Extratropical Respones to Amazon Deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badger, A.; Dirmeyer, P.

2014-12-01

Land-use change (LUC) is known to impact local climate conditions through modifications of land-atmosphere interactions. Large-scale LUC, such as Amazon deforestation, could have a significant effect on the local and regional climates. The question remains as to what the global impact of large-scale LUC could be, as previous modeling studies have shown non-local responses due to Amazon deforestation. A common shortcoming in many previous modeling studies is the use of prescribed ocean conditions, which can act as a boundary condition to dampen the global response with respect to changes in the mean and variability. Using fully coupled modeling simulations with the Community Earth System Model version 1.2.0, the Amazon rainforest has been replaced with a distribution of representative tropical crops. Through the modifications of local land-atmosphere interactions, a significant change in the region, both at the surface and throughout the atmosphere, can be quantified. Accompanying these local changes are significant changes to the atmospheric circulation across all scales, thus modifying regional climates in other locales. Notable impacts include significant changes in precipitation, surface fluxes, basin-wide sea surface temperatures and ENSO behavior.

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.

Global Climate Forcing from Albedo Change Caused by Large-scale Deforestation and Reforestation: Quantification and Attribution of Geographic Variation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gao, Feng; Ghimire, Bardan; Jiao, Tong; Williams, Christopher A.; Masek, Jeffrey; Schaaf, Crystal

2017-01-01

Large-scale deforestation and reforestation have contributed substantially to historical and contemporary global climate change in part through albedo-induced radiative forcing, with meaningful implications for forest management aiming to mitigate climate change. Associated warming or cooling varies widely across the globe due to a range of factors including forest type, snow cover, and insolation, but resulting geographic variation remain spoorly described and has been largely based on model assessments. This study provides an observation-based approach to quantify local and global radiative forcings from large-scale deforestation and reforestation and further examines mechanisms that result in the spatial heterogeneity of radiative forcing. We incorporate a new spatially and temporally explicit land cover-specific albedo product derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer with a historical land use data set (Land Use Harmonization product). Spatial variation in radiative forcing was attributed to four mechanisms, including the change in snow-covered albedo, change in snow-free albedo, snow cover fraction, and incoming solar radiation. We find an albedo-only radiative forcing (RF) of -0.819 W m(exp -2) if year 2000 forests were completely deforested and converted to croplands. Albedo RF from global reforestation of present-day croplands to recover year 1700 forests is estimated to be 0.161 W m)exp -2). Snow-cover fraction is identified as the primary factor in determining the spatial variation of radiative forcing in winter, while the magnitude of the change in snow-free albedo is the primary factor determining variations in summertime RF. Findings reinforce the notion that, for conifers at the snowier high latitudes, albedo RF diminishes the warming from forest loss and the cooling from forest gain more so than for other forest types, latitudes, and climate settings.

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.

Land Use Induced Hydroclimatic Variability Over Large Deforested Areas in Southern Amazon Rainforest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanna, J.; Medvigy, D.

2017-12-01

Contemporary Amazonian deforestation, which occurs at scales of a few hundreds of kilometers, has been found to induce systematic changes in the regional dry season precipitation. The replacement of rough forest with smooth pasture induces a low level atmospheric convergence and uplift in the downwind and divergence and subsidence in the upwind deforested areas. The resulting precipitation change is about ±30% of the deforested area mean in the two regions respectively. Compared with the increase in non-precipitating cloudiness triggered by small scale clearings prevalent in the early phases of deforestation, this `dynamical mesoscale circulation' can have regional ecological impacts by altering precipitation seasonality and in turn ecosystem dynamics. However, the seasonality and variability of this phenomenon hasn't been studied. Using observations and numerical simulations this study investigates the relationships between the dynamical mechanism and the local- and continental-scale atmospheric conditions to understand the physical controls on this phenomenon on the inter-annual, inter-seasonal and daily time scales. We find that the strength of the dynamical mechanism is controlled mostly by regional scale thermal and dynamical conditions of the boundary layer and not the continental and global scale atmospheric state. The lifting condensation level (thermodynamic control) and wind speed (dynamic control) within the boundary layer have the largest and positive correlations with the dipole strength, which is true although not always significant across time scales. Due to this dependence it is found to be strongest during parts of the year when the atmosphere is relatively stable. Hence, overall this phenomenon is found to be the prevalent convective triggering mechanism during the dry and parts of transition seasons (especially spring), significantly affecting the hydroclimate during this period.

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...

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

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.

Climatic effects of large-scale deforestation in Earth System Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brovkin, V.; Boysen, L.; Pongratz, J.

2017-12-01

Processes in terrestrial ecosystems, to a large extent, are controlled by climate and CO2 concentration. In turn, geographical distribution of vegetation cover strongly affects heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes between land surface and atmosphere (biogeophysical effects). Anthropogenic land use and land cover changes (LULCC) are now included into Earth System Models (ESMs) in the form of historical and hypothetical future scenarios as a forcing in the Coupled Model Intercomparison project, phase 6 (CMIP6). A propagation of climatic effects from land to the ocean in ESMs allows to investigate a global climate response to LULCC in addition to analysis of local effects over deforested land. One complication in the analysis of global climatic effects of historical and future LULCC scenarios is their relatively small amplitude. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio, the Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) suggested an idealized deforestation simulation following a prototype of 1%-CO2 increase experiment commonly used in CMIPs. The idealized experiment allows to investigate - in a harmonized way across models - a response of land surface biophysics and climate to a large-scale deforestation of 20 million km2 distributed over the most forested parts of globe. The forest is removed linearly over a period of 50 years, with an additional 30 years with no specified change in forest cover. Boundary conditions such as CO2 concentration and other forcings are kept at the pre-industrial level. We will present results of idealized deforestation experiments and other sensitivity runs with the CMIP6-version of MPI-ESM, which will be part of the later multi-model comparison. A special focus will be put on less well investigated aspects of LULCC that the idealized setup is particularly well suited for studying, such as non-linearities of the model response to the deforestation forcing and detectability of the signal over time.

Regional impacts of Atlantic Forest deforestation on climate and vegetation dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holm, J. A.; Chambers, J. Q.

2012-12-01

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest was a large and important forest due to its high biodiversity, endemism, range in climate, and complex geography. The original Atlantic Forest was estimated to cover 150 million hectares, spanning large latitudinal, longitudinal, and elevation gradients. This unique environment helped contribute to a diverse assemblage of plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles. Unfortunately, due to land conversion into agriculture, pasture, urban areas, and increased forest fragmentation, only ~8-10% of the original Atlantic Forest remains. Tropical deforestation in the Americas can have considerable effects on local to global climates, and surrounding vegetation growth and survival. This study uses a fully coupled, global climate model (Community Earth System Model, CESM v.1.0.1) to simulate the full removal of the historical Atlantic Forest, and evaluate the regional climatic and vegetation responses due to deforestation. We used the fully coupled atmosphere and land surface components in CESM, and a partially interacting ocean component. The vegetated grid cell portion of the land surface component, the Community Landscape Model (CLM), is divided into 4 of 16 plant functional types (PFTs) with vertical layers of canopy, leaf area index, soil physical properties, and interacting hydrological features all tracking energy, water, and carbon state and flux variables, making CLM highly capable in predicting the complex nature and outcomes of large-scale deforestation. The Atlantic Forest removal (i.e. deforestation) was conducted my converting all woody stem PFTs to grasses in CLM, creating a land-use change from forest to pasture. By comparing the simulated historical Atlantic Forest (pre human alteration) to a deforested Atlantic Forest (close to current conditions) in CLM and CESM we found that live stem carbon, NPP (gC m-2 yr-1), and other vegetation dynamics inside and outside the Atlantic Forest region were largely altered. In addition to vegetation effects, regional surface air temperature (C°), precipitation (mm day-1), and emitted longwave radiation (W m-2) were highly affected in the location of the removed forest, and throughout surrounding areas of South America. For example climate patterns of increased temperature and decreased precipitation were affected as far as the Amazon Forest region. The use of fully coupled global climate and terrestrial models to study the effects of large-scale forest removal have been rarely applied. This study successfully showed the valuation of an important tropical forest, and the consequences of large deforestation through the reporting of complex earth-atmosphere interactions between vegetation dynamics and climate.

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.

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.

Assessment of Large Scale Land Cover Change Classifications and Drivers of Deforestation in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijaya, A.; Sugardiman Budiharto, R. A.; Tosiani, A.; Murdiyarso, D.; Verchot, L. V.

2015-04-01

Indonesia possesses the third largest tropical forests coverage following Brazilian Amazon and Congo Basin regions. This country, however, suffered from the highest deforestation rate surpassing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 2012. National capacity for forest change assessment and monitoring has been well-established in Indonesia and the availability of national forest inventory data could largely assist the country to report their forest carbon stocks and change over more than two decades. This work focuses for refining forest cover change mapping and deforestation estimate at national scale applying over 10,000 scenes of Landsat scenes, acquired in 1990, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012. Pre-processing of the data includes, geometric corrections and image mosaicking. The classification of mosaic Landsat data used multi-stage visual observation approaches, verified using ground observations and comparison with other published materials. There are 23 land cover classes identified from land cover data, presenting spatial information of forests, agriculture, plantations, non-vegetated lands and other land use categories. We estimated the magnitude of forest cover change and assessed drivers of forest cover change over time. Forest change trajectories analysis was also conducted to observe dynamics of forest cover across time. This study found that careful interpretations of satellite data can provide reliable information on forest cover and change. Deforestation trend in Indonesia was lower in 2000-2012 compared to 1990-2000 periods. We also found that over 50% of forests loss in 1990 remains unproductive in 2012. Major drivers of forest conversion in Indonesia range from shrubs/open land, subsistence agriculture, oil palm expansion, plantation forest and mining. The results were compared with other available datasets and we obtained that the MOF data yields reliable estimate of deforestation.

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.

People's perceptions about the importance of forests on Borneo.

PubMed

Meijaard, Erik; Abram, Nicola K; Wells, Jessie A; Pellier, Anne-Sophie; Ancrenaz, Marc; Gaveau, David L A; Runting, Rebecca K; Mengersen, Kerrie

2013-01-01

We ascertained villagers' perceptions about the importance of forests for their livelihoods and health through 1,837 reliably answered interviews of mostly male respondents from 185 villages in Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo. Variation in these perceptions related to several environmental and social variables, as shown in classification and regression analyses. Overall patterns indicated that forest use and cultural values are highest among people on Borneo who live close to remaining forest, and especially among older Christian residents. Support for forest clearing depended strongly on the scale at which deforestation occurs. Deforestation for small-scale agriculture was generally considered to be positive because it directly benefits people's welfare. Large-scale deforestation (e.g., for industrial oil palm or acacia plantations), on the other hand, appeared to be more context-dependent, with most respondents considering it to have overall negative impacts on them, but with people in some areas considering the benefits to outweigh the costs. The interviews indicated high awareness of negative environmental impacts of deforestation, with high levels of concern over higher temperatures, air pollution and loss of clean water sources. Our study is unique in its geographic and trans-national scale. Our findings enable the development of maps of forest use and perceptions that could inform land use planning at a range of scales. Incorporating perspectives such as these could significantly reduce conflict over forest resources and ultimately result in more equitable development processes.

Pervasive Rise of Small-scale Deforestation in Amazonia.

PubMed

Kalamandeen, Michelle; Gloor, Emanuel; Mitchard, Edward; Quincey, Duncan; Ziv, Guy; Spracklen, Dominick; Spracklen, Benedict; Adami, Marcos; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Galbraith, David

2018-01-25

Understanding forest loss patterns in Amazonia, the Earth's largest rainforest region, is critical for effective forest conservation and management. Following the most detailed analysis to date, spanning the entire Amazon and extending over a 14-year period (2001-2014), we reveal significant shifts in deforestation dynamics of Amazonian forests. Firstly, hotspots of Amazonian forest loss are moving away from the southern Brazilian Amazon to Peru and Bolivia. Secondly, while the number of new large forest clearings (>50 ha) has declined significantly over time (46%), the number of new small clearings (<1 ha) increased by 34% between 2001-2007 and 2008-2014. Thirdly, we find that small-scale low-density forest loss expanded markedly in geographical extent during 2008-2014. This shift presents an important and alarming new challenge for forest conservation, despite reductions in overall deforestation rates.

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.

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.

The Ecological Impacts of Large-Scale Agrofuel Monoculture Production Systems in the Americas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altieri, Miguel A.

2009-01-01

This article examines the expansion of agrofuels in the Americas and the ecological impacts associated with the technologies used in the production of large-scale monocultures of corn and soybeans. In addition to deforestation and displacement of lands devoted to food crops due to expansion of agrofuels, the massive use of transgenic crops and…

Drivers of forest cover dynamics in smallholder farming systems: the case of northwestern Vietnam.

PubMed

Jadin, Isaline; Vanacker, Veerle; Hoang, Huong Thi Thu

2013-04-01

The national-scale forest recovery of Vietnam started in the early 1990s and is associated with a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. Large disparities in forest cover dynamics are, however, observed at the local scale. This study aims to unravel the mechanisms driving forest cover change for a mountainous region located in northwest Vietnam. Statistical analyses were used to explore the association between forest cover change and household characteristics. In Sa Pa district, deforestation rates are decreasing, but forest degradation continues at similar rates. Deforestation is not necessarily associated with impoverished ethnic communities or high levels of subsistence farming, and the largest forest cover dynamics are found in villages with the best socio-economic conditions. Our empirical study does not provide strong evidence of a dominant role of agriculture in forest cover dynamics. It shows that empirical studies on local-scale forest dynamics remain important to unravel the complexity of human-environment interactions.

Weakening of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall due to Changes in Land Use Land Cover

PubMed Central

Paul, Supantha; Ghosh, Subimal; Oglesby, Robert; Pathak, Amey; Chandrasekharan, Anita; Ramsankaran, RAAJ

2016-01-01

Weakening of Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) is traditionally linked with large-scale perturbations and circulations. However, the impacts of local changes in land use and land cover (LULC) on ISMR have yet to be explored. Here, we analyzed this topic using the regional Weather Research and Forecasting model with European Center for Medium range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) reanalysis data for the years 2000–2010 as a boundary condition and with LULC data from 1987 and 2005. The differences in LULC between 1987 and 2005 showed deforestation with conversion of forest land to crop land, though the magnitude of such conversion is uncertain because of the coarse resolution of satellite images and use of differential sources and methods for data extraction. We performed a sensitivity analysis to understand the impacts of large-scale deforestation in India on monsoon precipitation and found such impacts are similar to the observed changes in terms of spatial patterns and magnitude. We found that deforestation results in weakening of the ISMR because of the decrease in evapotranspiration and subsequent decrease in the recycled component of precipitation. PMID:27553384

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.

People’s Perceptions about the Importance of Forests on Borneo

PubMed Central

Meijaard, Erik; Abram, Nicola K.; Wells, Jessie A.; Pellier, Anne-Sophie; Ancrenaz, Marc; Gaveau, David L. A.; Runting, Rebecca K.; Mengersen, Kerrie

2013-01-01

We ascertained villagers’ perceptions about the importance of forests for their livelihoods and health through 1,837 reliably answered interviews of mostly male respondents from 185 villages in Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo. Variation in these perceptions related to several environmental and social variables, as shown in classification and regression analyses. Overall patterns indicated that forest use and cultural values are highest among people on Borneo who live close to remaining forest, and especially among older Christian residents. Support for forest clearing depended strongly on the scale at which deforestation occurs. Deforestation for small-scale agriculture was generally considered to be positive because it directly benefits people’s welfare. Large-scale deforestation (e.g., for industrial oil palm or acacia plantations), on the other hand, appeared to be more context-dependent, with most respondents considering it to have overall negative impacts on them, but with people in some areas considering the benefits to outweigh the costs. The interviews indicated high awareness of negative environmental impacts of deforestation, with high levels of concern over higher temperatures, air pollution and loss of clean water sources. Our study is unique in its geographic and trans-national scale. Our findings enable the development of maps of forest use and perceptions that could inform land use planning at a range of scales. Incorporating perspectives such as these could significantly reduce conflict over forest resources and ultimately result in more equitable development processes. PMID:24039845

Deforestation risk due to commodity crop expansion in sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ordway, Elsa M.; Asner, Gregory P.; Lambin, Eric F.

2017-04-01

Rapid integration of global agricultural markets and subsequent cropland displacement in recent decades increased large-scale tropical deforestation in South America and Southeast Asia. Growing land scarcity and more stringent land use regulations in these regions could incentivize the offshoring of export-oriented commodity crops to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We assess the effects of domestic- and export-oriented agricultural expansion on deforestation in SSA in recent decades. Analyses were conducted at the global, regional and local scales. We found that commodity crops are expanding in SSA, increasing pressure on tropical forests. Four Congo Basin countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire were most at risk in terms of exposure, vulnerability and pressures from agricultural expansion. These countries averaged the highest percent forest cover (58% ± 17.93) and lowest proportions of potentially available cropland outside forest areas (1% ± 0.89). Foreign investment in these countries was concentrated in oil palm production (81%), with a median investment area of 41 582 thousand ha. Cocoa, the fastest expanding export-oriented crop across SSA, accounted for 57% of global expansion in 2000-2013 at a rate of 132 thousand ha yr-1. However, cocoa only amounted to 0.89% of foreign land investment. Commodity crop expansion in SSA appears largely driven by small- and medium-scale farmers rather than industrial plantations. Land-use changes associated with large-scale investments remain to be observed in many countries. Although domestic demand for commodity crops was associated with most agricultural expansion, we provide evidence of a growing influence of distant markets on land-use change in SSA.

Coincident scales of forest feedback on climate and conservation in a diversity hot spot

PubMed Central

Webb, Thomas J; Gaston, Kevin J; Hannah, Lee; Ian Woodward, F

2005-01-01

The dynamic relationship between vegetation and climate is now widely acknowledged. Climate influences the distribution of vegetation; and through a number of feedback mechanisms vegetation affects climate. This implies that land-use changes such as deforestation will have climatic consequences. However, the spatial scales at which such feedbacks occur remain largely unknown. Here, we use a large database of precipitation and tree cover records for an area of the biodiversity-rich Atlantic forest region in south eastern Brazil to investigate the forest–rainfall feedback at a range of spatial scales from ca 101–104 km2. We show that the strength of the feedback increases up to scales of at least 103 km2, with the climate at a particular locality influenced by the pattern of landcover extending over a large area. Thus, smaller forest fragments, even if well protected, may suffer degradation due to the climate responding to land-use change in the surrounding area. Atlantic forest vertebrate taxa also require large areas of forest to support viable populations. Areas of forest of ca 103 km2 would be large enough to support such populations at the same time as minimizing the risk of climatic feedbacks resulting from deforestation. PMID:16608697

Coincident scales of forest feedback on climate and conservation in a diversity hot spot.

PubMed

Webb, Thomas J; Gaston, Kevin J; Hannah, Lee; Ian Woodward, F

2006-03-22

The dynamic relationship between vegetation and climate is now widely acknowledged. Climate influences the distribution of vegetation; and through a number of feedback mechanisms vegetation affects climate. This implies that land-use changes such as deforestation will have climatic consequences. However, the spatial scales at which such feedbacks occur remain largely unknown. Here, we use a large database of precipitation and tree cover records for an area of the biodiversity-rich Atlantic forest region in south eastern Brazil to investigate the forest-rainfall feedback at a range of spatial scales from ca 10(1)-10(4) km2. We show that the strength of the feedback increases up to scales of at least 10(3) km2, with the climate at a particular locality influenced by the pattern of landcover extending over a large area. Thus, smaller forest fragments, even if well protected, may suffer degradation due to the climate responding to land-use change in the surrounding area. Atlantic forest vertebrate taxa also require large areas of forest to support viable populations. Areas of forest of ca 10(3) km2 would be large enough to support such populations at the same time as minimizing the risk of climatic feedbacks resulting from deforestation.

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.

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

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

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.

Deforestation and benthic indicators: how much vegetation cover is needed to sustain healthy Andean streams?

PubMed

Iñiguez-Armijos, Carlos; Leiva, Adrián; Frede, Hans-Georg; Hampel, Henrietta; Breuer, Lutz

2014-01-01

Deforestation in the tropical Andes is affecting ecological conditions of streams, and determination of how much forest should be retained is a pressing task for conservation, restoration and management strategies. We calculated and analyzed eight benthic metrics (structural, compositional and water quality indices) and a physical-chemical composite index with gradients of vegetation cover to assess the effects of deforestation on macroinvertebrate communities and water quality of 23 streams in southern Ecuadorian Andes. Using a geographical information system (GIS), we quantified vegetation cover at three spatial scales: the entire catchment, the riparian buffer of 30 m width extending the entire stream length, and the local scale defined for a stream reach of 100 m in length and similar buffer width. Macroinvertebrate and water quality metrics had the strongest relationships with vegetation cover at catchment and riparian scales, while vegetation cover did not show any association with the macroinvertebrate metrics at local scale. At catchment scale, the water quality metrics indicate that ecological condition of Andean streams is good when vegetation cover is over 70%. Further, macroinvertebrate community assemblages were more diverse and related in catchments largely covered by native vegetation (>70%). Our results suggest that retaining an important quantity of native vegetation cover within the catchments and a linkage between headwater and riparian forests help to maintain and improve stream biodiversity and water quality in Andean streams affected by deforestation. This research proposes that a strong regulation focused to the management of riparian buffers can be successful when decision making is addressed to conservation/restoration of Andean catchments.

Deforestation and Benthic Indicators: How Much Vegetation Cover Is Needed to Sustain Healthy Andean Streams?

PubMed Central

Iñiguez–Armijos, Carlos; Leiva, Adrián; Frede, Hans–Georg; Hampel, Henrietta; Breuer, Lutz

2014-01-01

Deforestation in the tropical Andes is affecting ecological conditions of streams, and determination of how much forest should be retained is a pressing task for conservation, restoration and management strategies. We calculated and analyzed eight benthic metrics (structural, compositional and water quality indices) and a physical-chemical composite index with gradients of vegetation cover to assess the effects of deforestation on macroinvertebrate communities and water quality of 23 streams in southern Ecuadorian Andes. Using a geographical information system (GIS), we quantified vegetation cover at three spatial scales: the entire catchment, the riparian buffer of 30 m width extending the entire stream length, and the local scale defined for a stream reach of 100 m in length and similar buffer width. Macroinvertebrate and water quality metrics had the strongest relationships with vegetation cover at catchment and riparian scales, while vegetation cover did not show any association with the macroinvertebrate metrics at local scale. At catchment scale, the water quality metrics indicate that ecological condition of Andean streams is good when vegetation cover is over 70%. Further, macroinvertebrate community assemblages were more diverse and related in catchments largely covered by native vegetation (>70%). Our results suggest that retaining an important quantity of native vegetation cover within the catchments and a linkage between headwater and riparian forests help to maintain and improve stream biodiversity and water quality in Andean streams affected by deforestation. This research proposes that a strong regulation focused to the management of riparian buffers can be successful when decision making is addressed to conservation/restoration of Andean catchments. PMID:25147941

How do people transform landscapes? A sociological perspective on suburban sprawl and tropical deforestation.

PubMed

Rudel, Thomas K

2009-07-01

Humans transformed landscapes at an unprecedented scale and pace during the 20th century, creating sprawling urban areas in affluent countries and large-scale agricultural expanses in tropics. To date, attempts to explain these processes in other disciplines have had a disembodied, a historical quality to them. A sociological account of these changes emphasizes the role of strategic actions by states and coalitions of interested parties in transforming landscapes. It identifies the agents of change and the timing of transformative events. Case studies of suburban sprawl and tropical deforestation illustrate the value of the sociological approach and the wide range of situations to which it applies.

Land cover dynamics following a deforestation ban in northern Costa Rica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fagan, M. E.; DeFries, R. S.; Sesnie, S. E.; Arroyo, J. P.; Walker, W.; Soto, C.; Chazdon, R. L.; Sanchun, A.

2013-09-01

Forest protection policies potentially reduce deforestation and re-direct agricultural expansion to already-cleared areas. Using satellite imagery, we assessed whether deforestation for conversion to pasture and cropland decreased in the lowlands of northern Costa Rica following the 1996 ban on forest clearing, despite a tripling of area under pineapple cultivation in the last decade. We observed that following the ban, mature forest loss decreased from 2.2% to 1.2% per year, and the proportion of pineapple and other export-oriented cropland derived from mature forest declined from 16.4% to 1.9%. The post-ban expansion of pineapples and other crops largely replaced pasture, exotic and native tree plantations, and secondary forests. Overall, there was a small net gain in forest cover due to a shifting mosaic of regrowth and clearing in pastures, but cropland expansion decreased reforestation rates. We conclude that forest protection efforts in northern Costa Rica have likely slowed mature forest loss and succeeded in re-directing expansion of cropland to areas outside mature forest. Our results suggest that deforestation bans may protect mature forests better than older forest regrowth and may restrict clearing for large-scale crops more effectively than clearing for pasture.

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.

Remote tropical and sub-tropical responses to Amazon deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badger, Andrew M.; Dirmeyer, Paul A.

2016-05-01

Replacing natural vegetation with realistic tropical crops over the Amazon region in a global Earth system model impacts vertical transport of heat and moisture, modifying the interaction between the atmospheric boundary layer and the free atmosphere. Vertical velocity is decreased over a majority of the Amazon region, shifting the ascending branch and modifying the seasonality of the Hadley circulation over the Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. Using a simple model that relates circulation changes to heating anomalies and generalizing the upper-atmosphere temperature response to deforestation, agreement is found between the response in the fully-coupled model and the simple solution. These changes to the large-scale dynamics significantly impact precipitation in several remote regions, namely sub-Saharan Africa, Mexico, the southwestern United States and extratropical South America, suggesting non-local climate repercussions for large-scale land use changes in the tropics are possible.

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 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.

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

Dependence of hydropower energy generation on forests in the Amazon Basin at local and regional scales

PubMed Central

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.

2013-01-01

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. PMID:23671098

Fire-related carbon emissions from land use transitions in southern Amazonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeFries, R. S.; Morton, D. C.; van der Werf, G. R.; Giglio, L.; Collatz, G. J.; Randerson, J. T.; Houghton, R. A.; Kasibhatla, P. K.; Shimabukuro, Y.

2008-11-01

Various land-use transitions in the tropics contribute to atmospheric carbon emissions, including forest conversion for small-scale farming, cattle ranching, and production of commodities such as soya and palm oil. These transitions involve fire as an effective and inexpensive means for clearing. We applied the DECAF (DEforestation CArbon Fluxes) model to Mato Grosso, Brazil to estimate fire emissions from various land-use transitions during 2001-2005. Fires associated with deforestation contributed 67 Tg C/yr (17 and 50 Tg C/yr from conversion to cropland and pasture, respectively), while conversion of savannas and existing cattle pasture to cropland contributed 17 Tg C/yr and pasture maintenance fires 6 Tg C/yr. Large clearings (>100 ha/yr) contributed 67% of emissions but comprised only 10% of deforestation events. From a policy perspective, results imply that intensification of agricultural production on already-cleared land and policies to discourage large clearings would reduce the major sources of emissions from fires in this region.

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.

Remote Sensing of Forest Loss and Human Land Use to Predict Biodiversity Impacts in Myanmar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connette, G.; Huang, Q.; Leimgruber, P.; Songer, M.

2017-12-01

Myanmar's ongoing transition from military rule towards a democratic government has largely ended decades of economic isolation. The resulting expansion of foreign investment, infrastructure development, and natural resource extraction has led to high rates of deforestation and the concurrent loss of critical wildlife habitat. To identify and mitigate the impacts of rapid land use change on Myanmar's globally-unique biodiversity, researchers at Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute have used moderate-resolution satellite imagery to map forest cover change at the national scale, while performing regional- or local-scale analyses to identify ecologically-distinct forest types. At the national scale, forest was lost at a rate of 0.55% annually from 2002-2014. Deforestation was more pronounced in Myanmar's closed-canopy forests (>80% cover), which experienced an annual rate of forest loss of 0.95%. Studies at regional and local scales show that ecologically-distinct forest types vary considerably in both geographic extent and risk of conversion to human land use. For instance, local deforestation rates around a proposed national park in Myanmar's Tanintharyi Region were 7.83% annually and have been accelerating. Recent integration of such results into wildlife habitat mapping and national conservation planning can play an important role in ensuring that future development in Myanmar is both informed and sustainable.

Observations of increased tropical rainfall preceded by air passage over forests.

PubMed

Spracklen, D V; Arnold, S R; Taylor, C M

2012-09-13

Vegetation affects precipitation patterns by mediating moisture, energy and trace-gas fluxes between the surface and atmosphere. When forests are replaced by pasture or crops, evapotranspiration of moisture from soil and vegetation is often diminished, leading to reduced atmospheric humidity and potentially suppressing precipitation. Climate models predict that large-scale tropical deforestation causes reduced regional precipitation, although the magnitude of the effect is model and resolution dependent. In contrast, observational studies have linked deforestation to increased precipitation locally but have been unable to explore the impact of large-scale deforestation. Here we use satellite remote-sensing data of tropical precipitation and vegetation, combined with simulated atmospheric transport patterns, to assess the pan-tropical effect of forests on tropical rainfall. We find that for more than 60 per cent of the tropical land surface (latitudes 30 degrees south to 30 degrees north), air that has passed over extensive vegetation in the preceding few days produces at least twice as much rain as air that has passed over little vegetation. We demonstrate that this empirical correlation is consistent with evapotranspiration maintaining atmospheric moisture in air that passes over extensive vegetation. We combine these empirical relationships with current trends of Amazonian deforestation to estimate reductions of 12 and 21 per cent in wet-season and dry-season precipitation respectively across the Amazon basin by 2050, due to less-efficient moisture recycling. Our observation-based results complement similar estimates from climate models, in which the physical mechanisms and feedbacks at work could be explored in more detail.

Land-atmosphere coupling strength determines impact of land cover change in South-East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toelle, M. H.

2017-12-01

In a previous modeling study of large-scale deforestation in South-East Asia, between 20° S and 20° N, a decrease of latent heat flux and an increase of sensible heat flux is found. This induced higher temperatures, and ultimately deepened the boundary layer with leading to less rainfall, but higher rainfall amounts and extreme temperatures. In order to attribute these differences to a feedback mechanism, a correlation analysis is performed. Therefore, the land-atmosphere coupling strength is compared with the impact of land cover change during seasonal periods and ENSO events. Hereby, ERA-Interim-driven COSMO-CLM simulations are analyzed for the period 1990 to 2004. The regional climate model is able to reproduce the overall soil moisture spatial pattern suggested by the observational Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model. However, COSMO-CLM shows more spatial variability and strength. By deforestation, the coupling strength between land and atmosphere is increased. Major changes in coupling strength occur during La Niña events. The impact due to deforestation depends non-linearly on the coupling strength exemplified by maximum temperature and evapotranspiration. It is shown that the magnitude of change in extreme temperature due to deforestation depends on the former coupling strength over the region. The rise in extreme temperatures due to deforestation occurs mainly over the mainland, where the coupling strength is strongest. The impact is less pronounced over the maritime islands due to the oceanic influence. It is suggested that the regional-scale impact depends on the model-specific coupling strength besides the physical reasoning over this region. Deforestation over South-East Asia will likely have consequences for the agricultural output and increase socio-economic vulnerability.

Mixing Carrots and Sticks to Conserve Forests in the Brazilian Amazon: A Spatial Probabilistic Modeling Approach

PubMed Central

Börner, Jan; Marinho, Eduardo; Wunder, Sven

2015-01-01

Annual forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon had in 2012 declined to less than 5,000 sqkm, from over 27,000 in 2004. Mounting empirical evidence suggests that changes in Brazilian law enforcement strategy and the related governance system may account for a large share of the overall success in curbing deforestation rates. At the same time, Brazil is experimenting with alternative approaches to compensate farmers for conservation actions through economic incentives, such as payments for environmental services, at various administrative levels. We develop a spatially explicit simulation model for deforestation decisions in response to policy incentives and disincentives. The model builds on elements of optimal enforcement theory and introduces the notion of imperfect payment contract enforcement in the context of avoided deforestation. We implement the simulations using official deforestation statistics and data collected from field-based forest law enforcement operations in the Amazon region. We show that a large-scale integration of payments with the existing regulatory enforcement strategy involves a tradeoff between the cost-effectiveness of forest conservation and landholder incomes. Introducing payments as a complementary policy measure increases policy implementation cost, reduces income losses for those hit hardest by law enforcement, and can provide additional income to some land users. The magnitude of the tradeoff varies in space, depending on deforestation patterns, conservation opportunity and enforcement costs. Enforcement effectiveness becomes a key determinant of efficiency in the overall policy mix. PMID:25650966

Mixing carrots and sticks to conserve forests in the Brazilian Amazon: a spatial probabilistic modeling approach.

PubMed

Börner, Jan; Marinho, Eduardo; Wunder, Sven

2015-01-01

Annual forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon had in 2012 declined to less than 5,000 sqkm, from over 27,000 in 2004. Mounting empirical evidence suggests that changes in Brazilian law enforcement strategy and the related governance system may account for a large share of the overall success in curbing deforestation rates. At the same time, Brazil is experimenting with alternative approaches to compensate farmers for conservation actions through economic incentives, such as payments for environmental services, at various administrative levels. We develop a spatially explicit simulation model for deforestation decisions in response to policy incentives and disincentives. The model builds on elements of optimal enforcement theory and introduces the notion of imperfect payment contract enforcement in the context of avoided deforestation. We implement the simulations using official deforestation statistics and data collected from field-based forest law enforcement operations in the Amazon region. We show that a large-scale integration of payments with the existing regulatory enforcement strategy involves a tradeoff between the cost-effectiveness of forest conservation and landholder incomes. Introducing payments as a complementary policy measure increases policy implementation cost, reduces income losses for those hit hardest by law enforcement, and can provide additional income to some land users. The magnitude of the tradeoff varies in space, depending on deforestation patterns, conservation opportunity and enforcement costs. Enforcement effectiveness becomes a key determinant of efficiency in the overall policy mix.

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.

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.

Environmental impact of geometric earthwork construction in pre-Columbian Amazonia.

PubMed

Carson, John Francis; Whitney, Bronwen S; Mayle, Francis E; Iriarte, José; Prümers, Heiko; Soto, J Daniel; Watling, Jennifer

2014-07-22

There is considerable controversy over whether pre-Columbian (pre-A.D. 1492) Amazonia was largely "pristine" and sparsely populated by slash-and-burn agriculturists, or instead a densely populated, domesticated landscape, heavily altered by extensive deforestation and anthropogenic burning. The discovery of hundreds of large geometric earthworks beneath intact rainforest across southern Amazonia challenges its status as a pristine landscape, and has been assumed to indicate extensive pre-Columbian deforestation by large populations. We tested these assumptions using coupled local- and regional-scale paleoecological records to reconstruct land use on an earthwork site in northeast Bolivia within the context of regional, climate-driven biome changes. This approach revealed evidence for an alternative scenario of Amazonian land use, which did not necessitate labor-intensive rainforest clearance for earthwork construction. Instead, we show that the inhabitants exploited a naturally open savanna landscape that they maintained around their settlement despite the climatically driven rainforest expansion that began ∼2,000 y ago across the region. Earthwork construction and agriculture on terra firme landscapes currently occupied by the seasonal rainforests of southern Amazonia may therefore not have necessitated large-scale deforestation using stone tools. This finding implies far less labor--and potentially lower population density--than previously supposed. Our findings demonstrate that current debates over the magnitude and nature of pre-Columbian Amazonian land use, and its impact on global biogeochemical cycling, are potentially flawed because they do not consider this land use in the context of climate-driven forest-savanna biome shifts through the mid-to-late Holocene.

Environmental impact of geometric earthwork construction in pre-Columbian Amazonia

PubMed Central

Carson, John Francis; Whitney, Bronwen S.; Mayle, Francis E.; Iriarte, José; Prümers, Heiko; Soto, J. Daniel; Watling, Jennifer

2014-01-01

There is considerable controversy over whether pre-Columbian (pre-A.D. 1492) Amazonia was largely “pristine” and sparsely populated by slash-and-burn agriculturists, or instead a densely populated, domesticated landscape, heavily altered by extensive deforestation and anthropogenic burning. The discovery of hundreds of large geometric earthworks beneath intact rainforest across southern Amazonia challenges its status as a pristine landscape, and has been assumed to indicate extensive pre-Columbian deforestation by large populations. We tested these assumptions using coupled local- and regional-scale paleoecological records to reconstruct land use on an earthwork site in northeast Bolivia within the context of regional, climate-driven biome changes. This approach revealed evidence for an alternative scenario of Amazonian land use, which did not necessitate labor-intensive rainforest clearance for earthwork construction. Instead, we show that the inhabitants exploited a naturally open savanna landscape that they maintained around their settlement despite the climatically driven rainforest expansion that began ∼2,000 y ago across the region. Earthwork construction and agriculture on terra firme landscapes currently occupied by the seasonal rainforests of southern Amazonia may therefore not have necessitated large-scale deforestation using stone tools. This finding implies far less labor—and potentially lower population density—than previously supposed. Our findings demonstrate that current debates over the magnitude and nature of pre-Columbian Amazonian land use, and its impact on global biogeochemical cycling, are potentially flawed because they do not consider this land use in the context of climate-driven forest–savanna biome shifts through the mid-to-late Holocene. PMID:25002502

Agro-pastoral expansion and land use/land cover (LU/LC) change dynamics in Central-western Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanga-Ngoie, K.; Yoshikawa, S.; Kanae, S.

2011-12-01

In Brazil, large-scale land cover changes following extensive deforestations are expected to generate big impacts onto the climate and the environment over this area, with eventually many negative feedbacks on the global scale. Mato Grosso State, located in the central western Brazil, is known to be the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate. Land use/land cover (LU/LC) changes have been reported to occur over large areas in this state due to the introduction of large-scale mechanized agriculture, extensive cattle ranching and uncontrolled slash-and-burn cultivation since the 1980s. In this study, we specifically aim at doing more detailed analysis for the causes of deforestation and savannization in this area, with special attention to agriculture and cattle ranching industry at the municipal district level in this state. Using GIS techniques and remotely-sensed NOAA/AVHRR data, we created 5-year Digital Vegetation Model Maps characterizing LU/LC features for every five years during the 1981-2001 periods using the PCA first components of the NOAA/AVHRR multi-spectral data. Our results make it clear that: (1) LU/LC changes among the phases are of the following 3 major types: degradation, recovery or transition; (2) The changes in LU/LC features are concomitant with the advance of cattle ranching and corn production activities toward the northern parts of the state, and with the expansion of soybean production in the central and western Mato Grosso; (3) Most of the agro-pastoral business are found in the southern Mato Grosso where about 46% of the state's deforestation during the 1981-2001 period occurred; (4) Rates of vegetation change are larger over non-inhabited areas (56%), especially in the north, than over the populated zones in the south (42%). Moreover, this work sheds some new light on the patterns of the changes in LU/LC features (deforestation and savannization) for each municipal district of Mato Grosso. In general, the following activities are shown to be the main contributors to the deforestation of tropical rainforests in Mato Grosso: cattle ranches or corn croplands in northwestern, and soybean fields in the central areas. On the other side, savannization due to soybean or corn cultivation is found mainly in the west and the southeast, respectively. It has to be noted that corn production seems to bring forth more savannization impacts than soybean cultivation over this Brazilian state. All these findings highlight the non-sustainable characteristics of resources development processes occurring not only in Mato Grosso State, but also over all the tropical rainforests in the Amazonian Basin subcontinent.

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.

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.

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.

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

Trends in Deforestation and Forest Degradation after a Decade of Monitoring in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

PubMed Central

VIDAL, OMAR; LÓPEZ-GARCÍA, JOSÉ; RENDÓN-SALINAS, EDUARDO

2014-01-01

We used aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys to monitor forest cover in the core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico from 2001 to 2012. We used our data to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions that involved local, state, and federal authorities and community members (e.g., local landowners and private and civil organizations) in one of the world’s most iconic protected areas. From 2001 through 2012, 1254 ha were deforested (i.e., cleared areas had <10% canopy cover), 925 ha were degraded (i.e., areas for which canopy forest decreased), and 122 ha were affected by climatic conditions. Of the total 2179 ha of affected area, 2057 ha were affected by illegal logging: 1503 ha by large-scale logging and 554 ha by small-scale logging. Mexican authorities effectively enforced efforts to protect the monarch reserve, particularly from 2007 to 2012. Those efforts, together with the decade-long financial support from Mexican and international philanthropists and businesses to create local alternative-income generation and employment, resulted in the decrease of large-scale illegal logging from 731 ha affected in 2005–2007 to none affected in 2012, although small-scale logging is of growing concern. However, dire regional social and economic problems remain, and they must be addressed to ensure the reserve’s long-term conservation. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwintering colonies in Mexico—which engage in one of the longest known insect migrations—are threatened by deforestation, and a multistakeholder, regional, sustainable-development strategy is needed to protect the reserve. PMID:24001209

Trends in deforestation and forest degradation after a decade of monitoring in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.

PubMed

Vidal, Omar; López-García, José; Rendón-Salinas, Eduardo

2014-02-01

We used aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys to monitor forest cover in the core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico from 2001 to 2012. We used our data to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions that involved local, state, and federal authorities and community members (e.g., local landowners and private and civil organizations) in one of the world's most iconic protected areas. From 2001 through 2012, 1254 ha were deforested (i.e., cleared areas had <10% canopy cover), 925 ha were degraded (i.e., areas for which canopy forest decreased), and 122 ha were affected by climatic conditions. Of the total 2179 ha of affected area, 2057 ha were affected by illegal logging: 1503 ha by large-scale logging and 554 ha by small-scale logging. Mexican authorities effectively enforced efforts to protect the monarch reserve, particularly from 2007 to 2012. Those efforts, together with the decade-long financial support from Mexican and international philanthropists and businesses to create local alternative-income generation and employment, resulted in the decrease of large-scale illegal logging from 731 ha affected in 2005-2007 to none affected in 2012, although small-scale logging is of growing concern. However, dire regional social and economic problems remain, and they must be addressed to ensure the reserve's long-term conservation. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwintering colonies in Mexico-which engage in one of the longest known insect migrations-are threatened by deforestation, and a multistakeholder, regional, sustainable-development strategy is needed to protect the reserve. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Long term changes in forest cover and land use of Similipal Biosphere Reserve of India using satellite remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saranya, K. R. L.; Reddy, C. Sudhakar

2016-04-01

The spatial changes in forest cover of Similipal biosphere reserve, Odisha, India over eight decades (1930-2012) has been quantified by using multi-temporal data from different sources. Over the period, the forest cover reduced by 970.8 km2 (23.6% of the total forest), and most significantly during the period, 1930-1975. Human-induced activities like conversion of forest land for agriculture, construction of dams and mining activities have been identified as major drivers of deforestation. Spatial analysis indicates that 399 grids (1 grid = 1 × 1 km) have undergone large-scale changes in forest cover (>75 ha) during 1930-1975, while only 3 grids have shown >75 ha loss during 1975-1990. Annual net rate of deforestation was 0.58 during 1930-1975, which has been reduced substantially during 1975-1990 (0.04). Annual gross rate of deforestation in 2006-2012 is indeed low (0.01) as compared to the national and global average. This study highlights the impact and effectiveness of conservation practices in minimizing the rate of deforestation and protecting the Similipal Biosphere Reserve.

Changing drivers of deforestation and new opportunities for conservation.

PubMed

Rudel, Thomas K; Defries, Ruth; Asner, Gregory P; Laurance, William F

2009-12-01

Over the past 50 years, human agents of deforestation have changed in ways that have potentially important implications for conservation efforts. We characterized these changes through a meta-analysis of case studies of land-cover change in the tropics. From the 1960s to the 1980s, small-scale farmers, with state assistance, deforested large areas of tropical forest in Southeast Asia and Latin America. As globalization and urbanization increased during the 1980s, the agents of deforestation changed in two important parts of the tropical biome, the lowland rainforests in Brazil and Indonesia. Well-capitalized ranchers, farmers, and loggers producing for consumers in distant markets became more prominent in these places and this globalization weakened the historically strong relationship between local population growth and forest cover. At the same time, forests have begun to regrow in some tropical uplands. These changing circumstances, we believe, suggest two new and differing strategies for biodiversity conservation in the tropics, one focused on conserving uplands and the other on promoting environmental stewardship in lowlands and other areas conducive to industrial agriculture.

