubMed

Stickler, Claudia M; Coe, Michael T; Costa, Marcos H; Nepstad, Daniel C; McGrath, David G; Dias, Livia C P; Rodrigues, Hermann O; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S

2013-06-04

Tropical rainforest regions have large hydropower generation potential that figures prominently in many nations' energy growth strategies. Feasibility studies of hydropower plants typically ignore the effect of future deforestation or assume that deforestation will have a positive effect on river discharge and energy generation resulting from declines in evapotranspiration (ET) associated with forest conversion. Forest loss can also reduce river discharge, however, by inhibiting rainfall. We used land use, hydrological, and climate models to examine the local "direct" effects (through changes in ET within the watershed) and the potential regional "indirect" effects (through changes in rainfall) of deforestation on river discharge and energy generation potential for the Belo Monte energy complex, one of the world's largest hydropower plants that is currently under construction on the Xingu River in the eastern Amazon. In the absence of indirect effects of deforestation, simulated deforestation of 20% and 40% within the Xingu River basin increased discharge by 4-8% and 10-12%, with similar increases in energy generation. When indirect effects were considered, deforestation of the Amazon region inhibited rainfall within the Xingu Basin, counterbalancing declines in ET and decreasing discharge by 6-36%. Under business-as-usual projections of forest loss for 2050 (40%), simulated power generation declined to only 25% of maximum plant output and 60% of the industry's own projections. Like other energy sources, hydropower plants present large social and environmental costs. Their reliability as energy sources, however, must take into account their dependence on forests.

Influence of Environmental Governance on Deforestation in Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Dias, Lilian Fernandes Oliveira; Dias, David Valentim; Magnusson, William Ernest

2015-01-01

It has been argued that measuring governance at scales smaller than global could be an important management tool. However, current studies are conducted on a global scale and use expensive methods. In the present study, we assess whether the reported governance of Amazonian municipalities is related to reductions in deforestation. Economic activity (EA) affected general governance (G) positively (G = 0.81 +1.19 * EA, F1, 98 = 77.36, p < 0.001). Environmental governance (EG) was not affected significantly (p = 0.43) by deforestation before 2000 (PD), but increased significantly (p < 0.001) with general governance (G) (EG = -0.29 + 0.04 PD+0.98*OG, F2,97 = 42.6, p <0.001). Deforestation was not significantly related to environmental governance (p = 0.82). The only indirect effect of significant magnitude was the effect of the density of forest reserves on recent deforestation through deforestation before 2000, which was strongly negative (-0.49). It is possible to assess reported actions to promote municipal governance through official data. However, it is not enough to assume that general governance or environmental governance at the municipal level, as reflected in the official statistics, benefits environmental conservation. In fact, even at the level of nation states, at which most quantification of governance has been undertaken, it seems that the relationship between governance and environmental preservation is only an assumption, because we are aware of no study that supports that hypothesis quantitatively.

Influence of Environmental Governance on Deforestation in Municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Dias, Lilian Fernandes Oliveira; Dias, David Valentim; Magnusson, William Ernest

2015-01-01

It has been argued that measuring governance at scales smaller than global could be an important management tool. However, current studies are conducted on a global scale and use expensive methods. In the present study, we assess whether the reported governance of Amazonian municipalities is related to reductions in deforestation. Economic activity (EA) affected general governance (G) positively (G = 0.81 +1.19 * EA, F1, 98 = 77.36, p < 0.001). Environmental governance (EG) was not affected significantly (p = 0.43) by deforestation before 2000 (PD), but increased significantly (p < 0.001) with general governance (G) (EG = -0.29 + 0.04 PD+0.98*OG, F2,97 = 42.6, p <0.001). Deforestation was not significantly related to environmental governance (p = 0.82). The only indirect effect of significant magnitude was the effect of the density of forest reserves on recent deforestation through deforestation before 2000, which was strongly negative (-0.49). It is possible to assess reported actions to promote municipal governance through official data. However, it is not enough to assume that general governance or environmental governance at the municipal level, as reflected in the official statistics, benefits environmental conservation. In fact, even at the level of nation states, at which most quantification of governance has been undertaken, it seems that the relationship between governance and environmental preservation is only an assumption, because we are aware of no study that supports that hypothesis quantitatively. PMID:26208282