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

Large-scale bioenergy production: how to resolve sustainability trade-offs?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Humpenöder, Florian; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Weindl, Isabelle; Biewald, Anne; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Klein, David; Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Müller, Christoph; Rolinski, Susanne; Stevanovic, Miodrag

2018-02-01

Large-scale 2nd generation bioenergy deployment is a key element of 1.5 °C and 2 °C transformation pathways. However, large-scale bioenergy production might have negative sustainability implications and thus may conflict with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda. Here, we carry out a multi-criteria sustainability assessment of large-scale bioenergy crop production throughout the 21st century (300 EJ in 2100) using a global land-use model. Our analysis indicates that large-scale bioenergy production without complementary measures results in negative effects on the following sustainability indicators: deforestation, CO2 emissions from land-use change, nitrogen losses, unsustainable water withdrawals and food prices. One of our main findings is that single-sector environmental protection measures next to large-scale bioenergy production are prone to involve trade-offs among these sustainability indicators—at least in the absence of more efficient land or water resource use. For instance, if bioenergy production is accompanied by forest protection, deforestation and associated emissions (SDGs 13 and 15) decline substantially whereas food prices (SDG 2) increase. However, our study also shows that this trade-off strongly depends on the development of future food demand. In contrast to environmental protection measures, we find that agricultural intensification lowers some side-effects of bioenergy production substantially (SDGs 13 and 15) without generating new trade-offs—at least among the sustainability indicators considered here. Moreover, our results indicate that a combination of forest and water protection schemes, improved fertilization efficiency, and agricultural intensification would reduce the side-effects of bioenergy production most comprehensively. However, although our study includes more sustainability indicators than previous studies on bioenergy side-effects, our study represents only a small subset of all indicators relevant for the SDG agenda. Based on this, we argue that the development of policies for regulating externalities of large-scale bioenergy production should rely on broad sustainability assessments to discover potential trade-offs with the SDG agenda before implementation.

Geospatial assessment and monitoring of historical forest cover changes (1920-2012) in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India.

PubMed

Satish, K V; Saranya, K R L; Reddy, C Sudhakar; Krishna, P Hari; Jha, C S; Rao, P V V Prasada

2014-12-01

Deforestation in the biosphere reserves, which are key Protected Areas has negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, carbon fluxes and livelihoods. Comprehensive study of deforestation in biosphere reserves is required to assess the impact of the management effectiveness. This article assesses the changes in forest cover in various zones and protected areas of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first declared biosphere reserve in India which forms part of Western Ghats-a global biodiversity hotspot. In this study, we have mapped the forests from earliest available topographical maps and multi-temporal satellite data spanning from 1920's to 2012 period. Mapping of spatial extent of forest cover, vegetation types and land cover was carried out using visual interpretation technique. A grid cell of 1 km × 1 km was generated for time series change analysis to understand the patterns in spatial distribution of forest cover (1920-1973-1989-1999-2006-2012). The total forest area of biosphere reserve was found to be 5,806.5 km(2) (93.8 % of total geographical area) in 1920. Overall loss of forest cover was estimated as 1,423.6 km(2) (24.5 % of the total forest) with reference to 1920. Among the six Protected Areas, annual deforestation rate of >0.5 was found in Wayanad wildlife sanctuary during 1920-1973. The deforestation in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is mainly attributed to conversion of forests to plantations and agriculture along with submergence due to construction of dams during 1920 to 1989. Grid wise analysis indicates that 851 grids have undergone large-scale negative changes of >75 ha of forest loss during 1920-1973 while, only 15 grids have shown >75 ha loss during 1973-1989. Annual net rate of deforestation for the period of 1920 to 1973 was calculated as 0.5 followed by 0.1 for 1973 to 1989. Our analysis shows that there was large-scale deforestation before the declaration of area as biosphere reserve in 1986; however, the deforestation has drastically reduced after the declaration due to high degree of protection, thus indicating the secure future of reserve in the long term under the current forest management practices. The present work will stand as the most up-to-date assessment on the forest cover of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve with immediate applications in monitoring and management of forest biodiversity.

Valuing Tropical Rainforest Protection Using the Contingent Valuation Method

Treesearch

Randall A. Kramer; D. Evan Mercer; Narendra Sharma

1996-01-01

In the last several decades, the intensity and scale of forest exploitation have increased significantly. A large number of developing countries experiencing increasing deforestation trends are also facing acute shortages of fuelwood, fodder, industrial timber, and other forest products for domestic USC. Besides potential environmental degradation, depletion of...

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.

Forests or fields? A response to the theory that tropical forest conservation poses a threat to the poor.

PubMed

Fearnside, P M

1993-04-01

A rebuttal is provided of David Wood's proposal to open up tropical forests to agricultural uses. Concern is raised that his proposal exaggerates the ability of forests to regenerate after agricultural uses, sacrifices tropical forests in the name of alleviating poverty and in support of large land owners, and prevents valuable potential resource use by local populations. There is misunderstanding by Wood of conservationists' postures and the cause of current deforestation. In Brazil, deforestation has occurred primarily for low productivity cattle pasture (62% of all private land in the Amazon region in ranches over 1000 hectares-ha). Only 11% of private Amazonian land was in farms of less than 100 ha; only 30% of this size farm area was involved in 1991 in deforestation, while 70% of deforestation took place on ranches over 100 ha. Mass migrations of Brazil's population from the northeast to the Transamazon Highway and from Parana to Rondonia were impelled by increasing concentration of land tenure in migrant areas, and not by population growth. The rate of deforestation has slowed due to the economic recession. A World Bank study indicates that redistributing unproductive large landholdings in northeastern Brazil would increase agricultural output by 80%. The agricultural productivity of tropic areas is not as assured; Wood's support is based on preliminary findings, which are being revised with more cautionary thinking. Wood also understates the maintenance of soil fertility with fertilizers. The issue of scale also affects the use of agroforestry and perennial crop plantations such as rubber and cacao, which can only absorb the production of small areas, due to marketing constraints and physical resource limitations. Conservationists have not effectively redirected World Bank efforts to protect environments and help the impoverished, as suggested by Wood. Forest recovery has been very slow in large cattle pastures, and would take thousands of years if the land is left undisturbed. Recovery even under traditional shifting cultivation schemes is slower than Wood recognizes. Wood's argument that deforestation is temporary is not sufficient to invalidate the claim for conservation now. Reallocation is really the same as land extensification; current practices in Brazil will not support large human populations. The solution is to develop environmental services and find other means to support rural populations in urban areas.

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. .

Evidence disputing deforestation as the cause for the collapse of the ancient Maya polity of Copan, Honduras

PubMed Central

McNeil, Cameron L.; Burney, David A.; Burney, Lida Pigott

2009-01-01

Archaeologists have proposed diverse hypotheses to explain the collapse of the southern Maya lowland cities between the 8th and 10th centuries A.D. Although it generally is believed that no single factor was responsible, a commonly accepted cause is environmental degradation as a product of large-scale deforestation. To date, the most compelling scientific evidence used to support this hypothesis comes from the archaeological site of Copan, Honduras, where the analysis of a sediment core suggested a dramatic increase in forest clearance in the Late Classic period (A.D. 600–900). By contrast, in the work presented here, the authors’ analysis of a longer sediment core demonstrates that forest cover increased from A.D. 400 to A.D. 900, with arboreal pollen accounting for 59.8–71.0% of the pollen assemblage by approximately A.D. 780–980. The highest levels of deforestation are found about 900 B.C. when, at its peak, herb pollen made up 89.8% of the assemblage. A second, although less pronounced, period of elevated deforestation peaked at approximately A.D. 400 when herb pollen reached 65.3% of the assemblage. The first deforestation event likely coincided with the widespread adoption of agriculture, a pattern found elsewhere in Mesoamerica. The second period of forest clearance probably was associated with the incursion of Maya speakers into the Copan Valley and their subsequent construction of the earliest levels of the Copan Acropolis. These results refute the former hypothesis that the ancient Maya responded to their increasingly large urban population by exhausting, rather than conserving, natural resources. PMID:20018691

Unsettling Ourselves: Some Thoughts on Non-Native Participation in Decolonization Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soltys, Matt

2011-01-01

The ecological impact of colonialism is inextricable from empire building, industrialism, large-scale deforestation, and agriculture. Not long ago one could safely drink from nearly every lake, river, stream, and spring, and one could hunt animals as a part of intact ecosystems. Today's world is very different. Colonization alters the reality…

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...

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

The Role of Demography and Markets in Determining Deforestation Rates Near Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

PubMed Central

Brooks, Christopher P.; Holmes, Christopher; Kramer, Karen; Barnett, Barry; Keitt, Timothy H.

2009-01-01

The highland forests of Madagascar are home to some of the world's most unique and diverse flora and fauna and to some of its poorest people. This juxtaposition of poverty and biodiversity is continually reinforced by rapid population growth, which results in increasing pressure on the remaining forest habitat in the highland region, and the biodiversity therein. Here we derive a mathematical expression for the subsistence of households to assess the role of markets and household demography on deforestation near Ranomafana National Park. In villages closest to urban rice markets, households were likely to clear less land than our model predicted, presumably because they were purchasing food at market. This effect was offset by the large number of migrant households who cleared significantly more land between 1989–2003 than did residents throughout the region. Deforestation by migrant households typically occurred after a mean time lag of 9 years. Analyses suggest that while local conservation efforts in Madagascar have been successful at reducing the footprint of individual households, large-scale conservation must rely on policies that can reduce the establishment of new households in remaining forested areas. PMID:19536282

Advancing reference emission levels in subnational and national REDD+ initiatives: a CLASlite approach

PubMed Central

Asner, Gregory P; Joseph, Shijo

2015-01-01

Conservation and monitoring of tropical forests requires accurate information on their extent and change dynamics. Cloud cover, sensor errors and technical barriers associated with satellite remote sensing data continue to prevent many national and sub-national REDD+ initiatives from developing their reference deforestation and forest degradation emission levels. Here we present a framework for large-scale historical forest cover change analysis using free multispectral satellite imagery in an extremely cloudy tropical forest region. The CLASlite approach provided highly automated mapping of tropical forest cover, deforestation and degradation from Landsat satellite imagery. Critically, the fractional cover of forest photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and bare substrates calculated by CLASlite provided scene-invariant quantities for forest cover, allowing for systematic mosaicking of incomplete satellite data coverage. A synthesized satellite-based data set of forest cover was thereby created, reducing image incompleteness caused by clouds, shadows or sensor errors. This approach can readily be implemented by single operators with highly constrained budgets. We test this framework on tropical forests of the Colombian Pacific Coast (Chocó) – one of the cloudiest regions on Earth, with successful comparison to the Colombian government’s deforestation map and a global deforestation map. PMID:25678933

The evolution of root-zone moisture capacities after deforestation: a step towards hydrological predictions under change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nijzink, Remko; Hutton, Christopher; Pechlivanidis, Ilias; Capell, René; Arheimer, Berit; Freer, Jim; Han, Dawei; Wagener, Thorsten; McGuire, Kevin; Savenije, Hubert; Hrachowitz, Markus

2016-12-01

The core component of many hydrological systems, the moisture storage capacity available to vegetation, is impossible to observe directly at the catchment scale and is typically treated as a calibration parameter or obtained from a priori available soil characteristics combined with estimates of rooting depth. Often this parameter is considered to remain constant in time. Using long-term data (30-40 years) from three experimental catchments that underwent significant land cover change, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) the root-zone storage capacity significantly changes after deforestation, (2) changes in the root-zone storage capacity can to a large extent explain post-treatment changes to the hydrological regimes and that (3) a time-dynamic formulation of the root-zone storage can improve the performance of a hydrological model.A recently introduced method to estimate catchment-scale root-zone storage capacities based on climate data (i.e. observed rainfall and an estimate of transpiration) was used to reproduce the temporal evolution of root-zone storage capacity under change. Briefly, the maximum deficit that arises from the difference between cumulative daily precipitation and transpiration can be considered as a proxy for root-zone storage capacity. This value was compared to the value obtained from four different conceptual hydrological models that were calibrated for consecutive 2-year windows.It was found that water-balance-derived root-zone storage capacities were similar to the values obtained from calibration of the hydrological models. A sharp decline in root-zone storage capacity was observed after deforestation, followed by a gradual recovery, for two of the three catchments. Trend analysis suggested hydrological recovery periods between 5 and 13 years after deforestation. In a proof-of-concept analysis, one of the hydrological models was adapted to allow dynamically changing root-zone storage capacities, following the observed changes due to deforestation. Although the overall performance of the modified model did not considerably change, in 51 % of all the evaluated hydrological signatures, considering all three catchments, improvements were observed when adding a time-variant representation of the root-zone storage to the model.In summary, it is shown that root-zone moisture storage capacities can be highly affected by deforestation and climatic influences and that a simple method exclusively based on climate data can not only provide robust, catchment-scale estimates of this critical parameter, but also reflect its time-dynamic behaviour after deforestation.

Land-Cover and Land-Use Change in the Brazilian Amazon: Smallholders, Ranchers and Frontier Stratification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aldrich, Stephen P.; Walker, Robert T.; Arima, Eugenio Y.; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Browder, John O.; Perz, Stephen

2006-01-01

Tropical deforestation is a significant driver of global environmental change, given its impacts on the carbon cycle and biodiversity. Loss of the Amazon forest, the focus of this article, is of particular concern because of the size and the rapid rate at which the forest is being converted to agricultural use. In this article, we identify what has been the most important driver of deforestation in a specific colonization frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. To this end, we consider (1) the land-use dynamics of smallholder households, (2) the formation of pasture by large-scale ranchers, and (3) structural processes of land aggregation by ranchers. Much has been written about relations between smallholders and ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly those involving conflict over land, and this article explicates the implications of such social processes for land cover. Toward this end, we draw on panel data (1996-2002) and satellite imagery (1986-1999) to show the deforestation that is attributable to small- and largeholders, and the deforestation that is attributable to aggregations of property arising from a process that we refer to as frontier stratification. Evidently, most of the recent deforestation in the study area has resulted from the household processes of smallholders, not from conversions to pasture pursuant to the appropriations of smallholders' property by well-capitalized ranchers or speculators.

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.

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.

Restoration of degraded tropical forest landscapes. Science 310(5754): 1628-1632.

Treesearch

David Lamb; Peter Erskine; John A. Parrotta

2005-01-01

The current scale of deforestation in tropical regions and the large areas of degraded lands now present underscore the urgent need for interventions to restore biodiversity, ecological functioning, and the supply of goods and ecological services previously used by poor rural communities. Traditional timber plantations have supplied some goods but have made only minor...

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

Modelling the influence of land-use changes on biophysical and biochemical interactions at regional and global scales.

PubMed

Devaraju, N; Bala, G; Nemani, R

2015-09-01

Land-use changes since the start of the industrial era account for nearly one-third of the cumulative anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In addition to the greenhouse effect of CO2 emissions, changes in land use also affect climate via changes in surface physical properties such as albedo, evapotranspiration and roughness length. Recent modelling studies suggest that these biophysical components may be comparable with biochemical effects. In regard to climate change, the effects of these two distinct processes may counterbalance one another both regionally and, possibly, globally. In this article, through hypothetical large-scale deforestation simulations using a global climate model, we contrast the implications of afforestation on ameliorating or enhancing anthropogenic contributions from previously converted (agricultural) land surfaces. Based on our review of past studies on this subject, we conclude that the sum of both biophysical and biochemical effects should be assessed when large-scale afforestation is used for countering global warming, and the net effect on global mean temperature change depends on the location of deforestation/afforestation. Further, although biochemical effects trigger global climate change, biophysical effects often cause strong local and regional climate change. The implication of the biophysical effects for adaptation and mitigation of climate change in agriculture and agroforestry sectors is discussed. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Land-use and climate change risks in the Amazon and the need of a novel sustainable development paradigm.

PubMed

Nobre, Carlos A; Sampaio, Gilvan; Borma, Laura S; Castilla-Rubio, Juan Carlos; Silva, José S; Cardoso, Manoel

2016-09-27

For half a century, the process of economic integration of the Amazon has been based on intensive use of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, which has brought significant basin-wide environmental alterations. The rural development in the Amazonia pushed the agricultural frontier swiftly, resulting in widespread land-cover change, but agriculture in the Amazon has been of low productivity and unsustainable. The loss of biodiversity and continued deforestation will lead to high risks of irreversible change of its tropical forests. It has been established by modeling studies that the Amazon may have two "tipping points," namely, temperature increase of 4 °C or deforestation exceeding 40% of the forest area. If transgressed, large-scale "savannization" of mostly southern and eastern Amazon may take place. The region has warmed about 1 °C over the last 60 y, and total deforestation is reaching 20% of the forested area. The recent significant reductions in deforestation-80% reduction in the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade-opens up opportunities for a novel sustainable development paradigm for the future of the Amazon. We argue for a new development paradigm-away from only attempting to reconcile maximizing conservation versus intensification of traditional agriculture and expansion of hydropower capacity-in which we research, develop, and scale a high-tech innovation approach that sees the Amazon as a global public good of biological assets that can enable the creation of innovative high-value products, services, and platforms through combining advanced digital, biological, and material technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in progress.

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

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.

Modeling hydrologic responses to deforestation/forestation and climate change at multiple scales in the Southern US and China

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Steven McNulty; Jianbiao Lu; James Vose; Devendra Amayta; Guoyi Zhou; Zhiqiang Zhang

2006-01-01

Watershed management and restoration practices require a clear understanding of the basic eco-hydrologic processes and ecosystem responses to disturbances at multiple scales (Bruijnzeel, 2004; Scott et al., 2005). Worldwide century-long forest hydrologic research has documented that deforestation and forestation (i.e. reforestation and afforestation) can have variable...

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...

Impact of deforestation and climate on the Amazon Basin's above-ground biomass during 1993-2012.

PubMed

Exbrayat, Jean-François; Liu, Yi Y; Williams, Mathew

2017-11-15

Since the 1960s, large-scale deforestation in the Amazon Basin has contributed to rising global CO 2 concentrations and to climate change. Recent advances in satellite observations enable estimates of gross losses of above-ground biomass (AGB) stocks due to deforestation. However, because of simultaneous regrowth, the net contribution of deforestation emissions to rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations is poorly quantified. Climate change may also reduce the potential for forest regeneration in previously disturbed regions. Here, we address these points of uncertainty with a machine-learning approach that combines satellite observations of AGB with climate data across the Amazon Basin to reconstruct annual maps of potential AGB during 1993-2012, the above-ground C storage potential of the undisturbed landscape. We derive a 2.2 Pg C loss of AGB over the study period, and, for the regions where these losses occur, we estimate a 0.7 Pg C reduction in potential AGB. Thus, climate change has led to a decline of ~1/3 in the capacity of these disturbed forests to recover and recapture the C lost in disturbances during 1993-2012. Our approach further shows that annual variations in land use change mask the natural relationship between the El Niño/Southern Oscillation and AGB stocks in disturbed regions.

Deforestation change detection in North Korea between 1999 and 2008 using multi temporal satellite image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

KIM, K. M.

2017-12-01

After the mid-1990s, North Korea has gone through a hard time of shortage of food and fuel due to the large scale flood and landslide. This became a vicious circle, which has kept accelerating the deforestation in North Korea. This study aims to analyze the change of deforestation in North Korea using two different seasonal satellite images of Landsat 5-TM and SPOT-5 between 1999 and 2008. The Land cover was classified into 6 categories: forest, cropland, grassland, bare land, built area and water body. And the deforested and degraded forest area was extracted considering forest land boundary and classified into 3 categories: the cultivated, the unstocked forest land and the bare mountain. For the all classification process, unsupervised classification method was used since North Korea is inaccessible area. The results of the study showed that the stocked forest area has decreased 1,379,000 ha compared with those in 1999, whereas the deforested and degraded forest area has increased 1,207,000 ha in 2008. The increase of 880,000 ha in the unstocked forest land was the biggest expansion among 3 categories of the deforested and degraded forest area during 9 yrs. It is resulted from an increase of firewood usage, which is presumably owing to the severe shortage of fuel and food. I look forward for the outcome of this study to being used as baseline data for inter-Korean forest cooperation. Especially, it is expected to serve as important input data for the potential REDD project site selection with results of the 3rd forest monitoring(2018) of North Korea.

Climatic impact of Amazon deforestation - a mechanistic model study

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

Ning Zeng; Dickinson, R.E.; Xubin Zeng

1996-04-01

Recent general circulation model (GCM) experiments suggest a drastic change in the regional climate, especially the hydrological cycle, after hypothesized Amazon basinwide deforestation. To facilitate the theoretical understanding os such a change, we develop an intermediate-level model for tropical climatology, including atmosphere-land-ocean interaction. The model consists of linearized steady-state primitive equations with simplified thermodynamics. A simple hydrological cycle is also included. Special attention has been paid to land-surface processes. It generally better simulates tropical climatology and the ENSO anomaly than do many of the previous simple models. The climatic impact of Amazon deforestation is studied in the context of thismore » model. Model results show a much weakened Atlantic Walker-Hadley circulation as a result of the existence of a strong positive feedback loop in the atmospheric circulation system and the hydrological cycle. The regional climate is highly sensitive to albedo change and sensitive to evapotranspiration change. The pure dynamical effect of surface roughness length on convergence is small, but the surface flow anomaly displays intriguing features. Analysis of the thermodynamic equation reveals that the balance between convective heating, adiabatic cooling, and radiation largely determines the deforestation response. Studies of the consequences of hypothetical continuous deforestation suggest that the replacement of forest by desert may be able to sustain a dry climate. Scaling analysis motivated by our modeling efforts also helps to interpret the common results of many GCM simulations. When a simple mixed-layer ocean model is coupled with the atmospheric model, the results suggest a 1{degrees}C decrease in SST gradient across the equatorial Atlantic Ocean in response to Amazon deforestation. The magnitude depends on the coupling strength. 66 refs., 16 figs., 4 tabs.« less

Forest amount affects soybean productivity in Brazilian agricultural frontier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rattis, L.; Brando, P. M.; Marques, E. Q.; Queiroz, N.; Silverio, D. V.; Macedo, M.; Coe, M. T.

2017-12-01

Over the past three decades, large tracts of tropical forests have been converted to crop and pasturelands across southern Amazonia, largely to meet the increasing worldwide demand for protein. As the world's population continue to grow and consume more protein per capita, forest conversion to grow more crops could be a potential solution to meet such demand. However, widespread deforestation is expected to negatively affect crop productivity via multiple pathways (e.g., thermal regulation, rainfall, local moisture, pest control, among others). To quantify how deforestation affects crop productivity, we modeled the relationship between forest amount and enhanced vegetation index (EVI—a proxy for crop productivity) during the soybean planting season across southern Amazonia. Our hypothesis that forest amount causes increased crop productivity received strong support. We found that the maximum MODIS-based EVI in soybean fields increased as a function of forest amount across three spatial-scales, 0.5 km, 1 km, 2 km, 5 km, 10 km, 15 km and 20 km. However, the strength of this relationship varied across years and with precipitation, but only at the local scale (e.g., 500 meters and 1 km radius). Our results highlight the importance of considering forests to design sustainable landscapes.

Agriculture expansion, wood energy and woody encroachment in the Miombo woodlands: striving towards sustainability in Zambia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelletier, J.

2017-12-01

Agricultural expansion is mostly done at the expense of forests and woodlands in the tropics. In Sub-Saharan Africa, forests are also critical as providers of wood energy for domestic consumption with a clear majority of households depending on firewood and charcoal as primary source of energy. Using Zambia as a case study, we look at the link between agricultural expansion, wood energy and the sustainability of forest resources. Zambia has been identified as having one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, but there is large uncertainty in these estimates. The government of Zambia has identified charcoal production as one of the main of drivers of forest cover loss and is targeting this practice in their national strategy for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). Other assessment however indicate that agricultural expansion is by far the main driver of deforestation and charcoal production is sustainable in Zambia. These competing evaluations call for a better understanding of the drivers of change. Using two national-scale vegetation surveys and remote sensing data, we compare and validate historical forest cover loss estimates to improve their accuracy. We attribute the change and their associated emissions to specific drivers of deforestation. The ecological properties of areas under change are compared to stable areas over time. Our results from national permanent plots indicate a woody encroachment process in Zambia, a potential ecological response to rising CO2 levels. We found that despite large emissions from deforestation, forests and woodlands have been acting as a carbon sink. This research addresses directly the potential feedbacks and responses to competing demands on forests coming from different sectors, including for agriculture and energy, to set the baseline on which to evaluate forest sustainability now and in the future given potentially new ecological conditions. It provides policy relevant information on drivers of deforestation for orienting the policy response for transitioning towards a low-carbon development pathway, ensuring food security and securing livelihood needs in sustainable wood energy.

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.

Gold-rush in a forested El Dorado: deforestation leakages and the need for regional cooperation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dezécache, Camille; Faure, Emmanuel; Gond, Valéry; Salles, Jean-Michel; Vieilledent, Ghislain; Hérault, Bruno

2017-03-01

Tropical forests of the Guiana Shield are the most affected by gold-mining in South America, experiencing an exponential increase in deforestation since the early 2000’s. Using yearly deforestation data encompassing Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the Brazilian State of Amapá, we demonstrated a strong relationship between deforestation due to gold-mining and gold-prices at the regional scale. In order to assess additional drivers of deforestation due to gold-mining, we focused on the national scale and highlighted the heterogeneity of the response to gold-prices under different political contexts. Deforestation due to gold-mining over the Guiana Shield occurs mainly in Guyana and Suriname. On the contrary, past and current repressive policies in Amapá and French Guiana likely contribute to the decorrelation of deforestation and gold prices. In this work, we finally present a case study focusing on French Guiana and Suriname, two neighbouring countries with very different levels of law enforcement against illegal gold-mining. We developed a modelling framework to estimate potential deforestation leakages from French Guiana to Suriname in the border areas. Based on our assumptions, we estimated a decrease in deforestation due to gold-mining of approx. 4300 hectares in French Guiana and an increase of approx. 12 100 hectares in Suriname in response to the active military repression of illegal gold-mining launched in French Guiana. Gold-mining in the Guiana Shield provides challenging questions regarding REDD+ implementation. These questions are discussed at the end of this study and are important to policy makers who need to provide sustainable alternative employment to local populations in order to ensure the effectiveness of environmental policies.

The Amazon and climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nobre, C. A.

1984-01-01

The climatologies of cloudiness and precipitation for the Amazon, are reviewed and the physical causes of some of the observed features and those which are not well known are explained. The atmospheric circulation over the Amazon is discussed on the large scale tropical circulations forced by deep diabatic heating sources. Weather deforestation which leads to a reduction in evapotranspiration into the atmosphere, and a reduction in precipitation and its implicated for the gobal climate is discussed. It is indicated that a large scale clearing of tropical rainforests there would be a reduction in rainfall which would have global effects on climate and weather both in the tropical and extratropical regions.

Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes.

PubMed

Lee, Xuhui; Goulden, Michael L; Hollinger, David Y; Barr, Alan; Black, T Andrew; Bohrer, Gil; Bracho, Rosvel; Drake, Bert; Goldstein, Allen; Gu, Lianhong; Katul, Gabriel; Kolb, Thomas; Law, Beverly E; Margolis, Hank; Meyers, Tilden; Monson, Russell; Munger, William; Oren, Ram; Paw U, Kyaw Tha; Richardson, Andrew D; Schmid, Hans Peter; Staebler, Ralf; Wofsy, Steven; Zhao, Lei

2011-11-16

Deforestation in mid- to high latitudes is hypothesized to have the potential to cool the Earth's surface by altering biophysical processes. In climate models of continental-scale land clearing, the cooling is triggered by increases in surface albedo and is reinforced by a land albedo-sea ice feedback. This feedback is crucial in the model predictions; without it other biophysical processes may overwhelm the albedo effect to generate warming instead. Ongoing land-use activities, such as land management for climate mitigation, are occurring at local scales (hectares) presumably too small to generate the feedback, and it is not known whether the intrinsic biophysical mechanism on its own can change the surface temperature in a consistent manner. Nor has the effect of deforestation on climate been demonstrated over large areas from direct observations. Here we show that surface air temperature is lower in open land than in nearby forested land. The effect is 0.85 ± 0.44 K (mean ± one standard deviation) northwards of 45° N and 0.21 ± 0.53 K southwards. Below 35° N there is weak evidence that deforestation leads to warming. Results are based on comparisons of temperature at forested eddy covariance towers in the USA and Canada and, as a proxy for small areas of cleared land, nearby surface weather stations. Night-time temperature changes unrelated to changes in surface albedo are an important contributor to the overall cooling effect. The observed latitudinal dependence is consistent with theoretical expectation of changes in energy loss from convection and radiation across latitudes in both the daytime and night-time phase of the diurnal cycle, the latter of which remains uncertain in climate models. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Pathways of nitrogen loss following land clearing in a humid tropical forest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matson, Pamela; Vitousek, Peter

1985-01-01

Tropical deforestation generally leads to large losses of carbon and nitrogen. The Premontane Wet Forest Life Zone is subject to the highest rate of deforestation in Central America, and carbon and nutrient losses in from these fertile soils is very rapid and extreme. Losses of 2000 to 3000 kgN/ha have been reported. Losses of this magnitude could be extremely significant on a regional or global scale if even a small proportion of this nitrogen is lost as nitrous oxide to the atmosphere or through leaching of nitrate to rivers. This study seeks to measure the rates and regulation of nitrogen transformations, and the pathways of nitrogen losses following land clearing and burning at a site in the Premontane Wet Forest Life Zone near Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Climate shapes the novel plant communities that form after deforestation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Treesearch

Thomas J. Brandeis; Eileen Helmer; H. Marcano-Vega; Ariel E. Lugo

2009-01-01

Environmental and past land use controls on tree species assemblages on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were characterized to determine whether biophysical factors or land-use history has been more important in determining the species composition of secondary tropical forests after large-scale forest clearing for agriculture, widespread...

Amazon Deforestation Fires Increase Plant Productivity through Changes in Diffuse Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rap, A.; Reddington, C.; Spracklen, D. V.; Mercado, L.; Haywood, J. M.; Bonal, D.; Butt, N.; Phillips, O.

2013-12-01

Over the past few decades a large increase in carbon storage has been observed in undisturbed forests across Amazonia. The reason for such a sink is unclear, although many possible mechanisms have been suggested, including changes in temperature, carbon dioxide, precipitation, clouds, and solar radiation. In this work we focus on one such mechanism, namely the increase in plant photosynthesis due to changes in diffuse radiation caused by atmospheric aerosols from large-scale deforestation fires that now occur throughout the Amazon region. We estimate that this mechanism has increased dry season (August-September) net primary productivity (NPP) by up to 30% across wide regions of the Amazon. We conclude that aerosol from deforestation fires may be responsible for a substantial fraction of the Amazon carbon sink that has been observed. Our approach is based on the combined use of three models: (i) the Global Model of Aerosol Processes (GLOMAP), (ii) the Edwards-Slingo radiation model, and (iii) the UK Met Office JULES land-surface scheme, constrained against in-situ aerosol and radiation observation datasets from several Amazonian sites. A 10 year (1999-2008) GLOMAP simulation using GFED3 biomass burning emissions is first evaluated against aerosol observations, indicating that the model is able to capture the Amazon aerosol seasonality, with enhanced concentrations during the dry season driven by biomass burning. The radiation scheme is then shown to be in good agreement with total and diffuse radiation in-situ observations, the model being able to capture the high total and low diffuse radiation flux in the dry season, as well as the low total and high diffuse radiation flux in the wet season. We then use our modelling framework to quantify the contribution of deforestation fires to diffuse/direct radiation fraction and forest productivity. We calculate that deforestation fires increase dry season diffuse radiation by up to 60% or 30 Wm-2. Finally, we use the JULES model to show that this increase in diffuse radiation is responsible for a substantial growth in gross primary productivity (GPP), enhancing Amazon-wide dry-season GPP by 5% with local increases of up to 15%. Most of this GPP response results in an increase in NPP, estimated in the dry season at 10% across the Amazon with local increases as large as 30%. This substantial NPP enhancement spatially matches observed increases in forest biomass storage across the Amazon. We thus suggest that deforestation fires have an important impact on the Amazon carbon budget and attempt to estimate the fraction of the observed forest carbon sink that can be attributed to this mechanism. Change [%] in diffuse radiation due to deforestation

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.

Impacts of deforestation and afforestation in the Mediterranean region as simulated by the MPI atmospheric GCM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dümenil Gates, Lydia; Ließ, Stefan

2001-10-01

For two reasons it is important to study the sensitivity of the global climate to changes in the vegetation cover over land. First, in the real world, changes in the vegetation cover may have regional and global implications. Second, in numerical simulations, the sensitivity of the simulated climate may depend on the specific parameterization schemes employed in the model and on the model's large-scale systematic errors. The Max-Planck-Institute's global general circulation model ECHAM4 has been used to study the sensitivity of the local and global climate during a full annual cycle to deforestation and afforestation in the Mediterranean region. The deforestation represents an extreme desertification scenario for this region. The changes in the afforestation experiment are based on the pattern of the vegetation cover 2000 years before present when the climate in the Mediterranean was more humid. The comparison of the deforestation integration to the control shows a slight cooling at the surface and reduced precipitation during the summer as a result of less evapotranspiration of plants and less evaporation from the assumption of eroded soils. There is no significant signal during the winter season due to the stronger influence of the mid-latitude baroclinic disturbances. In general, the results of the afforestation experiment are opposite to those of the deforestation case. A significant response was found in the vicinity of grid points where the land surface characteristics were modified. The response in the Sahara in the afforestation experiment is in agreement with the results from other general circulation model studies.

Up-scaling Stream Ecosystem Processes to Predict the Effects of Land Cover Change at a Watershed Scale in the Atlantic Tropical Rainforest.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tromboni, F.; Feijó de Lima, R.; Silva-Júnior, E. F.; Lourenço-Amorim, C.; Zandoná, E.; Moulton, T. P.; Da Silva, B. S.; Silva-Araújo, M.; Thomas, S. A.

2015-12-01

Riparian land-cover change (LCC) causes a cascade of subsequent hierarchical effects that propagate through abiotic compartments until reaching the biota, altering stream ecosystem functioning. Due to the movement of water downstream, these lateral effects co-occur with longitudinal influences. We investigated both the lateral and longitudinal effects of deforestation in four streams in the Atlantic tropical rainforest of Brazil. We collected physical-chemical, geomorphic, hydrological data and samples of macroinvertebrates assemblages. We then categorized land cover at different scales (from different riparian and reach buffer sizes to sub and total watershed) using a SPOT-5 satellite image and ArcGIS. We also carried out a series of experiments along the streams to understand: 1) the mechanisms by which LCC affects periphyton and how these changes alter metabolism and nutrient uptake rates; 2) the downstream distance at which periphyton and the associated variables change in the transitions from one riparian category to the other. We used (i) a path analysis to test if our hypothesized land-cover cascade model described our data and (ii) non-linear models to describe the longitudinal effect on each variable. Our results showed that deforestation produced a range of physical changes at different spatial scale, longitudinally altering periphyton taxonomic composition (taxa depending on light), stoichiometry (nutritionally richer with increasing deforestation) and growth rates (greater in deforested). Macroinvertebrate assemblages behaved similarly to chlorophyll a in response to forest loss. Respiration rate increased with deforestation probably due to higher nutrient concentrations but primary production did not increase. Models were used to upscale LCC impacts on ecosystem processes from local scale experiments to landscape and our work has important implications for socio-economic decisions concerning ecosystem management and conservation.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Liquidation sales: Land speculation and landscape change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarus, E.

2012-12-01

Large-scale land-use transitions can occur with astonishing speed, and landscape stability can change with equal suddenness: for example, the catastrophic dustbowl that paralyzed the Midwestern US in the early 1930s came barely 40 years after the derby for homestead land in Oklahoma in 1889. Some human-landscape systems, like the large prehistoric settlements in the Brazilian Amazon, persisted for centuries without environmental collapse. Others quickly exhausted all of the environmental resources available, as occurred with phosphate mining on the Pacific Island of Nauru. Although abrupt shifts from resource plenty to resource scarcity are theoretically interesting for their complexity, the very real consequences of modern social and environmental boom-bust dynamics can catalyze humanitarian crises. Drawing on historical examples and investigative reporting of current events, I explore the hypothesis that land speculation drives rapid transitions in physical landscapes at large spatial scales. "Land grabs" is one of four core environmental justice and equality issues Oxfam International is targeting in its GROW campaign, citing evidence that foreign investors are buying up vast tracts of land in developing countries, and as a consequence exacerbating food scarcity and marginalization of poor families. Al Jazeera has reported extensively on land-rights disputes in Honduras and investment deals involving foreign ownership of large areas of agricultural land in New Zealand, India, Africa, and South America. Overlapping coverage has also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the BBC News, the Guardian, and other outlets. Although land itself is only one kind of natural resource, land rights typically determine access to other natural resources (e.g. water, timber, minerals, fossil fuels). Consideration of land speculation therefore includes speculative bubbles in natural-resource markets more broadly. There are categorical commonalities in agricultural change and deforestation around the world. Although the details differ at local scales, even disparate cases of land use and landscape changes may express similar patterns and structures. Records of sediment flux in salt marshes and fluvial deposits indicate rates of past landscape responses to human activities; the 1930s dustbowl event left a sedimentary signature in western North American lakes. Petrochemicals and fertilizers from agricultural runnoff are causing hypoxic dead zones in coastal waters to expand. In the Brazilian Amazon, regional-scale changes in weather and climate have been linked to deforestation, and deforestation has been linked to patterns of boom-bust development. But even when rampant land acquisition for agriculture or housing has been identified as problematic, the attendant environmental consequences are not necessarily obvious. The nonlinear attenuation of cause and effect is a function of the hierarchy of scales that typify these complex, human-landscape systems: the emergence of long-term, large-scale environmental dynamics lag behind the short-term, localized dynamics of a resource bubble. Insight into how these coupled systems behave may reveal the scales at which government, institutional, or self-organized social intervention may be most effective, and presents an opportunity to integrate evolving spheres of research from the behavioural sciences and Earth-surface processes.

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.

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

The spatial pattern and dominant drivers of woody cover change in Latin America and Caribbean from 2001 to 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, M.; Aide, T.; Riner, G.; Redo, D.; Grau, H.; Bonilla-Moheno, M.; Lopez-Carr, D.; Levy, M.

2011-12-01

Change in woody vegetation (i.e., forests, shrublands) is a major component of global environmental change: it directly affects biodiversity, the global carbon budget, and ecosystem function. For several decades, remote sensing technology has been used to document deforestation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), although mostly at local to regional scales (e.g., moist forests of the Amazon basin). Most studies have focused on forest loss, some local-scale studies have mapped forest recovery, with contrasting forest dynamics attributed to shifting demographic and socio-economic factors. For example, local population change (rural-urban migration) can stimulate forest recovery on abandoned land, while increasing global food demand may drive regional expansion of mechanized agriculture. However, there are no studies in LAC that simultaneously map both loss and gain in woody vegetation at continental, national, and municipality scales with consistent data sources, methods and accuracy; and thus, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the spatial distribution of woody vegetation change and the relative importance of the multi-scale drivers of this change. We overcame this limitation by producing annual land-cover maps between 2001 and 2010 for each of the >16,000 municipalities in LAC. We focused on mapping municipality-scale trends in three broad classes: woody vegetation, mixed woody/plantations, and agriculture/herbaceous vegetation. Our area estimates show that woody vegetation change during the past decade was dominated by deforestation, or loss (-541,830 km2), particularly in the Amazon basin moist forest and the tropical-subtropical Cerrado and Chaco ecoregions, where large swaths of forest have been transformed to pastures and agricultural lands. Extensive areas (362,431 km2) in LAC also gained woody vegetation, particularly in regions too dry or too steep for modern agriculture, including the desert/xeric shrub biome in NE Brazil and northern Mexico, the conifer forest and tropical dry forest biomes in Central America, and Andean montane areas. We used Random Forests regression, a non-linear and non-parametric analytical technique, as a means to assess the relative importance of demographic and environmental variables in explaining trends in woody vegetation at the municipality scale. We found no association between population change and woody vegetation change at this scale, suggesting that global demand for food (e.g., soybean production for export to China) is a more important driver of deforestation than local population change. Our results emphasize that both loss and gain (i.e., deforestation and reforestation) need to be addressed in a research framework that links multiple spatial scales of land change with global drivers of change.

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.

Global forest loss disproportionately erodes biodiversity in intact landscapes.

PubMed

Betts, Matthew G; Wolf, Christopher; Ripple, William J; Phalan, Ben; Millers, Kimberley A; Duarte, Adam; Butchart, Stuart H M; Levi, Taal

2017-07-27

Global biodiversity loss is a critical environmental crisis, yet the lack of spatial data on biodiversity threats has hindered conservation strategies. Theory predicts that abrupt biodiversity declines are most likely to occur when habitat availability is reduced to very low levels in the landscape (10-30%). Alternatively, recent evidence indicates that biodiversity is best conserved by minimizing human intrusion into intact and relatively unfragmented landscapes. Here we use recently available forest loss data to test deforestation effects on International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List categories of extinction risk for 19,432 vertebrate species worldwide. As expected, deforestation substantially increased the odds of a species being listed as threatened, undergoing recent upgrading to a higher threat category and exhibiting declining populations. More importantly, we show that these risks were disproportionately high in relatively intact landscapes; even minimal deforestation has had severe consequences for vertebrate biodiversity. We found little support for the alternative hypothesis that forest loss is most detrimental in already fragmented landscapes. Spatial analysis revealed high-risk hot spots in Borneo, the central Amazon and the Congo Basin. In these regions, our model predicts that 121-219 species will become threatened under current rates of forest loss over the next 30 years. Given that only 17.9% of these high-risk areas are formally protected and only 8.9% have strict protection, new large-scale conservation efforts to protect intact forests are necessary to slow deforestation rates and to avert a new wave of global extinctions.

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.

Impact of deforestation on local precipitation patterns over the Da River basin, Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, Daniela; Spartà, Daniele; Castelletti, Andrea; Boschetti, Mirco

2014-05-01

Change in land cover, e.g. from forest to bare soil, might severely impact the hydrological cycle at the river basin scale by altering the balance between rainfall and evaporation, ultimately affecting streamflow dynamics. These changes generally occur over decades, but they might be much more rapid in developing countries, where economic growth and growing population may cause abrupt changes in landscape and ecosystem. Detecting, analysing and modelling these changes is an essential step to design mitigation strategies and adaptation plans, balancing economic development and ecosystem protection. In this work we investigate the impact of land cover changes on the water cycle in the Da River basin, Vietnam. More precisely, the objective is to evaluate the interlink between deforestation and precipitation. The case study is particularly interesting because Vietnam is one of the world fastest growing economies and natural resources have been considerably exploited to support after-war development. Vietnam has the second highest rate of deforestation of primary forests in the world, second to only Nigeria (FAO 2005), with associated problems like abrupt change in run-off, erosion, sediment transport and flash floods. We performed land cover evaluation by combining literature information and Remote Sensing techniques, using Landsat images. We then analysed time series of precipitation observed on the period 1960-2011 in several stations located in the catchment area. We used multiple trend detection techniques, both state-of-the-art (e.g., Linear regression and Mann-Kendall) and novel trend detection techniques (Moving Average on Shifting Horizon), to investigate trends in seasonal pattern of precipitation. Results suggest that deforestation may induce a negative trend in the precipitation volume. The effect is mainly recognizable at the beginning and at the end of the monsoon season, when the local mechanisms of precipitation formation prevail over the large scale ones.

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.

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.

CO2 Emissions in an Oil Palm Plantation on Tropical Peat in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leclerc, M.; Zhang, G.; Jantan, N. M.; Harun, M. H.; Kamarudin, N.; Choo, Y. M.

2016-12-01

Tropical peats are large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and differ markedly from their counterparts at temperate latitudes. The rapid deforestation and subsequent land conversion of tropical virgin forests in Southeast Asia have been decried by environmental groups worldwide even though there is currently little robust scientific evidence to ascertain the net amount of greenhouse gas released to the atmosphere. The conversion to oil palm plantation at a large scale further exacerbates the situation. This paper shows preliminary data on CO2 emissions in a converted oil palm plantation grown on tropical peat in northeast Malaysia.

Large scale land acquisitions and REDD+: a synthesis of conflicts and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carter, Sarah; Manceur, Ameur M.; Seppelt, Ralf; Hermans-Neumann, Kathleen; Herold, Martin; Verchot, Lou

2017-03-01

Large scale land acquisitions (LSLA), and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) are both land based phenomena which when occurring in the same area, can compete with each other for land. A quantitative analysis of country characteristics revealed that land available for agriculture, accessibility, and political stability are key explanatory factors for a country being targeted for LSLA. Surprisingly LSLA occur in countries with lower accessibility. Countries with good land availability, poor accessibility and political stability may become future targets if they do not already have LSLA. Countries which high levels of agriculture-driven deforestation and LSLA, should develop interventions which reduce forest loss driven either directly or indirectly by LSLA as part of their REDD+ strategies. Both host country and investor-side policies have been identified which could be used more widely to reduce conflicts between LSLA and REDD+. Findings from this research highlight the need for and can inform the development of national and international policies on land acquisitions including green acquisitions such as REDD+. Land management must be considered with all its objectives—including food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation—in a coherent strategy which engages relevant stakeholders. This is not currently occurring and might be a key ingredient to achieve the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 15 and 16 (related to food security and sustainable agriculture and the protection of forests) among others.