Predicting pan-tropical climate change induced forest stock gains and losses—implications for REDD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumpenberger, Marlies; Vohland, Katrin; Heyder, Ursula; Poulter, Benjamin; Macey, Kirsten; Rammig, Anja; Popp, Alexander; Cramer, Wolfgang

2010-01-01

Deforestation is a major threat to tropical forests worldwide, contributing up to one-fifth of global carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Despite protection efforts, deforestation of tropical forests has continued in recent years. Providing incentives to reducing deforestation has been proposed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Bali negotiations in 2007 to decelerate emissions from deforestation (REDD—reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). A number of methodological issues such as ensuring permanence, establishing reference emissions levels that do not reward business-as-usual and having a measuring, reporting and verification system in place are essential elements in implementing successful REDD schemes. To assess the combined impacts of climate and land-use change on tropical forest carbon stocks in the 21st century, we use a dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ DGVM) driven by five different climate change projections under a given greenhouse gas emission scenario (SRES A2) and two contrasting land-use change scenarios. We find that even under a complete stop of deforestation after the period of the Kyoto Protocol (post-2012) some countries may continue to lose carbon stocks due to climate change. Especially at risk is tropical Latin America, although the presence and magnitude of the risk depends on the climate change scenario. By contrast, strong protection of forests could increase carbon uptake in many tropical countries, due to CO2 fertilization effects, even under altered climate regimes.

Albedo as a modulator of climate response to tropical deforestation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dirmeyer, Paul A.; Shukla, J.

1994-01-01

An atmospheric general circulation model with land surface properties represented by the simplified Simple Biosphere model is used to investigate the effects on local climate due to tropical deforestation for the Amazon basin. One control and three anomaly integrations of 4 years' duration are performed. In the anomaly integrations, rain forest in South America is replaced by degraded grassland. The anomaly integrations differ only in the optical properties of the grassland vegetation, with net surface albedos ranging from the same as to 0.09 lighter than that of rain forest. It is found that the change in climate, particularly rainfall, is strongly dependent on the change in surface albedo that accompanies deforestation. Replacement of forest by grass causes a reduction in transpiration and reduces frictional convergence by decreasing surface roughness. However, precipitation averaged over the deforested area is not necessarily reduced. Average precipitation decreases when the increase in albedo is greater than 0.03. If surface albedo is not increased appreciably as a result of deforestation, moisture flux convergence driven by the increase in surface temperature can offset the other effects, and average precipitation increases. As albedo is increased, surface temperature does not change, but surface latent and sensible heat flux decreases due to reduced radiational energy absorbed at the surface, resulting in a reduction in convection and precipitation. A change in the distribution of precipitation due to deforestation that appears to be independent of the albedo is observed.

Albedo as a modulator of climate response to tropical deforestation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dirmeyer, P.A.; Shukla, J.

1994-10-01

An atmospheric general circulation model with land surface properties represented by the simplified Simple Biosphere model is used to investigate the effects on local climate due to tropical deforestation for the Amazon basin. One control and three anomaly integrations of 4 years` duration are performed. In the anomaly integrations, rain forest in South America is replaced by degraded grassland. The anomaly integrations differ only in the optical properties of the grassland vegetation, with net surface albedos ranging from the same as to 0.09 lighter than that of rain forest. It is found that the change in climate, particularly rainfall, ismore » strongly dependent on the change in surface albedo that accompanies deforestation. Replacement of forest by grass causes a reduction in transpiration and reduces frictional convergence by decreasing surface roughness. However, precipitation averaged over the deforested area is not necessarily reduced. Average precipitation decreases when the increase in albedo is greater than 0.03. If surface albedo is not increased appreciably as a result of deforestation, moisture flux convergence driven by the increase in surface temperature can offset the other effects, and average precipitation increases. As albedo is increased, surface temperature does not change, but surface latent and sensible heat flux decreases due to reduced radiational energy absorbed at the surface, resulting in a reduction in convection and precipitation. A change in the distribution of precipitation due to deforestation that appears to be independent of the albedo is observed.« less

Drinking Drivers and Drug Use on Weekend Nights in the United States*

PubMed Central

Voas, Robert B.; Lacey, John H.; Jones, Kristina; Scherer, Michael; Compton, Richard