Future Forest Cover Change Scenarios with Implications for Landslide Risk: An Example from Buzau Subcarpathians, Romania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malek, Žiga; Boerboom, Luc; Glade, Thomas

2015-11-01

This study focuses on future forest cover change in Buzau Subcarpathians, a landslide prone region in Romania. Past and current trends suggest that the area might expect a future increase in deforestation. We developed spatially explicit scenarios until 2040 to analyze the spatial pattern of future forest cover change and potential changes to landslide risk. First, we generated transition probability maps using the weights of evidence method, followed by a cellular automata allocation model. We performed expert interviews, to develop two future forest management scenarios. The Alternative scenario (ALT) was defined by 67 % more deforestation than the Business as Usual scenario (BAU). We integrated the simulated scenarios with a landslide susceptibility map. In both scenarios, most of deforestation was projected in areas where landslides are less likely to occur. Still, 483 (ALT) and 276 (BAU) ha of deforestation were projected on areas with a high-landslide occurrence likelihood. Thus, deforestation could lead to a local-scale increase in landslide risk, in particular near or adjacent to forestry roads. The parallel process of near 10 % forest expansion until 2040 was projected to occur mostly on areas with high-landslide susceptibility. On a regional scale, forest expansion could so result in improved slope stability. We modeled two additional scenarios with an implemented landslide risk policy, excluding high-risk zones. The reduction of deforestation on high-risk areas was achieved without a drastic decrease in the accessibility of the areas. Together with forest expansion, it could therefore be used as a risk reduction strategy.

Future Forest Cover Change Scenarios with Implications for Landslide Risk: An Example from Buzau Subcarpathians, Romania.

PubMed

Malek, Žiga; Boerboom, Luc; Glade, Thomas

2015-11-01

This study focuses on future forest cover change in Buzau Subcarpathians, a landslide prone region in Romania. Past and current trends suggest that the area might expect a future increase in deforestation. We developed spatially explicit scenarios until 2040 to analyze the spatial pattern of future forest cover change and potential changes to landslide risk. First, we generated transition probability maps using the weights of evidence method, followed by a cellular automata allocation model. We performed expert interviews, to develop two future forest management scenarios. The Alternative scenario (ALT) was defined by 67% more deforestation than the Business as Usual scenario (BAU). We integrated the simulated scenarios with a landslide susceptibility map. In both scenarios, most of deforestation was projected in areas where landslides are less likely to occur. Still, 483 (ALT) and 276 (BAU) ha of deforestation were projected on areas with a high-landslide occurrence likelihood. Thus, deforestation could lead to a local-scale increase in landslide risk, in particular near or adjacent to forestry roads. The parallel process of near 10% forest expansion until 2040 was projected to occur mostly on areas with high-landslide susceptibility. On a regional scale, forest expansion could so result in improved slope stability. We modeled two additional scenarios with an implemented landslide risk policy, excluding high-risk zones. The reduction of deforestation on high-risk areas was achieved without a drastic decrease in the accessibility of the areas. Together with forest expansion, it could therefore be used as a risk reduction strategy.

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.

Land-use and climate change risks in the Amazon and the need of a novel sustainable development paradigm

PubMed Central

Nobre, Carlos A.; Sampaio, Gilvan; Borma, Laura S.; Castilla-Rubio, Juan Carlos; Silva, José S.; Cardoso, Manoel

2016-01-01

For half a century, the process of economic integration of the Amazon has been based on intensive use of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, which has brought significant basin-wide environmental alterations. The rural development in the Amazonia pushed the agricultural frontier swiftly, resulting in widespread land-cover change, but agriculture in the Amazon has been of low productivity and unsustainable. The loss of biodiversity and continued deforestation will lead to high risks of irreversible change of its tropical forests. It has been established by modeling studies that the Amazon may have two “tipping points,” namely, temperature increase of 4 °C or deforestation exceeding 40% of the forest area. If transgressed, large-scale “savannization” of mostly southern and eastern Amazon may take place. The region has warmed about 1 °C over the last 60 y, and total deforestation is reaching 20% of the forested area. The recent significant reductions in deforestation—80% reduction in the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade—opens up opportunities for a novel sustainable development paradigm for the future of the Amazon. We argue for a new development paradigm—away from only attempting to reconcile maximizing conservation versus intensification of traditional agriculture and expansion of hydropower capacity—in which we research, develop, and scale a high-tech innovation approach that sees the Amazon as a global public good of biological assets that can enable the creation of innovative high-value products, services, and platforms through combining advanced digital, biological, and material technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in progress. PMID:27638214

Land-use and climate change risks in the Amazon and the need of a novel sustainable development paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobre, Carlos A.; Sampaio, Gilvan; Borma, Laura S.; Castilla-Rubio, Juan Carlos; Silva, José S.; Cardoso, Manoel

2016-09-01

For half a century, the process of economic integration of the Amazon has been based on intensive use of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources, which has brought significant basin-wide environmental alterations. The rural development in the Amazonia pushed the agricultural frontier swiftly, resulting in widespread land-cover change, but agriculture in the Amazon has been of low productivity and unsustainable. The loss of biodiversity and continued deforestation will lead to high risks of irreversible change of its tropical forests. It has been established by modeling studies that the Amazon may have two “tipping points,” namely, temperature increase of 4 °C or deforestation exceeding 40% of the forest area. If transgressed, large-scale “savannization” of mostly southern and eastern Amazon may take place. The region has warmed about 1 °C over the last 60 y, and total deforestation is reaching 20% of the forested area. The recent significant reductions in deforestation—80% reduction in the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade—opens up opportunities for a novel sustainable development paradigm for the future of the Amazon. We argue for a new development paradigm—away from only attempting to reconcile maximizing conservation versus intensification of traditional agriculture and expansion of hydropower capacity—in which we research, develop, and scale a high-tech innovation approach that sees the Amazon as a global public good of biological assets that can enable the creation of innovative high-value products, services, and platforms through combining advanced digital, biological, and material technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in progress.

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.

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

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.

Climate regulation of fire emissions and deforestation in equatorial Asia.

PubMed

van der Werf, G R; Dempewolf, J; Trigg, S N; Randerson, J T; Kasibhatla, P S; Giglio, L; Murdiyarso, D; Peters, W; Morton, D C; Collatz, G J; Dolman, A J; DeFries, R S

2008-12-23

Drainage of peatlands and deforestation have led to large-scale fires in equatorial Asia, affecting regional air quality and global concentrations of greenhouse gases. Here we used several sources of satellite data with biogeochemical and atmospheric modeling to better understand and constrain fire emissions from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea during 2000-2006. We found that average fire emissions from this region [128 +/- 51 (1sigma) Tg carbon (C) year(-1), T = 10(12)] were comparable to fossil fuel emissions. In Borneo, carbon emissions from fires were highly variable, fluxes during the moderate 2006 El Niño more than 30 times greater than those during the 2000 La Niña (and with a 2000-2006 mean of 74 +/- 33 Tg C yr(-1)). Higher rates of forest loss and larger areas of peatland becoming vulnerable to fire in drought years caused a strong nonlinear relation between drought and fire emissions in southern Borneo. Fire emissions from Sumatra showed a positive linear trend, increasing at a rate of 8 Tg C year(-2) (approximately doubling during 2000-2006). These results highlight the importance of including deforestation in future climate agreements. They also imply that land manager responses to expected shifts in tropical precipitation may critically determine the strength of climate-carbon cycle feedbacks during the 21st century.

Multisensor monitoring of deforestation in the Guinea Highlands of West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilruth, Peter T.; Hutchinson, Charles F.

1990-01-01

Multiple remote sensing systems were used to assess deforestation in the Guinea Highlands (Fouta Djallon) of West Africa. Sensor systems included: (1) historical (1953) and current (1989) aerial mapping photography; (2) current large-scale, small format (35mm) aerial photography; (3) current aerial video imagery; and (4) historical (1973) and recent (1985) LANDSAT MSS. Photographic and video data were manually interpreted and incorporated in a vector-based geographic information system (GIS). LANDSAT data were digitally classified. General results showed an increase in permanent and shifting agriculture over the past 35 years. This finding is consistent with hypothesized strategies to increase agricultural production through a shortening of the fallow period in areas of shifting cultivation. However, results also show that the total area of both permanent and shifting agriculture had expanded at the expense of natural vegetation and an increase in erosion. Although sequential LANDSAT MSS cannot be used in this region to accurately map land over, the location, direction and magnitude of changes can be detected in relative terms. Historical and current aerial photography can be used to map agricultural land use changes with some accuracy. Video imagery is useful as ancillary data for mapping vegetation. The most prudent approach to mapping deforestation would incorporate a multistage approach based on these sensors.

Land use and household energy dynamics in Malawi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jagger, Pamela; Perez-Heydrich, Carolina

2016-12-01

Interventions to mitigate household air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels often fail to take into account the role of access to freely available woodfuels in determining fuel choice and willingness to adopt clean cooking technologies, key factors in mitigating the burden of HAP. We use national-scale remote sensing data on land use land cover change, and population representative data from two waves of the Malawi Living Standards Measurement Survey to explore the relationship between land use change and the type of fuel households use, time spent collecting fuel, and expenditures on fuel, hypothesizing that land use dynamics influence household-level choice of primary cooking fuel. We find considerable heterogeneity with respect to regeneration and deforestation/degradation dynamics and evidence of spatial clustering. We find that regeneration of forests and woodlands increases the share of households that collect fuelwood, whereas deforestation and degradation lead households to purchase fuelwood. We also find that a relatively large share of land under woody savannah or degraded forest (versus fully stocked forest) increases fuel collection time. Areas with regeneration happening at broader scale experience increases in fuel expenditures. Our findings have implications for the spatial targeting of interventions designed to mitigate HAP.

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.

Modeling biomass burning emissions for Amazon forest and pastures in Rondônia, Brazil.

Treesearch

Liane S. Guild; J. Boone Kauffman; Warren B. Cohen; Christine A. Hlavka; Darold E. Ward

2004-01-01

As a source of atmospheric carbon, biomass burning emissions associated with deforestation in the Amazon are globally significant. Once deforested, these lands continue to be sources of substantial burning emissions for many years due to frequent pasture burning. The objective of this research was to quantify biomass-burning emissions at a local scale. We estimated...

Biodiversity and ecosystem processes: lessons from nature to improve management of planted forests for REDD-plus

Treesearch

Ian D. Thompson; Kimiko Okabe; John A. Parrotta; David I. Forrester; Eckehard Brockerhoff; Hervé Jactel; Hisatomo Taki

2014-01-01

Planted forests are increasingly contributing wood products and other ecosystem services at a global scale. These forests will be even more important as carbon markets develop and REDD-plus forest programs (forests used specifically to reduce atmospheric emissions of CO2 through deforestation and forest degradation) become common. Restoring degraded and deforested...

Spatial patterns of carbon, biodiversity, deforestation threat, and REDD+ projects in Indonesia.

PubMed

Murray, Josil P; Grenyer, Richard; Wunder, Sven; Raes, Niels; Jones, Julia P G

2015-10-01

There are concerns that Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) may fail to deliver potential biodiversity cobenefits if it is focused on high carbon areas. We explored the spatial overlaps between carbon stocks, biodiversity, projected deforestation threats, and the location of REDD+ projects in Indonesia, a tropical country at the forefront of REDD+ development. For biodiversity, we assembled data on the distribution of terrestrial vertebrates (ranges of amphibians, mammals, birds, reptiles) and plants (species distribution models for 8 families). We then investigated congruence between different measures of biodiversity richness and carbon stocks at the national and subnational scales. Finally, we mapped active REDD+ projects and investigated the carbon density and potential biodiversity richness and modeled deforestation pressures within these forests relative to protected areas and unprotected forests. There was little internal overlap among the different hotspots (richest 10% of cells) of species richness. There was also no consistent spatial congruence between carbon stocks and the biodiversity measures: a weak negative correlation at the national scale masked highly variable and nonlinear relationships island by island. Current REDD+ projects were preferentially located in areas with higher total species richness and threatened species richness but lower carbon densities than protected areas and unprotected forests. Although a quarter of the total area of these REDD+ projects is under relatively high deforestation pressure, the majority of the REDD+ area is not. In Indonesia at least, first-generation REDD+ projects are located where they are likely to deliver biodiversity benefits. However, if REDD+ is to deliver additional gains for climate and biodiversity, projects will need to focus on forests with the highest threat to deforestation, which will have cost implications for future REDD+ implementation. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

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.

Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes

Treesearch

Xuhui Lee; Michael L. Goulden; David Y. Hollinger; Alan Barr; T. Andrew Black; Gil Bohrer; Rosvel Bracho; Bert Drake; Allen Goldstein; Lianhong Gu; Gabriel Katul; Thomas Kolb; Beverly E. Law; Hank Margolis; Tilden Meyers; Russell Monson; William Munger; Ram Oren; Kyaw Tha Paw U; Andrew D. Richardson; Hans Peter Schmid; Ralf Staebler; Steven Wofsy; Lei Zhao

2011-01-01

Deforestation in mid- to high latitudes is hypothesized to have the potential to cool the Earth's surface by altering biophysical processes. In climate models of continental-scale land clearing, the cooling is triggered by increases in surface albedo and is reinforced by a land albedo–sea ice feedback. This feedback is crucial in the model predictions; without it...

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

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.

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.

Elections and Deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanford, L.

2017-12-01

When do politicians' re-election strategies cause serious environmental damage? This paper focuses on a case of deforestation, and argues that the protection of forested areas is a long-term public good while their destruction provides short-term, private goods for local voters and elected officials. Politicians give voters access to forested areas for commercial use of timber and small-scale farming in exchange for electoral support. I test the theory that competitive elections are associated with higher rates of deforestation using remote sensed satellite data of forest cover and data on national elections cross-nationally. The findings suggest that rates of forest cover loss are 50% higher in anocracies during election years, and more than double the average rate in years when there are competitive elections in anocracies and democracies. This suggests that democratic elections can be an important source of environmental damage, such as deforestation, contrary to the conventional wisdom that democratization improves environmental protection.

Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes in Odisha, India using remote sensing and GIS.

PubMed

Reddy, C Sudhakar; Jha, C S; Dadhwal, V K

2013-05-01

Deforestation and fragmentation are important concerns in managing and conserving tropical forests and have global significance. In the Indian context, in the last one century, the forests have undergone significant changes due to several policies undertaken by government as well as increased population pressure. The present study has brought out spatiotemporal changes in forest cover and variation in forest type in the state of Odisha (Orissa), India, during the last 75 years period. The mapping for the period of 1924-1935, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2010 indicates that the forest cover accounts for 81,785.6 km(2) (52.5 %), 56,661.1 km(2) (36.4 %), 51,642.3 km(2) (33.2 %), 49,773 km(2) (32 %) and 48,669.4 km(2) (31.3 %) of the study area, respectively. The study found the net forest cover decline as 40.5 % of the total forest and mean annual rate of deforestation as 0.69 % year(-1) during 1935 to 2010. There is a decline in annual rate of deforestation during 1995 to 2010 which was estimated as 0.15 %. Forest type-wise quantitative loss of forest cover reveals large scale deforestation of dry deciduous forests. The landscape analysis shows that the number of forest patches (per 1,000) are 2.463 in 1935, 10.390 in 1975, 11.899 in 1985, 12.193 in 1995 and 15.102 in 2010, which indicates high anthropogenic pressure on the forests. The mean patch size (km(2)) of forest decreased from 33.2 in 1935 to 5.5 in 1975 and reached to 3.2 by 2010. The study demonstrated that monitoring of long term forest changes, quantitative loss of forest types and landscape metrics provides critical inputs for management of forest resources.

CARBON BUDGET OF BRAZIL: A 1990 ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The global carbon cycle is affected by the annual addition of 7.0 x 10 9 Mg CO2-C to the atmosphere from deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. ecause of its large area of high C density forests and high deforestation rate, Brazil may play an important role in the global C cy...

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.

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.

The future of the Amazon: new perspectives from climate, ecosystem and social sciences.

PubMed

Betts, Richard A; Malhi, Yadvinder; Roberts, J Timmons

2008-05-27

The potential loss or large-scale degradation of the tropical rainforests has become one of the iconic images of the impacts of twenty-first century environmental change and may be one of our century's most profound legacies. In the Amazon region, the direct threat of deforestation and degradation is now strongly intertwined with an indirect challenge we are just beginning to understand: the possibility of substantial regional drought driven by global climate change. The Amazon region hosts more than half of the world's remaining tropical forests, and some parts have among the greatest concentrations of biodiversity found anywhere on Earth. Overall, the region is estimated to host about a quarter of all global biodiversity. It acts as one of the major 'flywheels' of global climate, transpiring water and generating clouds, affecting atmospheric circulation across continents and hemispheres, and storing substantial reserves of biomass and soil carbon. Hence, the ongoing degradation of Amazonia is a threat to local climate stability and a contributor to the global atmospheric climate change crisis. Conversely, the stabilization of Amazonian deforestation and degradation would be an opportunity for local adaptation to climate change, as well as a potential global contributor towards mitigation of climate change. However, addressing deforestation in the Amazon raises substantial challenges in policy, governance, sustainability and economic science. This paper introduces a theme issue dedicated to a multidisciplinary analysis of these challenges.

Carbon stock corridors to mitigate climate change and promote biodiversity in the tropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jantz, Patrick; Goetz, Scott; Laporte, Nadine

2014-02-01

A key issue in global conservation is how biodiversity co-benefits can be incorporated into land use and climate change mitigation activities, particularly those being negotiated under the United Nations to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Protected areas have been the dominant strategy for tropical forest conservation and they have increased substantially in recent decades. Avoiding deforestation by preserving carbon stored in vegetation between protected areas provides an opportunity to mitigate the effects of land use and climate change on biodiversity by maintaining habitat connectivity across landscapes. Here we use a high-resolution data set of vegetation carbon stock to map corridors traversing areas of highest biomass between protected areas in the tropics. The derived corridors contain 15% of the total unprotected aboveground carbon in the tropical region. A large number of corridors have carbon densities that approach or exceed those of the protected areas they connect, suggesting these are suitable areas for achieving both habitat connectivity and climate change mitigation benefits. To further illustrate how economic and biological information can be used for corridor prioritization on a regional scale, we conducted a multicriteria analysis of corridors in the Legal Amazon, identifying corridors with high carbon, high species richness and endemism, and low economic opportunity costs. We also assessed the vulnerability of corridors to future deforestation threat.

Climate regulation of fire emissions and deforestation in equatorial Asia

PubMed Central

van der Werf, G. R.; Dempewolf, J.; Trigg, S. N.; Randerson, J. T.; Kasibhatla, P. S.; Giglio, L.; Murdiyarso, D.; Peters, W.; Morton, D. C.; Collatz, G. J.; Dolman, A. J.; DeFries, R. S.

2008-01-01

Drainage of peatlands and deforestation have led to large-scale fires in equatorial Asia, affecting regional air quality and global concentrations of greenhouse gases. Here we used several sources of satellite data with biogeochemical and atmospheric modeling to better understand and constrain fire emissions from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea during 2000–2006. We found that average fire emissions from this region [128 ± 51 (1σ) Tg carbon (C) year−1, T = 1012] were comparable to fossil fuel emissions. In Borneo, carbon emissions from fires were highly variable, fluxes during the moderate 2006 El Niño more than 30 times greater than those during the 2000 La Niña (and with a 2000–2006 mean of 74 ± 33 Tg C yr−1). Higher rates of forest loss and larger areas of peatland becoming vulnerable to fire in drought years caused a strong nonlinear relation between drought and fire emissions in southern Borneo. Fire emissions from Sumatra showed a positive linear trend, increasing at a rate of 8 Tg C year−2 (approximately doubling during 2000–2006). These results highlight the importance of including deforestation in future climate agreements. They also imply that land manager responses to expected shifts in tropical precipitation may critically determine the strength of climate–carbon cycle feedbacks during the 21st century. PMID:19075224

Managing artisanal and small-scale mining in forest areas: perspectives from a poststructural political ecology.

PubMed

Hirons, Mark

2011-01-01

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is an activity intimately associated with social deprivation and environmental degradation, including deforestation. This paper examines ASM and deforestation using a broadly poststructural political ecology framework. Hegemonic discourses are shown to consistently influence policy direction, particularly in emerging approaches such as Corporate Social Responsibility and the Forest Stewardship Council. A review of alternative discourses reveals that the poststructural method is useful for critiquing the international policy arena but does not inform new approaches. Synthesis of the analysis leads to conclusions that echo a growing body of literature advocating for policies to become increasingly sensitive to local contexts, synergistic between actors at difference scales, and to be integrated across sectors.

The influence of land cover change in the Asian monsoon region on present-day and mid-Holocene climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dallmeyer, A.; Claussen, M.

2011-02-01

Using the general circulation model ECHAM5/JSBACH, we investigate the biogeophysical effect of large-scale afforestation and deforestation in the Asian monsoon domain on present-day and mid-Holocene climate. We demonstrate that the applied land cover change does not only modify the local climate but also change the climate in North Africa and the Middle East via teleconnections. Deforestation in the Asian monsoon domain enhances the rainfall in North Africa. In parts of the Sahara summer precipitation is more than doubled. In contrast, afforestation strongly decreases summer rainfall in the Middle East and even leads to the cessation of the rainfall-activity in some parts of this region. Regarding the local climate, deforestation results in a reduction of precipitation and a cooler climate as grass mostly has a higher albedo than forests. However, in the core region of the Asian monsoon the decrease of evaporative cooling in the monsoon season overcompensates this signal and results in a net warming. Afforestation has mainly the opposite effect, although the pattern of change is less clear. It leads to more precipitation in most parts of the Asian monsoon domain and a warmer climate except for the southern regions where a stronger evaporation decreases near-surface temperatures in the monsoon season. When prescribing mid-Holocene insolation, the pattern of local precipitation change differs. Afforestation particularly increases monsoon rainfall in the region along the Yellow River which was the settlement area of major prehistoric cultures. In this region, the effect of land cover change on precipitation is half as large as the orbitally-induced precipitation change. Thus, our model results reveal that mid- to late-Holocene land cover change could strongly have contributed to the decreasing Asian monsoon precipitation during the Holocene known from reconstructions.

The influence of land cover change in the Asian monsoon region on present-day and mid-Holocene climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dallmeyer, A.; Claussen, M.

2011-06-01

Using the general circulation model ECHAM5/JSBACH, we investigate the biogeophysical effect of large-scale afforestation and deforestation in the Asian monsoon domain on present-day and mid-Holocene climate. We demonstrate that the applied land cover change does not only modify the local climate but also change the climate in North Africa and the Middle East via teleconnections. Deforestation in the Asian monsoon domain enhances the rainfall in North Africa. In parts of the Sahara summer precipitation is more than doubled. In contrast, afforestation strongly decreases summer rainfall in the Middle East and even leads to the cessation of the rainfall-activity in some parts of this region. Regarding the local climate, deforestation results in a reduction of precipitation and a cooler climate as grass mostly has a higher albedo than forests. However, in the core region of the Asian monsoon the decrease in evaporative cooling in the monsoon season overcompensates this signal and results in a net warming. Afforestation has mainly the opposite effect, although the pattern of change is less clear. It leads to more precipitation in most parts of the Asian monsoon domain and a warmer climate except for the southern regions where a stronger evaporation decreases near-surface temperatures in the monsoon season. When prescribing mid-Holocene insolation, the pattern of local precipitation change differs. Afforestation particularly increases monsoon rainfall in the region along the Yellow River which was the settlement area of major prehistoric cultures. In this region, the effect of land cover change on precipitation is half as large as the orbitally-induced precipitation change. Thus, our model results reveal that mid- to late-Holocene land cover change could strongly have contributed to the decreasing Asian monsoon precipitation during the Holocene known from reconstructions.

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

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.

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.

Estimating temporal changes in soil carbon stocks at ecoregional scale in Madagascar using remote-sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grinand, C.; Maire, G. Le; Vieilledent, G.; Razakamanarivo, H.; Razafimbelo, T.; Bernoux, M.

2017-02-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in climate change regulation notably through release of CO2 following land use change such a deforestation, but data on stock change levels are lacking. This study aims to empirically assess SOC stocks change between 1991 and 2011 at the landscape scale using easy-to-access spatially-explicit environmental factors. The study area was located in southeast Madagascar, in a region that exhibits very high rate of deforestation and which is characterized by both humid and dry climates. We estimated SOC stock on 0.1 ha plots for 95 different locations in a 43,000 ha reference area covering both dry and humid conditions and representing different land cover including natural forest, cropland, pasture and fallows. We used the Random Forest algorithm to find out the environmental factors explaining the spatial distribution of SOC. We then predicted SOC stocks for two soil layers at 30 cm and 100 cm over a wider area of 395,000 ha. By changing the soil and vegetation indices derived from remote sensing images we were able to produce SOC maps for 1991 and 2011. Those estimates and their related uncertainties where combined in a post-processing step to map estimates of significant SOC variations and we finally compared the SOC change map with published deforestation maps. Results show that the geologic variables, precipitation, temperature, and soil-vegetation status were strong predictors of SOC distribution at regional scale. We estimated an average net loss of 10.7% and 5.2% for the 30 cm and the 100 cm layers respectively for deforested areas in the humid area. Our results also suggest that these losses occur within the first five years following deforestation. No significant variations were observed for the dry region. This study provides new solutions and knowledge for a better integration of soil threats and opportunities in land management policies.

Large-scale deforestation for plantation agriculture in the hill country of Sri Lanka and its impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wickramagamage, P.

1998-10-01

The forest cover in the hill country river catchment areas of Sri Lanka has been reduced to isolated patches on hilltops and a handful of reserves above the 1524 m (5000 ft) contour. Most of the land that was under forest cover at the turn of the nineteenth century is now covered with plantation crops. The districts of Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Ratnapura and Kegalle are the main hill country plantation areas. Within a period of less than half a century most of the forests in the hill country were cleared for plantation crops. Shifting cultivation was responsible for deforestation in the drier parts of the hill country. At the time of the British conquest of the hill country, the population of the whole island was not more than 3/4 to 1 million and they had settled in isolated villages at elevations below 1066 m. Subsistence agriculture was the main occupation of this predominantly rural population.During the first phase (1830-1880) of the plantation industry, large tracts of mostly forest land were cleared for coffee cultivation. By 1878, the extent of the coffee plantations reached its maximum of 111 336 ha most of which was situated in the wet zone hill country. The second phase of plantation agriculture began as the coffee industry was completely wiped out by a leaf disease. Most of the abandoned coffee plantations and the remaining forests were converted to tea, rubber and cinchona estates. The first two crops managed to survive price fluctuations in the world market, while the latter collapsed because of over production.During the period of large-scale deforestation in the hill country, the climate also underwent changes as exemplified by rainfall and temperature trends. However, these trends are not uniform everywhere in the plantation areas of the hill country. The temperature has risen a few degrees over a period of about a century and quarter in the hill country stations, while rainfall has declined significantly at some stations. These changes seem to be a result of the interaction of both global and local factors. Although some of these changes would have been a result of global warming, land use change would also have contributed to regional disparities.

AVHRR for monitoring global tropical deforestation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malingreau, J. P.; Laporte, N.; Tucker, C. J.

1989-01-01

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data have been used to assess the dynamics of forest trnsformations in three parts of the tropical belt. A large portion of the Amazon Basin has been systematically covered by Local Area Coverage (LAC) data in the 1985-1987 period. The analysis of the vegetation index and thermal data led to the identification and measurement of large areas of active deforestation. The Kalimantan/Borneo forest fires were monitored and their impact was evaluated using the Global Area Coverage (GAC) 4 km resolution data. Finally, High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) data have provided preliminary information on current activities taking place at the boundary between the savanna and the forest in the Southern part of West Africa. The AVHRR approach is found to be a highly valuable means for carrying out deforestation assessments in regional and global perspectives.

Population Status of a Cryptic Top Predator: An Island-Wide Assessment of Tigers in Sumatran Rainforests

PubMed Central

Wibisono, Hariyo T.; Linkie, Matthew; Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta; Smith, Joseph A.; Sunarto; Pusparini, Wulan; Asriadi; Baroto, Pandu; Brickle, Nick; Dinata, Yoan; Gemita, Elva; Gunaryadi, Donny; Haidir, Iding A.; Herwansyah; Karina, Indri; Kiswayadi, Dedy; Kristiantono, Decki; Kurniawan, Harry; Lahoz-Monfort, José J.; Leader-Williams, Nigel; Maddox, Tom; Martyr, Deborah J.; Maryati; Nugroho, Agung; Parakkasi, Karmila; Priatna, Dolly; Ramadiyanta, Eka; Ramono, Widodo S.; Reddy, Goddilla V.; Rood, Ente J. J.; Saputra, Doddy Y.; Sarimudi, Ahmad; Salampessy, Adnun; Septayuda, Eka; Suhartono, Tonny; Sumantri, Ade; Susilo; Tanjung, Iswandri; Tarmizi; Yulianto, Koko; Yunus, Mohammad; Zulfahmi

2011-01-01

Large carnivores living in tropical rainforests are under immense pressure from the rapid conversion of their habitat. In response, millions of dollars are spent on conserving these species. However, the cost-effectiveness of such investments is poorly understood and this is largely because the requisite population estimates are difficult to achieve at appropriate spatial scales for these secretive species. Here, we apply a robust detection/non-detection sampling technique to produce the first reliable population metric (occupancy) for a critically endangered large carnivore; the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). From 2007–2009, seven landscapes were surveyed through 13,511 km of transects in 394 grid cells (17×17 km). Tiger sign was detected in 206 cells, producing a naive estimate of 0.52. However, after controlling for an unequal detection probability (where p = 0.13±0.017; ±S.E.), the estimated tiger occupancy was 0.72±0.048. Whilst the Sumatra-wide survey results gives cause for optimism, a significant negative correlation between occupancy and recent deforestation was found. For example, the Northern Riau landscape had an average deforestation rate of 9.8%/yr and by far the lowest occupancy (0.33±0.055). Our results highlight the key tiger areas in need of protection and have led to one area (Leuser-Ulu Masen) being upgraded as a ‘global priority’ for wild tiger conservation. However, Sumatra has one of the highest global deforestation rates and the two largest tiger landscapes identified in this study will become highly fragmented if their respective proposed roads networks are approved. Thus, it is vital that the Indonesian government tackles these threats, e.g. through improved land-use planning, if it is to succeed in meeting its ambitious National Tiger Recovery Plan targets of doubling the number of Sumatran tigers by 2022. PMID:22087218

Population status of a cryptic top predator: an island-wide assessment of tigers in Sumatran rainforests.

PubMed

Wibisono, Hariyo T; Linkie, Matthew; Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta; Smith, Joseph A; Sunarto; Pusparini, Wulan; Asriadi; Baroto, Pandu; Brickle, Nick; Dinata, Yoan; Gemita, Elva; Gunaryadi, Donny; Haidir, Iding A; Herwansyah; Karina, Indri; Kiswayadi, Dedy; Kristiantono, Decki; Kurniawan, Harry; Lahoz-Monfort, José J; Leader-Williams, Nigel; Maddox, Tom; Martyr, Deborah J; Maryati; Nugroho, Agung; Parakkasi, Karmila; Priatna, Dolly; Ramadiyanta, Eka; Ramono, Widodo S; Reddy, Goddilla V; Rood, Ente J J; Saputra, Doddy Y; Sarimudi, Ahmad; Salampessy, Adnun; Septayuda, Eka; Suhartono, Tonny; Sumantri, Ade; Susilo; Tanjung, Iswandri; Tarmizi; Yulianto, Koko; Yunus, Mohammad; Zulfahmi

2011-01-01

Large carnivores living in tropical rainforests are under immense pressure from the rapid conversion of their habitat. In response, millions of dollars are spent on conserving these species. However, the cost-effectiveness of such investments is poorly understood and this is largely because the requisite population estimates are difficult to achieve at appropriate spatial scales for these secretive species. Here, we apply a robust detection/non-detection sampling technique to produce the first reliable population metric (occupancy) for a critically endangered large carnivore; the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). From 2007-2009, seven landscapes were surveyed through 13,511 km of transects in 394 grid cells (17×17 km). Tiger sign was detected in 206 cells, producing a naive estimate of 0.52. However, after controlling for an unequal detection probability (where p = 0.13±0.017; ±S.E.), the estimated tiger occupancy was 0.72±0.048. Whilst the Sumatra-wide survey results gives cause for optimism, a significant negative correlation between occupancy and recent deforestation was found. For example, the Northern Riau landscape had an average deforestation rate of 9.8%/yr and by far the lowest occupancy (0.33±0.055). Our results highlight the key tiger areas in need of protection and have led to one area (Leuser-Ulu Masen) being upgraded as a 'global priority' for wild tiger conservation. However, Sumatra has one of the highest global deforestation rates and the two largest tiger landscapes identified in this study will become highly fragmented if their respective proposed roads networks are approved. Thus, it is vital that the Indonesian government tackles these threats, e.g. through improved land-use planning, if it is to succeed in meeting its ambitious National Tiger Recovery Plan targets of doubling the number of Sumatran tigers by 2022.

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.

Biophysical effects on temperature and precipitation due to land cover change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perugini, Lucia; Caporaso, Luca; Marconi, Sergio; Cescatti, Alessandro; Quesada, Benjamin; de Noblet-Ducoudré, Nathalie; House, Johanna I.; Arneth, Almut

2017-05-01

Anthropogenic land cover changes (LCC) affect regional and global climate through biophysical variations of the surface energy budget mediated by albedo, evapotranspiration, and roughness. This change in surface energy budget may exacerbate or counteract biogeochemical greenhouse gas effects of LCC, with a large body of emerging assessments being produced, sometimes apparently contradictory. We reviewed the existing scientific literature with the objective to provide an overview of the state-of-the-knowledge of the biophysical LCC climate effects, in support of the assessment of mitigation/adaptation land policies. Out of the published studies that were analyzed, 28 papers fulfilled the eligibility criteria, providing surface air temperature and/or precipitation change with respect to LCC regionally and/or globally. We provide a synthesis of the signal, magnitude and uncertainty of temperature and precipitation changes in response to LCC biophysical effects by climate region (boreal/temperate/tropical) and by key land cover transitions. Model results indicate that a modification of biophysical processes at the land surface has a strong regional climate effect, and non-negligible global impact on temperature. Simulations experiments of large-scale (i.e. complete) regional deforestation lead to a mean reduction in precipitation in all regions, while air surface temperature increases in the tropics and decreases in boreal regions. The net global climate effects of regional deforestation are less certain. There is an overall consensus in the model experiments that the average global biophysical climate response to complete global deforestation is atmospheric cooling and drying. Observed estimates of temperature change following deforestation indicate a smaller effect than model-based regional estimates in boreal regions, comparable results in the tropics, and contrasting results in temperate regions. Regional/local biophysical effects following LCC are important for local climate, water cycle, ecosystems, their productivity and biodiversity, and thus important to consider in the formulation of adaptation policy. However before considering the inclusion of biophysical climate effects of LCC under the UNFCCC, science has to provide robust tools and methods for estimation of both country and global level effects.

Spatial dynamics of deforestation and forest fragmentation (1930-2013) in Eastern Ghats, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudhakar Reddy, C.; Jha, C. S.; Dadhwal, V. K.

2014-11-01

The tropical forests are the most unique ecosystems for their potential economic value. Eastern Ghats, a phytogeographical region of India has rugged hilly terrain distributed in parts of five states, viz. Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The present study is mainly aimed to analyse the trends in deforestation and its role in forest fragmentation of Eastern Ghats. The long term changes in forest cover with its spatial pattern over time has been assessed by analyzing a set of topographical maps and satellite remote sensing datasets. The multi-source and multi-date mapping has been carried out using survey of India topographical maps (1930's), Landsat MSS (1975 and 1985), IRS 1B LISS-I (1995), IRS P6 AWiFS (2005) and Resourcesat-2 AWiFS (2013) satellite images. The classified spatial data for 1930, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2013 showed that the forest cover for the mentioned years are 102213 km2 (45.6 %), 76630 (34.2 %), 73416 km2 (32.7 %), 71730 km2 (32 %), 71305 km2 (31.8 %) and 71186 km2 (31.7 %) of the geographical area of Eastern Ghats respectively. A spatial statistical analysis of the deforestation rates and forest cover change were carried out based on distinctive time phases, i.e. 1930-1975, 1975-1985, 1985-1995, 1995-2005 and 2005-2013. The spatial analysis was carried out first by segmenting the study area into grid cells of 5 km x 5 km for time series assessment and determining spatial changes in forests. The distribution of loss and gain of forest was calculated across six classes i.e. <1 km2, 1-5 km2, 5-10 km2, 10-15 km2, 15-20 km2 and >20 km2. Landscape metrics were used to quantify spatial variability of landscape structure and composition. The results of study on net rate of deforestation was found to be 0.64 during 1935 to 1975, 0.43 during 1975-1985, 0.23 during 1985-1995, 0.06 during 1995-2005 and 0.02 during 2005-2013. The number of forest patches increased from 2688 (1930) to 13009 (2013). The largest forest patch in 1930 represents area of 41669 km2 that has reduced to 27800 km2 by 2013. Thus, it is evident that there is a substantial reduction in the size of the very large forest patches due to deforestation. According to spatial analysis, among the different land use change drivers, agriculture occupies highest area, followed by degradation to scrub and conversion to orchards. The dominant forest type was dry deciduous which comprises 37192 km2 (52.2 %) of the total forest area of Eastern Ghats, followed by moist deciduous forest (39.2 %) and semievergreen forest (4.8 %) in 2013. The change analysis showed that the large scale negative changes occurred in deciduous forests and semi-evergreen forests compared to wet evergreen forests due to high economic potential and accessibility. This study has quantified the deforestation that has taken place over the last eight decades in the Eastern Ghats. The decline in overall rate of deforestation in recent years indicates increased measures of conservation. The change analysis of deforestation and forest fragmentation provides a decisive component for conservation and helpful in long term management of forests of Eastern Ghats.

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.

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.

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

Detecting Forest Disturbance Events from MODIS and Landsat Time Series for the Conterminous United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, G.; Ganguly, S.; Saatchi, S. S.; Hagen, S. C.; Harris, N.; Yu, Y.; Nemani, R. R.

2013-12-01

Spatial and temporal patterns of forest disturbance and regrowth processes are key for understanding aboveground terrestrial vegetation biomass and carbon stocks at regional-to-continental scales. The NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) program seeks key input datasets, especially information related to impacts due to natural/man-made disturbances in forested landscapes of Conterminous U.S. (CONUS), that would reduce uncertainties in current carbon stock estimation and emission models. This study provides a end-to-end forest disturbance detection framework based on pixel time series analysis from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and Landsat surface spectral reflectance data. We applied the BFAST (Breaks for Additive Seasonal and Trend) algorithm to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data for the time period from 2000 to 2011. A harmonic seasonal model was implemented in BFAST to decompose the time series to seasonal and interannual trend components in order to detect abrupt changes in magnitude and direction of these components. To apply the BFAST for whole CONUS, we built a parallel computing setup for processing massive time-series data using the high performance computing facility of the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX). In the implementation process, we extracted the dominant deforestation events from the magnitude of abrupt changes in both seasonal and interannual components, and estimated dates for corresponding deforestation events. We estimated the recovery rate for deforested regions through regression models developed between NDVI values and time since disturbance for all pixels. A similar implementation of the BFAST algorithm was performed over selected Landsat scenes (all Landsat cloud free data was used to generate NDVI from atmospherically corrected spectral reflectances) to demonstrate the spatial coherence in retrieval layers between MODIS and Landsat. In future, the application of this largely parallel disturbance detection setup will facilitate large scale processing and wall-to-wall mapping of forest disturbance and regrowth of Landsat data for the whole of CONUS. This exercise will aid in improving the present capabilities of the NASA CMS effort in reducing uncertainties in national-level estimates of biomass and carbon stocks.

A large-scale deforestation experiment: Effects of patch area and isolation on Amazon birds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ferraz, G.; Nichols, J.D.; Hines, J.E.; Stouffer, P.C.; Bierregaard, R.O.; Lovejoy, T.E.

2007-01-01

As compared with extensive contiguous areas, small isolated habitat patches lack many species. Some species disappear after isolation; others are rarely found in any small patch, regardless of isolation. We used a 13-year data set of bird captures from a large landscape-manipulation experiment in a Brazilian Amazon forest to model the extinction-colonization dynamics of 55 species and tested basic predictions of island biogeography and metapopulation theory. From our models, we derived two metrics of species vulnerability to changes in isolation and patch area. We found a strong effect of area and a variable effect of isolation on the predicted patch occupancy by birds.

International trade, and land use intensification and spatial reorganization explain Costa Rica’s forest transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jadin, I.; Meyfroidt, P.; Lambin, E. F.

2016-03-01

While tropical deforestation remains widespread, some countries experienced a forest transition—a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. Costa Rica had one of the highest deforestation rates in the 1980s and is now considered as a model of environmental sustainability, despite being a major producer of bananas and pineapples. We tested three land use processes that are thought to facilitate forest transitions. First, forest transitions may be accompanied by land use displacement through international trade of land-based products, which may undermine the global-scale environmental benefits of national forest protection. Second, reforestation is often associated with land use intensification in agriculture and forestry, allowing for land sparing. Third, this intensification may partly result from a geographical redistribution of land use at the sub-national scale to better match land use with land suitability. These hypotheses were verified for Costa Rica’s forest transition. We also tested whether forest increased mainly in regions with a low ecological value and agriculture expanded in regions with a high ecological value. Intensification and land use redistribution accounted for 76% of land spared during the forest transition, with 32% of this spared area corresponding to net reforestation. Decreasing meat exports led to a contraction of pastures, freeing an area equivalent to 80% of the reforested area. The forest transition in Costa Rica was environmentally beneficial at the global scale, with the reforested area over 1989-2013 corresponding to 130% of the land use displaced abroad through imports of agricultural products. However, expansion of export-oriented cropland caused deforestation in the most ecologically valuable regions of Costa Rica. Moreover, wood extraction from forest plantations increased to produce the pallets needed to export fruits. This highlights the importance of a multi-scale analysis when evaluating causes and impacts of national-scale forest transitions.

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.

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

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.

Post-classification approaches to estimating change in forest area using remotely sense auxiliary data.

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts

2014-01-01

Multiple remote sensing-based approaches to estimating gross afforestation, gross deforestation, and net deforestation are possible. However, many of these approaches have severe data requirements in the form of long time series of remotely sensed data and/or large numbers of observations of land cover change to train classifiers and assess the accuracy of...

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.

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.

International land deals, local people's livelihood, and environment nexus (How to create win-win land deals in Ethiopia?)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teklemariam Gebremeskel, Dereje; Witlox, Frank; Azadi, Hossein; Haile, Mitiku; Nyssen, Jan

2013-04-01

Following the global raise in demand for food and biofuel production, transnational companies are acquiring large scale agricultural land in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Considering land as one of the factors to be outsourced for development, the government of Ethiopia is supplying millions of hectares of land to transnational companies in the form of longterm lease. Many of the companies which engage in large scale land acquisition are of Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian diaspora, German, Malaysian, Italian, British, Dutch, Turkish, and Saudi-Arabian origin. The boom in the acquisition of farm land in the country has sparked an all-rounded debate among civil society groups, international institutions, nongovernmental organizations and independent development experts. The common reflections concerning the land deals in Ethiopia and elsewhere contain much rhetoric and hype which lack analysis of the real situation "on the ground" giving different connotations such as 'land grabbing', 'agricultural outsourcing', 'neo-colonialism', 'agrarian colonialism', and 'land underdevelopment'. However, deforestation, soil degradation, marginalization of local indigenous communities, and minimally unfair gains from investment by the host country are among the real points of concern arising out of the long term land lease contracts. Scientific evidence is lacking concerning the pragmatic impacts of large scale agricultural land acquisitions by transnational companies upon the natural environment (forest and land), local peoples' livelihood, and the contacting parties (the host country and the companies). The major objective of this study is to investigate the impacts in the context of Ethiopia, orienting to reinvent win-win land use models which constitute sustainable land use, local peoples' livelihood and the company-host country interests. To achieve this overall objective, the study employs a number of methods and methodologies constituting both qualitative and quantitative data analyses at different levels of focus ranging from household and farm levels to national and transnational. The study focuses on the western lowlands of Ethiopia where there are many companies engaged in large scale commercial farming, where 75% of it is below 1500 m a.s.l with average annual temperature of 20-25°C and annual rainfall of 500-1800 mm. Some preliminary exploratory findings indicate that there is massive land use conversion (deforestation) and 'voluntary' displacement of indigenous communities, which requires further triangulation. Key words: agricultural outsourcing; environmental services; land grabbing; sustainable livelihood; soil conservation

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.

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

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.

Colombian and Peruvian Primate Censusing Studies,

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-01

deforestation is becoming increas- ingly widespread throughout the tropics. The rate of deforestation has been especially rapid in Northern Colombia...levels for most species, and that the intermediate-sized and above all the large monkeys ( especially the spider monkeys or "maquisapas", Ateles) are...Iquitos con referencia especial a monos", by Napoleon Castro, Juan Revilla, and Melvin Neville). Exportations may have been locally critical for such

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

Increased losses of organic carbon and destabilising of tropical peatlands following deforestation, drainage and burning. (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, S.; Gauci, V.; Evans, C.; Page, S. E.

2013-12-01

Tropical peatlands contain one of the largest pools of terrestrial organic carbon, amounting to about 89,000 teragrams. Approximately 65% of this carbon store is in Indonesia, where extensive anthropogenic degradation in the form of deforestation, drainage and associated fire is converting it into a globally significant source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Unlike boreal and temperate forests and higher-latitude wetlands, however, the loss of fluvial organic carbon from tropical peats has yet to be fully quantified. Here, we present the first data from intact and degraded peat swamp forest (PSF) catchments in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, that indicate a doubling of fluvial organic carbon losses from tropical peatlands following deforestation and drainage. Through carbon-14 dating of dissolved organic carbon (DO14C), we find that leaching of DOC from intact PSF is derived mainly from recent primary production. In contrast, DOC from disturbed PSF consists mostly of much older carbon from deep within the peat column. When we include this fluvial carbon loss, which is often ignored in peatland carbon budgets, we find that it increases the estimate of total carbon lost from the disturbed peatlands in our study by 22%. We further estimate that since 1990, peatland disturbance has resulted in a 32% increase in fluvial organic carbon flux from Southeast Asia - an increase that equates to more than half of the entire annual fluvial organic carbon flux from all European peatlands. Finally, we monitored fluvial organic carbon fluxes following large-scale peatland fires in 2009/10 within the study sub-catchments and found fluvial carbon fluxes to be 30-70% larger in the fire-affected catchments when compared to fluxes during the same interval in the previous year (pre-fire). This is in marked contrast to the intact catchment (control/no fire) where there were no differences observed in fluxes 'pre to post fire years'. Our sub-catchment findings were also found to be representative at a larger river basin scale and we estimate the fluvial carbon flux from the Sebangau River basin (5,200 km2) to the Java Sea to be 0.58 Tg year-1. This is a 25% increase on the flux calculated for the River Sebangau the preceding year (pre-fire; 0.46 Tg). These new data are the first to demonstrate a large and sustained pulse of fluvial carbon following large scale human-induced fires in carbon rich tropical PSF. (L) Undisturbed PSF, (R) Disturbed PSF Borneo study sites and land-cover class properties Area = area of each catchment (PSF1 = intact, PSF2 & PSF3 = disturbed). Rainfall = total annual. Total annual discharge = standardized by area. TOC concentrations & fluxes = mean × standard error of site means.

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

Application of AIS Technology to Forest Mapping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yool, S. R.; Star, J. L.

1985-01-01

Concerns about environmental effects of large scale deforestation have prompted efforts to map forests over large areas using various remote sensing data and image processing techniques. Basic research on the spectral characteristics of forest vegetation are required to form a basis for development of new techniques, and for image interpretation. Examination of LANDSAT data and image processing algorithms over a portion of boreal forest have demonstrated the complexity of relations between the various expressions of forest canopies, environmental variability, and the relative capacities of different image processing algorithms to achieve high classification accuracies under these conditions. Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) data may in part provide the means to interpret the responses of standard data and techniques to the vegetation based on its relatively high spectral resolution.

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.

An ecosystem report on the Panama Canal: Monitoring the status of the forest communities and the watershed

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ibanez, R.; Condit, R.; Angehr, G.; Aguilar, S.; Garcia, T.; Martinez, R.; Sanjur, A.; Stallard, R.; Wright, S.J.; Rand, A.S.; Heckadon, S.

2002-01-01

In 1996, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Republic of Panama's Environmental Authority, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, undertook a comprehensive program to monitor the ecosystem of the Panama Canal watershed. The goals were to establish baseline indicators for the integrity of forest communities and rivers. Based on satellite image classification and ground surveys, the 2790 km2 watershed had 1570 km2 of forest in 1997, 1080 km2 of which was in national parks and nature monuments. Most of the 490 km2 of forest not currently in protected areas lies along the west bank of the Canal, and its management status after the year 2000 turnover of the Canal from the U.S. to Panama remains uncertain. In forest plots designed to monitor forest diversity and change, a total of 963 woody plant species were identified and mapped. We estimate there are a total of 850-1000 woody species in forests of the Canal corridor. Forests of the wetter upper reaches of the watershed are distinct in species composition from the Canal corridor, and have considerably higher diversity and many unknown species. These remote areas are extensively forested, poorly explored, and harbor an estimated 1400-2200 woody species. Vertebrate monitoring programs were also initiated, focusing on species threatened by hunting and forest fragmentation. Large mammals are heavily hunted in most forests of Canal corridor, and there was clear evidence that mammal density is greatly reduced in hunted areas and that this affects seed predation and dispersal. The human population of the watershed was 113 000 in 1990, and grew by nearly 4% per year from 1980 to 1990. Much of this growth was in a small region of the watershed on the outskirts of Panama City, but even rural areas, including villages near and within national parks, grew by 2% per year. There is no sewage treatment in the watershed, and many towns have no trash collection, thus streams near large towns are heavily polluted. Analyses of sediment loads in rivers throughout the watershed did not indicate that erosion has been increasing as a result of deforestation, rather, erosion seems to be driven largely by total rainfall and heavy rainfall events that cause landslides. Still, models suggest that large-scale deforestation would increase landslide frequency, and failure to detect increases in erosion could be due to the gradual deforestation rate and the short time period over which data are available. A study of runoff showed deforestation increased the amount of water from rainfall that passed directly into streams. As a result, dry season flow was reduced in a deforested catchment relative to a forested one. Currently, the Panama Canal watershed has extensive forest areas and streams relatively unaffected by humans. But impacts of hunting and pollution near towns are clear, and the burgeoning population will exacerbate these impacts in the next few decades. Changes in policies regarding forest protection and pollution control are necessary.

An ecosystem report on the Panama Canal: monitoring the status of the forest communities and the watershed.

PubMed

Ibáñez, Roberto; Condit, Richard; Angehr, George; Aguilar, Salomón; García, Tomas; Martínez, Raul; Sanjur, Amelia; Stallard, Robert; Wright, S Joseph; Rand, A Stanley; Heckadon, Stanley

2002-11-01

In 1996, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Republic of Panama's Environmental Authority, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, undertook a comprehensive program to monitor the ecosystem of the Panama Canal watershed. The goals were to establish baseline indicators for the integrity of forest communities and rivers. Based on satellite image classification and ground surveys, the 2790 km2 watershed had 1570 km2 of forest in 1997, 1080 km2 of which was in national parks and nature monuments. Most of the 490 km2 of forest not currently in protected areas lies along the west bank of the Canal, and its management status after the year 2000 turnover of the Canal from the U.S. to Panama remains uncertain. In forest plots designed to monitor forest diversity and change, a total of 963 woody plant species were identified and mapped. We estimate there are a total of 850-1000 woody species in forests of the Canal corridor. Forests of the wetter upper reaches of the watershed are distinct in species composition from the Canal corridor, and have considerably higher diversity and many unknown species. These remote areas are extensively forested, poorly explored, and harbor an estimated 1400-2200 woody species. Vertebrate monitoring programs were also initiated, focusing on species threatened by hunting and forest fragmentation. Large mammals are heavily hunted in most forests of Canal corridor, and there was clear evidence that mammal density is greatly reduced in hunted areas and that this affects seed predation and dispersal. The human population of the watershed was 113 000 in 1990, and grew by nearly 4% per year from 1980 to 1990. Much of this growth was in a small region of the watershed on the outskirts of Panama City, but even rural areas, including villages near and within national parks, grew by 2% per year. There is no sewage treatment in the watershed, and many towns have no trash collection, thus streams near large towns are heavily polluted. Analyses of sediment loads in rivers throughout the watershed did not indicate that erosion has been increasing as a result of deforestation, rather, erosion seems to be driven largely by total rainfall and heavy rainfall events that cause landslides. Still, models suggest that large-scale deforestation would increase landslide frequency, and failure to detect increases in erosion could be due to the gradual deforestation rate and the short time period over which data are available. A study of runoff showed deforestation increased the amount of water from rainfall that passed directly into streams. As a result, dry season flow was reduced in a deforested catchment relative to a forested one. Currently, the Panama Canal watershed has extensive forest areas and streams relatively unaffected by humans. But impacts of hunting and pollution near towns are clear, and the burgeoning population will exacerbate these impacts in the next few decades. Changes in policies regarding forest protection and pollution control are necessary.

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.

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.

Population Dynamics and Tropical Deforestation: State of the Debate and Conceptual Challenges

PubMed Central

Carr, David L.; Suter, Laurel; Barbieri, Alisson

2009-01-01

What is the role of population in driving deforestation? This question was put forth as a discussion topic in the cyberseminar hosted by Population Environment Research Network (PERN) in Spring, 2003. Contributors from diverse backgrounds weighed in on the discussion, citing key factors in the population-deforestation nexus and suggesting further courses of action and research. Participants explored themes of their own choosing, with many coming to the forefront. Scale, time, and place-based effects were cited as areas in need of particular attention. Consumption patterns as the mechanism for spurring deforestation were discussed, drawing attention to the differential patterns associated with urban vs. rural demands on forest resources and land. The applicability of the IPAT formula and the influence of its component parts, affluence and technology, when operating in tandem with population, was debated. The relation of demographic factors to these pathways was critically examined. Institutional and governmental influence, such as infrastructure and policies affecting access and incentives, the valuation of resources, and institutional failures such as mismanagement and corruption emerged as a crucial set of factors. This article synthesizes the critical debates in the population-deforestation literature, makes suggestions for future paths of research, and discussed possible policy and direct action initiatives. PMID:19672477

Quantifying the relative importance of greenhouse gas emissions from current and future savanna land use change across northern Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bristow, Mila; Hutley, Lindsay B.; Beringer, Jason; Livesley, Stephen J.; Edwards, Andrew C.; Arndt, Stefan K.

2016-11-01

The clearing and burning of tropical savanna leads to globally significant emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs); however there is large uncertainty relating to the magnitude of this flux. Australia's tropical savannas occupy the northern quarter of the continent, a region of increasing interest for further exploitation of land and water resources. Land use decisions across this vast biome have the potential to influence the national greenhouse gas budget. To better quantify emissions from savanna deforestation and investigate the impact of deforestation on national GHG emissions, we undertook a paired site measurement campaign where emissions were quantified from two tropical savanna woodland sites; one that was deforested and prepared for agricultural land use and a second analogue site that remained uncleared for the duration of a 22-month campaign. At both sites, net ecosystem exchange of CO2 was measured using the eddy covariance method. Observations at the deforested site were continuous before, during and after the clearing event, providing high-resolution data that tracked CO2 emissions through nine phases of land use change. At the deforested site, post-clearing debris was allowed to cure for 6 months and was subsequently burnt, followed by extensive soil preparation for cropping. During the debris burning, fluxes of CO2 as measured by the eddy covariance tower were excluded. For this phase, emissions were estimated by quantifying on-site biomass prior to deforestation and applying savanna-specific emission factors to estimate a fire-derived GHG emission that included both CO2 and non-CO2 gases. The total fuel mass that was consumed during the debris burning was 40.9 Mg C ha-1 and included above- and below-ground woody biomass, course woody debris, twigs, leaf litter and C4 grass fuels. Emissions from the burning were added to the net CO2 fluxes as measured by the eddy covariance tower for other post-deforestation phases to provide a total GHG emission from this land use change. The total emission from this savanna woodland was 148.3 Mg CO2-e ha-1 with the debris burning responsible for 121.9 Mg CO2-e ha-1 or 82 % of the total emission. The remaining emission was attributed to CO2 efflux from soil disturbance during site preparation for agriculture (10 % of the total emission) and decay of debris during the curing period prior to burning (8 %). Over the same period, fluxes at the uncleared savanna woodland site were measured using a second flux tower and over the 22-month observation period, cumulative net ecosystem exchange (NEE) was a net carbon sink of -2.1 Mg C ha-1, or -7.7 Mg CO2-e ha-1. Estimated emissions for this savanna type were then extrapolated to a regional-scale to (1) provide estimates of the magnitude of GHG emissions from any future deforestation and (2) compare them with GHG emissions from prescribed savanna burning that occurs across the northern Australian savanna every year. Emissions from current rate of annual savanna deforestation across northern Australia was double that of reported (non-CO2 only) savanna burning. However, if the total GHG emission, CO2 plus non-CO2 emissions, is accounted for, burning emissions are an order of magnitude larger than that arising from savanna deforestation. We examined a scenario of expanded land use that required additional deforestation of savanna woodlands over and above current rates. This analysis suggested that significant expansion of deforestation area across the northern savanna woodlands could add an additional 3 % to Australia's national GHG account for the duration of the land use change. This bottom-up study provides data that can reduce uncertainty associated with land use change for this extensive tropical ecosystem and provide an assessment of the relative magnitude of GHG emissions from savanna burning and deforestation. Such knowledge can contribute to informing land use decision making processes associated with land and water resource development.

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 evolution of root zone moisture storage capacities after deforestation: a step towards hydrological predictions under change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nijzink, Remko C.; Hutton, Christopher; Pechlivanidis, Ilias; Capell, René; Arheimer, Berit; Freer, Jim; Han, Dawei; Wagener, Thorsten; McGuire, Kevin; Savenije, Hubert; Hrachowitz, Markus

2017-04-01

The moisture storage available to vegetation is a key parameter in the hydrological functioning of ecosystems. This parameter, the root zone storage capacity, determines the partitioning between runoff and transpiration, but is impossible to observe at the catchment scale. In this research, data from the experimental forests of HJ Andrews (Oregon, USA) and Hubbard Brook (New Hampshire, USA) was used to test the hypotheses that: (1) the root zone storage capacity significantly changes after deforestation, (2) changes in the root zone storage capacity can to a large extent explain post-treatment changes to the hydrological regimes and that (3) a time-dynamic formulation of the root zone storage can improve the performance of a hydrological model. At first, root zone storage capacities were estimated based on a simple, water-balance based method. Briefly, the maximum difference between cumulative rainfall and estimated transpiration was determined, which could be considered a proxy for root zone storage capacity. These values were compared with root zone storage capacities obtained from four conceptual models (HYPE, HYMOD, FLEX, TUW), calibrated for consecutive 2-year windows. Both methods showed a sharp decline in root zone storage capacity after deforestation, which was followed by a gradual recovery signal. It was found in a trend analysis that these recovery periods took between 5 and 13 years for the different catchments. Eventually, one of the models was adjusted to allow for a time-dynamic formulation of root zone storage capacity. This adjusted model showed improvements in model performance as evaluated by 28 hydrological signatures, such as rising limb density or peak flows. Thus, this research clearly shows the time-dynamic character of a crucial parameter, which is often considered to remain constant in time. Root zone storage capacities are strongly affected by deforestation, leading to changes in hydrological regimes, and time-dynamic formulations of root zone storage are therefore necessary in systems under change.

Functional Connectivity of Precipitation Networks in the Brazilian Rainforest-Savanna Transition Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2016-12-01

In the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone, vegetation change has the potential to significantly affect precipitation patterns. Deforestation, in particular, can affect precipitation patterns by increasing land surface albedo, increasing aerosol loading to the atmosphere, changing land surface roughness, and reducing transpiration. Understanding land surface-precipitation couplings in this region is important not only for sustaining Amazon and Cerrado ecosystems, but also for cattle ranching and agriculture, hydropower generation, and drinking water management. Simulations suggest complex, scale-dependent interactions between precipitation and land cover. For example, the size and distribution of deforested patches has been found to affect precipitation patterns. We take an empirical approach to ask: (1) what are the dominant spatial and temporal length scales of precipitation coupling in the Brazilian rainforest-savanna transition zone? (2) How do these length scales change over time? (3) How does the connectivity of precipitation change over time? The answers to these questions will help address fundamental questions about the impacts of deforestation on precipitation. We use rain gauge data from 1100 rain gauges intermittently covering the period 1980 - 2013, a period of intensive land cover change in the region. The dominant spatial and temporal length scales of precipitation coupling are resolved using transfer entropy, a metric from information theory. Connectivity of the emergent network of couplings is quantified using network statistics. Analyses using transfer entropy and network statistics reveal the spatial and temporal interdependencies of rainfall events occurring in different parts of the study domain.

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

An explicit GIS-based river basin framework for aquatic ecosystem conservation in the Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venticinque, Eduardo; Forsberg, Bruce; Barthem, Ronaldo; Petry, Paulo; Hess, Laura; Mercado, Armando; Cañas, Carlos; Montoya, Mariana; Durigan, Carlos; Goulding, Michael

2016-11-01

Despite large-scale infrastructure development, deforestation, mining and petroleum exploration in the Amazon Basin, relatively little attention has been paid to the management scale required for the protection of wetlands, fisheries and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems. This is due, in part, to the enormous size, multinational composition and interconnected nature of the Amazon River system, as well as to the absence of an adequate spatial model for integrating data across the entire Amazon Basin. In this data article we present a spatially uniform multi-scale GIS framework that was developed especially for the analysis, management and monitoring of various aspects of aquatic systems in the Amazon Basin. The Amazon GIS-Based River Basin Framework is accessible as an ESRI geodatabase at doi:10.5063/F1BG2KX8.

The global palm oil sector must change to save biodiversity and improve food security in the tropics.

PubMed

Azhar, Badrul; Saadun, Norzanalia; Prideaux, Margi; Lindenmayer, David B

2017-12-01

Most palm oil currently available in global markets is sourced from certified large-scale plantations. Comparatively little is sourced from (typically uncertified) smallholders. We argue that sourcing sustainable palm oil should not be determined by commercial certification alone and that the certification process should be revisited. There are so-far unrecognized benefits of sourcing palm oil from smallholders that should be considered if genuine biodiversity conservation is to be a foundation of 'environmentally sustainable' palm oil production. Despite a lack of certification, smallholder production is often more biodiversity-friendly than certified production from large-scale plantations. Sourcing palm oil from smallholders also alleviates poverty among rural farmers, promoting better conservation outcomes. Yet, certification schemes - the current measure of 'sustainability' - are financially accessible only for large-scale plantations that operate as profit-driven monocultures. Industrial palm oil is expanding rapidly in regions with weak environmental laws and enforcement. This warrants the development of an alternative certification scheme for smallholders. Greater attention should be directed to deforestation-free palm oil production in smallholdings, where production is less likely to cause large scale biodiversity loss. These small-scale farmlands in which palm oil is mixed with other crops should be considered by retailers and consumers who are interested in promoting sustainable palm oil production. Simultaneously, plantation companies should be required to make their existing production landscapes more compatible with enhanced biodiversity conservation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate mitigation and the future of tropical landscapes

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

Thomson, Allison M.; Calvin, Katherine V.; Chini, Louise Parsons

2010-11-16

Land use change to meet 21st Century demands for food, fuel, and fiber will occur in the context of both a changing climate as well as societal efforts to mitigate climate change. This changing natural and human environment will have large consequences for forest resources, terrestrial carbon storage and emissions, and food and energy crop production over the next century. Any climate change mitigation policies enacted will change the environment under which land-use decisions are made and alter global land use change patterns. Here we use the GCAM integrated assessment model to explore how climate mitigation policies that achieve amore » climate stabilization at 4.5 W m-2 radiative forcing in 2100 and value carbon in terrestrial ecosystems interact with future agricultural productivity and food and energy demands to influence land use in the tropics. The regional land use results are downscaled from GCAM regions to produce gridded maps of tropical land use change. We find that tropical forests are preserved only in cases where a climate mitigation policy that values terrestrial carbon is in place, and crop productivity growth continues throughout the century. Crop productivity growth is also necessary to avoid large scale deforestation globally and enable the production of bioenergy crops. The terrestrial carbon pricing assumptions in GCAM are effective at avoiding deforestation even when cropland must expand to meet future food demand.« less

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).

Deforestation, Madagascar

NASA Image and Video Library

1990-04-29

This high oblique view shows the majority of the island of Madagascar (19.0S, 47.5E). This Texas sized island is now largely deforested and is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as a declining biological species diversity and productivity. At the turn of the century, the island was almost totally forested but now, forests cover only about 10 percent of the surface. Evidence of soil erosion can be seen in the offshore sediment plumes.

Deforestation, Madagascar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This high oblique view shows the majority of the island of Madagascar (19.0S, 47.5E). This Texas sized island is now largely deforested and is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as a declining biological species diversity and productivity. At the turn of the century, the island was almost totally forested but now, forests cover only about 10 percent of the surface. Evidence of soil erosion can be seen in the offshore sediment plumes.

Deforestation, Madagascar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This high oblique view shows the majority of the island of Madagascar (22.0S, 45.5E). This Texas sized island is now largely deforested and is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as a declining biological species diversity and productivity. At the turn of the century, the island was almost totally forested but now, forests cover only about 10 percent of the surface. Evidence of soil erosion can be seen in the offshore sediment plumes.

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.

Recent Deforestation Causes Rapid Increase in River Sediment Load in the Northern Andes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Restrepo, J. D.; Kettner, A.; Syvitski, J. P.

2016-12-01

Human induced soil erosion reduces soil productivity; compromises freshwater ecosystem services, and drives geomorphic and ecological change in rivers and their floodplains. The Andes of Colombia have witnessed severe changes in land-cover and forest loss during the last three decades with the period 2000 and 2010 being the highest on record. We address the following: (1) what are the cumulative impacts of tropical forest loss on soil erosion? and (2) what effects has deforestation had on sediment production, availability, and the transport capacity of Andean rivers? Models and observations are combined to estimate the amount of sediment liberated from the landscape by deforestation within a major Andean basin, the Magdalena. We use a scaling model BQART that combines natural and human forces, like basin area, relief, temperature, runoff, lithology, and sediment trapping and soil erosion induced by humans. Model adjustments in terms of land cover change were used to establish the anthropogenic-deforestation factor for each of the sub-basins. Deforestation patterns across 1980-2010 were obtained from satellite imagery. Models were employed to simulate scenarios with and without human impacts. We estimate that, 9% of the sediment load in the Magdalena River basin is due to deforestation; 482 Mt of sediments was produced due to forest clearance over the last three decades. Erosion rates within the Magdalena drainage basin have increased 33% between 1972 and 2010; increasing the river's sediment load by 44 Mt/y. Much of the river catchment (79%) is under severe erosional conditions due in part to the clearance of more than 70% natural forest between 1980 and 2010.

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.

Theorizing Land Cover and Land Use Change: The Peasant Economy of Colonization in the Amazon Basin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caldas, Marcellus; Walker, Robert; Arima, Eugenio; Perz, Stephen; Aldrich, Stephen; Simmons, Cynthia

2007-01-01

This paper addresses deforestation processes in the Amazon basin. It deploys a methodology combining remote sensing and survey-based fieldwork to examine, with regression analysis, the impact household structure and economic circumstances on deforestation decisions made by colonist farmers in the forest frontiers of Brazil. Unlike most previous regression-based studies, the methodology implemented analyzes behavior at the level of the individual property. The regressions correct for endogenous relationships between key variables, and spatial autocorrelation, as necessary. Variables used in the analysis are specified, in part, by a theoretical development integrating the Chayanovian concept of the peasant household with spatial considerations stemming from von Thuenen. The results from the empirical model indicate that demographic characteristics of households, as well as market factors, affect deforestation in the Amazon. Thus, statistical results from studies that do not include household-scale information may be subject to error. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that environmental policies in the Amazon based on market incentives to small farmers may not be as effective as hoped, given the importance of household factors in catalyzing the demand for land. The paper concludes by noting that household decisions regarding land use and deforestation are not independent of broader social circumstances, and that a full understanding of Amazonian deforestation will require insight into why poor families find it necessary to settle the frontier in the first place.

Using stable isotopes to track the effects of deforestation on small-mammal ecology in the Pacific Northwest over the last 100 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Packard, N. R.; Cotton, J. M.; Smiley, T. M.; Terry, R. C.

2017-12-01

Landscape, land-use, and climate change are important factors in determining ecosystem change over a range of spatio-temporal scales. For example, within small-mammal communities, the spread of agriculture, rapid urbanization, and deforestation have been shown to alter species composition and diet, thus potentially disrupting ecological interactions and reshaping ecosystems. Small mammals integrate the isotopic composition of their diet and drinking water into their hair and therefore serve as useful proxies for vegetation and water resources in their habitat. To better understand how forest loss and land-cover change influence small-mammal ecology in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), we analyzed the hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) isotopic composition of hair from historical Peromyscus maniculatus (North American deer mouse) specimens housed in natural history museums across the country. While deforestation along the east coast occurred hundreds of years ago, the loss of forests on the west coast occurred more recently, beginning around 1930. We use early 20th century specimens of this widespread and abundant generalist species to better understand ecosystem changes that occurred over the past 100 years of local and regional deforestation. Changing forest composition and structure during deforestation can influence both broad-scale hydrological cycling and local ecosystems. Variation in O and H isotopic composition corresponds to changes in the hydrological cycle, such as changes in the source and amount of precipitation, and changes in the moisture conditions in local ecosystems. We will present this spatial and temporal variability in the form of isoscapes, or δ18O and δD isotope landscape models, of P. maniculatus hair in the western forests of the PNW through time. Investigating isotopic signatures in small mammals can help us better understand ecosystem response to anthropogenic land-use and climate change.

Do the western Himalayas defy global warming?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, Ram R.; Park, Won-Kyu; Singh, Jayendra; Dubey, Bhasha

2004-09-01

Observational records and reconstructions from tree rings reflect premonsoon (March to May) temperature cooling in the western Himalaya during the latter part of the 20th century. A rapid decrease of minimum temperatures at around three times higher rate, as compared to the rate of increase in maximum temperatures found in local climate records is responsible for the cooling trend in mean premonsoon temperature. The increase of the diurnal temperature range is attributed to large scale deforestation and land degradation in the area and shows the higher influence of local forcing factors on climate in contrast to the general trend found in higher latitudes of the northern Hemisphere.

Effects of land use change on soil organic carbon: a pan-tropic study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Straaten, O.; Veldkamp, E.; Wolf, K.; Corre, M. D.

2012-04-01

Tropical forest deforestation is recognized as one of the major contributors to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast to aboveground carbon stocks, comparatively little is known on deforestation's effect on the magnitude and the factors affecting soil organic carbon (SOC). In this regional scale study, we focused on tropical sites with deeply weathered, low-activity clays soils in three countries: Indonesia, Cameroon and Peru. Using a clustered sampling design we compared soil carbon stocks in the top 3 m of soil in undisturbed forests (the reference) with converted land uses that had been deforested. The most predominant land use trajectories relevant for each region were investigated. These included (a) conversions from forest to cash-crop plantations (rubber, oil palm, cacoa), (b) conversions from forest to cattle grazing pastures and (c) conversion from forest to shifting cultivation. Preliminary results from the Indonesian case study, found that the conversion of forests to oil palm plantation caused a loss of 20.1 ± 4.4 Mg C ha-1 within 20 years from the top 3 m of soil, while deforestation followed by the establishment of rubber plantations caused a release of 7.2 ± 4.2 Mg C ha-1 for the same time period and depth. SOC losses were most pronounced in the top 30 cm, and less so below. Additionally, regional scale constraints such as soil physical and chemical characteristics (texture, CEC, pH) and climate (precipitation, temperature) effect on SOC emissions have been identified using multivariate statistical methods. The results from the Cameroon and Peru case studies are expected imminently.

Reduced Future Precipitation Makes Permanence of Amazonian Carbon Sinks Questionable

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arora, V.

2011-12-01

The tropical forests of the Amazon, considered as a tipping element in Earth's climate system, provide several ecosystem services including the maintenance of favourable regional climatic conditions in the region and storage of large amounts of carbon in their above- and below-ground pools. While it is nearly impossible, at present, to put a dollar value on these ecosystem services, the developed countries have started paying large sums of money to developing countries in the tropics to reduce deforestation. Norway recently committed up to $1 billion to the Amazon fund. The United Nations' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) program also financially supports national activities of 13 countries worldwide. The primary assumption inherent in paying for avoiding deforestation is that avoided land use change emissions contribute towards climate change mitigation. In addition, the standing forests that are spared deforestation contribute towards additional carbon sinks associated with the CO2 fertilization effect. Implicit in this reasoning is the understanding that the carbon sinks provided by avoided deforestation have some "permanence" associated with them, at least in the order of 50-100 years. Clearly, if "avoided deforestation" is essentially "delayed deforestation" then the benefits will not be long lasting. More importantly, changes in climate have the potential to adversely affect the permanence of carbon sinks, whether they are being paid for or not. This presentation will address the question of "permanence" by analyzing simulations of the second generation Canadian Earth system model (CanESM2) that are contributing results to the upcoming fifth Coupled Modeled Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). CanESM2 results for the future RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios show, that due to reduced future precipitation, the Amazonian region remains a net source of carbon over the 21st century in all scenarios. The carbon losses during the recent 2005 and 2010 droughts in the Amazonian region nearly wiped away the gains made during a decade indicating that the era of intact Amazonian forests acting as carbon sinks may be over. CanESM2 simulations imply that the future of the Amazonian region may look more like these drought years, suggesting that the future reduced precipitation over the region can indeed "tip over" the Amazonian forests.

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.

Remotely Sensed Index of Deforestation/Urbanization for use in Climate Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlson, Toby N.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this investigation is to use a new method for deriving land surface parameters from a combination of thermal infrared and vegetation index measurements from satellites (Landsat-TM, and NOAA-AVHRR) and to integrate these parameters with more conventional data bases. We have completed an investigation of urbanization in the State College, PA area and have begun work in Chester County, PA, and Costa Rica. Our basic hypothesis is that changes in land use, including deforestation, exert a profound influence on local microclimates whose effects may greatly exceed in importance those occurring on larger scales.

Long-term, high-spatial resolution carbon balance monitoring of the Amazonian frontier: Predisturbance and postdisturbance carbon emissions and uptake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toomey, Michael; Roberts, Dar A.; Caviglia-Harris, Jill; Cochrane, Mark A.; Dewes, Candida F.; Harris, Daniel; Numata, Izaya; Sales, Marcio H.; Sills, Erin; Souza, Carlos M.

2013-06-01

We performed high-spatial and high-temporal resolution modeling of carbon stocks and fluxes in the state of Rondônia, Brazil for the period 1985-2009, using annual Landsat-derived land cover classifications and a modified bookkeeping modeling approach. According to these results, Rondônia contributed 3.5-4% of pantropical humid forest deforestation emissions over this period. Similar to well-known figures reported by the Brazilian Space Agency, we found a decline in deforestation rates since 2006. However, we estimate a lesser decrease, with deforestation rates continuing at levels similar to the early 2000s. Forest carbon stocks declined at an annual rate of 1.51%; emissions from postdisturbance land use nearly equaled those of the initial deforestation events. Carbon uptake by secondary forest was negligible due to limited spatial extent and high turnover rates. Net carbon emissions represented 93% of initial forest carbon stocks, due in part to repeated slash and pasture burnings and secondary forest clearing. We analyzed potential error incurred when spatially aggregating land cover by comparing results based on coarser-resolution (250 m) and full-resolution land cover products. At the coarser resolution, more than 90% of deforestation and secondary forest would be unresolvable, assuming that a 50% change threshold is necessary for detection. Therefore, we strongly suggest the use of Landsat-scale ( 30m) resolution carbon monitoring in tropical regions dominated by nonmechanized, smallholder land use change.

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.

Evaluating biodiversity conservation around a large Sumatran protected area.

PubMed

Linkie, Matthew; Smith, Robert J; Zhu, Yu; Martyr, Deborah J; Suedmeyer, Beth; Pramono, Joko; Leader-Williams, Nigel

2008-06-01

Many of the large, donor-funded community-based conservation projects that seek to reduce biodiversity loss in the tropics have been unsuccessful. There is, therefore, a need for empirical evaluations to identify the driving factors and to provide evidence that supports the development of context-specific conservation projects. We used a quantitative approach to measure, post hoc, the effectiveness of a US$19 million Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICDP) that sought to reduce biodiversity loss through the development of villages bordering Kerinci Seblat National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Indonesia. We focused on the success of the ICDP component that disbursed a total of US$1.5 million through development grants to 66 villages in return for their commitment to stop illegally clearing the forest. To investigate whether the ICDP lowered deforestation rates in focal villages, we selected a subset of non-ICDP villages that had similar physical and socioeconomic features and compared their respective deforestation rates. Village participation in the ICDP and its development schemes had no effect on deforestation. Instead, accessible areas where village land-tenure had been undermined by the designation of selective-logging concessions tended to have the highest deforestation rates. Our results indicate that the goal of the ICDP was not met and, furthermore, suggest that both law enforcement inside the park and local property rights outside the park need to be strengthened. Our results also emphasize the importance of quantitative approaches in helping to inform successful and cost-effective strategies for tropical biodiversity conservation.

Assessment and monitoring of deforestation and forest fragmentation in South Asia since the 1930s

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudhakar Reddy, C.; Saranya, K. R. L.; Vazeed Pasha, S.; Satish, K. V.; Jha, C. S.; Diwakar, P. G.; Dadhwal, V. K.; Rao, P. V. N.; Krishna Murthy, Y. V. N.

2018-02-01

The present study, first of its kind, has analyzed the land cover and investigated the spatial patterns of deforestation and forest fragmentation in South Asian region since the 1930's. This region comprises of eight countries: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. In South Asia, agricultural land is predominant constituting 43% of the total geographical area followed by barren land (19.99%) and forests (14.72%). The long-term change analysis using the classified maps of 1930 and 2014 indicated a loss of 29.62% of the forest cover. Higher annual net deforestation rates were observed in the period from 1930-1975 (0.68%) followed by 1975-1985 (0.23%), 1985-1995 (0.12%), 1995-2005 (0.06%) and 2005-2014 (0.04%) for the region. Forest fragmentation had significant spatio-temporal variation across the South Asian countries. In 1930, 88.91% of the South Asian forest was classified as large core forest, 8.18% as edge forest and 1.18% as perforated forest. The large core forest category has decreased significantly in area over last eight decades. The results of the present study are expected to serve as a reference for the evaluation of globally agreed Aichi biodiversity target 5 for South Asian countries. This study will be a valuable basis for developing management strategies and restoration programs as it tracks the spatial changes in deforestation and forest fragmentation.

Forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado biome

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noojipady, Praveen; Morton, C. Douglas; Macedo, N. Marcia; Victoria, C. Daniel; Huang, Chengquan; Gibbs, K. Holly; Edson Bolfe, L.

2017-02-01

Land use, land use change, and forestry accounted for two-thirds of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions profile in 2005. Amazon deforestation has declined by more than 80% over the past decade, yet Brazil’s forests extend beyond the Amazon biome. Rapid expansion of cropland in the neighboring Cerrado biome has the potential to undermine climate mitigation efforts if emissions from dry forest and woodland conversion negate some of the benefits of avoided Amazon deforestation. Here, we used satellite data on cropland expansion, forest cover, and vegetation carbon stocks to estimate annual gross forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Cerrado biome. Nearly half of the Cerrado met Brazil’s definition of forest cover in 2000 (≥0.5 ha with ≥10% canopy cover). In areas of established crop production, conversion of both forest and non-forest Cerrado formations for cropland declined during 2003-2013. However, forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion increased over the past decade in Matopiba, a new frontier of agricultural production that includes portions of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia states. Gross carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Cerrado averaged 16.28 Tg C yr-1 between 2003 and 2013, with forest-to-cropland conversion accounting for 29% of emissions. The fraction of forest carbon emissions from Matopiba was much higher; between 2010-2013, large-scale cropland conversion in Matopiba contributed 45% of total Cerrado forest carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from Cerrado-to-cropland transitions offset 5%-7% of the avoided emissions from reduced Amazon deforestation rates during 2011-2013. Comprehensive national estimates of forest carbon fluxes, including all biomes, are critical to detect cross-biome leakage within countries and achieve climate mitigation targets to reduce emissions from land use, land use change, and forestry.

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+).

Measuring Carbon Emissions from Deforestation at Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahib, I.; Suryanta, J.

2018-02-01

Forest is a natural resource that is very important and beneficial for the livelihood either directly or indirectly. Forest has a variety of ecological functions. One of forest functions is to maintain the amount of stored carbon. The forest area changes into non-forest area resulted in reducing forest functions as a provider of environmental services. This study aims: 1) to determine the deforestation during the period of 2000-2011, 2) to make model of the landcover change using logistic regression model, 3) to measurecarbon emissions and valuation based on impact of deforestation. The materials used in this study are : a) Indonesian Topographic Map at Scale 1: 50,000, Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), b) landcover map (year of 2000 and 2011), scale 1 : 250,000, produced by director general of forestry planning, ministry of environment and forestry, 3) environmental variables (dependent variable) such as : distance from roads, distance from streams, elevation and slope. The spatial analysis is done by land change modeler which is module in Idrisi Terrset. Meanwhile calculations of carbon storage and economic value which are done by ecosystem service modelers also as a Idrisi Terrset. The results show that the rate of deforestation during the period of 2000-2011 at Donggala as high as13,448.07 ha or about 1,222.55 ha per year. The impact of the forest cover changes resulted in the decrease of carbon storage up to 3.66 million tons or equivalent to 13.42 million tons of carbon emissions. Economic losses caused carbon emission in period 2000-2011 up to US 38,188,465 (net present value, NPV)

A remotely sensed index of deforestation/urbanization for use in climate models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gillies, Robert R.; Carlson, Toby N.

1995-01-01

The object of this research is to use indirect measurements, notably thermal infrared, to describe urbanization and deforestation with parameters that can be used to assess, as well as predict, the effects of land use changes on local microclimate. More specifically, we use a new approach for the treatment of remotely sensed data; this is referred to as the 'triangle' method. The name triangle is given because the envelope of data points, when plotted as a function of surface radiant temperature versus vegetation index or fractional vegetation cover, exhibits the shape of a triangle. From the information contained on these 'scatter plots', land use changes can be related to two intrinsic surface variables, the surface moisture availability (M(sub 0))(sup 1) and fractional vegetation cover. Recent work by Carlson et al. indicate that the triangle shape on the scatter plots may be scale similar, suggesting that these two parameters are subject to the same interpretation on differing scales. A second objective in this research is to determine if historical data for Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) (NOAA satellite; 1.1 km resolution at nadir) can be used to assess changes in regional land use over time. To this end, two target areas were chosen for the investigation of urbanization and two for deforestation. The former comprise tow areas in Pennsylvania, one a small but rapidly growing population center (State College) and the other a medium-sized urban area which continues to undergo development (Chester County). The two deforestation sites consist of rain forest areas in western and central Costa Rica and a region in the Brazilian Amazon.

Assessing the 100-Year Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Large-Scale Tropical Forest Restoration Under the Bonn Challenge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheeler, C. E.; Mitchard, E. T.; Lewis, S. L.

2017-12-01

Restoring degraded and deforested tropical lands to sequester carbon is widely considered to offer substantial climate change mitigation opportunities, if conducted over large spatial scales. Despite this assertion, explicit estimates of how much carbon could be sequestered because of large-scale restoration are rare and have large uncertainties. This is principally due to the many different characteristics of land available for restoration, and different potential restoration activities, which together cause very different rates of carbon sequestration. For different restoration pathways: natural regeneration of degraded and secondary forest, timber plantations and agroforestry, we estimate carbon sequestration rates from the published literature. Then based on tropical restoration commitments made under the Bonn challenge and using carbon density maps, these carbon sequestration rates were used to predict total pan-tropical carbon sequestration to 2100. Restoration of degraded or secondary forest via natural regeneration offers the greatest carbon sequestration potential, considerably exceeding the carbon captured by either timber plantations or agroforestry. This is predominantly due to naturally regenerating forests representing a more permanent store of carbon in comparison to timber plantations and agroforestry land-use options, which, due to their rotational nature, result in the sequential return of carbon to the atmosphere. If the Bonn Challenge is to achieve its ambition of providing substantial climate change mitigation from restoration it must incorporate large areas of natural regeneration back to an intact forest state, otherwise it stands to be a missed opportunity in helping meet the Paris climate change goals.

Forest Ecosystem Dynamics Assessment and Predictive Modelling in Eastern Himalaya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kushwaha, S. P. S.; Nandy, S.; Ahmad, M.; Agarwal, R.

2011-09-01

This study focused on the forest ecosystem dynamics assessment and predictive modelling deforestation and forest cover prediction in a part of north-eastern India i.e. forest areas along West Bengal, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam border in Eastern Himalaya using temporal satellite imagery of 1975, 1990 and 2009 and predicted forest cover for the period 2028 using Cellular Automata Markov Modedel (CAMM). The exercise highlighted large-scale deforestation in the study area during 1975-1990 as well as 1990-2009 forest cover vectors. A net loss of 2,334.28 km2 forest cover was noticed between 1975 and 2009, and with current rate of deforestation, a forest area of 4,563.34 km2 will be lost by 2028. The annual rate of deforestation worked out to be 0.35 and 0.78% during 1975-1990 and 1990-2009 respectively. Bamboo forest increased by 24.98% between 1975 and 2009 due to opening up of the forests. Forests in Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Darrang, Sonitpur, and Dhemaji districts in Assam were noticed to be worst-affected while Lower Subansiri, West and East Siang, Dibang Valley, Lohit and Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh were severely affected. Among different forest types, the maximum loss was seen in case of sal forest (37.97%) between 1975 and 2009 and is expected to deplete further to 60.39% by 2028. The tropical moist deciduous forest was the next category, which decreased from 5,208.11 km2 to 3,447.28 (33.81%) during same period with further chances of depletion to 2,288.81 km2 (56.05%) by 2028. It noted progressive loss of forests in the study area between 1975 and 2009 through 1990 and predicted that, unless checked, the area is in for further depletion of the invaluable climax forests in the region, especially sal and moist deciduous forests. The exercise demonstrated high potential of remote sensing and geographic information system for forest ecosystem dynamics assessment and the efficacy of CAMM to predict the forest cover change.

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.

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.

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.

Long-term demographic consequences of habitat fragmentation to a tropical understory bird community

USGS Publications Warehouse

Korfanta, N.M.; Newmark, W.D.; Kauffman, M.J.

2012-01-01

Tropical deforestation continues to cause population declines and local extinctions in centers of avian diversity and endemism. Although local species extinctions stem from reductions in demographic rates, little is known about how habitat fragmentation influences survival of tropical bird populations or the relative importance of survival and fecundity in ultimately shaping communities. We analyzed 22 years of mark-recapture data to assess how fragmentation influenced apparent survival, recruitment, and realized population growth rate within 22 forest understory bird species in the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. This represents the first such effort, in either tropical or temperate systems, to characterize the effect of deforestation on avian survival across such a broad suite of species. Long-term demographic analysis of this suite of species experiencing the same fragmented environment revealed considerable variability in species' responses to fragmentation, in addition to general patterns that emerged from comparison among species. Across the understory bird community as a whole, we found significantly lower apparent survival and realized population growth rate in small fragments relative to large, demonstrating fragmentation effects to demographic rates long after habitat loss. Demographic rates were depressed across five feeding guilds, suggesting that fragmentation sensitivity was not limited to insectivores. Seniority analyses, together with a positive effect of fragmentation on recruitment, indicated that depressed apparent survival was the primary driver of population declines and observed extinctions. We also found a landscape effect, with lower vital rates in one mountain range relative to another, suggesting that fragmentation effects may add to other large-scale drivers of population decline. Overall, realized population growth rate (λ) estimates were < 1 for most species, suggesting that future population persistence even within large forest fragments is uncertain in this biodiversity hotspot.

Precipitation Recycling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

1996-01-01

The water cycle regulates and reflects natural variability in climate at the regional and global scales. Large-scale human activities that involve changes in land cover, such as tropical deforestation, are likely to modify climate through changes in the water cycle. In order to understand, and hopefully be able to predict, the extent of these potential global and regional changes, we need first to understand how the water cycle works. In the past, most of the research in hydrology focused on the land branch of the water cycle, with little attention given to the atmospheric branch. The study of precipitation recycling which is defined as the contribution of local evaporation to local precipitation, aims at understanding hydrologic processes in the atmospheric branch of the water cycle. Simply stated, any study on precipitation recycling is about how the atmospheric branch of the water cycle works, namely, what happens to water vapor molecules after they evaporate from the surface, and where will they precipitate?

Reference scenarios for deforestation and forest degradation in support of REDD: a review of data and methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olander, Lydia P.; Gibbs, Holly K.; Steininger, Marc; Swenson, Jennifer J.; Murray, Brian C.