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND Studies of drinking drivers in alcohol-related crashes have shown that high breath-alcohol concentrations (BrACs) are associated with illegal drug use. Until the 2007 National Roadside Survey (NRS), the prevalence of drugs among drinking drivers on U.S. roads was unknown. Using NRS data, we explore how many drivers with positive BrACs may also be using drugs and their significance to current drinking-driving enforcement procedures. METHODS Based on a stratified, random sample covering the 48 U.S. contiguous states, we conducted surveys on weekend nights from July-November 2007. Of the 8,384 eligible motorists contacted, 85.4% provided a breath sample; 70.0%, an oral fluid sample; and 39.1%, a blood sample. We conducted regression analyses on 5,912 participants with a breath test and an oral fluid or blood test. The dependent variables of interest were illegal drugs (cocaine, cannabinoids, street drugs, street amphetamines, and opiates) and medicinal drugs (prescription and over-the-counter). RESULTS 10.5% of nondrinking drivers were using illegal drugs, and 26 to 33% of drivers with illegal BrACs (≥.08 g/dL) were using illegal drugs. Medicinal drug use was more common among nondrinking drivers (4.0%) than among drivers with illegal BrACs (2.4%). CONCLUSIONS The significant relationship between an illegal BrAC and the prevalence of an illegal drug suggests as many as 350,000 illegal drug-using drivers are arrested each year for DWI by U.S. alcohol-impaired driving enforcement. These drug-using drivers need to be identified and appropriate sanctions/treatment programs implemented for them in efforts to extend per se laws to unapprehended drug users. PMID:23265090

Including the biogeochemical impacts of deforestation increases projected warming of climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, Catherine; Monks, Sarah; Spracklen, Dominick; Arnold, Stephen; Forster, Piers; Rap, Alexandru; Carslaw, Kenneth; Chipperfield, Martyn; Reddington, Carly; Wilson, Christopher

2016-04-01

Forests cover almost one third of the Earth's land area and their distribution is changing as a result of human activities. The presence, and removal, of forests affects the climate in many ways, with the net climate impact of deforestation dependent upon the relative strength of these effects (Betts, 2000; Bala et al., 2007; Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010). In addition to controlling the surface albedo and exchanging carbon dioxide (CO2) and moisture with the atmosphere, vegetation emits biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which lead to the formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and alter the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, affecting ozone (O3) and methane (CH4) concentrations. In this work, we combine a land-surface model with a chemical transport model, a global aerosol model, and a radiative transfer model to compare several radiative impacts of idealised deforestation scenarios in the present day. We find that the simulated reduction in biogenic SOA production, due to complete global deforestation, exerts a positive combined aerosol radiative forcing (RF) of between +308.0 and +362.7 mW m-2; comprised of a direct radiative effect of between +116.5 and +165.0 mW m-2, and a first aerosol indirect effect of between +191.5 and +197.7 mW m-2. We find that the reduction in O3 exerts a negative RF of -150.7 mW m-2 and the reduction in CH4 results in a negative RF of -76.2 mWm-2. When the impacts on biogenic SOA, O3 and CH4 are combined, global deforestation exerts an overall positive RF of between +81.1 and +135.9 mW m-2 through changes to short-lived climate forcers (SLCF). Taking these additional biogeochemical impacts into account increases the net positive RF of complete global deforestation, due to changes in CO2 and surface albedo, by 7-11%. Overall, our work suggests that deforestation has a stronger warming impact on climate than previously thought. References: Bala, G. et al., 2007. Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation. PNAS, 104, 6550-6555. Betts, R. A. 2000. Offset of the potential carbon sink from boreal forestation by decreases in surface albedo. Nature, 408, 187-190. Davin, E. L. & De Noblet-Ducoudré, N. 2010. Climatic Impact of Global-Scale Deforestation: Radiative versus Non-radiative Processes. Journal of Climate, 23, 97-112. .

Understanding illegality and corruption in forest governance.

PubMed

Sundström, Aksel

2016-10-01

This review synthesizes the literature studying illegality and government corruption in forest management. After discussing the theoretical connections between different types of corruption and illegal forest-related activities it describes the major trends in previous studies, examining cross-national patterns as well as local in-depth studies. Both theory and available empirical findings provide a straightforward suggestion: Bribery is indeed a "door opener" for illegal activities to take place in forest management. It then discusses the implications for conservation, focusing first on international protection schemes such as the REDD+ and second on efforts to reduce illegality and bribery in forest management. Key aspects to consider in the discussion on how to design monitoring institutions of forest regulations is how to involve actors without the incentive to engage in bribery and how to make use of new technologies that may publicize illegal behavior in distant localities. The review concludes by discussing avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic interventions to discourage the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors in New York State.