2008-04-01

Global climate policy initiatives are now being proposed to compensate tropical forest nations for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). These proposals have the potential to include developing countries more actively in international greenhouse gas mitigation and to address a substantial share of the world's emissions which come from tropical deforestation. For such a policy to be viable it must have a credible benchmark against which emissions reduction can be calculated. This benchmark, sometimes termed a baseline or reference emissions scenario, can be based directly on historical emissions or can use historical emissions as input for business as usual projections. Here, we review existing data and methods that could be used to measure historical deforestation and forest degradation reference scenarios including FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) national statistics and various remote sensing sources. The freely available and corrected global Landsat imagery for 1990, 2000 and soon to come for 2005 may be the best primary data source for most developing countries with other coarser resolution high frequency or radar data as a valuable complement for addressing problems with cloud cover and for distinguishing larger scale degradation. While sampling of imagery has been effectively useful for pan-tropical and continental estimates of deforestation, wall-to-wall (or full coverage) allows more detailed assessments for measuring national-level reference emissions. It is possible to measure historical deforestation with sufficient certainty for determining reference emissions, but there must be continued calls at the international level for making high-resolution imagery available, and for financial and technical assistance to help countries determine credible reference scenarios. The data available for past years may not be sufficient for assessing all forms of forest degradation, but new data sources will have greater potential in 2007 and after. This paper focuses only on the methods for measuring changes in forest area, but this information must be coupled with estimates of change in forest carbon stocks in order to quantify emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Mapping ecosystem services for land use planning, the case of Central Kalimantan.

PubMed

Sumarga, Elham; Hein, Lars

2014-07-01

Indonesia is subject to rapid land use change. One of the main causes for the conversion of land is the rapid expansion of the oil palm sector. Land use change involves a progressive loss of forest cover, with major impacts on biodiversity and global CO2 emissions. Ecosystem services have been proposed as a concept that would facilitate the identification of sustainable land management options, however, the scale of land conversion and its spatial diversity pose particular challenges in Indonesia. The objective of this paper is to analyze how ecosystem services can be mapped at the provincial scale, focusing on Central Kalimantan, and to examine how ecosystem services maps can be used for a land use planning. Central Kalimantan is subject to rapid deforestation including the loss of peatland forests and the provincial still lacks a comprehensive land use plan. We examine how seven key ecosystem services can be mapped and modeled at the provincial scale, using a variety of models, and how large scale ecosystem services maps can support the identification of options for sustainable expansion of palm oil production.

The Expansion of the Economic Frontier and the Diffusion of Violence in the Amazon

PubMed Central

Souza, Patrícia Feitosa; Xavier, Diego Ricardo; Rican, Stephane; de Matos, Vanderlei Pascoal; Barcellos, Christovam

2015-01-01

Over the last few decades, the occupation of the Amazon and the expansion of large-scale economic activities have exerted a significant negative impact on the Amazonian environment and on the health of the Amazon’s inhabitants. These processes have altered the context of the manifestation of health problems in time and space and changed the characteristics of the spatial diffusion of health problems in the region. This study analyzed the relationships between the various economic processes of territorial occupation in the Amazon and the spatial diffusion of homicidal violence through the configuration of networks of production, as well as the movements of population and merchandise. Statistical data on violence, deforestation, the production of agricultural items, and socio-economic variables, georeferenced and available for the 771 municipalities of the Legal Amazon were used in this study. The results suggest that the diffusion of violence closely follows the economic expansion front, which is related to deforestation and livestock production but has little relation to grain production, demonstrating steps and typologies of recent occupation in the Amazon that promote violence. These spatial patterns reveal environmental and socio-economic macro-determinants that materialize in geographic space through the construction of highways and the formation of city networks. PMID:26024359

Exploring eco-hydrological consequences of the Amazonian ecosystems under climate and land-use changes in the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.; Castanho, A. D.; Moghim, S.; Bras, R. L.; Coe, M. T.; Costa, M. H.; Levine, N. M.; Longo, M.; McKnight, S.; Wang, J.; Moorcroft, P. R.

2012-12-01

Deforestation and drought have imposed regional-scale perturbations onto Amazonian ecosystems and are predicted to cause larger negative impacts on the Amazonian ecosystems and associated regional carbon dynamics in the 21st century. However, global climate models (GCMs) vary greatly in their projections of future climate change in Amazonia, giving rise to uncertainty in the expected fate of the Amazon over the coming century. In this study, we explore the possible eco-hydrological consequences of the Amazonian ecosystems under projected climate and land-use changes in the 21st century using two state-of-the-art terrestrial ecosystem models—Ecosystem Demography Model 2.1(ED2.1) and Integrated Biosphere Simulator model (IBIS)—driven by three representative, bias-corrected climate projections from three IPCC GCMs (NCARPCM1, NCARCCSM3 and HadCM3), coupled with two land-use change scenarios (a business-as-usual and a strict governance scenario). We also analyze the relative roles of climate change, CO2 fertilization, land-use change and fire in driving the projected composition and structure of the Amazonian ecosystems. Our results show that CO2 fertilization enhances vegetation productivity and above-ground biomass (AGB) in the region, while land-use change and fire cause AGB loss and the replacement of forests by the savanna-like vegetation. The impacts of climate change depend strongly on the direction and severity of projected precipitation changes in the region. In particular, when intensified water stress is superimposed on unregulated deforestation, both ecosystem models predict large-scale dieback of Amazonian rainforests.

Effects of native forest restoration on soil hydraulic properties, Auwahi, Maui, Hawaiian Islands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Perkins, Kimberlie S.; Nimmo, John R.; Medeiros, Arthur C.

2012-01-01

Over historic time Hawai'i's dryland forests have been largely replaced by grasslands for grazing livestock. On-going efforts have been undertaken to restore dryland forests to bring back native species and reduce erosion. The reestablishment of native ecosystems on land severely degraded by long-term alternative use requires reversal of the impacts of erosion, organic-matter loss, and soil structural damage on soil hydraulic properties. This issue is perhaps especially critical in dryland forests where the soil must facilitate native plants' optimal use of limited water. These reforestation efforts depend on restoring soil ecological function, including soil hydraulic properties. We hypothesized that reforestation can measurably change soil hydraulic properties over restoration timescales. At a site on the island of Maui (Hawai'i, USA), we measured infiltration capacity, hydrophobicity, and abundance of preferential flow channels in a deforested grassland and in an adjacent area where active reforestation has been going on for fourteen years. Compared to the nearby deforested rangeland, mean field-saturated hydraulic conductivity in the newly restored forest measured by 55 infiltrometer tests was greater by a factor of 2.0. Hydrophobicity on an 8-point scale increased from average category 6.0 to 6.9. A 4-point empirical categorization of preferentiality in subsurface wetting patterns increased from an average 1.3 in grasslands to 2.6 in the restored forest. All of these changes act to distribute infiltrated water faster and deeper, as appropriate for native plant needs. This study indicates that vegetation restoration can lead to ecohydrologically important changes in soil hydraulic properties over decadal time scales.

New Projections of Global Forest Carbon and Ecosystems at Risk for Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Disturbance and Forest Degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klooster, S.; Potter, C. S.; Genovese, V. B.; Gross, P. M.; Kumar, V.; Boriah, S.; Mithal, V.; Castilla-Rubio, J.

2009-12-01

Widely cited forest carbon values from look-up tables and statistical correlations with aboveground biomass have proven to be inadequate to discern details of national carbon stocks in forest pools. Similarly, global estimates based on biome-average (tropical, temperate, boreal, etc.) carbon measurements are generally insufficient to support REDD incentives (Reductions in Emission from Deforestation in Developing countries). The NASA-CASA (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach) ecosystem model published by Potter et al. (1999 and 2003) offers several unique advantages for carbon accounting that cannot be provided by conventional inventory techniques. First, CASA uses continuous satellite observations to map land cover status and changes in vegetation on a monthly time interval over the past 25 years. NASA satellites observe areas that are too remote or rugged for conventional inventory-based techniques to measure. Second, CASA estimates both aboveground and belowground pools of carbon in all ecosystems (forests, shrublands, croplands, and rangelands). Carbon storage estimates for forests globally are currently being estimated for the Cisco Planetary Skin open collaborative platform (www.planetaryskin.org ) in a new series of CASA model runs using the latest input data from the NASA MODIS satellites, from 2000 to the present. We have also developed an approach for detection of large-scale ecosystem disturbance (LSED) events based on sustained declines in the same satellite greenness data used for CASA modeling. This approach is global in scope, covers more than a decade of observations, and encompasses all potential categories of major ecosystem disturbance - physical, biogenic, and anthropogenic, using advanced methods of data mining and analysis. In addition to quantifying forest areas at various levels of risk for loss of carbon storage capacity, our data mining approaches for LSED events can be adapted to detect and map biophysically unsuitable areas for deforestation worldwide and to develop carbon risk scoring algorithms that can enable large scale finance for conservation and reforestation efforts globally.

The Path Forward from Paris: the Challenge for Tropical Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobre, C.

2016-12-01

The pledges of emissions reductions put forth at the COP21 in Paris fall short of ensuring the desired guardrail of 2 C warming, let alone the more stringent, but necessary, goal of 1.5 C warming if we want to minimize the increasing risks of climate change over both the short term of decades and the long term of centuries. Decarbonization of the global economy is mandatory, which implies a gargantuan challenge of decarbonizing the energy system. Given the likelihood of decreasing strength of the natural sinks in the global oceans and land biota as warming progresses, it may be necessary to reach nearly zero net emissions by midcentury and even negative net emissions by the end of the century. In addition to massive and rapid implementation of renewable energy systems, desirable mitigation trajectories involve large-scale reforestation and ecosystem restoration and also bioenergy capture and storage systems (BECCS). Tropical countries can play an important role to meet both goals as long as they are able to implement sustainable agriculture at the large scale that is nearly carbon-neutral and resilient to unavoidable climate change. And reaching sustainability in the agricultural sector—remembering that agricultural direct emissions and indirect emissions due to deforestation account for almost one quarter of global emissions—is under the constraint to meet food security for all, that is, food production has to grow 70% by midcentury, with concomitant reduction of waste in the food chain. I will take the example of mitigation options for Brazil—a large tropical country with per capita emissions of about 7.5 ton CO2-eq—to illustrate sustainable development trajectories of reaching carbon neutrality by midcentury. That will imply developing a modern, more productive carbon-neutral agriculture within the next two decades, reducing tropical deforestation to nearly zero within a decade, restoring ecosystems and increasing renewable energy use to over 80% of its total energy consumption by 2050. It will be shown that such ambitious goals are within the realm of reality if some basic conditions are met: a faster cycle of knowledge to policy implementation and technology to practice, and innovative financing mechanisms.

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.

Global economic trade-offs between wild nature and tropical agriculture.

PubMed

Carrasco, Luis R; Webb, Edward L; Symes, William S; Koh, Lian P; Sodhi, Navjot S

2017-07-01

Global demands for agricultural and forestry products provide economic incentives for deforestation across the tropics. Much of this deforestation occurs with a lack of information on the spatial distribution of benefits and costs of deforestation. To inform global sustainable land-use policies, we combine geographic information systems (GIS) with a meta-analysis of ecosystem services (ES) studies to perform a spatially explicit analysis of the trade-offs between agricultural benefits, carbon emissions, and losses of multiple ecosystem services because of tropical deforestation from 2000 to 2012. Even though the value of ecosystem services presents large inherent uncertainties, we find a pattern supporting the argument that the externalities of destroying tropical forests are greater than the current direct economic benefits derived from agriculture in all cases bar one: when yield and rent potentials of high-value crops could be realized in the future. Our analysis identifies the Atlantic Forest, areas around the Gulf of Guinea, and Thailand as areas where agricultural conversion appears economically efficient, indicating a major impediment to the long-term financial sustainability of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) schemes in those countries. By contrast, Latin America, insular Southeast Asia, and Madagascar present areas with low agricultural rents (ARs) and high values in carbon stocks and ES, suggesting that they are economically viable conservation targets. Our study helps identify optimal areas for conservation and agriculture together with their associated uncertainties, which could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of pantropical land-use policies and help direct future research efforts.

Rates and drivers of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia, 2000-2012.

PubMed

Richards, Daniel R; Friess, Daniel A

2016-01-12

The mangrove forests of Southeast Asia are highly biodiverse and provide multiple ecosystem services upon which millions of people depend. Mangroves enhance fisheries and coastal protection, and store among the highest densities of carbon of any ecosystem globally. Mangrove forests have experienced extensive deforestation owing to global demand for commodities, and previous studies have identified the expansion of aquaculture as largely responsible. The proportional conversion of mangroves to different land use types has not been systematically quantified across Southeast Asia, however, particularly in recent years. In this study we apply a combined geographic information system and remote sensing method to quantify the key proximate drivers (i.e., replacement land uses) of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2012. Mangrove forests were lost at an average rate of 0.18% per year, which is lower than previously published estimates. In total, more than 100,000 ha of mangroves were removed during the study period, with aquaculture accounting for 30% of this total forest change. The rapid expansion of rice agriculture in Myanmar, and the sustained conversion of mangroves to oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, are identified as additional increasing and under-recognized threats to mangrove ecosystems. Our study highlights frontiers of mangrove deforestation in the border states of Myanmar, on Borneo, and in Indonesian Papua. To implement policies that conserve mangrove forests across Southeast Asia, it is essential to consider the national and subnational variation in the land uses that follow deforestation.

Greenhouse gas emissions from alternative futures of deforestation and agricultural management in the southern Amazon.

PubMed

Galford, Gillian L; Melillo, Jerry M; Kicklighter, David W; Cronin, Timothy W; Cerri, Carlos E P; Mustard, John F; Cerri, Carlos C

2010-11-16

The Brazilian Amazon is one of the most rapidly developing agricultural areas in the world and represents a potentially large future source of greenhouse gases from land clearing and subsequent agricultural management. In an integrated approach, we estimate the greenhouse gas dynamics of natural ecosystems and agricultural ecosystems after clearing in the context of a future climate. We examine scenarios of deforestation and postclearing land use to estimate the future (2006-2050) impacts on carbon dioxide (CO(2)), methane (CH(4)), and nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions from the agricultural frontier state of Mato Grosso, using a process-based biogeochemistry model, the Terrestrial Ecosystems Model (TEM). We estimate a net emission of greenhouse gases from Mato Grosso, ranging from 2.8 to 15.9 Pg CO(2)-equivalents (CO(2)-e) from 2006 to 2050. Deforestation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions over this period, but land uses following clearing account for a substantial portion (24-49%) of the net greenhouse gas budget. Due to land-cover and land-use change, there is a small foregone carbon sequestration of 0.2-0.4 Pg CO(2)-e by natural forests and cerrado between 2006 and 2050. Both deforestation and future land-use management play important roles in the net greenhouse gas emissions of this frontier, suggesting that both should be considered in emissions policies. We find that avoided deforestation remains the best strategy for minimizing future greenhouse gas emissions from Mato Grosso.

Rates and drivers of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia, 2000–2012

PubMed Central

Richards, Daniel R.; Friess, Daniel A.

2016-01-01

The mangrove forests of Southeast Asia are highly biodiverse and provide multiple ecosystem services upon which millions of people depend. Mangroves enhance fisheries and coastal protection, and store among the highest densities of carbon of any ecosystem globally. Mangrove forests have experienced extensive deforestation owing to global demand for commodities, and previous studies have identified the expansion of aquaculture as largely responsible. The proportional conversion of mangroves to different land use types has not been systematically quantified across Southeast Asia, however, particularly in recent years. In this study we apply a combined geographic information system and remote sensing method to quantify the key proximate drivers (i.e., replacement land uses) of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2012. Mangrove forests were lost at an average rate of 0.18% per year, which is lower than previously published estimates. In total, more than 100,000 ha of mangroves were removed during the study period, with aquaculture accounting for 30% of this total forest change. The rapid expansion of rice agriculture in Myanmar, and the sustained conversion of mangroves to oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, are identified as additional increasing and under-recognized threats to mangrove ecosystems. Our study highlights frontiers of mangrove deforestation in the border states of Myanmar, on Borneo, and in Indonesian Papua. To implement policies that conserve mangrove forests across Southeast Asia, it is essential to consider the national and subnational variation in the land uses that follow deforestation. PMID:26712025

The Effects of Anthropogenic Land Cover Change on Global and Regional Climate in the Preindustrial Holocene: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, J. O.

2014-12-01

The recent development of anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) scenarios that cover all or part of the preindustrial Holocene (11,700 BP to ~AD 1850) has led to a number of modelling studies on the impacts of land cover change on climate, using both GCMs and regional climate models. Because most ALCC scenarios arrive at similar estimates of anthropogenic deforestation by the late preindustrial, most models agree that the net biogeophysical effect of ALCC by AD 1850 is regional cooling at mid- to high-latitudes and warming and drying over the tropics and subtropics. In particular, tropical deforestation appears to lead to local amplification of externally forced drought cycles, e.g., from ENSO. The spatial extent of these climate changes varies between models because the choice of ALCC scenario leads to large differences in the initial forcing. Those model studies that considered biogeochemical feedbacks show that the importance of preindustrial CO2 emissions ranges from being insignificant to larger than the global biogeophysical feedback, depending on assumptions made about potential natural atmospheric CO2 at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. While the net magnitude of deforestation is similar among ALCC scenarios at AD 1850, the timing of deforestation varies widely, which, in addition to affecting the inferred importance of biogeochemical feedbacks, leads to large differences in the estimated importance of ALCC on climate earlier in the Holocene. For example, modelling experiments performed on Europe and the Mediterranean representing conditions at the peak of the Roman Empire or in Mesoamerica for the Classic Maya period show large differences in the estimated importance of the biogeophysical feedback to regional climate depending on the ALCC scenario used. The wide variety of results gained so far from ALCC and climate modelling experiments shows that the question of "how much did humans influence the state of the Earth System before the Industrial Revolution?" is far from being resolved. Future improvements to ALCC scenarios that improve thematic resolution to go beyond simple deforestation are essential, for example to include locally important types of historical land use such as irrigation and forest pasture, and Earth System models should move towards coupling between ALCC and climate.

Soybean Trade: Balancing Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of an Intercontinental Market.

PubMed

Boerema, Annelies; Peeters, Alain; Swolfs, Sanne; Vandevenne, Floor; Jacobs, Sander; Staes, Jan; Meire, Patrick

2016-01-01

The trade in soybean, an important animal feed product, exemplifies the environmental and socio-economic impact of global markets and global agricultural policy. This paper analyses the impact of increasing production of soybean in the exporting countries (deforestation and grassland conversion) as well as in importing regions (decrease in permanent grassland by substitution of grass as feed). Ecosystem services monetary values were used to calculate the environmental and socio-economic impact of observed land use changes. This is balanced against the economic value of the global soybean trade. The results prove that consumption choices in one region have real effects on the supply of ecosystem services at a large spatial scale. Conclusively, solutions to make this global market more sustainable are discussed.

Plunder behind the bamboo curtain. [Environmental effects of mining and deforestation in Tibet

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

Denniston, D.

Significant environmental degradation has occurred in Tibet as China has stripped forests and minerals from the ground. Uranium, borax, lithium, copper, iron, chromite are all being exploited. High pasture is being overgrazed because fertile valleys are being inhabited by workers. Shortages of timber and paper pulp in China have meant cutting of dense stands of spruce, fir, larch, oak maple, and pine. Ground and surface waters are contaminated from mining, severe erosion is increasing from deforestation, overgrazing and mining on the high plateau. Importation of large numbers of Chinese workers has further threatened the Tibetian culture.

Remote sensing and spatial analysis based study for detecting deforestation and the associated drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Abbas, Mustafa M.; Csaplovics, Elmar; Deafalla, Taisser H.

2013-10-01

Nowadays, remote-sensing technologies are becoming increasingly interlinked to the issue of deforestation. They offer a systematized and objective strategy to document, understand and simulate the deforestation process and its associated causes. In this context, the main goal of this study, conducted in the Blue Nile region of Sudan, in which most of the natural habitats were dramatically destroyed, was to develop spatial methodologies to assess the deforestation dynamics and its associated factors. To achieve that, optical multispectral satellite scenes (i.e., ASTER and LANDSAT) integrated with field survey in addition to multiple data sources were used for the analyses. Spatiotemporal Object Based Image Analysis (STOBIA) was applied to assess the change dynamics within the period of study. Broadly, the above mentioned analyses include; Object Based (OB) classifications, post-classification change detection, data fusion, information extraction and spatial analysis. Hierarchical multi-scale segmentation thresholds were applied and each class was delimited with semantic meanings by a set of rules associated with membership functions. Consequently, the fused multi-temporal data were introduced to create detailed objects of change classes from the input LU/LC classes. The dynamic changes were quantified and spatially located as well as the spatial and contextual relations from adjacent areas were analyzed. The main finding of the present study is that, the forest areas were drastically decreased, while the agrarian structure in conversion of forest into agricultural fields and grassland was the main force of deforestation. In contrast, the capability of the area to recover was clearly observed. The study concludes with a brief assessment of an 'oriented' framework, focused on the alarming areas where serious dynamics are located and where urgent plans and interventions are most critical, guided with potential solutions based on the identified driving forces.

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.

Slash and burn versus "agronegócio". Tales of forest degradation in the maroon area of Vila Bela da SantíssimaTrindade, Mato Grosso, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leite, José C.; Ferreira, António A. J.

2014-05-01

Over the last four decades, deforestation in Brazil occurred systematically in the area known as the "arcof deforestation", an extensive geographical area located in the interface of the Cerrado and the Amazon biomes. The deforestation process replaces the forest and the slash and burn agriculture systems by modern intensive agriculture systems targeted at the production of cash crops like cotton, maize or soybeans, and to graze cattle.The so called "agronegócio" system. The reduction of pristine forest areas where traditional (indigenous, maroons and riverside) population conduct slash and burn agriculture, reduces the recovery time of the abandoned fields after exhaustion by agriculture crops, reason why the return to the same spots for another cycle of slash and burn occurs before the forest recovers completely from the previous cycle. In fact, the frequency of the cycles is increasing with the expansion of farm land and the reduction of available forest. This work encompasses the reasons, causes and/or motivations of the deforestation trends in the Vila Bela da SantíssimaTrindade, near the Bolivian border of Mato Grosso in Brazil, over a time span of four decades. The arc of deforestation has passed the region in the 1980's, leaving yet a large area of pristine forest where the traditional communities kept practicing a slash and burn agriculture system. Nevertheless, due to the reduction of available area, and specially due to the exposure of traditional communities to the "western civilization culture", there is an increasing abandonment of the traditional systems and associated culture and knowledge. In this context, the traditional communities may become a deforestation/degradation factor. To prevent this situation, the GUYAGROFOR project was implemented, to value traditional knowledge, identify bottlenecks in the increase of added value to the local traditional products, and to test methodologies to maintain and if possible improve soil fertility near the small households. The deforestation/degradation processes and the impacts of the proposed mitigation action are discussed.

Understanding the Sensitivity of a GCM Simulation of Amazonian Deforestation to the Specification of Vegetation and Soil Characteristics.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lean, J.; Rowntree, P. R.

1997-06-01

The experiment reported on here presents a realistic portrayal of Amazonian deforestation that uses measurements of vegetation characteristics, taken as part of the Anglo-Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observation Study field campaigns, to define the forest and replacement pasture vegetation in the Hadley Centre GCM. The duration of the main experiment (10 yr) leads to greater confidence in assessing regional changes than in previous shorter experiments.Complete removal of the Amazonian forest produced area-mean changes that resemble earlier experiments with decreases in evaporation of 0.76 mm day1 (18%) and rainfall of 0.27 mm day1 (4%) and a rise in surface temperature of 2.3°C. However, the relative changes in magnitude indicate that increased moisture convergence partly compensates for the reduced evaporation, in contrast to many previous deforestation experiments. Results also showed large regional variations in the change in annual mean rainfall over South America, with widespread decreases over most of the deforested area and increases near the Andes.A better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the final deforested climate has been gained by carrying out additional experiments that examine the response to separate changes in roughness and albedo. Increased albedo resulted in widespread significant decreases in rainfall due to less moisture convergence and ascent. The response to reduced roughness is more complex but of comparable importance; in this experiment it was dominated by an increase in low-level wind speeds resulting in decreased moisture convergence and rainfall near the upwind edge of the area and the opposite near the downwind boundary where the increased flow meets the Andes.In the standard deforestation scenario all vegetation parameters were modified together with one soil parameter-the maximum infiltration rate, which is reduced to represent the observed compaction of soil following deforestation. Results from a further experiment, in which the maximum infiltration rate was left unchanged, showed much smaller reductions in evaporation of 0.3 mm day1 (7%) and indicated that the predicted regional changes in rainfall and evaporation were very sensitive to this parameter.

Comparing methods for assessing the effectiveness of subnational REDD+ initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bos, Astrid B.; Duchelle, Amy E.; Angelsen, Arild; Avitabile, Valerio; De Sy, Veronique; Herold, Martin; Joseph, Shijo; de Sassi, Claudio; Sills, Erin O.; Sunderlin, William D.; Wunder, Sven

2017-07-01

The central role of forests in climate change mitigation, as recognized in the Paris agreement, makes it increasingly important to develop and test methods for monitoring and evaluating the carbon effectiveness of REDD+. Over the last decade, hundreds of subnational REDD+ initiatives have emerged, presenting an opportunity to pilot and compare different approaches to quantifying impacts on carbon emissions. This study (1) develops a Before-After-Control-Intervention (BACI) method to assess the effectiveness of these REDD+ initiatives; (2) compares the results at the meso (initiative) and micro (village) scales; and (3) compares BACI with the simpler Before-After (BA) results. Our study covers 23 subnational REDD+ initiatives in Brazil, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia and Vietnam. As a proxy for deforestation, we use annual tree cover loss. We aggregate data into two periods (before and after the start of each initiative). Analysis using control areas (‘control-intervention’) suggests better REDD+ performance, although the effect is more pronounced at the micro than at the meso level. Yet, BACI requires more data than BA, and is subject to possible bias in the before period. Selection of proper control areas is vital, but at either scale is not straightforward. Low absolute deforestation numbers and peak years influence both our BA and BACI results. In principle, BACI is superior, with its potential to effectively control for confounding factors. We conclude that the more local the scale of performance assessment, the more relevant is the use of the BACI approach. For various reasons, we find overall minimal impact of REDD+ in reducing deforestation on the ground thus far. Incorporating results from micro and meso level monitoring into national reporting systems is important, since overall REDD+ impact depends on land use decisions on the ground.

Baselines For Land-Use Change In The Tropics: Application ToAvoided Deforestation Projects

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

Brown, Sandra; Hall, Myrna; Andrasko, Ken

2007-06-01

Although forest conservation activities particularly in thetropics offer significant potential for mitigating carbon emissions,these types of activities have faced obstacles in the policy arena causedby the difficulty in determining key elements of the project cycle,particularly the baseline. A baseline for forest conservation has twomain components: the projected land-use change and the correspondingcarbon stocks in the applicable pools such as vegetation, detritus,products and soil, with land-use change being the most difficult toaddress analytically. In this paper we focus on developing and comparingthree models, ranging from relatively simple extrapolations of pasttrends in land use based on simple drivers such as population growthmore » tomore complex extrapolations of past trends using spatially explicitmodels of land-use change driven by biophysical and socioeconomicfactors. The three models of the latter category used in the analysis atregional scale are The Forest Area Change (FAC) model, the Land Use andCarbon Sequestration (LUCS) model, and the Geographical Modeling (GEOMOD)model. The models were used to project deforestation in six tropicalregions that featured different ecological and socioeconomic conditions,population dynamics, and uses of the land: (1) northern Belize; (2) SantaCruz State, Bolivia; (3) Parana State in Brazil; (4) Campeche, Mexico;(5) Chiapas, Mexico; and (6) Michoacan, Mexico. A comparison of all modeloutputs across all six regions shows that each model produced quitedifferent deforestation baseline. In general, the simplest FAC model,applied at the national administrative-unit scale, projected the highestamount of forest loss (four out of six) and the LUCS model the leastamount of loss (four out of five). Based on simulations of GEOMOD, wefound that readily observable physical and biological factors as well asdistance to areas of past disturbance were each about twice as importantas either sociological/demographic or economic/infrastructure factors(less observable) in explaining empirical land-use patterns. We proposefrom the lessons learned, a methodology comprised of three main steps andsix tasks can be used to begin developing credible baselines. We alsopropose that the baselines be projected over a 10-year period because,although projections beyond 10 years are feasible, they are likely to beunrealistic for policy purposes. In the first step, an historic land-usechange and deforestation estimate is made by determining the analyticdomain (size of the region relative to the size of proposed project),obtaining historic data, analyzing candidate historic baseline drivers,and identifying three to four major drivers. In the second step, abaseline of where deforestation is likely to occur --a potential land-usechange (PLUC) map is produced using a spatial model such as GEOMOD thatuses the key drivers from step one. Then rates of deforestation areprojected over a 10-year baseline period using any of the three models.Using the PLUC maps, projected rates of deforestation, and carbon stockestimates, baselineprojections are developed that can be used for projectGHG accounting and crediting purposes: The final step proposes that, atagreed interval (eg, +10 years), the baseline assumptions about baselinedrivers be re-assessed. This step reviews the viability of the 10-yearbaseline in light of changes in one or more key baseline drivers (e.g.,new roads, new communities, new protected area, etc.). The potentialland-use change map and estimates of rates of deforestation could beredone at the agreed interval, allowing the rates and changes in spatialdrivers to be incorporated into a defense of the existing baseline, orderivation of a new baseline projection.« less

Cascading impacts of anthropogenically driven habitat loss: deforestation, flooding, and possible lead poisoning in howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).

PubMed

Serio-Silva, Juan Carlos; Olguín, Eugenia J; Garcia-Feria, Luis; Tapia-Fierro, Karla; Chapman, Colin A

2015-01-01

To construct informed conservation plans, researchers must go beyond understanding readily apparent threats such as habitat loss and bush-meat hunting. They must predict subtle and cascading effects of anthropogenic environmental modifications. This study considered a potential cascading effect of deforestation on the howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) of Balancán, Mexico. Deforestation intensifies flooding. Thus, we predicted that increased flooding of the Usumacinta River, which creates large bodies of water that slowly evaporate, would produce increased lead content in the soils and plants, resulting in lead exposure in the howler monkeys. The average lead levels were 18.18 ± 6.76 ppm in the soils and 5.85 ± 4.37 ppm in the plants. However, the average lead content of the hair of 13 captured howler monkeys was 24.12 ± 5.84 ppm. The lead levels in the animals were correlated with 2 of 15 blood traits (lactate dehydrogenase and total bilirubin) previously documented to be associated with exposure to lead. Our research illustrates the urgent need to set reference values indicating when adverse impacts of high environmental lead levels occur, whether anthropogenic or natural, and the need to evaluate possible cascading effects of deforestation on primates.

Watershed responses to Amazon soya bean cropland expansion and intensification.

PubMed

Neill, Christopher; Coe, Michael T; Riskin, Shelby H; Krusche, Alex V; Elsenbeer, Helmut; Macedo, Marcia N; McHorney, Richard; Lefebvre, Paul; Davidson, Eric A; Scheffler, Raphael; Figueira, Adelaine Michela e Silva; Porder, Stephen; Deegan, Linda A

2013-06-05

The expansion and intensification of soya bean agriculture in southeastern Amazonia can alter watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry by changing the land cover, water balance and nutrient inputs. Several new insights on the responses of watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry to deforestation in Mato Grosso have emerged from recent intensive field campaigns in this region. Because of reduced evapotranspiration, total water export increases threefold to fourfold in soya bean watersheds compared with forest. However, the deep and highly permeable soils on the broad plateaus on which much of the soya bean cultivation has expanded buffer small soya bean watersheds against increased stormflows. Concentrations of nitrate and phosphate do not differ between forest or soya bean watersheds because fixation of phosphorus fertilizer by iron and aluminium oxides and anion exchange of nitrate in deep soils restrict nutrient movement. Despite resistance to biogeochemical change, streams in soya bean watersheds have higher temperatures caused by impoundments and reduction of bordering riparian forest. In larger rivers, increased water flow, current velocities and sediment flux following deforestation can reshape stream morphology, suggesting that cumulative impacts of deforestation in small watersheds will occur at larger scales.

Soil erosion and associated organic carbon transfer along the southern Amazon land use frontier - status quo and future scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schindewolf, Marcus; Herrmann, Anne-Kathrin; Herrmann, Marie-Kristin; Amorim, Ricardo S. S.; Schmidt, Jürgen

2016-04-01

The Southern Amazon deforestation arc is one of the world's most dynamically changing landscapes mainly caused by global demands on animal products. Already more than 50 % of the savanna vegetation in Mato Grosso is converted to agricultural land. Following the BR-163 highway to the north deforestation is continuing, where former tropical rainforest is converted to pastures. Consequences are expected to be negative and highly relevant concerning soil functions. Soil losses and related carbon transfer by water erosion are likely to occur on a larger scale. Within the Carbiocial project, the impact of land use changes on soil loss was measured by applying artificial rainfall simulations. Experimental results were used to parameterize the physical based EROSION 3D simulation model in two meso-scale watersheds. The impact of future land use and climate scenarios on soil erosion and particle bound organic carbon transfer were simulated in addition to present day effects. Our results allow different predictions: Land use changes from natural vegetation to pasture lead to increased surface runoffs and soil losses. Due to the predominant no-tillage management, croplands do not reveal a similar behaviour; runoff and sediment yields are close to the initial level. Particle bound organic carbon losses are negligible compared to the removal of biomass during deforestation. Compared to the land use change effect more significant differences appear concerning the predominant soil types of the study region. Deterioration of soil functions are less pronounced for Ferralsols with a stable microstructure than for Acrisols. Additionally, our data suggest, that the main soil losses are related to the narrow time windows of land use conversion. Consequently, intensifying production on existing agricultural land rather than creating new production area (deforestation) might be the most practical way of preserving soils of the Southern Amazon.

Deforestation impacts on soil organic carbon stocks in the Semiarid Chaco Region, Argentina.

PubMed

Villarino, Sebastián Horacio; Studdert, Guillermo Alberto; Baldassini, Pablo; Cendoya, María Gabriela; Ciuffoli, Lucía; Mastrángelo, Matias; Piñeiro, Gervasio

2017-01-01

Land use change affects soil organic carbon (SOC) and generates CO 2 emissions. Moreover, SOC depletion entails degradation of soil functions that support ecosystem services. Large areas covered by dry forests have been cleared in the Semiarid Chaco Region of Argentina for cropping expansion. However, deforestation impacts on the SOC stock and its distribution in the soil profile have been scarcely reported. We assessed these impacts based on the analysis of field data along a time-since-deforestation-for-cropping chronosequence, and remote sensing indices. Soil organic C was determined up to 100cm depth and physically fractionated into mineral associated organic carbon (MAOC) and particulate organic C (POC). Models describing vertical distribution of SOC were fitted. Total SOC, POC and MAOC stocks decreased markedly with increasing cropping age. Particulate organic C was the most sensitive fraction to cultivation. After 10yr of cropping SOC loss was around 30%, with greater POC loss (near 60%) and smaller MAOC loss (near 15%), at 0-30cm depth. Similar relative SOC losses were observed in deeper soil layers (30-60 and 60-100cm). Deforestation and subsequent cropping also modified SOC vertical distribution. Soil organic C loss was negatively associated with the proportion of maize in the rotation and total crop biomass inputs, but positively associated with the proportion of soybean in the rotation. Without effective land use polices, deforestation and agricultural expansion can lead to rapid soil degradation and reductions in the provision of important ecosystem services. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global economic trade-offs between wild nature and tropical agriculture

PubMed Central

Webb, Edward L.; Symes, William S.; Koh, Lian P.

2017-01-01

Global demands for agricultural and forestry products provide economic incentives for deforestation across the tropics. Much of this deforestation occurs with a lack of information on the spatial distribution of benefits and costs of deforestation. To inform global sustainable land-use policies, we combine geographic information systems (GIS) with a meta-analysis of ecosystem services (ES) studies to perform a spatially explicit analysis of the trade-offs between agricultural benefits, carbon emissions, and losses of multiple ecosystem services because of tropical deforestation from 2000 to 2012. Even though the value of ecosystem services presents large inherent uncertainties, we find a pattern supporting the argument that the externalities of destroying tropical forests are greater than the current direct economic benefits derived from agriculture in all cases bar one: when yield and rent potentials of high-value crops could be realized in the future. Our analysis identifies the Atlantic Forest, areas around the Gulf of Guinea, and Thailand as areas where agricultural conversion appears economically efficient, indicating a major impediment to the long-term financial sustainability of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) schemes in those countries. By contrast, Latin America, insular Southeast Asia, and Madagascar present areas with low agricultural rents (ARs) and high values in carbon stocks and ES, suggesting that they are economically viable conservation targets. Our study helps identify optimal areas for conservation and agriculture together with their associated uncertainties, which could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of pantropical land-use policies and help direct future research efforts. PMID:28732022

Greenhouse gas emissions from alternative futures of deforestation and agricultural management in the southern Amazon

PubMed Central

Galford, Gillian L.; Melillo, Jerry M.; Kicklighter, David W.; Cronin, Timothy W.; Cerri, Carlos E. P.; Mustard, John F.; Cerri, Carlos C.

2010-01-01

The Brazilian Amazon is one of the most rapidly developing agricultural areas in the world and represents a potentially large future source of greenhouse gases from land clearing and subsequent agricultural management. In an integrated approach, we estimate the greenhouse gas dynamics of natural ecosystems and agricultural ecosystems after clearing in the context of a future climate. We examine scenarios of deforestation and postclearing land use to estimate the future (2006–2050) impacts on carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from the agricultural frontier state of Mato Grosso, using a process-based biogeochemistry model, the Terrestrial Ecosystems Model (TEM). We estimate a net emission of greenhouse gases from Mato Grosso, ranging from 2.8 to 15.9 Pg CO2-equivalents (CO2-e) from 2006 to 2050. Deforestation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions over this period, but land uses following clearing account for a substantial portion (24–49%) of the net greenhouse gas budget. Due to land-cover and land-use change, there is a small foregone carbon sequestration of 0.2–0.4 Pg CO2-e by natural forests and cerrado between 2006 and 2050. Both deforestation and future land-use management play important roles in the net greenhouse gas emissions of this frontier, suggesting that both should be considered in emissions policies. We find that avoided deforestation remains the best strategy for minimizing future greenhouse gas emissions from Mato Grosso. PMID:20651250

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

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.

Monitoring Strategies for REDD+: Integrating Field, Airborne, and Satellite Observations of Amazon Forests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, Douglas; Souza, Carlos, Jr.; Souza, Carlos, Jr.; Keller, Michael

2012-01-01

Large-scale tropical forest monitoring efforts in support of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks) confront a range of challenges. REDD+ activities typically have short reporting time scales, diverse data needs, and low tolerance for uncertainties. Meeting these challenges will require innovative use of remote sensing data, including integrating data at different spatial and temporal resolutions. The global scientific community is engaged in developing, evaluating, and applying new methods for regional to global scale forest monitoring. Pilot REDD+ activities are underway across the tropics with support from a range of national and international groups, including SilvaCarbon, an interagency effort to coordinate US expertise on forest monitoring and resource management. Early actions on REDD+ have exposed some of the inherent tradeoffs that arise from the use of incomplete or inaccurate data to quantify forest area changes and related carbon emissions. Here, we summarize recent advances in forest monitoring to identify and target the main sources of uncertainty in estimates of forest area changes, aboveground carbon stocks, and Amazon forest carbon emissions.

Mapping Tropical Forest Mosaics with C- and L-band SAR: First Results from Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinto, N.; Hensley, S.; Aguilar-Amuchastegui, N.; Broadbent, E. N.; Ahmed, R.

2016-12-01

In tropical countries, economic incentives and improved infrastructure are creating forest mosaics where small-scale farming and industrial plantations are embedded within and potentially replacing native ecosystems. Practices such as agroforestry, slash-and-burn cultivation, and oil palm monocultures bring widely different impacts on carbon stocks. Characterizing these production systems is not only critical to ascribe deforestation to particular drivers, but also essential to understand the impact of macroeconomic scenarios, national policies, and land tenure schemes on carbon fluxes. The last decade has experienced a dramatic improvement in the extent and consistency of tree cover and gross deforestation products from optical imagery. At the same time, recent work shows that Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can complement optical data and reveal structural types that cannot be easily resolved with reflectance measurements alone. While these results demonstrate the validity of sensor fusion methodologies, they typically rely on local classifications or even manual delineation and as such they cannot support large-scale investigations. Furthermore, there have been few attempts to exploit PolInSAR or multiple wavelengths that can provide critical information to resolve natural and anthropogenic land cover types. We report results from our research at Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula. This site is ideal for algorithm development as it includes a highly diverse tropical forest within Corcovado National Park, as well as agroforestry zones, mangroves, and palm plantations. We first integrate SAR backscatter and coherence data from NASA's L-band UAVSAR, JAXA's ALOS/PALSAR, and ESA's Sentinel to produce a map of structural types. Second, we assess whether coherence measurements and PolInSAR retrievals can be used to resolve forest stand differences at 30m resolution and disitinguish between primary and secondary forest sites.

Detecting of forest afforestation and deforestation in Hainan Jianfengling Forest Park (China) using yearly Landsat time-series images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiao, Quanjun; Zhang, Xiao; Sun, Qi

2018-03-01

The availability of dense time series of Landsat images pro-vides a great chance to reconstruct forest disturbance and change history with high temporal resolution, medium spatial resolution and long period. This proposal aims to apply forest change detection method in Hainan Jianfengling Forest Park using yearly Landsat time-series images. A simple detection method from the dense time series Landsat NDVI images will be used to reconstruct forest change history (afforestation and deforestation). The mapping result showed a large decrease occurred in the extent of closed forest from 1980s to 1990s. From the beginning of the 21st century, we found an increase in forest areas with the implementation of forestry measures such as the prohibition of cutting and sealing in our study area. Our findings provide an effective approach for quickly detecting forest changes in tropical original forest, especially for afforestation and deforestation, and a comprehensive analysis tool for forest resource protection.

Exploring the nexus between climate change, food security, and deforestation in Q'eqchi' Maya communities, Guatemala

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pope, I.; Harbor, J.

2013-12-01

The challenges of food security in the central Highlands of Guatemala are linked to deforestation, land degradation, and climate change. The Q'eqchi' Maya people that inhabit this region are smallholder farmers who rely on subsistence agriculture for survival. The Q'eqchi' support themselves with timber products and ecosystem services provided by the cloud forest, a unique ecosystem where a substantial portion of water is obtained through the condensation of water droplets onto vegetation via cloud filtration. Over the past 30 years, small-scale deforestation of the cloud forest in the Sierra Yalijux and Sacranix has increased as demand for agricultural land has risen. A link between the decline of cloud forest cover and an increase in severe precipitation events that drive soil erosion has been observed in the study area. As a result, land degradation poses a serious threat to the long-term food security of Q'eqchi' communities. We have examined the social, cultural, and land tenure dynamics that impact the ability of the Q'eqchi' to adapt to the rapidly changing climate, as well as to implement recommendations for grassroots initiatives to enhance these adaptations. Using remote-sensing we constructed three land use change maps that show that deforestation rates have increased by over 200% between 1986-2006 in the Sierra Yaljux and Sacranix mountain ranges, largely due to slash and burn agriculture. Using these land use change maps as an input into the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation we show that implementation of agroecological techniques to counter the impacts of land use change drastically reduces soil erosion and is the best management practice. Surveys and focus groups in several Q'eqchi' villages revealed that precipitation events have become less frequent and more intense over the past 30 years, and temperatures have generally been increasing as well. Q'eqchi' people have observed that increasing severe precipitation events have accelerated soil erosion on steep slopes where conventional agriculture is practiced. However, little effort has been made on to manage soil erosion. Some households have adapted by working through local NGOs to implement agroecological techniques such as polyculture. Cultural norms such as those revolving around cultivation of maize will provide substantial challenges in moving towards more sustainable agricultural practices, which is important to recognize in development organizations working to enhance adaptation to climate change.

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.

Integrating Green and Blue Water Management Tools for Land and Water Resources Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jewitt, G. P. W.

2009-04-01

The role of land use and land use change on the hydrological cycle is well known. However, the impacts of large scale land use change are poorly considered in water resources planning, unless they require direct abstraction of water resources and associated development of infrastructure e.g. Irrigation Schemes. However, large scale deforestation for the supply of raw materials, expansion of the areas of plantation forestry, increasing areas under food production and major plans for cultivation of biofuels in many developing countries are likely to result in extensive land use change. Given the spatial extent and temporal longevity of these proposed developments, major impacts on water resources are inevitable. It is imperative that managers and planners consider the consequences for downstream ecosystems and users in such developments. However, many popular tools, such as the vitual water approach, provide only coarse scale "order of magnitude" type estimates with poor consideration of, and limited usefulness, for land use planning. In this paper, a framework for the consideration of the impacts of large scale land use change on water resources at a range of temporal and spatial scales is presented. Drawing on experiences from South Africa, where the establishment of exotic commercial forest plantations is only permitted once a water use license has been granted, the framework adopts the "green water concept" for the identification of potential high impact areas of land use change and provides for integration with traditional "blue water" water resources planning tools for more detailed planning. Appropriate tools, ranging from simple spreadsheet solutions to more sophisticated remote sensing and hydrological models are described, and the application of the framework for consideration of water resources impacts associated with the establishment of large scale tectona grandis, sugar cane and jatropha curcas plantations is illustrated through examples in Mozambique and South Africa. Keywords: Land use change, water resources, green water, blue water, biofuels, developing countries

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.