PubMed

Cummings, K M; Pechacek, T; Sciandra, E

1992-12-01

In New York State it is illegal to sell tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 years. In most communities, compliance with this law is poor. This study provides estimates of teenage cigarette smoking and the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors in 1990 in each of New York's 57 counties and in New York City. Results show that in New York State, approximately 135,700 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 years are regular cigarette smokers. Data available on the cigarette consumption and purchasing habits of teenage smokers reveal that nearly 21.9 million packs of cigarettes were sold illegally to minors in 1991 in New York State. This finding underscores the fact that cigarette sales to underage youth in New York is big business, representing $39.5 million in sales annually. Government officials should consider levying an illegal drug profit tax on the cigarette industry to recover the millions in profits derived annually from the illegal sale of cigarettes to children.

The Effects of Polyvictimization and Quality of Caregiver Attachment on Disclosure of Illegal Sexual Behavior.

PubMed

Harrelson, Megan E; Alexander, Apryl A; Morais, Hugo B; Burkhart, Barry R

2017-07-01

The current study examined the relationship among self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors and two conceptually relevant constructs in psychotherapy: childhood polyvictimization (i.e., cumulative types of victimization experienced during childhood) and caregiver attachment. Participants consisted of 63 adolescent males participating in mandated treatment for illegal sexual behavior. Childhood polyvictimization and caregiver attachment were expected to predict self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors. Quality of caregiver attachment was also expected to mediate the relationship between polyvictimization and disclosure. Consistent with our main hypothesis, results indicate that quality of caregiver attachment mediated the relationship between childhood polyvictimization and self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors in psychotherapy. The current findings highlight the impact of polyvictimization on important therapeutic processes as well as the importance of assessing for multiple types of victimization in adolescents who engage in illegal sexual behavior. Further clinical implications regarding the use of trauma-informed approaches during sex offender treatment are discussed.

A deforestation-induced tipping point for the South American monsoon system.

PubMed

Boers, Niklas; Marwan, Norbert; Barbosa, Henrique M J; Kurths, Jürgen

2017-01-25

The Amazon rainforest has been proposed as a tipping element of the earth system, with the possibility of a dieback of the entire ecosystem due to deforestation only of parts of the rainforest. Possible physical mechanisms behind such a transition are still subject to ongoing debates. Here, we use a specifically designed model to analyse the nonlinear couplings between the Amazon rainforest and the atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the South American continent. These couplings are associated with a westward cascade of precipitation and evapotranspiration across the Amazon. We investigate impacts of deforestation on the South American monsoonal circulation with particular focus on a previously neglected positive feedback related to condensational latent heating over the rainforest, which strongly enhances atmospheric moisture inflow from the Atlantic. Our results indicate the existence of a tipping point. In our model setup, crossing the tipping point causes precipitation reductions of up to 40% in non-deforested parts of the western Amazon and regions further downstream. The responsible mechanism is the breakdown of the aforementioned feedback, which occurs when deforestation reduces transpiration to a point where the available atmospheric moisture does not suffice anymore to release the latent heat needed to maintain the feedback.

A deforestation-induced tipping point for the South American monsoon system

PubMed Central

Boers, Niklas; Marwan, Norbert; Barbosa, Henrique M. J.; Kurths, Jürgen

2017-01-01

The Amazon rainforest has been proposed as a tipping element of the earth system, with the possibility of a dieback of the entire ecosystem due to deforestation only of parts of the rainforest. Possible physical mechanisms behind such a transition are still subject to ongoing debates. Here, we use a specifically designed model to analyse the nonlinear couplings between the Amazon rainforest and the atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the South American continent. These couplings are associated with a westward cascade of precipitation and evapotranspiration across the Amazon. We investigate impacts of deforestation on the South American monsoonal circulation with particular focus on a previously neglected positive feedback related to condensational latent heating over the rainforest, which strongly enhances atmospheric moisture inflow from the Atlantic. Our results indicate the existence of a tipping point. In our model setup, crossing the tipping point causes precipitation reductions of up to 40% in non-deforested parts of the western Amazon and regions further downstream. The responsible mechanism is the breakdown of the aforementioned feedback, which occurs when deforestation reduces transpiration to a point where the available atmospheric moisture does not suffice anymore to release the latent heat needed to maintain the feedback. PMID:28120928

State and evolution of the African rainforests between 1990 and 2010

PubMed Central

Mayaux, Philippe; Pekel, Jean-François; Desclée, Baudouin; Donnay, François; Lupi, Andrea; Achard, Frédéric; Clerici, Marco; Bodart, Catherine; Brink, Andreas; Nasi, Robert; Belward, Alan

2013-01-01

This paper presents a map of Africa's rainforests for 2005. Derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer data at a spatial resolution of 250 m and with an overall accuracy of 84%, this map provides new levels of spatial and thematic detail. The map is accompanied by measurements of deforestation between 1990, 2000 and 2010 for West Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar derived from a systematic sample of Landsat images—imagery from equivalent platforms is used to fill gaps in the Landsat record. Net deforestation is estimated at 0.28% yr−1 for the period 1990–2000 and 0.14% yr−1 for the period 2000–2010. West Africa and Madagascar exhibit a much higher deforestation rate than the Congo Basin, for example, three times higher for West Africa and nine times higher for Madagascar. Analysis of variance over the Congo Basin is then used to show that expanding agriculture and increasing fuelwood demands are key drivers of deforestation in the region, whereas well-controlled timber exploitation programmes have little or no direct influence on forest-cover reduction at present. Rural and urban population concentrations and fluxes are also identified as strong underlying causes of deforestation in this study. PMID:23878331

Accelerated deforestation driven by large-scale land acquisitions in Cambodia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Kyle Frankel; Yu, Kailiang; Rulli, Maria Cristina; Pichdara, Lonn; D'Odorico, Paolo

2015-10-01

Investment in agricultural land in the developing world has rapidly increased in the past two decades. In Cambodia, there has been a surge in economic land concessions, in which long-term leases are provided to foreign and domestic investors for economic development. More than two million hectares have been leased so far, sparking debate over the consequences for local communities and the environment. Here we combined official records of concession locations with a high-resolution data set of changes in forest cover to quantify the contribution of land concessions to deforestation between 2000 and 2012. We used covariate matching to control for variables other than classification as a concession that may influence forest loss. Nearly half of the area where concessions were granted between 2000 and 2012 was forested in 2000; this area then represented 12.4% of forest land cover in Cambodia. Within concessions, the annual rate of forest loss was between 29% and 105% higher than in comparable land areas outside concessions. Most of the deforestation within concessions occurred after the contract date, and whether an investor was domestic or foreign had no effect on deforestation rates. We conclude that land acquisitions can act as powerful drivers of deforestation.

A deforestation-induced tipping point for the South American monsoon system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boers, Niklas; Marwan, Norbert; Barbosa, Henrique M. J.; Kurths, Jürgen

2017-01-01

The Amazon rainforest has been proposed as a tipping element of the earth system, with the possibility of a dieback of the entire ecosystem due to deforestation only of parts of the rainforest. Possible physical mechanisms behind such a transition are still subject to ongoing debates. Here, we use a specifically designed model to analyse the nonlinear couplings between the Amazon rainforest and the atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the South American continent. These couplings are associated with a westward cascade of precipitation and evapotranspiration across the Amazon. We investigate impacts of deforestation on the South American monsoonal circulation with particular focus on a previously neglected positive feedback related to condensational latent heating over the rainforest, which strongly enhances atmospheric moisture inflow from the Atlantic. Our results indicate the existence of a tipping point. In our model setup, crossing the tipping point causes precipitation reductions of up to 40% in non-deforested parts of the western Amazon and regions further downstream. The responsible mechanism is the breakdown of the aforementioned feedback, which occurs when deforestation reduces transpiration to a point where the available atmospheric moisture does not suffice anymore to release the latent heat needed to maintain the feedback.

Deforestation, fire susceptibility, and potential tree responses to fire in the eastern Amazon

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uhl, C.; Kauffman, J.B.