Globalization of the Amazon soy and beef industries: opportunities for conservation.

PubMed

Nepstad, Daniel C; Stickler, Claudia M; Almeida, Oriana T

2006-12-01

Amazon beef and soybean industries, the primary drivers of Amazon deforestation, are increasingly responsive to economic signals emanating from around the world, such as those associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, "mad cow disease") outbreaks and China's economic growth. The expanding role of these economic "teleconnections" (coupled phenomena that take place in distant places on the planet) led to a 3-year period (2002-2004) of historically high deforestation rates. But it also increases the potential for large-scale conservation in the region as markets and finance institutions demand better environmental and social performance of beef and soy producers. Cattle ranchers and soy farmers who have generally opposed ambitious government regulations that require forest reserves on private property are realizing that good land stewardship-including compliance with legislation-may increase their access to expanding domestic and international markets and to credit and lower the risk of "losing" their land to agrarian reform. The realization of this potential depends on the successful negotiation of social and environmental performance criteria and an associated system of certification that are acceptable to both the industries and civil society. The foot-and-mouth eradication system, in which geographic zones win permission to export beef, may provide an important model for the design of a low-cost, peer-enforced, socioenvironmental certification system that becomes the mechanism by which beef and soy industries gain access to markets outside the Amazon.

The deforestation story: testing for anthropogenic origins of Africa's flammable grassy biomes.

PubMed

Bond, William; Zaloumis, Nicholas P

2016-06-05

Africa has the most extensive C4 grassy biomes of any continent. They are highly flammable accounting for greater than 70% of the world's burnt area. Much of Africa's savannas and grasslands occur in climates warm enough and wet enough to support closed forests. The combination of open grassy systems and the frequent fires they support have long been interpreted as anthropogenic artefacts caused by humans igniting frequent fires. True grasslands, it was believed, would be restricted to climates too dry or too cold to support closed woody vegetation. The idea that higher-rainfall savannas are anthropogenic and that fires are of human origin has led to initiatives to 'reforest' Africa's open grassy systems paid for by carbon credits under the assumption that the net effect of converting these system to forests would sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gases and mitigate global warming. This paper reviews evidence for the antiquity of African grassy ecosystems and for the fires that they sustain. Africa's grassy biomes and the fires that maintain them are ancient and there is no support for the idea that humans caused large-scale deforestation. Indicators of old-growth grasslands are described. These can help distinguish secondary grasslands suitable for reforestation from ancient grasslands that should not be afforested.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'. © 2016 The Author(s).

The deforestation story: testing for anthropogenic origins of Africa's flammable grassy biomes

PubMed Central

Zaloumis, Nicholas P.

2016-01-01

Africa has the most extensive C4 grassy biomes of any continent. They are highly flammable accounting for greater than 70% of the world's burnt area. Much of Africa's savannas and grasslands occur in climates warm enough and wet enough to support closed forests. The combination of open grassy systems and the frequent fires they support have long been interpreted as anthropogenic artefacts caused by humans igniting frequent fires. True grasslands, it was believed, would be restricted to climates too dry or too cold to support closed woody vegetation. The idea that higher-rainfall savannas are anthropogenic and that fires are of human origin has led to initiatives to ‘reforest’ Africa's open grassy systems paid for by carbon credits under the assumption that the net effect of converting these system to forests would sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gases and mitigate global warming. This paper reviews evidence for the antiquity of African grassy ecosystems and for the fires that they sustain. Africa's grassy biomes and the fires that maintain them are ancient and there is no support for the idea that humans caused large-scale deforestation. Indicators of old-growth grasslands are described. These can help distinguish secondary grasslands suitable for reforestation from ancient grasslands that should not be afforested. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’. PMID:27216527

Protecting terrestrial ecosystems and the climate through a global carbon market.

PubMed

Bonnie, Robert; Carey, Melissa; Petsonk, Annie

2002-08-15

Protecting terrestrial ecosystems through international environmental laws requires the development of economic mechanisms that value the Earth's natural systems. The major international treaties to address ecosystem protection lack meaningful binding obligations and the requisite financial instruments to affect large-scale conservation. The Kyoto Protocol's emissions-trading framework creates economic incentives for nations to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions cost effectively. Incorporating GHG impacts from land-use activities into this system would create a market for an important ecosystem service provided by forests and agricultural lands: sequestration of atmospheric carbon. This would spur conservation efforts while reducing the 20% of anthropogenic CO(2) emissions produced by land-use change, particularly tropical deforestation. The Kyoto negotiations surrounding land-use activities have been hampered by a lack of robust carbon inventory data. Moreover, the Protocol's provisions agreed to in Kyoto made it difficult to incorporate carbon-sequestering land-use activities into the emissions-trading framework without undermining the atmospheric GHG reductions contemplated in the treaty. Subsequent negotiations since 1997 failed to produce a crediting system that provides meaningful incentives for enhanced carbon sequestration. Notably, credit for reducing rates of tropical deforestation was explicitly excluded from the Protocol. Ultimately, an effective GHG emissions-trading framework will require full carbon accounting for all emissions and sequestration from terrestrial ecosystems. Improved inventory systems and capacity building for developing nations will, therefore, be necessary.

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.

Evaluating the trade-off between food and timber resulting from the conversion of Miombo forests to agricultural land in Angola using multi-temporal Landsat data.

PubMed

Schneibel, Anne; Stellmes, Marion; Röder, Achim; Finckh, Manfred; Revermann, Rasmus; Frantz, David; Hill, Joachim

2016-04-01

The repopulation of abandoned areas in Angola after 27years of civil war led to a fast and extensive expansion of agricultural fields to meet the rising food demand. Yet, the increase in crop production at the expense of natural resources carries an inherent potential for conflicts since the demand for timber and wood extraction are also supposed to rise. We use the concept of ecosystem services to evaluate the trade-off between food and woody biomass. Our study area is located in central Angola, in the highlands of the upper Okavango catchment. We used Landsat data (spatial resolution: 30×30m) with a bi-temporal and multi-seasonal change detection approach for five time steps between 1989 and 2013 to estimate the conversion area from woodland to agriculture. Overall accuracy is 95%, user's accuracy varies from 89-95% and producer's accuracy ranges between 92-99%. To quantify the trade-off between woody biomass and the amount of food, this information was combined with indicator values and we furthermore assessed biomass regrowth on fallows. Our results reveal a constant rise in agricultural expansion from 1989-2013 with the mean annual deforestation rate increasing from roughly 5300ha up to about 12,000ha. Overall, 5.6% of the forested areas were converted to agriculture, whereas the FAO states a national deforestation rate for Angola of 5% from 1990-2010 (FAO, 2010). In the last time step 961,000t per year of woodland were cleared to potentially produce 1240t per year of maize. Current global agro-economical projections forecast increasing pressure on tropical dry forests from large-scale agriculture schemes (Gasparri et al., 2015; Searchinger and Heimlich, 2015). Our study underlines the importance of considering subsistence-related change processes, which may contribute significantly to negative effects associated with deforestation and degradation of these forest ecosystems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vulnerability and Resilience of Temperate Forest Landscapes to Broad-Scale Deforestation in Response to Changing Fire Regimes and Altered Post-Fire Vegetation Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tepley, A. J.; Veblen, T. T.; Perry, G.; Anderson-Teixeira, K. J.

2015-12-01

In the face of on-going climatic warming and land-use change, there is growing concern that temperate forest landscapes could be near a tipping point where relatively small changes to the fire regime or altered post-fire vegetation dynamics could lead to extensive conversion to shrublands or savannas. To evaluate vulnerability and resilience to such conversion, we develop a simple model based on three factors we hypothesize to be key in predicting temperate forest responses to changing fire regimes: (1) the hazard rate (i.e., the probability of burning in the next year given the time since the last fire) in closed-canopy forests, (2) the hazard rate for recently-burned, open-canopy vegetation, and (3) the time to redevelop canopy closure following fire. We generate a response surface representing the proportions of the landscape potentially supporting closed-canopy forest and non-forest vegetation under nearly all combinations of these three factors. We then place real landscapes on this response surface to assess the type and magnitude of changes to the fire regime that would drive extensive forest loss. We show that the deforestation of much of New Zealand that followed initial human colonization and the introduction of a new ignition source ca. 750 years ago was essentially inevitable due to the slow rate of forest recovery after fire and the high flammability of post-fire vegetation. In North America's Pacific Northwest, by contrast, a predominantly forested landscape persisted despite two periods of widespread burning in the recent past due in large part to faster post-fire forest recovery and less pronounced differences in flammability between forests and the post-fire vegetation. We also assess the factors that could drive extensive deforestation in other regions to identify where management could reduce this potential and to guide field and modeling work to better understand the responses and ecological feedbacks to changing fire regimes.

Synergistic impacts of deforestation, climate change and fire on the future biomes distribution in Amazonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sampaio, G.; Cardoso, M. F.; Nobre, C. A.; Salazar, L. F.

2013-05-01

Several studies indicate future increase of environmental risks for the ecosystems in the Amazon region as a result of climate and land-use change, and their synergistic interactions. Modeling studies (e.g. Oyama and Nobre 2004, Salazar et al. 2007, Malhi et al. 2008) project rapid and irreversible replacement of forests by savannas with large-scale losses of biodiversity and livelihoods for people in the region. This process is referred to as the Amazon Dieback, where accelerated plant mortality due to environmental changes lead to forest collapse and savannas expansion after "tipping points" in climate and land surface changes are achieved. In this study we performed new analyses to quantify how deforestation, climate change and fire may combine to affect the distribution of major biomes in Amazonia. Changes in land use consider deforestation scenarios of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 50% (Sampaio et al., 2007), with and without fires (Cardoso et al., 2008), under the two greenhouse gases scenarios B1 and A2 and three "representative concentration pathways" (RCPs): 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5, for years 2015-2034 and 2040-2059 ("2025" and "2050" time-slices), from IPCC AR4 and CMIP5. The results show that the area affected in scenarios A2 and RCP 8.5 is larger than in the climate scenario B1 and RCP 2.6, and in both cases the effect is progressively higher in time. Most important changes occur in the East and South of the Amazon, with replacement of tropical forest by seasonal forest and savanna. The effect of fire in this region is important in all scenarios. The Northwest Amazon presents the smallest changes in the area of tropical forest, indicating that even for substantial land-use modifications and global climate change, the resulting atmospheric conditions would still support tropical forest in the region. In summary, we conclude that the synergistic combination of deforestation, climate change resulting from global warming, and the potential for higher fire occurrence may lead to important impacts that add considerably to the vulnerability of tropical forest ecosystems in the study region. REFERENCES Cardoso, M. F. ; Nobre, C. A. ; Sampaio, G. ; Hirota, M. ; Valeriano, D. ; Câmara, G. Long-term potential for tropical-forest degradation due to deforestation and fires in the Brazilian Amazon. Biologia (Bratislava), v. 64, p. 433-437, 2009. Malhi Y, et al. (2008) Climate change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon. Science 319:169-172. Oyama, M.D. and C.A. Nobre (2004), A simple potencial vegetation model for coupling with the Simple Biosphere Model (SIB). Revista Brasileira de Meteorologia, v. 19, n. 2, p. 203-216, 2004. Salazar, L. F., C. A. Nobre, and M. D. Oyama (2007), Climate change consequences on the biome distribution in tropical South America, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L09708, doi:10.1029/2007GL029695 Sampaio, G., C. A. Nobre, M. H. Costa, P. Satyamurty, B. S. Soares-Filho and, M. Cardoso (2007), Regional climate change over eastern Amazonia caused by pasture and soybean cropland expansion. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L17709, doi:10.1029/2007GL030612.

Impact of Deforestation and Recovery on Streamflow Recession Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krapu, C.; Kumar, M.

2016-12-01

Deforestation is known to influence streamflow and baseflow in particular in sub-humid environments. Baseflow contributions to the recession limb of a flood hydrograph convey information about subsurface stores from which trees also draw water. Recent works based on the assumptions outlined by Brutsaert and Nieber (1977) have proposed analyzing streamflow recession curves on a per-event basis. In this framework, each event's recession curve is governed by a power law relation with per-event scale and shape coefficients. As streamflow recession depends in part upon evapotranspiration demand from trees, these coefficients are hypothesized to contain useful information about catchment vegetation. Analysis was conducted of 13 small experimental catchments in the eastern United States with known forest treatment histories to determine whether or not streamflow recession behavior as observed from daily discharge records could serve as an indicator of deforestation in the drainage basin. Power-law scale coefficients were calculated for each major stormflow event at each test site and a statistical comparison of distribution of fitted coefficients was made between pre-treatment and post-treatment events as well as between pre-treatment and post-recovery events. A second method using these fitted coefficients in conjunction with Gaussian process regression was employed to track the change in the scale coefficient in the 13 catchments described previously as well as two medium-sized catchments in the North Carolina portion of the American Piedmont which did not have extensive records of forest cover. A linear trend analysis of precipitation was performed to determine whether nonstationarity in rainfall could be a confounding cause of changes in event scale coefficients. These results show a statistically significant difference in scale coefficient values in 5/8 treatment catchments and 0/5 control catchments. This suggests that lesser alterations to forest cover may not be detectable but that this method is robust against changes in precipitation. Additionally, we found clear evidence that forest regrowth in the Piedmont sites continued from 1940-1970. As a proof-of-concept, this work suggests that major alterations to forest cover can be inferred from daily data of stream discharge.

Soybean Trade: Balancing Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of an Intercontinental Market

PubMed Central

Boerema, Annelies; Peeters, Alain; Swolfs, Sanne; Vandevenne, Floor; Jacobs, Sander; Staes, Jan; Meire, Patrick

2016-01-01

The trade in soybean, an important animal feed product, exemplifies the environmental and socio-economic impact of global markets and global agricultural policy. This paper analyses the impact of increasing production of soybean in the exporting countries (deforestation and grassland conversion) as well as in importing regions (decrease in permanent grassland by substitution of grass as feed). Ecosystem services monetary values were used to calculate the environmental and socio-economic impact of observed land use changes. This is balanced against the economic value of the global soybean trade. The results prove that consumption choices in one region have real effects on the supply of ecosystem services at a large spatial scale. Conclusively, solutions to make this global market more sustainable are discussed. PMID:27244079

Indigenous, colonist, and government Impacts on Nicaragua's Bosawas Reserve.

PubMed

Stocks, Anthony; McMahan, Benjamin; Taber, Peter

2007-12-01

We studied the impacts of colonists, two groups of indigenous residents (Miskitu and Mayangna), and management by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) on the forest of the Bosawas International Biosphere Reserve. Indigenous people and colonists subsist on the natural resources of the reserve, and MARENA is responsible for protecting the area from colonization and illicit exploitation. Using geostatistical procedures and Landsat images at three different time periods, we compared per capita deforestation and boundary stabilization in areas with colonists and areas with indigenous peoples. We also examined whether the Mayangna deforested less than the Miskitu and whether the Nicaraguan government has effectively defended the Bosawas boundary against the advance of the agricultural frontier. In addition, we analyzed the current distribution of land uses within the reserve and its contiguous indigenous areas with a supervised classification of current land cover. Indigenous demarcations protected the forest successfully, whereas the Bosawas boundary itself did not inhibit colonization and consequent deforestation. Indigenous farmers deforested significantly less per capita than colonists, and the two indigenous groups in Bosawas did not differ significantly in their effects on the forest. Our results show that indigenous common-property institutions and indigenous defense of homeland have been powerful factors in protecting the forests of Bosawas and that the difficult evolution of a nested cross-scale governance system in Bosawas-under pressure from indigenous peoples-is probably the key to the forest's survival thus far.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaveau, David L. A.; Wich, Serge; Epting, Justin; Juhn, Daniel; Kanninen, Markku; Leader-Williams, Nigel

2009-09-01

Payments for reduced carbon emissions from deforestation (RED) are now attracting attention as a way to halt tropical deforestation. Northern Sumatra comprises an area of 65 000 km2 that is both the site of Indonesia's first planned RED initiative, and the stronghold of 92% of remaining Sumatran orangutans. Under current plans, this RED initiative will be implemented in a defined geographic area, essentially a newly established, 7500 km2 protected area (PA) comprising mostly upland forest, where guards will be recruited to enforce forest protection. Meanwhile, new roads are currently under construction, while companies are converting lowland forests into oil palm plantations. This case study predicts the effectiveness of RED in reducing deforestation and conserving orangutans for two distinct scenarios: the current plan of implementing RED within the specific boundary of a new upland PA, and an alternative scenario of implementing RED across landscapes outside PAs. Our satellite-based spatially explicit deforestation model predicts that 1313 km2 of forest would be saved from deforestation by 2030, while forest cover present in 2006 would shrink by 22% (7913 km2) across landscapes outside PAs if RED were only to be implemented in the upland PA. Meanwhile, orangutan habitat would reduce by 16% (1137 km2), resulting in the conservative loss of 1384 orangutans, or 25% of the current total population with or without RED intervention. By contrast, an estimated 7824 km2 of forest could be saved from deforestation, with maximum benefit for orangutan conservation, if RED were to be implemented across all remaining forest landscapes outside PAs. Here, RED payments would compensate land users for their opportunity costs in not converting unprotected forests into oil palm, while the construction of new roads to service the marketing of oil palm would be halted. Our predictions suggest that Indonesia's first RED initiative in an upland PA may not significantly reduce deforestation in northern Sumatra and would have little impact on orangutan conservation because a large amount of forest inside the project area is protected de facto by being inaccessible, while lowland forests will remain exposed to the combined expansion of high-revenue plantations and road networks. In contrast, RED would be more effective in terms of its conservation impact if payments were extended to all remaining carbon-rich tropical forests, including lowland peat swamp forests, the preferred habitat for dense populations of orangutans, and if the construction of new roads was halted.

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.

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.

Deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions associated with fuelwood consumption of the brick making industry in Sudan.

PubMed

Alam, Syed Ashraful; Starr, Mike

2009-01-01

The study focuses on the role of the fired clay brick making industry (BMI) on deforestation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Sudan. The BMI is based on numerous kilns that use biomass fuel, mainly wood which is largely harvested unsustainably. This results in potential deforestation and land degradation. Fuelwood consumption data was collected using interviews and questionnaires from 25 BMI enterprises in three administrative regions, namely Khartoum, Kassala and Gezira. Annual fuelwood consumption data (t dm yr(-1)) was converted into harvested biomass (m(3)) using a wood density value of 0.65 t dm m(-3). For annual GHG estimations, the methodological approach outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was used. According to our results, the annual deforestation associated with the BMI for the whole of Sudan is 508.4x10(3) m(3) of wood biomass, including 267.6x10(3) m(3) round wood and 240.8x10(3) m(3) branches and small trees. Total GHG emissions from the Sudanese BMI are estimated at 378028 t CO(2), 15554 t CO, 1778 t CH(4), 442 t NO(X), 288 t NO and 12 t N(2)O per annum. The combined CO(2)-equivalent (global warming potential for 100-year time horizon) of the GHG emissions (excluding NO(X) and NO) is 455666 t yr(-1). While these emissions form only a small part of Sudan's total GHG emissions, the associated deforestation and land degradation is of concern and effort should be made for greater use of sustainable forest resources and management.

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.

Factors affecting large peakflows on Appalachian watersheds: lessons from the Fernow Experimental Forest

Treesearch

James N. Kochenderfer; Mary Beth Adams; Gary W. Miller; David J. Helvey

2007-01-01

Data collected since 1951 on the Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons, West Virginia, and at a gaging station on the nearby Cheat River since 1913 were used to evaluate factors affecting large peakflows on forested watersheds. Treatments ranged from periodic partial cuts to complete deforestation using herbicides. Total storm precipitation and average storm...

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

Fire and Deforestation Dynamics in South America over the Past 50 Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Marle, M.; Field, R. D.; van der Werf, G.

2015-12-01

Fires play an important role in the Earth system and are one of the major sources of greenhouse gases and aerosols. Satellites have been key to understand their spatial and temporal variability in space and time, but the most frequently used satellite datasets start only in 1995. There are still large uncertainties about the frequency and intensity of fires in the pre-satellite time period, especially in regions with active deforestation, which may have changed dramatically in intensity in the past decades influencing fire dynamics. We used two datasets to extend the record of fires and deforestation in the Amazon region back in time: 1) annual forest loss rates starting in 1990 derived from Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD), which is a satellite-based vegetation product that can be used as proxy for forest loss, and 2) horizontal visibility as proxy for fire emissions, reported by weather stations and airports in the Amazon, which started around 1940, and having widespread coverage since 1973. We show that these datasets overlap with fire emission estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) enabling us to estimate fire emissions over the last 50 years. We will discuss how fires have varied over time in this region with globally significant emissions, how droughts have influenced fire activity and deforestation rates, and what the impact is of land-use change caused by fire on emissions in the Amazon region.

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.

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.

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+.

Rubber and Land-Cover Land-Use Change in Mainland Southeast Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, J. M.; Hurni, K.

2017-12-01

Over the past half century, the five countries of Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam - have witnessed major shifts from predominantly subsistence agrarian economies to increasingly commercialized agriculture. Major drivers of change include policy initiatives that fostered regional economic integration and promoted among other changes rapid expansion of boom-crop plantations. Among the many types of commercial boom crops promoted and grown in MSEA are numerous tree-based products such as rubber, coffee, tree species for pulp and paper (particularly eucalyptus and acacia), cashews, and fruits such as oranges, lychees, and longans. The project proposal hypothesized that most (but not all) tree crops replaced swidden cultivation fields and hence are not necessarily accompanied by deforestation. We used MODIS EVI and SWIR time-series from 2001-2014 to classify changes in tree cover across MSEA; a total of 6849 sample points were used to train the classifier (75%) and verification (25%). The classification consists of 24 classes and 17 classes represent tree crops. Project results suggest that 4.4 m ha of rubber have been planted since 2003; 50% of rubber is planted on former evergreen forest land, 18% on deciduous forest land, and 32% on low vegetation area (former crop lands, bushes, scrub). Tree crops occupy about 8% of the landscape (half of that is rubber). Due to the differences in their political and economic histories these countries display different LCLUCs. In northern Laos, smallholder rubber plantations dominate and shifting cultivation is common in the upland. In southern Laos, large-scale plantations of rubber, coffee, eucalyptus, and sugarcane are widespread. In Thailand, vast areas are covered by annual agriculture; fruit trees and rubber are the prevailing tree crops and are mostly planted by smallholders. In Cambodia, large-scale rubber plantations have expanded in recent years on forest lands; smallholder plantations of cashews and rubber also occur. In Vietnam small holder tree crops (e.g. rubber, cashews, coffee) were already established before 2000, but since then have continued to expand. Contrary to our hypothesis, boom crops are planted primarily on forest lands and are a cause of deforestation in MSEA.

Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation.

PubMed

Shen, Xiaoli; Li, Sheng; Wang, Dajun; Lu, Zhi

2015-12-01

The Tibetan sacred mountains (TSMs) cover a large area and may represent a landscape-scale conservation opportunity. We compared the conservation value of forests in these mountains with the conservation value of government-established nature reserves and unmanaged open-access areas in Danba County, southwestern China. We used Landsat satellite images to map forest cover and to estimate forest loss in 1974-1989, 1989-1999, and 1999-2013. The TSMs (n = 41) and nature reserves (n = 4) accounted for 21.6% and 29.7% of the county's land area, respectively. Remaining land was open-access areas (i.e., areas without any restrictions on resource use) (56.2%) and farmlands (2.2%). Within the elevation range suitable for forests, forest cover did not differ significantly between nature reserves (58.8%) and open-access areas (58.4%), but was significantly higher in TSMs (65.5%) after controlling for environmental factors such as aspect, slope, and elevation. The TSMs of great cultural importance had higher forest cover, but patrols by monastery staff were not necessarily associated with increased forest cover. The annual deforestation rate in nonsacred areas almost tripled in 1989-1999 (111.4 ha/year) relative to 1974-1989 (40.4 ha/year), whereas the rate in TSMs decreased in the later period (19.7 ha/year vs. 17.2 ha/year). The reduced forest loss in TSMs in 1989-1999 was possibly due to the renaissance of TSM worship and strengthened management by the local Buddhist community since late 1980s. The annual deforestation rate in Danba decreased dramatically to 4.4 ha/year in 1999-2013, which coincided with the implementation of a national ban on logging in 1998. As the only form of protected area across the Tibetan region during much of its history, TSMs have positively contributed to conserving forest at a landscape scale. Conservation of TSM forests largely relied on the strength of local religious institutions. Integrating community-based conservation of TSMs within the government conservation network would benefit the conservation of the Tibetan region. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Genetic diversity and structure related to expansion history and habitat isolation: stone marten populating rural-urban habitats.

PubMed

Wereszczuk, Anna; Leblois, Raphaël; Zalewski, Andrzej

2017-12-22

Population genetic diversity and structure are determined by past and current evolutionary processes, among which spatially limited dispersal, genetic drift, and shifts in species distribution boundaries have major effects. In most wildlife species, environmental modifications by humans often lead to contraction of species' ranges and/or limit their dispersal by acting as environmental barriers. However, in species well adapted to anthropogenic habitat or open landscapes, human induced environmental changes may facilitate dispersal and range expansions. In this study, we analysed whether isolation by distance and deforestation, among other environmental features, promotes or restricts dispersal and expansion in stone marten (Martes foina) populations. We genotyped 298 martens from eight sites at twenty-two microsatellite loci to characterize the genetic variability, population structure and demographic history of stone martens in Poland. At the landscape scale, limited genetic differentiation between sites in a mosaic of urban, rural and forest habitats was mostly influenced by isolation by distance. Statistical clustering and multivariate analyses showed weak genetic structuring with two to four clusters and a high rate of gene flow between them. Stronger genetic differentiation was detected for one stone marten population (NE1) located inside a large forest complex. Genetic differentiation between this site and all others was 20% higher than between other sites separated by similar distances. The genetic uniqueness index of NE1 was also twofold higher than in other sites. Past demographic history analyses showed recent expansion of this species in north-eastern Poland. A decrease in genetic diversity from south to north, and MIGRAINE analyses indicated the direction of expansion of stone marten. Our results showed that two processes, changes in species distribution boundaries and limited dispersal associated with landscape barriers, affect genetic diversity and structure in stone marten. Analysis of local barriers that reduced dispersal and large scale analyses of genetic structure and demographic history highlight the importance of isolation by distance and forest cover for the past colonization of central Europe by stone marten. This confirmed the hypothesis that human-landscape changes (deforestation) accelerated stone marten expansion, to which climate warming probably has also been contributing over the last few decades.

Watershed responses to Amazon soya bean cropland expansion and intensification

PubMed Central

Neill, Christopher; Coe, Michael T.; Riskin, Shelby H.; Krusche, Alex V.; Elsenbeer, Helmut; Macedo, Marcia N.; McHorney, Richard; Lefebvre, Paul; Davidson, Eric A.; Scheffler, Raphael; Figueira, Adelaine Michela e Silva; Porder, Stephen; Deegan, Linda A.

2013-01-01

The expansion and intensification of soya bean agriculture in southeastern Amazonia can alter watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry by changing the land cover, water balance and nutrient inputs. Several new insights on the responses of watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry to deforestation in Mato Grosso have emerged from recent intensive field campaigns in this region. Because of reduced evapotranspiration, total water export increases threefold to fourfold in soya bean watersheds compared with forest. However, the deep and highly permeable soils on the broad plateaus on which much of the soya bean cultivation has expanded buffer small soya bean watersheds against increased stormflows. Concentrations of nitrate and phosphate do not differ between forest or soya bean watersheds because fixation of phosphorus fertilizer by iron and aluminium oxides and anion exchange of nitrate in deep soils restrict nutrient movement. Despite resistance to biogeochemical change, streams in soya bean watersheds have higher temperatures caused by impoundments and reduction of bordering riparian forest. In larger rivers, increased water flow, current velocities and sediment flux following deforestation can reshape stream morphology, suggesting that cumulative impacts of deforestation in small watersheds will occur at larger scales. PMID:23610178

New law puts Bolivian biodiversity hotspot on road to deforestation.

PubMed

Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro; Helle, Joose; Eklund, Johanna; Balmford, Andrew; Mónica Moraes, R; Reyes-García, Victoria; Cabeza, Mar

2018-01-08

In August 2017, the Bolivian government passed a contentious law downgrading the legal protection of the Isiboro-Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS, for its Spanish acronym), the ancestral homeland of four lowland indigenous groups and one of Bolivia's most iconic protected areas. Due to its strategic position straddling the Andes and Amazonia, TIPNIS represents not only a key biodiversity hotspot in Bolivia, but one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, harboring exceptional levels of endemism and globally important populations of megafauna, as well as protecting substantial topographic complexity likely to support both wildlife migration and species range shifts in response to climate change [1]. The new law, set to authorize the construction of a deeply-contested road through the core of the park, has reopened one of the highest profile socio-environmental conflicts in Latin America. Roads in tropical forests often lead to habitat conversion, and indeed within TIPNIS more than 58% of deforestation is concentrated 5 km or less away from existing roads. It, therefore, seems very likely that the planned road will magnify the current scale and pace of deforestation in TIPNIS, underscoring the urgent need for revisiting the road plans. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

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.

Global patterns of tropical forest fragmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taubert, Franziska; Fischer, Rico; Groeneveld, Jürgen; Lehmann, Sebastian; Müller, Michael S.; Rödig, Edna; Wiegand, Thorsten; Huth, Andreas

2018-02-01

Remote sensing enables the quantification of tropical deforestation with high spatial resolution. This in-depth mapping has led to substantial advances in the analysis of continent-wide fragmentation of tropical forests. Here we identified approximately 130 million forest fragments in three continents that show surprisingly similar power-law size and perimeter distributions as well as fractal dimensions. Power-law distributions have been observed in many natural phenomena such as wildfires, landslides and earthquakes. The principles of percolation theory provide one explanation for the observed patterns, and suggest that forest fragmentation is close to the critical point of percolation; simulation modelling also supports this hypothesis. The observed patterns emerge not only from random deforestation, which can be described by percolation theory, but also from a wide range of deforestation and forest-recovery regimes. Our models predict that additional forest loss will result in a large increase in the total number of forest fragments—at maximum by a factor of 33 over 50 years—as well as a decrease in their size, and that these consequences could be partly mitigated by reforestation and forest protection.

Land use change and precipitation feedbacks across the Tropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCurley, K.; Jawitz, J. W.

2017-12-01

We investigated the relationship between agricultural land expansion, resulting in deforestation in the Tropics (South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia), and the local/regional hydroclimatic cycle. We hypothesized that changes in physical catchment properties in recent decades have resulted in measurable impacts on elements of the water budget, specifically evapotranspiration and precipitation. Using high resolution, gridded global precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data, as well as discharge time series (1960-2007) from the Global Runoff Data Center, we computed the components of the water budget on a catchment scale from 81 tropical basins that have experienced land use change. We estimated the landscape-driven component of evapotranspiration for two time periods, 1960-1983 and 1984-2007, and compared it to the relative change in forest cover across time. The findings show a negative relationship between the landscape-driven component of evapotranspiration and deforestation, suggesting that a decrease in forest cover causes a decrease in evapotranspiration. We further illustrate how this dynamic implicates basin-scale water availability due to land use change stimulated by agricultural production, including potential negative feedback of agricultural area expansion onto precipitation recycling.

Deforestation in Bolivia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This image from Landsat7, acquired on August 1, 2000, shows the new agricultural settlements east of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia in an area of tropical dry forest. Since the mid-1980s, this region has been rapidly deforested as a result of the resettlement of people from the Altiplano (the Andean high plains) and a large agricultural development effort, called the Tierras Baja project. The pie or radial patterned fields (left) are part of the San Javier resettlement scheme. At the center of each unit is a small community including a church, bar/cafe, school, and soccer field-the essentials of life in rural Bolivia. The rectilinear, light-colored areas (right) are fields of soybeans cultivated for export that are mostly funded by foreign loans. The dark strips running through these fields are wind breaks. These are advantageous because the soils in this area are fine and prone to wind erosion. Large version of pie-shaped fields (420 kb) Large version of linear fields (360 kb) Landsat image courtesy USGS EROS Data Center and Landsat7 science team. Photographs courtesy Compton Tucker, NASA GSFC.

Structuring economic incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation within Indonesia.

PubMed

Busch, Jonah; Lubowski, Ruben N; Godoy, Fabiano; Steininger, Marc; Yusuf, Arief A; Austin, Kemen; Hewson, Jenny; Juhn, Daniel; Farid, Muhammad; Boltz, Frederick

2012-01-24

We estimate and map the impacts that alternative national and subnational economic incentive structures for reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD+) in Indonesia would have had on greenhouse gas emissions and national and local revenue if they had been in place from 2000 to 2005. The impact of carbon payments on deforestation is calibrated econometrically from the pattern of observed deforestation and spatial variation in the benefits and costs of converting land to agriculture over that time period. We estimate that at an international carbon price of $10/tCO(2)e, a "mandatory incentive structure," such as a cap-and-trade or symmetric tax-and-subsidy program, would have reduced emissions by 163-247 MtCO(2)e/y (20-31% below the without-REDD+ reference scenario), while generating a programmatic budget surplus. In contrast, a "basic voluntary incentive structure" modeled after a standard payment-for-environmental-services program would have reduced emissions nationally by only 45-76 MtCO(2)e/y (6-9%), while generating a programmatic budget shortfall. By making four policy improvements--paying for net emission reductions at the scale of an entire district rather than site-by-site; paying for reductions relative to reference levels that match business-as-usual levels; sharing a portion of district-level revenues with the national government; and sharing a portion of the national government's responsibility for costs with districts--an "improved voluntary incentive structure" would have been nearly as effective as a mandatory incentive structure, reducing emissions by 136-207 MtCO(2)e/y (17-26%) and generating a programmatic budget surplus.

Soil Carbon and Nutrient Changes Associated with Deforestation for Pasture in Southern Costa Rica

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huth, Timothy J.; Porder, Stephen; Chaves, Joaquin; Whiteside, Jessica H.

2012-01-01

We assessed the effects of deforestation on soil carbon (C) and nutrient stocks in the premontane landscape near Las Cruces Biological Station in southern Costa Rica, where forests were cleared for pasture in the mid-1960s. We excavated six soil pits to a depth of 1 m in both pasture and primary forest, and found that C stocks were 20 kg C per square meters in both settings. Nevertheless, soil delta C-13 suggests 50 percent of the forest-derived soil C above 40 cm depth has turned over since deforestation. Soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stocks derived from the soil pits were not significantly different between land uses (P = 0.43 and 0.61, respectively). At a larger spatial scale, however, the ubiquity of ruts produced by cattle-induced erosion indicates that there are substantial soil effects of grazing in this steep landscape. Ruts averaged 13 cm deep and covered 45 percent of the landscape, and thus are evidence of the removal of 0.7 Mg C/ ha/yr, and 70, 9 and 40 kg/ha/yr of N, P and potassium (K), respectively. Subsoils in this region are 10 times less C- and N-rich, and 2 times less P- and K-rich than the topsoil. Thus, rapid topsoil loss may lead to a decline in pasture productivity in the coming decades. These data also suggest that the soil C footprint of deforestation in this landscape may be determined by the fate of soil C as it is transported downstream, rather than C turnover in situ.

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

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.

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.

Dry Season Rainfall Anomalies due to Deforestation in Northern Mesoamerica: Implications for Forest Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welch, R. M.; Ray, D. K.; Lawton, R. O.; Nair, U.

2005-12-01

In the region stretching between Mexico and Panama, the proposed Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) is an ambitious effort to stem and turn back the erosion of biodiversity in one of the world's biologically richest regions by connecting large existing parks and reserves with new protected areas by means of an extensive network of biological corridors. The success of this effort will depend in part on the ability of the connecting corridors to provide adequate habitats permitting the sustainability of some populations and the migratory movements of others. Ideally these connecting corridors would contain the biological communities which were originally present. Currently, however, many of these connecting corridors do not contain their original forest, but are instead occupied by agricultural landscapes containing croplands, grasslands and degraded woodlands. The forest types in northern Mesoamerica generally are those that require dry season rainfall for their survival, and it is not clear whether current environmental and climatological conditions are sufficient to maintain existing forests and regenerate the pristine forests in the deforested patches. Hourly climatological rainfall rates have been averaged for the time period of 1961 to 1997 at 266 stations in Guatemala and adjacent areas. These climatological rainfall rates have been segregated for forested and deforested regions of each of the major Holdridge life zones. Dry season cloud frequency of occurrences derived from GOES satellite imagery then are. correlated with the March climalogical data in order to generate regression estimates of current local rainfall. Differences between estimated current rainfall and historical values define regions under increased dry season water stress. In general dry season rainfall in March is markedly lower in deforested areas than in forested areas of the same life zone for most of the Holdridge life zones. In some deforested areas within the Holdridge wet forest life zones, estimated March rainfall deficits are >25 mm. Dry season deforested habitats tend to have higher daytime temperatures, are less cloudy, have lower estimated soil moisture and lower values of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) than do forested habitats in the same life zone. The result is hotter and drier air over deforested regions, with lower values of cloud formation and precipitation. The data suggest that deforestation is locally intensifying the dry season and increasing the risk of fire, especially for the long corridor connecting regions. In addition, forest regeneration in some parts of the MBC may not result in second-growth forest that is characteristic of that life zone but rather in forest regeneration more typical of drier conditions. The extent to which this would influence the conservation utility of any given corridor depends upon the ecological requirements of the organisms concerned.

Mass Extinctions Past and Present.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allmon, Warren Douglas

1987-01-01

Discusses some parallels that seem to exist between mass extinction recognizable in the geologic record and the impending extinction of a significant proportion of the earth's species due largely to tropical deforestation. Describes some recent theories of causal factors and periodicities in mass extinction. (Author/TW)

Predators, Prey and Habitat Structure: Can Key Conservation Areas and Early Signs of Population Collapse Be Detected in Neotropical Forests?

PubMed

de Thoisy, Benoit; Fayad, Ibrahim; Clément, Luc; Barrioz, Sébastien; Poirier, Eddy; Gond, Valéry

2016-01-01

Tropical forests with a low human population and absence of large-scale deforestation provide unique opportunities to study successful conservation strategies, which should be based on adequate monitoring tools. This study explored the conservation status of a large predator, the jaguar, considered an indicator of the maintenance of how well ecological processes are maintained. We implemented an original integrative approach, exploring successive ecosystem status proxies, from habitats and responses to threats of predators and their prey, to canopy structure and forest biomass. Niche modeling allowed identification of more suitable habitats, significantly related to canopy height and forest biomass. Capture/recapture methods showed that jaguar density was higher in habitats identified as more suitable by the niche model. Surveys of ungulates, large rodents and birds also showed higher density where jaguars were more abundant. Although jaguar density does not allow early detection of overall vertebrate community collapse, a decrease in the abundance of large terrestrial birds was noted as good first evidence of disturbance. The most promising tool comes from easily acquired LiDAR data and radar images: a decrease in canopy roughness was closely associated with the disturbance of forests and associated decreasing vertebrate biomass. This mixed approach, focusing on an apex predator, ecological modeling and remote-sensing information, not only helps detect early population declines in large mammals, but is also useful to discuss the relevance of large predators as indicators and the efficiency of conservation measures. It can also be easily extrapolated and adapted in a timely manner, since important open-source data are increasingly available and relevant for large-scale and real-time monitoring of biodiversity.

Predators, Prey and Habitat Structure: Can Key Conservation Areas and Early Signs of Population Collapse Be Detected in Neotropical Forests?

PubMed Central

de Thoisy, Benoit; Fayad, Ibrahim; Clément, Luc; Barrioz, Sébastien; Poirier, Eddy; Gond, Valéry

2016-01-01

Tropical forests with a low human population and absence of large-scale deforestation provide unique opportunities to study successful conservation strategies, which should be based on adequate monitoring tools. This study explored the conservation status of a large predator, the jaguar, considered an indicator of the maintenance of how well ecological processes are maintained. We implemented an original integrative approach, exploring successive ecosystem status proxies, from habitats and responses to threats of predators and their prey, to canopy structure and forest biomass. Niche modeling allowed identification of more suitable habitats, significantly related to canopy height and forest biomass. Capture/recapture methods showed that jaguar density was higher in habitats identified as more suitable by the niche model. Surveys of ungulates, large rodents and birds also showed higher density where jaguars were more abundant. Although jaguar density does not allow early detection of overall vertebrate community collapse, a decrease in the abundance of large terrestrial birds was noted as good first evidence of disturbance. The most promising tool comes from easily acquired LiDAR data and radar images: a decrease in canopy roughness was closely associated with the disturbance of forests and associated decreasing vertebrate biomass. This mixed approach, focusing on an apex predator, ecological modeling and remote-sensing information, not only helps detect early population declines in large mammals, but is also useful to discuss the relevance of large predators as indicators and the efficiency of conservation measures. It can also be easily extrapolated and adapted in a timely manner, since important open-source data are increasingly available and relevant for large-scale and real-time monitoring of biodiversity. PMID:27828993

Ecosystem water imbalances created during ecological restoration by afforestation in China, and lessons for other developing countries.

PubMed

Cao, Shixiong; Zhang, Junze; Chen, Li; Zhao, Tingyang

2016-12-01

Land degradation is a global environmental problem that jeopardizes human safety and socioeconomic development. To alleviate severe soil erosion and desertification due to deforestation and overgrazing, China has implemented historically unprecedented large-scale afforestation. However, few studies have accounted for the resulting imbalance between water supply (primarily precipitation) and water consumption (evapotranspiration), which will affect ecosystem health and socioeconomic development. We compared the water balance results between restoration by means of afforestation and restoration using the potential natural vegetation to guide future ecological restoration planning and environmental policy development. Based on estimates of water consumption from seven evapotranspiration models, we discuss the consequences for water security using data obtained since 1952 under China's large-scale afforestation program. The models estimated that afforestation will increase water consumption by 559-2354 m 3 /ha annually compared with natural vegetation. Although afforestation is a potentially important approach for environmental restoration, China's current policy has not been tailored to local precipitation conditions, and will have therefore exacerbated water shortages and decrease the ability to achieve environmental policy goals. Our analysis shows how, both in China and around the world, future ecological restoration planning must account for the water balance to ensure effective and sustainable environmental restoration policy. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Validating Prehistoric and Current Social Phenomena Upon the Landscape of the Peten, Guatemala

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sever, Thomas L.

1997-01-01

The Peten, once inhabited by a population of several million before the collapse of the ancient Maya in the 10th and 11th centuries, is being repopulated toward its former demographic peak. Environmental dynamics, however, impose severe constraints to further development. Current practices in subsistence, commercial agriculture, and cattle raising are causing rapid deforestation on a scale that can only result in soil loss and regional degradation. In view of the current deforestation trends, the question emerges as to how millions of ancient Maya lived successfully in the area for centuries when relatively fewer occupants today threaten the sustainability of the landscape with current agricultural practices. The use of remote sensing technology is a cost-effective methodology for addressing issues in Maya archeology as well as monitoring the environmental impacts being experienced by the current population.

Negative emissions from stopping deforestation and forest degradation, globally.

PubMed

Houghton, Richard A; Nassikas, Alexander A

2018-01-01

Forest growth provides negative emissions of carbon that could help keep the earth's surface temperature from exceeding 2°C, but the global potential is uncertain. Here we use land-use information from the FAO and a bookkeeping model to calculate the potential negative emissions that would result from allowing secondary forests to recover. We find the current gross carbon sink in forests recovering from harvests and abandoned agriculture to be -4.4 PgC/year, globally. The sink represents the potential for negative emissions if positive emissions from deforestation and wood harvest were eliminated. However, the sink is largely offset by emissions from wood products built up over the last century. Accounting for these committed emissions, we estimate that stopping deforestation and allowing secondary forests to grow would yield cumulative negative emissions between 2016 and 2100 of about 120 PgC, globally. Extending the lifetimes of wood products could potentially remove another 10 PgC from the atmosphere, for a total of approximately 130 PgC, or about 13 years of fossil fuel use at today's rate. As an upper limit, the estimate is conservative. It is based largely on past and current practices. But if greater negative emissions are to be realized, they will require an expansion of forest area, greater efficiencies in converting harvested wood to long-lasting products and sources of energy, and novel approaches for sequestering carbon in soils. That is, they will require current management practices to change. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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.

Long-term carbon loss in fragmented Neotropical forests.

PubMed

Pütz, Sandro; Groeneveld, Jürgen; Henle, Klaus; Knogge, Christoph; Martensen, Alexandre Camargo; Metz, Markus; Metzger, Jean Paul; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; de Paula, Mateus Dantas; Huth, Andreas

2014-10-07

Tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, as they store a large amount of carbon (C). Tropical forest deforestation has been identified as a major source of CO2 emissions, though biomass loss due to fragmentation--the creation of additional forest edges--has been largely overlooked as an additional CO2 source. Here, through the combination of remote sensing and knowledge on ecological processes, we present long-term carbon loss estimates due to fragmentation of Neotropical forests: within 10 years the Brazilian Atlantic Forest has lost 69 (±14) Tg C, and the Amazon 599 (±120) Tg C due to fragmentation alone. For all tropical forests, we estimate emissions up to 0.2 Pg C y(-1) or 9 to 24% of the annual global C loss due to deforestation. In conclusion, tropical forest fragmentation increases carbon loss and should be accounted for when attempting to understand the role of vegetation in the global carbon balance.

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.

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

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...

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

Policies for reduced deforestation and their impact on agricultural production.

PubMed

Angelsen, Arild

2010-11-16

Policies to effectively reduce deforestation are discussed within a land rent (von Thünen) framework. The first set of policies attempts to reduce the rent of extensive agriculture, either by neglecting extension, marketing, and infrastructure, generating alternative income opportunities, stimulating intensive agricultural production or by reforming land tenure. The second set aims to increase either extractive or protective forest rent and--more importantly--create institutions (community forest management) or markets (payment for environmental services) that enable land users to capture a larger share of the protective forest rent. The third set aims to limit forest conversion directly by establishing protected areas. Many of these policy options present local win-lose scenarios between forest conservation and agricultural production. Local yield increases tend to stimulate agricultural encroachment, contrary to the logic of the global food equation that suggests yield increases take pressure off forests. At national and global scales, however, policy makers are presented with a more pleasant scenario. Agricultural production in developing countries has increased by 3.3-3.4% annually over the last 2 decades, whereas gross deforestation has increased agricultural area by only 0.3%, suggesting a minor role of forest conversion in overall agricultural production. A spatial delinking of remaining forests and intensive production areas should also help reconcile conservation and production goals in the future.

REDD and PINC: A new policy framework to fund tropical forests as global 'eco-utilities'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trivedi, M. R.; Mitchell, A. W.; Mardas, N.; Parker, C.; Watson, J. E.; Nobre, A. D.

2009-11-01

Tropical forests are 'eco-utilities' providing critical ecosystem services that underpin food, energy, water and climate security at local to global scales. Currently, these services are unrecognised and unrewarded in international policy and financial frameworks, causing forests to be worth more dead than alive. Much attention is currently focused on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and A/R (Afforestation and Reforestation) as mitigation options. In this article we propose an additional mechanism - PINC (Proactive Investment in Natural Capital) - that recognises and rewards the value of ecosystem services provided by standing tropical forests, especially from a climate change adaptation perspective. Using Amazonian forests as a case study we show that PINC could improve the wellbeing of rural and forest-dependent populations, enabling them to cope with the impacts associated with climate change and deforestation. By investing pro-actively in areas where deforestation pressures are currently low, the long-term costs of mitigation and adaptation will be reduced. We suggest a number of ways in which funds could be raised through emerging financial mechanisms to provide positive incentives to maintain standing forests. To develop PINC, a new research and capacity-building agenda is needed that explores the interdependence between communities, the forest eco-utility and the wider economy.

Population genetics of the understory fishtail palm Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti in Belize: high genetic connectivity with local differentiation

PubMed Central

Cibrián-Jaramillo, Angélica; Bacon, Christine D; Garwood, Nancy C; Bateman, Richard M; Thomas, Meredith M; Russell, Steve; Bailey, C Donovan; Hahn, William J; Bridgewater, Samuel GM; DeSalle, Rob

2009-01-01

Background Developing a greater understanding of population genetic structure in lowland tropical plant species is highly relevant to our knowledge of increasingly fragmented forests and to the conservation of threatened species. Specific studies are particularly needed for taxa whose population dynamics are further impacted by human harvesting practices. One such case is the fishtail or xaté palm (Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti) of Central America, whose wild-collected leaves are becoming progressively more important to the global ornamental industry. We use microsatellite markers to describe the population genetics of this species in Belize and test the effects of climate change and deforestation on its recent and historical effective population size. Results We found high levels of inbreeding coupled with moderate or high allelic diversity within populations. Overall high gene flow was observed, with a north and south gradient and ongoing differentiation at smaller spatial scales. Immigration rates among populations were more difficult to discern, with minimal evidence for isolation by distance. We infer a tenfold reduction in effective population size ca. 10,000 years ago, but fail to detect changes attributable to Mayan or contemporary deforestation. Conclusion Populations of C. ernesti-augusti are genetically heterogeneous demes at a local spatial scale, but are widely connected at a regional level in Belize. We suggest that the inferred patterns in population genetic structure are the result of the colonization of this species into Belize following expansion of humid forests in combination with demographic and mating patterns. Within populations, we hypothesize that low aggregated population density over large areas, short distance pollen dispersal via thrips, low adult survival, and low fruiting combined with early flowering may contribute towards local inbreeding via genetic drift. Relatively high levels of regional connectivity are likely the result of animal-mediated long-distance seed dispersal. The greatest present threat to the species is the potential onset of inbreeding depression as the result of increased human harvesting activities. Future genetic studies in understory palms should focus on both fine-scale and landscape-level genetic structure. PMID:19818141

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.

Mapping Tropical Forest Change in the Greater Marañón and Ucayali regions of Peru using CLASlite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Leiva, P.; Knapp, D. E.; Clark, J. K.; Asner, G. P.

2012-12-01

The Carnegie Landsat Analysis System-lite (CLASlite) was used to map and monitor tropical forest change in two large tropical watersheds in Peru: Greater Marañón and Ucayali. CLASlite uses radiometric and atmospheric correction algorithms as well as an Automated Monte Carlo Unmixing (AutoMCU) to obtain consistent fractional land cover per-pixel at high spatial resolution. Fractional land cover is automatically extracted from universal spectral libraries which allow for a differentiation between live photosynthetic vegetation (PV), non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV) and bare substrate (S). Fractional cover information is directly translated to maps of forest cover based in the physical characteristics of the forest canopy. Rates of deforestation and disturbance are estimated through analysis of change in fractional land cover over time. The Greater Marañón and Ucayali watersheds were studied over the period 1985 to 2012, through analysis of 1900 multi-spectral images from Landsat 4, 5 and 7. These images were processed and analyzed using CLASlite to obtain fractional cover and forest cover information for each year within the period. Annualization of the collected maps provided detailed information on the gross rates of disturbance and deforestation throughout the region. Further, net deforestation and disturbance maps were used to show the general forest change in these watersheds over the past 25 years. We found that deforestation accounts for just ~50% of the total forest losses, and that forest disturbance (degradation) is critically important to consider when making forest change estimates associated with losses in habitat and carbon in the region. These results also provide spatially-detailed, temporally-specific information on forest change for nearly three decades. Information provided by this study will assist decision-makers in Peru to improve their regional environmental management. The results, unprecedented in spatial and temporal scope, are another example showing the fidelity of tropical deforestation and forest degradation monitoring made routine using the CLASlite system.

Indigenous burning as conservation practice: neotropical savanna recovery amid agribusiness deforestation in Central Brazil.

PubMed

Welch, James R; Brondízio, Eduardo S; Hetrick, Scott S; Coimbra, Carlos E A

2013-01-01

International efforts to address climate change by reducing tropical deforestation increasingly rely on indigenous reserves as conservation units and indigenous peoples as strategic partners. Considered win-win situations where global conservation measures also contribute to cultural preservation, such alliances also frame indigenous peoples in diverse ecological settings with the responsibility to offset global carbon budgets through fire suppression based on the presumed positive value of non-alteration of tropical landscapes. Anthropogenic fire associated with indigenous ceremonial and collective hunting practices in the Neotropical savannas (cerrado) of Central Brazil is routinely represented in public and scientific conservation discourse as a cause of deforestation and increased CO2 emissions despite a lack of supporting evidence. We evaluate this claim for the Xavante people of Pimentel Barbosa Indigenous Reserve, Brazil. Building upon 23 years of longitudinal interdisciplinary research in the area, we used multi-temporal spatial analyses to compare land cover change under indigenous and agribusiness management over the last four decades (1973-2010) and quantify the contemporary Xavante burning regime contributing to observed patterns based on a four year sample at the end of this sequence (2007-2010). The overall proportion of deforested land remained stable inside the reserve (0.6%) but increased sharply outside (1.5% to 26.0%). Vegetation recovery occurred where reserve boundary adjustments transferred lands previously deforested by agribusiness to indigenous management. Periodic traditional burning by the Xavante had a large spatial distribution but repeated burning in consecutive years was restricted. Our results suggest a need to reassess overreaching conservation narratives about the purported destructiveness of indigenous anthropogenic fire in the cerrado. The real challenge to conservation in the fire-adapted cerrado biome is the long-term sustainability of indigenous lands and other tropical conservation islands increasingly subsumed by agribusiness expansion rather than the localized subsistence practices of indigenous and other traditional peoples.

Indigenous Burning as Conservation Practice: Neotropical Savanna Recovery amid Agribusiness Deforestation in Central Brazil

PubMed Central

Welch, James R.; Brondízio, Eduardo S.; Hetrick, Scott S.; Coimbra, Carlos E. A.

2013-01-01

International efforts to address climate change by reducing tropical deforestation increasingly rely on indigenous reserves as conservation units and indigenous peoples as strategic partners. Considered win-win situations where global conservation measures also contribute to cultural preservation, such alliances also frame indigenous peoples in diverse ecological settings with the responsibility to offset global carbon budgets through fire suppression based on the presumed positive value of non-alteration of tropical landscapes. Anthropogenic fire associated with indigenous ceremonial and collective hunting practices in the Neotropical savannas (cerrado) of Central Brazil is routinely represented in public and scientific conservation discourse as a cause of deforestation and increased CO2 emissions despite a lack of supporting evidence. We evaluate this claim for the Xavante people of Pimentel Barbosa Indigenous Reserve, Brazil. Building upon 23 years of longitudinal interdisciplinary research in the area, we used multi-temporal spatial analyses to compare land cover change under indigenous and agribusiness management over the last four decades (1973–2010) and quantify the contemporary Xavante burning regime contributing to observed patterns based on a four year sample at the end of this sequence (2007–2010). The overall proportion of deforested land remained stable inside the reserve (0.6%) but increased sharply outside (1.5% to 26.0%). Vegetation recovery occurred where reserve boundary adjustments transferred lands previously deforested by agribusiness to indigenous management. Periodic traditional burning by the Xavante had a large spatial distribution but repeated burning in consecutive years was restricted. Our results suggest a need to reassess overreaching conservation narratives about the purported destructiveness of indigenous anthropogenic fire in the cerrado. The real challenge to conservation in the fire-adapted cerrado biome is the long-term sustainability of indigenous lands and other tropical conservation islands increasingly subsumed by agribusiness expansion rather than the localized subsistence practices of indigenous and other traditional peoples. PMID:24349045

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.

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.

The Charcoal Trap: Miombo woodlands versus the energy needs of people

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merbold, Lutz; Maurice, Muchinda; Mukufute M, Mukelabai; J, Scholes Robert; Waldemar, Ziegler; L, Kutsch Werner

2010-05-01

Miombo woodlands cover the transition zone between the dry open savannas and the moist forests in Southern Africa and occupy the vast area of 2.7 Mio km2. These ecosystems are highly disturbed by deforestation, mostly for charcoal production. Charcoal has become the largest source to satisfy urban energy demands. Even though when charcoal is a less energy-efficient fuel compared to firewood but by having higher energy densities and thus being cheaper to transport. Over the last decades, charcoal production has become a full-time employment for migrant workers, resulting in very different and no longer sustainable deforestation patterns. Strategies to reduce the pressure on the miombo woodlands have to take aspects of employment and energy demand into account. The objectives of the study were to examine above- and belowground carbon losses from an intact miombo woodland (protected forest reserve) in comparison to a highly disturbed surrounding area due to charcoal production. Detection of changes in carbon concentrations and stocks were made possible by applying biomass- and soil inventories as well as the eddy-covariance method. These local results were up-scaled to countrywide estimates of carbon lost to the atmosphere by deforestation in addition to carbon losses fossil fuel combustion. The results show, that in the worst case scenario which does not assume any regeneration, a developing country as Zambia, can easily emit as much carbon per capita as a developed Western world country such as France, when deforestation is included in the national inventory (up to 9.1 t of CO2 per capita). However, regeneration is very probably when post-harvest disturbance is low. Further studies on miombo regeneration are highly demanded.

"Ghana faces ecological disaster".

PubMed

Asmah, G F

1990-05-01

The rate of deforestation in Ghana is alarming and urgent steps need to be taken to reverse the trend, Robert D. Mann, a British tropical agriculturist, has warned. He says, "There will be further disintegration of the local climate, deterioration of soil fertility and reduced food-crop production, if the present trend of denudation by felling trees and uncontrolled bush fires is not halted and reversed." Mann, who has conducted research on "deforestation, drought and famine in Africa" was in Ghana recently to speak on the "role of the Church in West Africa in stimulating action to combat desertification". Representatives of protestant churches in Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Gambia, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone attended the 3-day conference which was organized by the Overseas Department of the British Methodist Church. It was to enable participants to share perspectives on the nature, scale and seriousness of the deforestation problem. Participants also exchanged experiences on village-based projects for promoting tree planting and agro-forestry, and developed strategies for the rural development programs. Robert Mann noted that Ghana was not only affected by its proximity to the Sahel, but also by its own deforestation. The situation in Ghana, once renowned for her extensive forests and woodland, has now drastically changed. By 1980/81 the area of closed forest had been reduced to 17,000 sq km from 47,9000 sq km in 1937/38. He said in 1939 the volume of wood exported from Ghana was 42,450 cubic meters but it rose to 1,471,600 cubic meters by 1987. Such activities, Mann said, put severe strain on the environment and affected both the economy and sociocultural basis of the country. full text

Structuring economic incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation within Indonesia

PubMed Central

Busch, Jonah; Lubowski, Ruben N.; Godoy, Fabiano; Steininger, Marc; Yusuf, Arief A.; Austin, Kemen; Hewson, Jenny; Juhn, Daniel; Farid, Muhammad; Boltz, Frederick

2012-01-01

We estimate and map the impacts that alternative national and subnational economic incentive structures for reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD+) in Indonesia would have had on greenhouse gas emissions and national and local revenue if they had been in place from 2000 to 2005. The impact of carbon payments on deforestation is calibrated econometrically from the pattern of observed deforestation and spatial variation in the benefits and costs of converting land to agriculture over that time period. We estimate that at an international carbon price of $10/tCO2e, a “mandatory incentive structure,” such as a cap-and-trade or symmetric tax-and-subsidy program, would have reduced emissions by 163–247 MtCO2e/y (20–31% below the without-REDD+ reference scenario), while generating a programmatic budget surplus. In contrast, a “basic voluntary incentive structure” modeled after a standard payment-for-environmental-services program would have reduced emissions nationally by only 45–76 MtCO2e/y (6–9%), while generating a programmatic budget shortfall. By making four policy improvements—paying for net emission reductions at the scale of an entire district rather than site-by-site; paying for reductions relative to reference levels that match business-as-usual levels; sharing a portion of district-level revenues with the national government; and sharing a portion of the national government's responsibility for costs with districts—an “improved voluntary incentive structure” would have been nearly as effective as a mandatory incentive structure, reducing emissions by 136–207 MtCO2e/y (17–26%) and generating a programmatic budget surplus. PMID:22232665

Earth observation data for assessment of nationwide land cover and long-term deforestation in Afghanistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudhakar Reddy, C.; Saranya, K. R. L.

2017-08-01

This study has generated a national level spatial database of land cover and changes in forest cover of Afghanistan for the 1975-1990, 1990-2005 and 2005-2014 periods. Using these results we have analysed the annual deforestation rates, spatial changes in forests, forest types and fragmentation classes over a period of 1975 to 2014 in Afghanistan. The land cover map of 2014 provides distribution of forest (dry evergreen, moist temperate, dry temperate, pine, sub alpine) and non-forest (grassland, scrub, agriculture, wetlands, barren land, snow and settlements) in Afghanistan. The largest land cover, barren land, contributes to 56% of geographical area of country. Forest is distributed mostly in eastern Afghanistan and constitutes an area of 1.02% of geographical area in 2014. The annual deforestation rate in Afghanistan's forests for the period from 1975 to 1990 estimated as 0.06% which was declined significantly from 2005 to 2014. The predominant forest type in Afghanistan is moist temperate which shows loss of 80 km2 of area during the last four decades of the study period. At national level, the percentage of large core forest area was calculated as 52.20% in 2014.

Land-use change, deforestation, and peasant farm systems: A case study of Mexico's Southern Yucatan Peninsular Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vance, Colin James

This dissertation develops spatially explicit econometric models by linking Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery with household survey data to test behavioral propositions of semi-subsistence farmers in the Southern Yucatan Peninsular Region (SYPR) of Mexico. Covering 22,000 km2, this agricultural frontier contains one of the largest and oldest expanses of tropical forests in the Americas outside of Amazonia. Over the past 30 years, the SYPR has undergone significant land-use change largely owing to the construction of a highway through the region's center in 1967. These landscape dynamics are modeled by exploiting a spatial database linking a time series of TM imagery with socio-economic and geo-referenced land-use data collected from a random sample of 188 farm households. The dissertation moves beyond the existing literature on deforestation in three principal respects. Theoretically, the study develops a non-separable model of land-use that relaxes the assumption of profit maximization almost exclusively invoked in studies of the deforestation issue. The model is derived from a utility-maximizing framework that explicitly incorporates the interdependency of the household's production and consumption choices as these affect the allocation of resources. Methodologically, the study assembles a spatial database that couples satellite imagery with household-level socio-economic data. The field survey protocol recorded geo-referenced land-use data through the use of a geographic positioning system and the creation of sketch maps detailing the location of different uses observed within individual plots. Empirically, the study estimates spatially explicit econometric models of land-use change using switching regressions and duration analysis. A distinguishing feature of these models is that they link the dependent and independent variables at the level of the decision unit, the land manager, thereby capturing spatial and temporal heterogeneity that is otherwise obscured in studies using data aggregated to higher scales of analysis. The empirical findings suggest the potential of various policy initiatives to impede or otherwise alter the pattern of land-cover conversions. In this regard, the study reveals that consideration of missing or thin markets is critical to understanding how farmers in the SYPR reach subsistence and commercial cropping decisions.

Combining satellite, aerial and ground measurements to assess forest carbon stocks in Democratic Republic of Congo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaumont, Benjamin; Bouvy, Alban; Stephenne, Nathalie; Mathoux, Pierre; Bastin, Jean-François; Baudot, Yves; Akkermans, Tom

2015-04-01

Monitoring tropical forest carbon stocks changes has been a rising topic in the recent years as a result of REDD+ mechanisms negotiations. Such monitoring will be mandatory for each project/country willing to benefit from these financial incentives in the future. Aerial and satellite remote sensing technologies offer cost advantages in implementing large scale forest inventories. Despite the recent progress made in the use of airborne LiDAR for carbon stocks estimation, no widely operational and cost effective method has yet been delivered for central Africa forest monitoring. Within the Maï Ndombe region of Democratic Republic of Congo, the EO4REDD project develops a method combining satellite, aerial and ground measurements. This combination is done in three steps: [1] mapping and quantifying forest cover changes using an object-based semi-automatic change detection (deforestation and forest degradation) methodology based on very high resolution satellite imagery (RapidEye), [2] developing an allometric linear model for above ground biomass measurements based on dendrometric parameters (tree crown areas and heights) extracted from airborne stereoscopic image pairs and calibrated using ground measurements of individual trees on a data set of 18 one hectare plots and [3] relating these two products to assess carbon stocks changes at a regional scale. Given the high accuracies obtained in [1] (> 80% for deforestation and 77% for forest degradation) and the suitable, but still to be improved with a larger calibrating sample, model (R² of 0.7) obtained in [2], EO4REDD products can be seen as a valid and replicable option for carbon stocks monitoring in tropical forests. Further improvements are planned to strengthen the cost effectiveness value and the REDD+ suitability in the second phase of EO4REDD. This second phase will include [A] specific model developments per forest type; [B] measurements of afforestation, reforestation and natural regeneration processes and [C] study of Sentinel satellite data series potential use.

Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector.

PubMed

Bustamante, Mercedes; Robledo-Abad, Carmenza; Harper, Richard; Mbow, Cheikh; Ravindranat, Nijavalli H; Sperling, Frank; Haberl, Helmut; Pinto, Alexandre de Siqueira; Smith, Pete

2014-10-01

The agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for approximately 25% of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient management. Mitigation from the sector is thus extremely important in meeting emission reduction targets. The sector offers a variety of cost-competitive mitigation options with most analyses indicating a decline in emissions largely due to decreasing deforestation rates. Sustainability criteria are needed to guide development and implementation of AFOLU mitigation measures with particular focus on multifunctional systems that allow the delivery of multiple services from land. It is striking that almost all of the positive and negative impacts, opportunities and barriers are context specific, precluding generic statements about which AFOLU mitigation measures have the greatest promise at a global scale. This finding underlines the importance of considering each mitigation strategy on a case-by-case basis, systemic effects when implementing mitigation options on the national scale, and suggests that policies need to be flexible enough to allow such assessments. National and international agricultural and forest (climate) policies have the potential to alter the opportunity costs of specific land uses in ways that increase opportunities or barriers for attaining climate change mitigation goals. Policies governing practices in agriculture and in forest conservation and management need to account for both effective mitigation and adaptation and can help to orient practices in agriculture and in forestry towards global sharing of innovative technologies for the efficient use of land resources. Different policy instruments, especially economic incentives and regulatory approaches, are currently being applied however, for its successful implementation it is critical to understand how land-use decisions are made and how new social, political and economic forces in the future will influence this process. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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

Timing of carbon emissions from global forest clearance

Treesearch

J. Mason Earles; Sonia Yeh; Kenneth E. Skog

2012-01-01

Land-use change, primarily from conventional agricultural expansion and deforestation, contributes to approximately 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions1. The fate of cleared wood and subsequent carbon storage as wood products, however, has not been consistently estimated, and is largely ignored or oversimplified by most models estimating...

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.

Red mud application in construction industry: review of benefits and possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lima, M. S. S.; Thives, L. P.; Haritonovs, V.; Bajars, K.

2017-10-01

Red mud is a waste originated in the processing of bauxite into aluminium, which properties of high alkalinity make it cumulatively stored, occupying increasing deforested areas. Annually, it is estimated that approximately 117 million tons of red mud are generated in the world, with no prospect of use, what represents an imminent risk of pollution prone to contamination. Nevertheless, environmental liabilities caused by red mud affect not only the environment, but also the companies responsible for the waste, which will be subject to highest fee payments. Although there are studies that prove the feasibility of using this solid waste in the constitution of ceramic materials, there are no large-scale applications. This study seeks to evaluate the possibilities of red mud application in construction industry, focusing into two main areas: cement production/ceramic material and road construction. Backgrounds from other researchers were taken into consideration and analysed according environmental, economic and technical feasibilities.

A New EO-Based Indicator for Assessing and Monitoring Climate-Related Vegetation Stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCormick, Niall; Gobron, Nadine

2016-08-01

This paper describes a study in which a new environmental indicator, called Annual Vegetation Stress (AVS), has been developed, based on annual anomalies of satellite-measured Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR ), and used to map the area affected annually by vegetation stress during the period 2003-2014, for 108 selected developing countries. Analysis of the results for six countries in the "tropical and subtropical forests" ecoregion, reveals good correspondence between high AVS values, and the occurrence of climatic extremes (droughts) and anthropogenic disturbance (deforestation). The results for Equatorial Guinea suggest that the recent trend of large-scale droughts and rainfall deficits in Central and Western Africa, contribute to increased vegetation stress in the region's tropical rainforests. In East Timor there is evidence of a "biological lag" effect, whereby the main impacts of drought on the country's seasonally dry tropical forests are delayed until the year following the climate event.

Forest loss maps from regional satellite monitoring systematically underestimate deforestation in two rapidly changing parts of the Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milodowski, D. T.; Mitchard, E. T. A.; Williams, M.

2017-09-01

Accurate, consistent reporting of changing forest area, stratified by forest type, is required for all countries under their commitments to the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC 2015 Adoption of the Paris Agreement (Paris: UNFCCC)). Such change reporting may directly impact on payments through comparisons to national Reference (Emissions) Levels under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. The emergence of global, satellite-based forest monitoring systems, including Global Forest Watch (GFW) and FORMA, have great potential in aiding this endeavour. However, the accuracy of these systems has been questioned and their uncertainties are poorly constrained, both in terms of the spatial extent of forest loss and timing of change. Here, using annual time series of 5 m optical imagery at two sites in the Brazilian Amazon, we demonstrate that GFW more accurately detects forest loss than the coarser-resolution FORMA or Brazil’s national-level PRODES product, though all underestimate the rate of loss. We conclude GFW provides robust indicators of forest loss, at least for larger-scale forest change, but under-predicts losses driven by small-scale disturbances (< 2 ha), even though these are much larger than its minimum mapping unit (0.09 ha).

Forest loss maps from regional satellite monitoring systematically underestimate deforestation in two rapidly changing parts of the Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milodowski, D. T.; Mitchard, E. T. A.; Williams, M.

2016-09-01

Accurate, consistent reporting of changing forest area, stratified by forest type, is required for all countries under their commitments to the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC 2015 Adoption of the Paris Agreement (Paris: UNFCCC)). Such change reporting may directly impact on payments through comparisons to national Reference (Emissions) Levels under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. The emergence of global, satellite-based forest monitoring systems, including Global Forest Watch (GFW) and FORMA, have great potential in aiding this endeavour. However, the accuracy of these systems has been questioned and their uncertainties are poorly constrained, both in terms of the spatial extent of forest loss and timing of change. Here, using annual time series of 5 m optical imagery at two sites in the Brazilian Amazon, we demonstrate that GFW more accurately detects forest loss than the coarser-resolution FORMA or Brazil’s national-level PRODES product, though all underestimate the rate of loss. We conclude GFW provides robust indicators of forest loss, at least for larger-scale forest change, but under-predicts losses driven by small-scale disturbances (< 2 ha), even though these are much larger than its minimum mapping unit (0.09 ha).

Forest edge burning in the Brazilian Amazon promoted by escaping fires from managed pastures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cano-Crespo, Ana; Oliveira, Paulo J. C.; Boit, Alice; Cardoso, Manoel; Thonicke, Kirsten

2015-10-01

Understanding to what extent different land uses influence fire occurrence in the Amazonian forest is particularly relevant for its conservation. We evaluate the relationship between forest fires and different anthropogenic activities linked to a variety of land uses in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia. We combine the new high-resolution (30 m) TerraClass land use database with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer burned area data for 2008 and the extreme dry year of 2010. Excluding the non-forest class, most of the burned area was found in pastures, primary and secondary forests, and agricultural lands across all three states, while only around 1% of the total was located in deforested areas. The trend in burned area did not follow the declining deforestation rates from 2001 to 2010, and the spatial overlap between deforested and burned areas was only 8% on average. This supports the claim of deforestation being disconnected from burning since 2005. Forest degradation showed an even lower correlation with burned area. We found that fires used in managing pastoral and agricultural lands that escape into the neighboring forests largely contribute to forest fires. Such escaping fires are responsible for up to 52% of the burned forest edges adjacent to burned pastures and up to 22% of the burned forest edges adjacent to burned agricultural fields, respectively. Our findings call for the development of control and monitoring plans to prevent fires from escaping from managed lands into forests to support effective land use and ecosystem management.

Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon: global prices, deforestation, and mercury imports.

PubMed

Swenson, Jennifer J; Carter, Catherine E; Domec, Jean-Christophe; Delgado, Cesar I

2011-04-19

Many factors such as poverty, ineffective institutions and environmental regulations may prevent developing countries from managing how natural resources are extracted to meet a strong market demand. Extraction for some resources has reached such proportions that evidence is measurable from space. We present recent evidence of the global demand for a single commodity and the ecosystem destruction resulting from commodity extraction, recorded by satellites for one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. We find that since 2003, recent mining deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru is increasing nonlinearly alongside a constant annual rate of increase in international gold price (∼18%/yr). We detect that the new pattern of mining deforestation (1915 ha/year, 2006-2009) is outpacing that of nearby settlement deforestation. We show that gold price is linked with exponential increases in Peruvian national mercury imports over time (R(2) = 0.93, p = 0.04, 2003-2009). Given the past rates of increase we predict that mercury imports may more than double for 2011 (∼500 t/year). Virtually all of Peru's mercury imports are used in artisanal gold mining. Much of the mining increase is unregulated/artisanal in nature, lacking environmental impact analysis or miner education. As a result, large quantities of mercury are being released into the atmosphere, sediments and waterways. Other developing countries endowed with gold deposits are likely experiencing similar environmental destruction in response to recent record high gold prices. The increasing availability of satellite imagery ought to evoke further studies linking economic variables with land use and cover changes on the ground.

Temporal changes in physical, chemical and biological sediment parameters in a tropical estuary after mangrove deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellegaard, Marianne; Nguyen, Ngoc Tuong Giang; Andersen, Thorbjørn Joest; Michelsen, Anders; Nguyen, Ngoc Lam; Doan, Nhu Hai; Kristensen, Erik; Weckström, Kaarina; Son, Tong Phuoc Hoang; Lund-Hansen, Lars Chresten

2014-04-01

Dated sediment cores taken near the head and mouth of a tropical estuary, Nha-Phu/Binh Cang, in south central Viet Nam were analyzed for changes over time in physical, chemical and biological proxies potentially influenced by removal of the mangrove forest lining the estuary. A time-series of satellite images was obtained, which showed that the depletion of the mangrove forest at the head of the estuary was relatively recent. Most of the area was converted into aquaculture ponds, mainly in the late 1990's. The sediment record showed a clear increase in sedimentation rate at the head of the estuary at the time of mangrove deforestation and a change in diatom assemblages in the core from the mouth of the estuary indicating an increase in the water column turbidity of the entire estuary at the time of the mangrove deforestation. The proportion of fine-grained sediment and the δ13C signal both increased with distance from the head of the estuary while the carbon content decreased. The nitrogen content and the δ15N signal were more or less constant throughout the estuary. The proportion of fine-grained material and the chemical proxies were more or less stable over time in the core from the mouth while they varied synchronously over time in the core from the head of the estuary. The sediment proxies combined show that mangrove deforestation had large effects on the estuary with regard to both the physical and chemical environment with implications for the biological functioning.

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

Pedlowski, M.A.; Dale, V.H.

Road development and colonization projects have brought about wide-scale deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The state of Rondonia, located in the western Amazon Basin, best exemplifies the problems related to land-use changes because it has the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. In order to identify the main land-use practices in Rondonia, interviews with local farmers were carried out in the central part of Rondonia, in the PIC (Integrated Colonization Project) Ouro Preto do Oeste. This is the oldest colonization project in the state. The governmental colonization programs attracted migrants to the area through the construction of roadsmore » and infrastructure necessary for the colonists to occupy the land for agricultural practices. The interviews were done on lots of the PIC Ouro Preto and in PAD Urupa to define the background of the colonists, their land-use practices, their economic situation, and their relationships with governmental institutions.« less

How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?

PubMed

Fitzherbert, Emily B; Struebig, Matthew J; Morel, Alexandra; Danielsen, Finn; Brühl, Carsten A; Donald, Paul F; Phalan, Ben

2008-10-01

Oil palm is one of the world's most rapidly increasing crops. We assess its contribution to tropical deforestation and review its biodiversity value. Oil palm has replaced large areas of forest in Southeast Asia, but land-cover change statistics alone do not allow an assessment of where it has driven forest clearance and where it has simply followed it. Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. With rising demand for vegetable oils and biofuels, and strong overlap between areas suitable for oil palm and those of most importance for biodiversity, substantial biodiversity losses will only be averted if future oil palm expansion is managed to avoid deforestation.

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.

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

Carbon Emissions from Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potter, C.; Klooster, S.; Genovese, V.

2009-01-01

A simulation model based on satellite observations of monthly vegetation greenness from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was used to estimate monthly carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems of Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado regions over the period 2000-2002. The NASA-CASA (Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach) model estimates of annual forest production were used for the first time as the basis to generate a prediction for the standing pool of carbon in above-ground biomass (AGB; gC/sq m) for forested areas of the Brazilian Amazon region. Plot-level measurements of the residence time of carbon in wood in Amazon forest from Malhi et al. (2006) were interpolated by inverse distance weighting algorithms and used with CASA to generate a new regional map of AGB. Data from the Brazilian PRODES (Estimativa do Desflorestamento da Amazonia) project were used to map deforested areas. Results show that net primary production (NPP) sinks for carbon varied between 4.25 Pg C/yr (1 Pg=10(exp 15)g) and 4.34 Pg C for the region and were highest across the eastern and northern Amazon areas, whereas deforestation sources of CO2 flux from decomposition of residual woody debris were higher and less seasonal in the central Amazon than in the eastern and southern areas. Increased woody debris from past deforestation events was predicted to alter the net ecosystem carbon balance of the Amazon region to generate annual CO2 source fluxes at least two times higher than previously predicted by CASA modeling studies. Variations in climate, land cover, and forest burning were predicted to release carbon at rates of 0.5 to 1 Pg C/yr from the Brazilian Amazon. When direct deforestation emissions of CO2 from forest burning of between 0.2 and 0.6 Pg C/yr in the Legal Amazon are overlooked in regional budgets, the year-to-year variations in this net biome flux may appear to be large, whereas our model results implies net biome fluxes had actually been relatively consistent from year to year during the period 2000-2002. This is the first study to use MODIS data to model all carbon pools (wood, leaf, root) dynamically in simulations of Amazon forest deforestation from clearing and burning of all kinds.

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.

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

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

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.

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

The South/Southeast Asia Research Initiative (SARI) Update and Meeting Objectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vadrevu, Krishna Prasad

2017-01-01

Land Use/Cover Change (LU/CC) is one of the most important types of environmental change in South and Southeast Asian countries. Several studies suggest that LU/CC in these countries is in large part driven by population growth and economic development. In the region, changes that are most common include urban expansion, agricultural land loss, land abandonment, deforestation, logging, reforestation, etc. To address the research needs and priorities in the region, a regional initiative entitled South Southeast Asia Regional Initiative (SARI) has been developed involving US and regional scientists. The initiative is funded by NASA Land Cover, Land Use Change program. The goal of SARI is to integrate state-of-the-art remote sensing, natural sciences, engineering and social sciences to enrich LU/CC science in South Southeast Asian countries. In the presentation, LU/CC change research in SARI countries will be highlighted including the drivers of change. For example, in South Asia, forest cover has been increasing in countries like India, Nepal and Bhutan due to sustainable afforestation measures; whereas, large-scale deforestation in Southeast Asian countries is still continuing, due to oil palm plantation expansion driven by the international market demand in Malaysia and Indonesia. With respect to urbanization, South and Southeast Asian countries contain 23 megacities, each with more than 10 million people. Rapid urbanization is driving agricultural land loss and agricultural intensification has been increasing due to less availability of land for growing food crops such as in India, Vietnam, and Thailand. The drivers of LUCC vary widely in the region and include such factors as land tenure, local economic development, government policies, inappropriate land management, land speculation, improved road networks, etc. In addition, variability in the weather, climate, and socioeconomic factors also drive LU/CC resulting in disruptions of biogeochemical cycles, radiation and the surface energy balance of the atmosphere. The presentation will also highlight SARI collaborative activities with space agencies, universities and non-government organizations including data sharing mechanisms in the region.

Tipping points in Anthropocene fluvial dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Notebaert, Bastiaan; Broothaerts, Nils; Verstraeten, Gert; Berger, Jean-François; Houbrechts, Geoffrey

2016-04-01

Many rivers have undergone dramatic changes over the last millennia due to anthropogenic on- and offsite impacts. These changes have important implications for the geomorphic and hydrological functioning of the river. In this study we compare the influence of large-scaled off-site anthropogenic impact on three European river systems. We do this using traditional geomorphological methods, combined with palynological and archaeological data; for each catchment a Holocene sediment budget was constructed. The Dijle catchment is located in the central Belgian loess belt, and has undergone intense agriculture for at least the last 2000 year. Pre-Anthropocene floodplain are big marshes lacking a well-established river channel. Anthropogenic deforestation in the headwaters resulted in a sediment pulse from the Bronze Age on. In the main floodplain sediments gradually covered the peat layer, starting near a newly formed river channel and expanding over time towards the floodplain edges. In contrast, this transition is abrupt in the smaller tributary floodplains. Comparison with palynological data shows that this abrupt transition occurs when human impact reaches a certain threshold. The Valdaine region is located in the French Pre-Alps. Floodplain deposition increased over time since the Neolithic time period due to human induced and fire related soil erosion. This general aggradation trend is however interrupted by three major river incision phases which are caused by human land abandonment and dry periods. A second major change in floodplain geomorphology occurs during the High Roman Period and the last 800 year: the fine-grained meandering river changes to a gravel loaded braided river. During this period the upstream mountain reaches became a major sediment source due to deforestation, possibly combined with climate change. During the last century reforestation and land abandonment has led to a new incision phases, and floodplain are now a major source of gravel while the river partially maintains its braided pattern. The Amblève River in the Belgian Ardennes uplands underwent less dramatic changes. Large parts of the catchment are deforested during the last 700 years, leading to an increase in floodplain sedimentation. Despite this major sediment pulse, change in floodplain morphology remained limited to an increase in bank height. We argue that a combination of floodplain and channel morphology, the fine texture of supplied sediment and the high stream power of channel forming events result is a system that is less sensitive to change. Also the relative short time of impact may play a role. These three examples demonstrate the varying impact of human deforestation on floodplain geomorphology. For the Dijle and Valdaine region this lead to dramatic changes once a certain tipping point is reached. In contrast the Amblève river is more resilient to human impact due to its specific morphological setting. The morphology of the catchments and the nature of supplied sediments plays a major role in the sensitivity of fluvial systems to environmental impact. Once the tipping points are reached, it is difficult for the river to revert to its original state and floodplains remain highly impacted.

Building capacity for national carbon measurements for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goetz, S. J.; Laporte, N.; Horning, N.; Pelletier, J.; Jantz, P.; Ndunda, P.

2014-12-01

Many tropical countries are now working on developing their strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including activities that result in conservation or enhancement of forest carbon stocks and sustainable management of forests to effectively decrease atmospheric carbon emissions (i.e. REDD+). A new international REDD+ agreement is at the heart of recent negotiations of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). REDD+ mechanisms could provide an opportunity to not only diminish an important source of emissions, but also to promote large-scale conservation of tropical forests and establish incentives and opportunities to alleviate poverty. Most tropical countries still lack basic information for developing and implementing their forest carbon stock assessments, including the extent of forest area and the rate at which forests are being cleared and/or degraded, and the carbon amounts associated with these losses. These same countries also need support to conduct integrated assessments of the most promising approaches for reducing emissions, and in identifying those policy options that hold the greatest potential while minimizing potential negative impacts of REDD+ policies. The WHRC SERVIR project in East Africa is helping to provide these data sets to countries via best practice tools and methods to support cost effective forest carbon monitoring solutions and more informed decision making processes under REDD+. We will present the results of our capacity building activites in the region and planned future efforts being coordinated with the NASA-SERVIR Hub in Kenya to support to REDD+ decision support.

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

Genetic data suggest a natural prehuman origin of open habitats in northern Madagascar and question the deforestation narrative in this region.

PubMed

Quéméré, Erwan; Amelot, Xavier; Pierson, Julie; Crouau-Roy, Brigitte; Chikhi, Lounès

2012-08-07

The impact of climate change and anthropogenic deforestation on biodiversity is of growing concern worldwide. Disentangling how past anthropogenic and natural factors contributed to current biome distribution is thus a crucial issue to understand their complex interactions on wider time scales and to improve predictions and conservation strategies. This is particularly important in biodiversity hotspots, such as Madagascar, dominated by large open habitats whose origins are increasingly debated. Although a dominant narrative argues that Madagascar was originally entirely covered by woodlands, which were destroyed by humans, a number of recent studies have suggested that past climatic fluctuations played a major role in shaping current biome distributions well before humans arrived. Here, we address the question of the origin of open habitats in the Daraina region in northern Madagascar, using a multiproxy approach combining population genetics modeling and remote-sensing analyses. We show that (i) contrary to most regions of Madagascar, the forest cover in Daraina remained remarkably stable over the past 60 y, and (ii) the golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), a forest-dwelling lemur, underwent a strong population contraction before the arrival of the first humans, hence excluding an anthropogenic cause. Prehuman Holocene droughts may have led to a significant increase of grasslands and a reduction in the species' habitat. This contradicts the prevailing narrative that land cover changes are necessarily anthropogenic in Madagascar but does not preclude the later role played by humans in other regions in which recent lemur bottlenecks have been observed.

Investigating dominant characteristics of fires across the Amazon during 2005-2014 through satellite data synthesis of combustion signatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, W.; Arellano, A. F.

2017-01-01

Estimates of fire emissions remain uncertain due to limited constraints on the variations in fire characteristics. Here we demonstrate the utility of space-based observations of smoke constituents in addressing this limitation. We introduce a satellite-derived smoke index (SI) as an indicator of the dominant phase of large-scale fires. This index is calculated as the ratio of the geometric mean of observed fractional enhancements (due to fire) in carbon monoxide and aerosol optical depth to that of nitrogen dioxide. We assess the usefulness of this index on fires in the Amazon. We analyze the seasonal, regional, and interannual joint distribution of SI and fire radiative power (FRP) in relation to fire hotspots, land cover, Drought Severity Index, and deforestation rate estimates. We also compare this index with an analogous quantity derived from field data or emission inventories. Our results show that SI changes from low (more flaming) to high (more smoldering) during the course of a fire season, which is consistent with the changes in observed maximum FRPs from high to low. We also find that flaming combustion is more dominant in areas where deforestation fires dominate, while smoldering combustion has a larger influence during drought years when understory fires are more likely enhanced. Lastly, we find that the spatiotemporal variation in SI is inconsistent with current emission inventories. Although we recognize some limitations of this approach, our results point to the utility of SI as a proxy for overall combustion efficiency in the parameterization of fire emission models.

Improved estimation of forest area in tropical Africa through ALOS/PALSAR 50-m orthorectified mosaic images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, J.; Xiao, X.; Li, L.; Tenku, S. N.; Zhang, G.; Biradar, C. M.

2013-12-01

Tropical and moist Africa has one of the largest rainforests in the world. However, our knowledge about its forest area and spatial extent is still very limited. Forest area datasets from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) and the analyses of optical images (e.g., MODIS and MERIS) had a significant discrepancy, and they cannot meet the requirements to support the studies of forest carbon cycle and biodiversity, as well as the implementation of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). The reasons for the large data discrepancy are complex and may attribute to the frequent cloud cover, coarse spatial resolution of images (MODIS, MERIS), diverse forest definition and classification approaches. In this study we generated a forest cover map in central Africa at 50-m resolution through the use of the Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) 50-m orthorectified mosaic imagery in 2009. The resultant forest map was evaluated by the ground-reference data collected from the Geo-referenced Field Photo Library and Google Earth, and it has a reasonably high accuracy (producer's accuracy 83% and user's accuracy 94%). We also compared the PALSAR-based forest map with other three forest cover products (MCD12Q1 2009, GlobCover 2009 and VCF tree cover 2009) at the scales of (1) entire study domain and (2) selected sample regions. This new PALSAR-based 50-m forest cover map is likely to help reduce the uncertainty in forest area estimation, and better quantify and track deforestation, REDD+ implementation, and biodiversity conservation in central Africa.

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.

Restoring ecosystem functions and services by overcoming soil threats - The case of Mt. Hekla area in Iceland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorsson, Johann; Petursdottir, Thorunn

2015-04-01

Soils are one of the main fundamental bodies of terrestrial ecosystems. Soil functions contribute substantially to the ecosystem services humans and all other living beings depend on. Current soil threats are in most cases related to anthropogenic impacts and derived environmental pressures. For instance, overexploitation has in many cases damaged ecosystem resilience, affected current equilibrium and caused severe soil degradation. The resulting dysfunctional ecosystems are incapable of providing necessary ecosystem services. In such cases ecosystem restoration is necessary to restore ecosystem functions and ecological succession. The Mt. Hekla area in Iceland is an example of land suffering from accelerated erosion amplified by anthropogenic impacts. The area is 900 km2 located in South Iceland in the vicinity of the volcano Mt. Hekla. Today over 40% of the area is classified as eroded but historical documents indicate that vast part of the area were fertile and vegetated at the time of settlement, 1100 years ago; hence was able to withstand the geological disturbances occurring prior to the arrival of man as is obvious from the pristine woody patches still remaining. Severe soil degradation followed the large-scale deforestation and overgrazing that took place within the area. The initial land degradation event is considered to have occurred in the 11th century, but has been ongoing since then in several episodes. The Þjórsá glacial river flows through the area and carries enormous amounts of sediments every year. After the deforestation, the ecosystem resilience was damaged and the land left exposed to the elements. Eventually large scale wind erosion started, followed with water erosion and increased impact of freeze-thaw processes. The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland started working in the area in the early 20th century and land reclamation operations have been ongoing until this day. Considerable successes have been made as is manifested in the fact that sandstorms, once frequent, do not occur any more in the area. A governmental project (the "Mt. Hekla Forest") has been ongoing since 2007 focusing explicitly on this area. The project's main aim is to restore ecosystem services and increase the system resilience towards volcanic eruptions and other potential natural hazards. In this presentation we will discuss the causes for the ecosystem collapse in the Hekla area in further details and the social-ecological context of the restoration activities implemented.