1990-04-01

In the state of Para, Brazil, in the eastern Amazon, the authors studied the potential for sustained fire events within four dominant vegetation cover types (undisturbed rain forest, selectively logged forest, second-growth forest, and open pasture), by measuring fuel availability, microclimate, and rates of fuel moisture loss. They also estimated the potential tree mortality that might result from a wide-scale Amazon forest fire by measuring the thermal properties of bark for all trees in a 5-ha stand of mature forest, followed by measurements of heat flux through bark during simulated fires. In pastures the average midday temperature was almost 10{degree}Cmore » greater and the average midday relative humidity was 30% lower than in primary forest. The most five-prone ecosystem was the open pasture followed by selectively logged forest, second growth forest, and undisturbed rain forest in which sustained combustion was not possible even after prolonged rainless periods. Even though the autogenic factors in primary forest of the eastern Amazon create a microclimate that virtually eliminates the probability of fire, they are currently a common event in disturbed areas of Amazonia. As many as 8 {times} 10{sup 6} ha burned in the Amazon Basin of Brazil in 1987 alone. In terms of current land-use patterns, altered microclimates, and fuel mass, there are also striking similarities between the eastern Amazon and East Kalimantan, Indonesia (the site of recent rain forest wildfires that burned 3.5 {times} 10{sup 6} ha).« less

Visualizing the Impacts of Deforestation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fortner, Rosanne W.

1992-01-01

Presents two activities with investigation procedures to aid students in examining the extent and impact of biomass burning and deforestation in Brazil as an example of the global problem. Provides background information, tables, and diagrams. (five references) (MCO)

Global demand for gold is another threat for tropical forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvarez-Berríos, Nora L.; Aide, T. Mitchell

2015-01-01

The current global gold rush, driven by increasing consumption in developing countries and uncertainty in financial markets, is an increasing threat for tropical ecosystems. Gold mining causes significant alteration to the environment, yet mining is often overlooked in deforestation analyses because it occupies relatively small areas. As a result, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the spatial extent of gold mining impacts on tropical forests. In this study, we provide a regional assessment of gold mining deforestation in the tropical moist forest biome of South America. Specifically, we analyzed the patterns of forest change in gold mining sites between 2001 and 2013, and evaluated the proximity of gold mining deforestation to protected areas (PAs). The forest cover maps were produced using the Land Mapper web application and images from the MODIS satellite MOD13Q1 vegetation indices 250 m product. Annual maps of forest cover were used to model the incremental change in forest in ˜1600 potential gold mining sites between 2001-2006 and 2007-2013. Approximately 1680 km2 of tropical moist forest was lost in these mining sites between 2001 and 2013. Deforestation was significantly higher during the 2007-2013 period, and this was associated with the increase in global demand for gold after the international financial crisis. More than 90% of the deforestation occurred in four major hotspots: Guianan moist forest ecoregion (41%), Southwest Amazon moist forest ecoregion (28%), Tapajós-Xingú moist forest ecoregion (11%), and Magdalena Valley montane forest and Magdalena-Urabá moist forest ecoregions (9%). In addition, some of the more active zones of gold mining deforestation occurred inside or within 10 km of ˜32 PAs. There is an urgent need to understand the ecological and social impacts of gold mining because it is an important cause of deforestation in the most remote forests in South America, and the impacts, particularly in aquatic systems, spread well beyond the actual mining sites.

Soy moratorium impacts on soybean and deforestation dynamics in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

PubMed

Kastens, Jude H; Brown, J Christopher; Coutinho, Alexandre Camargo; Bishop, Christopher R; Esquerdo, Júlio César D M

2017-01-01

Previous research has established the usefulness of remotely sensed vegetation index (VI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to characterize the spatial dynamics of agriculture in the state of Mato Grosso (MT), Brazil. With these data it has become possible to track MT agriculture, which accounts for ~85% of Brazilian Amazon soy production, across periods of several years. Annual land cover (LC) maps support investigation of the spatiotemporal dynamics of agriculture as they relate to forest cover and governance and policy efforts to lower deforestation rates. We use a unique, spatially extensive 9-year (2005-2013) ground reference dataset to classify, with approximately 80% accuracy, MODIS VI data, merging the results with carefully processed annual forest and sugarcane coverages developed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research to produce LC maps for MT for the 2001-2014 crop years. We apply the maps to an evaluation of forest and agricultural intensification dynamics before and after the Soy Moratorium (SoyM), a governance effort enacted in July 2006 to halt deforestation for the purpose of soy production in the Brazilian Amazon. We find the pre-SoyM deforestation rate to be more than five times the post-SoyM rate, while simultaneously observing the pre-SoyM forest-to-soy conversion rate to be more than twice the post-SoyM rate. These observations support the hypothesis that SoyM has played a role in reducing both deforestation and subsequent use for soy production. Additional analyses explore the land use tendencies of deforested areas and the conceptual framework of horizontal and vertical agricultural intensification, which distinguishes production increases attributable to cropland expansion into newly deforested areas as opposed to implementation of multi-cropping systems on existing cropland. During the 14-year study period, soy production was found to shift from predominantly single-crop systems to majority double-crop systems.

Reserves Protect against Deforestation Fires in the Amazon

PubMed Central

Adeney, J. Marion; Christensen, Norman L.; Pimm, Stuart L.

2009-01-01

Background Reserves are the principal means to conserve forests and biodiversity, but the question of whether reserves work is still debated. In the Amazon, fires are closely linked to deforestation, and thus can be used as a proxy for reserve effectiveness in protecting forest cover. We ask whether reserves in the Brazilian Amazon provide effective protection against deforestation and consequently fires, whether that protection is because of their location or their legal status, and whether some reserve types are more effective than others. Methodology/Principal Findings Previous work has shown that most Amazonian fires occur close to roads and are more frequent in El Niño years. We quantified these relationships for reserves and unprotected areas by examining satellite-detected hot pixels regressed against road distance across the entire Brazilian Amazon and for a decade with 2 El Niño-related droughts. Deforestation fires, as measured by hot pixels, declined exponentially with increasing distance from roads in all areas. Fewer deforestation fires occurred within protected areas than outside and the difference between protected and unprotected areas was greatest near roads. Thus, reserves were especially effective at preventing these fires where they are known to be most likely to burn; but they did not provide absolute protection. Even within reserves, at a given distance from roads, there were more deforestation fires in regions with high human impact than in those with low impact. The effect of El Niño on deforestation fires was greatest outside of reserves and near roads. Indigenous reserves, limited-use reserves, and fully protected reserves all had fewer fires than outside areas and did not appear to differ in their effectiveness. Conclusions/Significance Taking time, regional factors, and climate into account, our results show that reserves are an effective tool for curbing destructive burning in the Amazon. PMID:19352423

Tropical Deforestation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raven, Peter H.

1988-01-01

Outlines the deforestation problem and some efforts for solving the problem. Considers the impact of population growth, poverty, and ignorance. Includes a discussion of the current rapid decline in tropical forests, the consequences of destruction, and an outlook for the future. (YP)

Performance of vegetation indices from Landsat time series in deforestation monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, Michael; Clevers, Jan G. P. W.; Carter, Sarah; Verbesselt, Jan; Avitabile, Valerio; Quang, Hien Vu; Herold, Martin

2016-10-01

The performance of Landsat time series (LTS) of eight vegetation indices (VIs) was assessed for monitoring deforestation across the tropics. Three sites were selected based on differing remote sensing observation frequencies, deforestation drivers and environmental factors. The LTS of each VI was analysed using the Breaks For Additive Season and Trend (BFAST) Monitor method to identify deforestation. A robust reference database was used to evaluate the performance regarding spatial accuracy, sensitivity to observation frequency and combined use of multiple VIs. The canopy cover sensitive Normalized Difference Fraction Index (NDFI) was the most accurate. Among those tested, wetness related VIs (Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) and the Tasselled Cap wetness (TCw)) were spatially more accurate than greenness related VIs (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Tasselled Cap greenness (TCg)). When VIs were fused on feature level, spatial accuracy was improved and overestimation of change reduced. NDVI and NDFI produced the most robust results when observation frequency varies.

Children and Wild Foods in the Context of Deforestation in Rural Malawi.

PubMed

Maseko, H; Shackleton, Charlie M; Nagoli, J; Pullanikkatil, D

2017-01-01

There is growing recognition of the contribution of wild foods to local diets, nutrition, and culture. Yet disaggregation of understanding of wild food use by gender and age is limited. We used a mixed methods approach to determine the types, frequencies, and perceptions of wild foods used and sold by children in four villages in southern Malawi that have different levels of deforestation. Household and individual dietary diversity scores are low at all sites. All households consume one or more wild foods. Across the four sites, children listed 119 wild foods, with a wider variety at the least deforested sites than the most deforested ones. Older children can name more wild foods than younger ones. More children from poor households sell wild foods than from well-off households. Several reasons were provided for the consumption or avoidance of wild foods (most commonly taste, contribution to health, limited alternatives, hunger, availability, local taboos).