Ecosystem services from converted land: the importance of tree cover in Amazonian pastures

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, Kirsten; Valentim, Judson; Turner, B. L.

2013-01-01

Deforestation is responsible for a substantial fraction of global carbon emissions and changes in surface energy budgets that affect climate. Deforestation losses include wildlife and human habitat, and myriad forest products on which rural and urban societies depend for food, fiber, fuel, fresh water, medicine, and recreation. Ecosystem services gained in the transition from forests to pasture and croplands, however, are often ignored in assessments of the impact of land cover change. The role of converted lands in tropical areas in terms of carbon uptake and storage is largely unknown. Pastures represent the fastest-growing form of converted land use in the tropics, even in some areas of rapid urban expansion. Tree biomass stored in these areas spans a broad range, depending on tree cover. Trees in pasture increase carbon storage, provide shade for cattle, and increase productivity of forage material. As a result, increasing fractional tree cover can provide benefits land managers as well as important ecosystem services such as reducing conversion pressure on forests adjacent to pastures. This study presents an estimation of fractional tree cover in pasture in a dynamic region on the verge of large-scale land use change. An appropriate sampling interval is established for similar studies, one that balances the need for independent samples of sufficient number to characterize a pasture in terms of fractional tree cover. This information represents a useful policy tool for government organizations and NGOs interested in encouraging ecosystem services on converted lands. Using high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery, fractional tree cover in pasture is quantified for the municipality of Rio Branco, Brazil. A semivariogram and devolving spatial resolution are employed to determine the coarsest sampling interval that may be used, minimizing effects of spatial autocorrelation. The coarsest sampling interval that minimizes spatial dependence was about 22 m. The area-weighted fractional tree cover for the study area was 1.85 %, corrected for a slight bias associated with the coarser sampling resolution. The pastures sampled for fractional tree cover were divided between ‘high’ and ‘low’ tree cover, which may be the result of intentional incorporation of arboreal species in pasture. Further research involving those ranchers that have a higher fractional tree cover may indicate ways to promote the practice on a broader scale in the region.

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.

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.

Analyzing cloud base at local and regional scales to understand tropical montane cloud forest vulnerability to climate change

Treesearch

Ashley E. Van Beusekom; Grizelle Gonzalez; Martha A. Scholl

2017-01-01

The degree to which cloud immersion provides water in addition to rainfall, suppresses transpiration, and sustains tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) during rainless periods is not well understood. Climate and land use changes represent a threat to these forests if cloud base altitude rises as a result of regional warming or deforestation. To establish a baseline...

Third World Conflict and American Response in the Post-Cold War World

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-05

exemplify this problem. Deforestation is largely the result of actions taken by tropical countries (notably Brazil in the Amazon Basin) to convert into more...34productive" uses equatorial rainforests that historically created a kind of green band around the Earth’s middle. That band is slowly disappearing

Diameter growth of subtropical trees in Puerto Rico

Treesearch

Thomas J. Brandeis

2009-01-01

Puerto Rico’s forests consist of young, secondary stands still recovering from a long history of island-wide deforestation that largely abated in the mid-20th century. Limited knowledge about growth rates of subtropical tree species in these forests makes it difficult to accurately predict forest yield, biomass accumulation, and carbon...

A Curriculum Development Model Based on Deforestation and the Work of Kafka.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kember, David

1991-01-01

A tongue-in-cheek look at methods used for curriculum development by many colleges and universities compares the process to two others: destruction of trees and trial by ordeal. Forests are destroyed to produce large quantities of paper for printing of curricula in many versions, followed by Kafkaesque committee scrutiny. (MSE)

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.

Phylogeny, Traits, and Biodiversity of a Neotropical Bat Assemblage: Close Relatives Show Similar Responses to Local Deforestation.

PubMed

Frank, Hannah K; Frishkoff, Luke O; Mendenhall, Chase D; Daily, Gretchen C; Hadly, Elizabeth A

2017-08-01

If species' evolutionary pasts predetermine their responses to evolutionarily novel stressors, then phylogeny could predict species survival in an increasingly human-dominated world. To understand the role of phylogenetic relatedness in structuring responses to rapid environmental change, we focused on assemblages of Neotropical bats, an ecologically diverse and functionally important group. We examined how taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity shift between tropical forest and farmland. We then explored the importance of evolutionary history by ascertaining whether close relatives share similar responses to environmental change and which species traits might mediate these trends. We analyzed a 5-year data set (5,011 captures) from 18 sites in a countryside landscape in southern Costa Rica using statistical models that account and correct for imperfect detection of species across sites, spatial autocorrelation, and consideration of spatial scale. Taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity decreased with deforestation, and assemblages became more phylogenetically clustered. Species' responses to deforestation were strongly phylogenetically correlated. Body mass and absolute wing loading explained a substantial portion of species variation in species' habitat preferences, likely related to these traits' influence on maneuverability in cluttered forest environments. Our findings highlight the role that evolutionary history plays in determining which species will survive human impacts and the need to consider diversity metrics, evolutionary history, and traits together when making predictions about species persistence for conservation or ecosystem functioning.

Feedbacks between land cover and climate changes in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coe, M. T.; Silverio, D. V.; Bustamante, M.; Macedo, M.; Shimbo, J.; Brando, P. M.

2016-12-01

An estimated 20% of Amazon forests and 45% of Cerrado savannas have been cleared to make way for the expansion of croplands and pasturelands in Brazil. Although deforestation rates have decreased or remained steady over the last decade, the cumulative area deforested continues to grow in both biomes. These land-use transitions are expected to influence regional climate by reducing evapotranspiration (ET), increasing land surface temperatures (LST), and ultimately reducing regional precipitation. Here we present results from spatial analyses to quantify the impact of land-use transitions on the regional climate of the Amazon-Cerrado agricultural frontier. The analyses combine satellite observations and model outputs from the MODIS dataset. Results from the southeastern Amazon indicate that transitions from forest to pasture or cropland decreased mean annual ET (by 24% and 32%, respectively) and increased LST (by 4.2°C and 6.4°C). Preliminary results from the Cerrado indicate that transitions from woody savannas to pasture or cropland also result in substantial reductions in mean annual ET (23% and 20%, respectively) and increases in LST (by 1.6°C in both cases). These results reinforce the need to better understand how land-use change at regional scales may alter climate by changing ecosystem properties (beyond carbon stocks and fluxes). It is important to evaluate these responses across different biomes, particularly in tropical regions under increasing deforestation pressure.

Policies for reduced deforestation and their impact on agricultural production

PubMed Central

Angelsen, Arild

2010-01-01

Policies to effectively reduce deforestation are discussed within a land rent (von Thünen) framework. The first set of policies attempts to reduce the rent of extensive agriculture, either by neglecting extension, marketing, and infrastructure, generating alternative income opportunities, stimulating intensive agricultural production or by reforming land tenure. The second set aims to increase either extractive or protective forest rent and—more importantly—create institutions (community forest management) or markets (payment for environmental services) that enable land users to capture a larger share of the protective forest rent. The third set aims to limit forest conversion directly by establishing protected areas. Many of these policy options present local win–lose scenarios between forest conservation and agricultural production. Local yield increases tend to stimulate agricultural encroachment, contrary to the logic of the global food equation that suggests yield increases take pressure off forests. At national and global scales, however, policy makers are presented with a more pleasant scenario. Agricultural production in developing countries has increased by 3.3–3.4% annually over the last 2 decades, whereas gross deforestation has increased agricultural area by only 0.3%, suggesting a minor role of forest conversion in overall agricultural production. A spatial delinking of remaining forests and intensive production areas should also help reconcile conservation and production goals in the future. PMID:20643935

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…

DEFORESTATION AND LANDSLIDES IN YUNNAN, CHINA.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wieczorek, Gerald F.; Wu, Jishan; Li, Tianchi

1987-01-01

Landslides historically have caused severe erosion problems in the Xiao River drainage region of northeastern Yunnan Province, China, that hence resulted in serious economic and social consequences. Owing to monsoonal storms of high rainfall intensity, the erosion potential is high in this mountainous, seismically active region. Landslides transported large quantities of materials into the ravines. During intense storms, high runoff from the deforested areas has mobilized this material into debris flows. Where these flows emerged onto flatter slopes in the lower parts of the watersheds, the channels were too small to hold them, so farmland and villages were inundated. Debris flows in this region during June-August 1985 killed 12 people, damaged roads and the main rail line to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, inundated farmland, and overflowed debris-retention structures. To mitigate these severe erosion problems, several different methods have been used.

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

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.

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.

Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: Global Prices, Deforestation, and Mercury Imports

PubMed Central

Swenson, Jennifer J.; Carter, Catherine E.; Domec, Jean-Christophe; Delgado, Cesar I.

2011-01-01

Many factors such as poverty, ineffective institutions and environmental regulations may prevent developing countries from managing how natural resources are extracted to meet a strong market demand. Extraction for some resources has reached such proportions that evidence is measurable from space. We present recent evidence of the global demand for a single commodity and the ecosystem destruction resulting from commodity extraction, recorded by satellites for one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. We find that since 2003, recent mining deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru is increasing nonlinearly alongside a constant annual rate of increase in international gold price (∼18%/yr). We detect that the new pattern of mining deforestation (1915 ha/year, 2006–2009) is outpacing that of nearby settlement deforestation. We show that gold price is linked with exponential increases in Peruvian national mercury imports over time (R2 = 0.93, p = 0.04, 2003–2009). Given the past rates of increase we predict that mercury imports may more than double for 2011 (∼500 t/year). Virtually all of Peru's mercury imports are used in artisanal gold mining. Much of the mining increase is unregulated/artisanal in nature, lacking environmental impact analysis or miner education. As a result, large quantities of mercury are being released into the atmosphere, sediments and waterways. Other developing countries endowed with gold deposits are likely experiencing similar environmental destruction in response to recent record high gold prices. The increasing availability of satellite imagery ought to evoke further studies linking economic variables with land use and cover changes on the ground. PMID:21526143

Thresholds of species loss in Amazonian deforestation frontier landscapes.

PubMed

Ochoa-Quintero, Jose Manuel; Gardner, Toby A; Rosa, Isabel; Ferraz, Silvio Frosini de Barros; Sutherland, William J

2015-04-01

In the Brazilian Amazon, private land accounts for the majority of remaining native vegetation. Understanding how land-use change affects the composition and distribution of biodiversity in farmlands is critical for improving conservation strategies in the face of rapid agricultural expansion. Working across an area exceeding 3 million ha in the southwestern state of Rondônia, we assessed how the extent and configuration of remnant forest in replicate 10,000-ha landscapes has affected the occurrence of a suite of Amazonian mammals and birds. In each of 31 landscapes, we used field sampling and semistructured interviews with landowners to determine the presence of 28 large and medium sized mammals and birds, as well as a further 7 understory birds. We then combined results of field surveys and interviews with a probabilistic model of deforestation. We found strong evidence for a threshold response of sampled biodiversity to landscape level forest cover; landscapes with <30-40% forest cover hosted markedly fewer species. Results from field surveys and interviews yielded similar thresholds. These results imply that in partially deforested landscapes many species are susceptible to extirpation following relatively small additional reductions in forest area. In the model of deforestation by 2030 the number of 10,000-ha landscapes under a conservative threshold of 43% forest cover almost doubled, such that only 22% of landscapes would likely to be able to sustain at least 75% of the 35 focal species we sampled. Brazilian law requires rural property owners in the Amazon to retain 80% forest cover, although this is rarely achieved. Prioritizing efforts to ensure that entire landscapes, rather than individual farms, retain at least 50% forest cover may help safeguard native biodiversity in private forest reserves in the Amazon. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

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

Remote sensing of fire and deforestation in the tropics from the International Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, James W.; Riggan, Philip J.; Brass, James A.

2000-01-01

In August of 1999 over 30,000 fire counts were registered by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer aboard NOAA satellites over central Brazil, and an extensive smoke pall produced a health hazard and hindered commercial aviation across large portions of the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Clearly fire was an important part of the Brazilian environment, but limitations in satellite and airborne remote sensing prevented a clear picture of what was burning, how much biomass was consumed, where the most critical resources were threatened, or exactly what was the global environmental impact. Another important problem that must be addressed is the deforestation of the rain forest by unauthorized logging operations. To detect these illegal clear cutting activities, continuous, high resolution monitoring must be initiated. The low altitude Space Station offers an ideal platform from which to monitor the tropical regions for both fires and deforestation from an equatorial orbit. A new micro-bolometer-based thermal imager, the FireMapper, has been designed to provide a solution for these problems in fire and resource monitoring. In this paper we describe potential applications of the FireMapper aboard the International Space Station for demonstration of space-borne fire detection and measurement. .

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.

Temporal Forest Change Detection and Forest Health Assessment using Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ya'acob, Norsuzila; Mohd Azize, Aziean Binti; Anis Mahmon, Nur; Laily Yusof, Azita; Farhana Azmi, Nor; Mustafa, Norfazira

2014-03-01

This paper presents the detection of Angsi and Berembun Reserve Forest change for years 1996 and 2013. Forest is an important part of our ecosystem. The main function is to absorb carbon oxide and produce oxygen in their cycle of photosynthesis to maintain a balance and healthy atmosphere. However, forest changes as time changes. Some changes are necessary as to give way for economic growth. Nevertheless, it is important to monitor forest change so that deforestation and development can be planned and the balance of ecosystem is still preserved. It is important because there are number of unfavorable effects of deforestation that include environmental and economic such as erosion of soil, loss of biodiversity and climate change. The forest change detection can be studied with reference of several satellite images using remote sensing application. Forest change detection is best done with remote sensing due to large and remote study area. The objective of this project is to detect forest change over time and to compare forest health indicated by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) using remote sensing and image processing. The forest under study shows depletion of forest area by 12% and 100% increment of deforestation activities. The NDVI value which is associated with the forest health also shows 13% of reduction.

Land-use and carbon cycle responses to moderate climate change: implications for land-based mitigation?

PubMed

Humpenöder, Florian; Popp, Alexander; Stevanovic, Miodrag; Müller, Christoph; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Bonsch, Markus; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Weindl, Isabelle; Biewald, Anne; Rolinski, Susanne

2015-06-02

Climate change has impacts on agricultural yields, which could alter cropland requirements and hence deforestation rates. Thus, land-use responses to climate change might influence terrestrial carbon stocks. Moreover, climate change could alter the carbon storage capacity of the terrestrial biosphere and hence the land-based mitigation potential. We use a global spatially explicit economic land-use optimization model to (a) estimate the mitigation potential of a climate policy that provides economic incentives for carbon stock conservation and enhancement, (b) simulate land-use and carbon cycle responses to moderate climate change (RCP2.6), and (c) investigate the combined effects throughout the 21st century. The climate policy immediately stops deforestation and strongly increases afforestation, resulting in a global mitigation potential of 191 GtC in 2100. Climate change increases terrestrial carbon stocks not only directly through enhanced carbon sequestration (62 GtC by 2100) but also indirectly through less deforestation due to higher crop yields (16 GtC by 2100). However, such beneficial climate impacts increase the potential of the climate policy only marginally, as the potential is already large under static climatic conditions. In the broader picture, this study highlights the importance of land-use dynamics for modeling carbon cycle responses to climate change in integrated assessment modeling.

Multiple pathways of commodity crop expansion in tropical forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyfroidt, Patrick; Carlson, Kimberly M.; Fagan, Matthew E.; Gutiérrez-Vélez, Victor H.; Macedo, Marcia N.; Curran, Lisa M.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Dyer, George A.; Gibbs, Holly K.; Lambin, Eric F.; Morton, Douglas C.; Robiglio, Valentina

2014-07-01

Commodity crop expansion, for both global and domestic urban markets, follows multiple land change pathways entailing direct and indirect deforestation, and results in various social and environmental impacts. Here we compare six published case studies of rapid commodity crop expansion within forested tropical regions. Across cases, between 1.7% and 89.5% of new commodity cropland was sourced from forestlands. Four main factors controlled pathways of commodity crop expansion: (i) the availability of suitable forestland, which is determined by forest area, agroecological or accessibility constraints, and land use policies, (ii) economic and technical characteristics of agricultural systems, (iii) differences in constraints and strategies between small-scale and large-scale actors, and (iv) variable costs and benefits of forest clearing. When remaining forests were unsuitable for agriculture and/or policies restricted forest encroachment, a larger share of commodity crop expansion occurred by conversion of existing agricultural lands, and land use displacement was smaller. Expansion strategies of large-scale actors emerge from context-specific balances between the search for suitable lands; transaction costs or conflicts associated with expanding into forests or other state-owned lands versus smallholder lands; net benefits of forest clearing; and greater access to infrastructure in already-cleared lands. We propose five hypotheses to be tested in further studies: (i) land availability mediates expansion pathways and the likelihood that land use is displaced to distant, rather than to local places; (ii) use of already-cleared lands is favored when commodity crops require access to infrastructure; (iii) in proportion to total agricultural expansion, large-scale actors generate more clearing of mature forests than smallholders; (iv) property rights and land tenure security influence the actors participating in commodity crop expansion, the form of land use displacement, and livelihood outcomes; (v) intensive commodity crops may fail to spare land when inducing displacement. We conclude that understanding pathways of commodity crop expansion is essential to improve land use governance.

Can carbon emissions from tropical deforestation drop by 50% in 5 years?

PubMed

Zarin, Daniel J; Harris, Nancy L; Baccini, Alessandro; Aksenov, Dmitry; Hansen, Matthew C; Azevedo-Ramos, Claudia; Azevedo, Tasso; Margono, Belinda A; Alencar, Ane C; Gabris, Chris; Allegretti, Adrienne; Potapov, Peter; Farina, Mary; Walker, Wayne S; Shevade, Varada S; Loboda, Tatiana V; Turubanova, Svetlana; Tyukavina, Alexandra

2016-04-01

Halving carbon emissions from tropical deforestation by 2020 could help bring the international community closer to the agreed goal of <2 degree increase in global average temperature change and is consistent with a target set last year by the governments, corporations, indigenous peoples' organizations and non-governmental organizations that signed the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). We assemble and refine a robust dataset to establish a 2001-2013 benchmark for average annual carbon emissions from gross tropical deforestation at 2.270 Gt CO2 yr(-1). Brazil did not sign the NYDF, yet from 2001 to 2013, Brazil ranks first for both carbon emissions from gross tropical deforestation and reductions in those emissions - its share of the total declined from a peak of 69% in 2003 to a low of 20% in 2012. Indonesia, an NYDF signatory, is the second highest emitter, peaking in 2012 at 0.362 Gt CO2 yr(-1) before declining to 0.205 Gt CO2 yr(-1) in 2013. The other 14 NYDF tropical country signatories were responsible for a combined average of 0.317 Gt CO2 yr(-1) , while the other 86 tropical country non-signatories were responsible for a combined average of 0.688 Gt CO2 yr(-1). We outline two scenarios for achieving the 50% emission reduction target by 2020, both emphasizing the critical role of Brazil and the need to reverse the trends of increasing carbon emissions from gross tropical deforestation in many other tropical countries that, from 2001 to 2013, have largely offset Brazil's reductions. Achieving the target will therefore be challenging, even though it is in the self-interest of the international community. Conserving rather than cutting down tropical forests requires shifting economic development away from a dependence on natural resource depletion toward recognition of the dependence of human societies on the natural capital that tropical forests represent and the goods and services they provide. © 2015 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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.

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

Time discounting and protected-area priorities.

PubMed

Armsworth, Paul R

2018-05-08

Should conservation organizations focus on protecting habitats that are at imminent risk of being converted but are expensive or more remote areas that are less immediately threatened but where a large amount of land can be set aside? Variants of this trade-off commonly arise in spatial planning. We examined this trade-off using models of land use change near a deforestation frontier. The optimal choice of where to protect was determined by how decisions taken today accounted for ecological benefits and economic costs of conservation actions that would occur sometime in the future. We used an ecological and economic discount rate to weight these benefits and costs. A large economic discount rate favored protecting more remote areas, whereas a large, positive ecological discount rate favored protecting habitat near the current deforestation frontier. We also showed how the decision over where to protect was impacted by the influence that economic factors had in determining landowners' decisions, the rate of technological change and ecological heterogeneity of the landscape. How benefits and costs through time are accounted for warrants careful consideration when specifying conservation objectives. It may provide a niche axis along which conservation organizations differentiate themselves when competing for donor funding or other support. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Tropical forests and the changing earth system.

PubMed

Lewis, Simon L

2006-01-29

Tropical forests are global epicentres of biodiversity and important modulators of the rate of climate change. Recent research on deforestation rates and ecological changes within intact forests, both areas of recent research and debate, are reviewed, and the implications for biodiversity (species loss) and climate change (via the global carbon cycle) addressed. Recent impacts have most likely been: (i) a large source of carbon to the atmosphere, and major loss of species, from deforestation and (ii) a large carbon sink within remaining intact forest, accompanied by accelerating forest dynamism and widespread biodiversity changes. Finally, I look to the future, suggesting that the current carbon sink in intact forests is unlikely to continue, and that the tropical forest biome may even become a large net source of carbon, via one or more of four plausible routes: changing photosynthesis and respiration rates, biodiversity changes in intact forest, widespread forest collapse via drought, and widespread forest collapse via fire. Each of these scenarios risks potentially dangerous positive feedbacks with the climate system that could dramatically accelerate and intensify climate change. Given that continued land-use change alone is already thought to be causing the sixth mass extinction event in Earth's history, should such feedbacks occur, the resulting biodiversity and societal consequences would be even more severe.

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.

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.

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.

Regional annual water yield from forest lands and its response to potential deforestation across the southeastern United States

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Steve G. McNulty; J. Lu; Devendra M. Amatya; Y. Liang; R.K. Kolka

2005-01-01

Regional water yield at a meso-scale can be estimated as the difference between precipitation input and evapotranspiration output. Forest water yield from the southeastern US varies greatly both in space and time. Because of the hot climate and high evapotranspiration, less than half of the annual precipitation that falls on forest lands is available for stream flow...

Major Land Clearing Fires, Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

These many and intense land clearing fires in the Kalimantan region of the island of Borneo, Indonesia (3.5S, 113.5E) are indicative of the many deforestation activities on a worldwide scale. In order to feed and house ever increasing populations, more cleared land is required for agriculture to feed ever increasing populations. More pasture lands are needed for livestock. And, more cleared lands are needed for housing.

Local and Long-Distance Effects of Land Use Change on Nutrient Levels in Streams and Rivers of the Conterminous United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, R. A.; Alexander, R. B.; Schwarz, G. E.

2003-12-01

Determining the effects of land use change (e.g. urbanization, deforestation) on water quality at large spatial scales has been difficult because water quality measurements in large rivers with heterogeneous basins show the integrated effects of multiple factors. Moreover, the observed effects of land use changes on water quality in small homogeneous stream basins may not be indicative of downstream effects (including effects on such ecologically relevant characteristics as nutrient levels and elemental ratios) because of loss processes occurring during downstream transport in river channels. In this study we used the USGS SPARROW (Spatially-Referenced Regression on Watersheds) models of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in streams and rivers of the conterminous US to examine the effects of various aspects of land use change on nutrient concentrations and flux from the pre-development era to the present. The models were calibrated with data from 370 long-term monitoring stations representing a wide range of basin sizes, land use/cover classes, climates, and physiographies. The non-linear formulation for each model includes 20+ statistically estimated parameters relating to land use/cover characteristics and other environmental variables such as temperature, soil conditions, hill slope, and the hydraulic characteristics of 2200 large lakes and reservoirs. Model predictions are available for 62,000 river/stream channel nodes. Model predictions of pre-development water quality compare favorably with nutrient data from 63 undeveloped (reference) sites. Error statistics are available for predictions at all nodes. Model simulations were chosen to compare the effects of selected aspects of land use change on nutrient levels at large and small basin scales, lacustrine and coastal receiving waters, and among the major US geographic regions.

Post-frontier forest change adjacent to Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica

Treesearch

John Schelhas; G. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa

2006-01-01

Effective biodiversity conservation in national parks depends to a large extent on adjacent forest cover. While deforestation and forest fragmentation as a result of colonization and agriculture have been widespread in neotropical countries over the past few decades, in some places agricultural intensification, wage labor, and rural to urban migration are becoming the...

Diameter growth of subtropical trees in Puerto Rico

Treesearch

Thomas J. Brandeis

2009-01-01

Puerto Rico’s forests consist of young, secondary stands still recovering from a long history of island-wide deforestation that largely abated in the mid-20th century. Limited knowledge about growth rates of subtropical tree species in these forests makes it difficult to accurately predict forest yield, biomass accumulation, and carbon sequestration. This study...

High-resolution forest carbon stocks and emissions in the Amazon

Treesearch

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

2010-01-01

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...

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;

Enhanced systems for measuring and monitoring REDD+: Opportunities to improve the accuracy of emission factor and activity data in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solichin

The importance of accurate measurement of forest biomass in Indonesia has been growing ever since climate change mitigation schemes, particularly the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation scheme (known as REDD+), were constitutionally accepted by the government of Indonesia. The need for an accurate system of historical and actual forest monitoring has also become more pronounced, as such a system would afford a better understanding of the role of forests in climate change and allow for the quantification of the impact of activities implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this study was to enhance the accuracy of estimations of carbon stocks and to monitor emissions in tropical forests. The research encompassed various scales (from trees and stands to landscape-sized scales) and a wide range of aspects, from evaluation and development of allometric equations to exploration of the potential of existing forest inventory databases and evaluation of cutting-edge technology for non-destructive sampling and accurate forest biomass mapping over large areas. In this study, I explored whether accuracy--especially regarding the identification and reduction of bias--of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) estimates in Indonesia could be improved through (1) development and refinement of allometric equations for major forest types, (2) integration of existing large forest inventory datasets, (3) assessing nondestructive sampling techniques for tree AGB measurement, and (4) landscape-scale mapping of AGB and forest cover using lidar. This thesis provides essential foundations to improve the estimation of forest AGB at tree scale through development of new AGB equations for several major forest types in Indonesia. I successfully developed new allometric equations using large datasets from various forest types that enable us to estimate tree aboveground biomass for both forest type specific and generic equations. My models outperformed the existing local equations, with lower bias and higher precision of the AGB estimates. This study also highlights the potential advantages and challenges of using terrestrial lidar and the acoustic velocity tool for non-destructive sampling of tree biomass to enable more sample collection without the felling of trees. Further, I explored whether existing forest inventories and permanent sample plot datasets can be integrated into Indonesia's existing carbon accounting system. My investigation of these existing datasets found that through quality assurance tests these datasets are essential to be integrated into national and provincial forest monitoring and carbon accounting systems. Integration of this information would eventually improve the accuracy of the estimates of forest carbon stocks, biomass growth, mortality and emission factors from deforestation and forest degradation. At landscape scale, this study demonstrates the capability of airborne lidar for forest monitoring and forest cover classification in tropical peat swamp ecosystems. The mapping application using airborne lidar showed a more accurate and precise classification of land and forest cover when compared with mapping using optical and active sensors. To reduce the cost of lidar acquisition, this study assessed the optimum lidar return density for forest monitoring. I found that the density of lidar return could be reduced to at least 1 return per 4 m2. Overall, this study provides essential scientific background to improve the accuracy of forest AGB estimates. Therefore, the described results and techniques should be integrated into the existing monitoring systems to assess emission reduction targets and the impact of REDD+ implementation.

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.

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.

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.

A 50-m forest cover map in Southeast Asia from ALOS/PALSAR and its application on forest fragmentation assessment.

PubMed

Dong, Jinwei; Xiao, Xiangming; Sheldon, Sage; Biradar, Chandrashekhar; Zhang, Geli; Duong, Nguyen Dinh; Hazarika, Manzul; Wikantika, Ketut; Takeuhci, Wataru; Moore, Berrien

2014-01-01

Southeast Asia experienced higher rates of deforestation than other continents in the 1990s and still was a hotspot of forest change in the 2000s. Biodiversity conservation planning and accurate estimation of forest carbon fluxes and pools need more accurate information about forest area, spatial distribution and fragmentation. However, the recent forest maps of Southeast Asia were generated from optical images at spatial resolutions of several hundreds of meters, and they do not capture well the exceptionally complex and dynamic environments in Southeast Asia. The forest area estimates from those maps vary substantially, ranging from 1.73×10(6) km(2) (GlobCover) to 2.69×10(6) km(2) (MCD12Q1) in 2009; and their uncertainty is constrained by frequent cloud cover and coarse spatial resolution. Recently, cloud-free imagery from the Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) became available. We used the PALSAR 50-m orthorectified mosaic imagery in 2009 to generate a forest cover map of Southeast Asia at 50-m spatial resolution. The validation, using ground-reference data collected from the Geo-Referenced Field Photo Library and high-resolution images in Google Earth, showed that our forest map has a reasonably high accuracy (producer's accuracy 86% and user's accuracy 93%). The PALSAR-based forest area estimates in 2009 are significantly correlated with those from GlobCover and MCD12Q1 at national and subnational scales but differ in some regions at the pixel scale due to different spatial resolutions, forest definitions, and algorithms. The resultant 50-m forest map was used to quantify forest fragmentation and it revealed substantial details of forest fragmentation. This new 50-m map of tropical forests could serve as a baseline map for forest resource inventory, deforestation monitoring, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) implementation, and biodiversity.

A 50-m Forest Cover Map in Southeast Asia from ALOS/PALSAR and Its Application on Forest Fragmentation Assessment

PubMed Central

Dong, Jinwei; Xiao, Xiangming; Sheldon, Sage; Biradar, Chandrashekhar; Zhang, Geli; Dinh Duong, Nguyen; Hazarika, Manzul; Wikantika, Ketut; Takeuhci, Wataru; Moore, Berrien

2014-01-01

Southeast Asia experienced higher rates of deforestation than other continents in the 1990s and still was a hotspot of forest change in the 2000s. Biodiversity conservation planning and accurate estimation of forest carbon fluxes and pools need more accurate information about forest area, spatial distribution and fragmentation. However, the recent forest maps of Southeast Asia were generated from optical images at spatial resolutions of several hundreds of meters, and they do not capture well the exceptionally complex and dynamic environments in Southeast Asia. The forest area estimates from those maps vary substantially, ranging from 1.73×106 km2 (GlobCover) to 2.69×106 km2 (MCD12Q1) in 2009; and their uncertainty is constrained by frequent cloud cover and coarse spatial resolution. Recently, cloud-free imagery from the Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) became available. We used the PALSAR 50-m orthorectified mosaic imagery in 2009 to generate a forest cover map of Southeast Asia at 50-m spatial resolution. The validation, using ground-reference data collected from the Geo-Referenced Field Photo Library and high-resolution images in Google Earth, showed that our forest map has a reasonably high accuracy (producer's accuracy 86% and user's accuracy 93%). The PALSAR-based forest area estimates in 2009 are significantly correlated with those from GlobCover and MCD12Q1 at national and subnational scales but differ in some regions at the pixel scale due to different spatial resolutions, forest definitions, and algorithms. The resultant 50-m forest map was used to quantify forest fragmentation and it revealed substantial details of forest fragmentation. This new 50-m map of tropical forests could serve as a baseline map for forest resource inventory, deforestation monitoring, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) implementation, and biodiversity. PMID:24465714

The Impacts of Amazon Deforestation on Pacific Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindsey, Leah

Variability in eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) associated with the El Nino Southern Oscillation are known to affect Amazonian precipitation, but to what extent do changing Amazonian vegetation and rainfall impact eastern Pacific SST? The Amazon rainforest is threatened by many factors including climate change and clearing for agricultural reasons. Forest fires and dieback are more likely due to increased frequency and intensity of droughts in the region. It is possible that extensive Amazon deforestation can enhance El Nino conditions by weakening the Walker circulation. Correlations between annual rainfall rates over the Amazon and other atmospheric parameters (global precipitation, surface air temperature, low cloud amount, 500 hPa vertical velocity, surface winds, and 200 hPa winds) over the eastern Pacific indicate strong relationships among these fields. Maps of these correlations (teleconnection maps) reveal that when the Amazon is rainy SSTs in the central and eastern Pacific are cold, rainfall is suppressed over the central and eastern Pacific, low clouds are prominent over the eastern and southeastern Pacific, and subsidence over the central and eastern Pacific is enhanced. Precipitation in the Amazon is also consistent with a strong Walker circulation (La Nina conditions), manifest as strong correlations with the easterly surface and westerly 200 hPa zonal winds. Coupling between Amazon rainfall and these fields are seen in observations and model data. Correlations were calculated using data from observations, reanalysis data, two models under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project/Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5/AMIP), and an AMIP run with the model used in this study, the Community Earth System Model (CESM1.1.1). Although the correlations between Amazon precipitation and the aforementioned fields are strong, they do not show causality. In order to investigate the impact of tropical South American deforestation on the Pacific climate, numerical experiments were performed using the CESM. Amazon deforestation was studied in an idealized world where a single continent was covered in forest and then, in a separate simulation, covered in grassland. Four different sets of simulations were carried out: 1) the baseline idealized set-up with prescribed SST, 2) another with an Andes-like mountain range, 3) a simulation with a slab ocean model rather than prescribed SST, and 4) a simulation repeated with the standard Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4) replaced by the Superparameterized version (SP-CAM). The continent in these simulations was compared to the Amazon, and the ocean to the west of the continent was compared to the eastern Pacific. All of the simulations showed a strong warming of around 3-4°C over the continent going from forest to grassland. A notable decrease in precipitation over land of about 1-3 mm day-1 and increase to the west of the continent of about 1-2 mm day-1 was also observed in most of the simulations. The simulations with the slab ocean model showed enhanced precipitation changes with a corresponding decrease of 2-4 mm day-1 over land and increase of 3-5 mm day-1 west of the continent. Simulations that used the SP-CAM showed very small changes in precipitation, which was likely due to the decreased spin-up time allowed for these simulations. The decrease in the surface roughness and reduction in the evapotranspiration for the simulations with grassland contributed to these changes in surface temperature and precipitation. The conversion of forest to grassland in our experiments imply that deforestation can lead to weakening of the Walker circulation by weakening easterly surface winds and westerly upper tropospheric winds. These findings suggest that large-scale Amazon deforestation is capable of enhancing El Nino conditions.

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...

Payments for Environmental Services in a Policymix: Spatial and Temporal Articulation in Mexico.

PubMed

Ezzine-de-Blas, Driss; Dutilly, Céline; Lara-Pulido, José-Alberto; Le Velly, Gwenolé; Guevara-Sanginés, Alejando

2016-01-01

Government based Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) have been criticized for not maximizing environmental effectiveness through appropriate targeting, while instead prioritizing social side-objectives. In Mexico, existing literature on how the Payments for Ecosystem Services-Hydrological program (PSA-H) has targeted deforestation and forest degradation shows that both the process of identifying the eligible areas and the choice of the selection criteria for enrolling forest parcels have been under the influence of competing agendas. In the present paper we study the influence of the PSA-H multi-level governance on the environmental effectiveness of the program-the degree to which forest at high risk of deforestation is enrolled- building from a "policyscape" framework. In particular, we combine governance analysis with two distinct applications of the policyscape framework: First, at national level we assess the functional overlap between the PSA-H and other environmental and rural programs with regard to the risk of deforestation. Second, at regional level in the states of Chiapas and Yucatan, we describe the changing policy agenda and the role of technical intermediaries in defining the temporal spatialization of the PSA-H eligible and enrolled areas with regard to key socio-economic criteria. We find that, although at national level the PSA-H program has been described as coping with both social and environmental indicators thanks to successful adaptive management, our analysis show that PSA-H is mainly found in communities where deforestation risk is low and in combination with other environmental programs (protected areas and forest management programs). Such inertia is reinforced at regional level as a result of the eligible areas' characteristics and the behaviour of technical intermediaries, which seek to minimise transaction costs and sources of uncertainty. Our project-specific analysis shows the importance of integrating the governance of a program in the policyscape framework as a way to better systematize complex interactions at different spatial and institutional scales between policies and landscape characteristics.

Corn ethanol production, food exports, and indirect land use change.

PubMed

Wallington, T J; Anderson, J E; Mueller, S A; Kolinski Morris, E; Winkler, S L; Ginder, J M; Nielsen, O J

2012-06-05

The approximately 100 million tonne per year increase in the use of corn to produce ethanol in the U.S. over the past 10 years, and projections of greater future use, have raised concerns that reduced exports of corn (and other agricultural products) and higher commodity prices would lead to land-use changes and, consequently, negative environmental impacts in other countries. The concerns have been driven by agricultural and trade models, which project that large-scale corn ethanol production leads to substantial decreases in food exports, increases in food prices, and greater deforestation globally. Over the past decade, the increased use of corn for ethanol has been largely matched by the increased corn harvest attributable mainly to increased yields. U.S. exports of corn, wheat, soybeans, pork, chicken, and beef either increased or remained unchanged. Exports of distillers' dry grains (DDG, a coproduct of ethanol production and a valuable animal feed) increased by more than an order of magnitude to 9 million tonnes in 2010. Increased biofuel production may lead to intensification (higher yields) and extensification (more land) of agricultural activities. Intensification and extensification have opposite impacts on land use change. We highlight the lack of information concerning the magnitude of intensification effects and the associated large uncertainties in assessments of the indirect land use change associated with corn ethanol.

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.

Pervasive transition of the Brazilian land-use system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapola, David M.; Martinelli, Luiz A.; Peres, Carlos A.; Ometto, Jean P. H. B.; Ferreira, Manuel E.; Nobre, Carlos A.; Aguiar, Ana Paula D.; Bustamante, Mercedes M. C.; Cardoso, Manoel F.; Costa, Marcos H.; Joly, Carlos A.; Leite, Christiane C.; Moutinho, Paulo; Sampaio, Gilvan; Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.; Vieira, Ima C. G.

2014-01-01

Agriculture, deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and local/regional climate change have been closely intertwined in Brazil. Recent studies show that this relationship has been changing since the mid 2000s, with the burgeoning intensification and commoditization of Brazilian agriculture. On one hand, this accrues considerable environmental dividends including a pronounced reduction in deforestation (which is becoming decoupled from agricultural production), resulting in a decrease of ~40% in nationwide greenhouse gas emissions since 2005, and a potential cooling of the climate at the local scale. On the other hand, these changes in the land-use system further reinforce the long-established inequality in land ownership, contributing to rural-urban migration that ultimately fuels haphazard expansion of urban areas. We argue that strong enforcement of sector-oriented policies and solving long-standing land tenure problems, rather than simply waiting for market self-regulation, are key steps to buffer the detrimental effects of agricultural intensification at the forefront of a sustainable pathway for land use in Brazil.

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.

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

Cash for carbon: A randomized trial of payments for ecosystem services to reduce deforestation.

PubMed

Jayachandran, Seema; de Laat, Joost; Lambin, Eric F; Stanton, Charlotte Y; Audy, Robin; Thomas, Nancy E

2017-07-21

We evaluated a program of payments for ecosystem services in Uganda that offered forest-owning households annual payments of 70,000 Ugandan shillings per hectare if they conserved their forest. The program was implemented as a randomized controlled trial in 121 villages, 60 of which received the program for 2 years. The primary outcome was the change in land area covered by trees, measured by classifying high-resolution satellite imagery. We found that tree cover declined by 4.2% during the study period in treatment villages, compared to 9.1% in control villages. We found no evidence that enrollees shifted their deforestation to nearby land. We valued the delayed carbon dioxide emissions and found that this program benefit is 2.4 times as large as the program costs. Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Toward an integrated monitoring framework to assess the effects of tropical forest degradation and recovery on carbon stocks and biodiversity.

PubMed

Bustamante, Mercedes M C; Roitman, Iris; Aide, T Mitchell; Alencar, Ane; Anderson, Liana O; Aragão, Luiz; Asner, Gregory P; Barlow, Jos; Berenguer, Erika; Chambers, Jeffrey; Costa, Marcos H; Fanin, Thierry; Ferreira, Laerte G; Ferreira, Joice; Keller, Michael; Magnusson, William E; Morales-Barquero, Lucia; Morton, Douglas; Ometto, Jean P H B; Palace, Michael; Peres, Carlos A; Silvério, Divino; Trumbore, Susan; Vieira, Ima C G

2016-01-01

Tropical forests harbor a significant portion of global biodiversity and are a critical component of the climate system. Reducing deforestation and forest degradation contributes to global climate-change mitigation efforts, yet emissions and removals from forest dynamics are still poorly quantified. We reviewed the main challenges to estimate changes in carbon stocks and biodiversity due to degradation and recovery of tropical forests, focusing on three main areas: (1) the combination of field surveys and remote sensing; (2) evaluation of biodiversity and carbon values under a unified strategy; and (3) research efforts needed to understand and quantify forest degradation and recovery. The improvement of models and estimates of changes of forest carbon can foster process-oriented monitoring of forest dynamics, including different variables and using spatially explicit algorithms that account for regional and local differences, such as variation in climate, soil, nutrient content, topography, biodiversity, disturbance history, recovery pathways, and socioeconomic factors. Generating the data for these models requires affordable large-scale remote-sensing tools associated with a robust network of field plots that can generate spatially explicit information on a range of variables through time. By combining ecosystem models, multiscale remote sensing, and networks of field plots, we will be able to evaluate forest degradation and recovery and their interactions with biodiversity and carbon cycling. Improving monitoring strategies will allow a better understanding of the role of forest dynamics in climate-change mitigation, adaptation, and carbon cycle feedbacks, thereby reducing uncertainties in models of the key processes in the carbon cycle, including their impacts on biodiversity, which are fundamental to support forest governance policies, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Deforestation alters rainfall: a myth or reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanif, M. F.; Mustafa, M. R.; Hashim, A. M.; Yusof, K. W.

2016-06-01

To cope with the issue of food safety and human shelter, natural landscape has gone through a number of alterations. In the coming future, the expansion of urban land and agricultural farms will likely disrupt the natural environment. Researchers have claimed that land use change may become the most serious issue of the current century. Thus, it is necessary to understand the consequences of land use change on the climatic variables, e.g., rainfall. This study investigated the impact of deforestation on local rainfall. An integrated methodology was adopted to achieve the objectives. Above ground biomass was considered as the indicator of forest areas. Time series data of a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor were obtained for the year of 2000, 2005, and 2010. Rainfall data were collected from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia. The MODIS time series data were classified and four major classes were developed based on the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ranges. The results of the classification showed that water, and urban and agricultural lands have increased in their area by 2, 3, and 6%, respectively. On the other hand, the area of forest has decreased 10% collectively from 2000 to 2010. The results of NDVI and rainfall data were analysed by using a linear regression analysis. The results showed a significant relationship at a 90% confidence interval between rainfall and deforestation (t = 1.92, p = 0.06). The results of this study may provide information about the consequences of land use on the climate on the local scale.

Land cover and forest connectivity alter the interactions among host, pathogen and skin microbiome.

PubMed

Becker, C G; Longo, A V; Haddad, C F B; Zamudio, K R

2017-08-30

Deforestation has detrimental consequences on biodiversity, affecting species interactions at multiple scales. The associations among vertebrates, pathogens and their commensal/symbiotic microbial communities (i.e. microbiomes) have important downstream effects for biodiversity conservation, yet we know little about how deforestation contributes to changes in host microbial diversity and pathogen abundance. Here, we tested the effects of landcover, forest connectivity and infection by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) on amphibian skin bacterial diversity along deforestation gradients in Brazilian landscapes. If disturbance to natural habitat alters skin microbiomes as it does in vertebrate host communities, then we would expect higher host bacterial diversity in natural forest habitats. Bd infection loads are also often higher in these closed-canopy forests, which may in turn impact skin-associated bacterial communities. We found that forest corridors shaped composition of host skin microbiomes; high forest connectivity predicted greater similarity of skin bacterial communities among host populations. In addition, we found that host skin bacterial diversity and Bd loads increased towards natural vegetation. Because symbiotic bacteria can potentially buffer hosts from Bd infection, we also evaluated the bi-directional microbiome- Bd link but failed to find a significant effect of skin bacterial diversity reducing Bd infections. Although weak, we found support for Bd increasing bacterial diversity and/or for core bacteria dominance reducing Bd loads. Our research incorporates a critical element in the study of host microbiomes by linking environmental heterogeneity of landscapes to the host-pathogen-microbiome triangle. © 2017 The Author(s).

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

Environmental Controls on Multi-Scale Soil Nutrient Variability in the Tropics: the Importance of Land-Cover Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, K. W.; Kyriakidis, P. C.; Chadwick, O. A.; Matricardi, E.; Soares, J. V.; Roberts, D. A.

2003-12-01

The natural controls on soil variability and the spatial scales at which correlation exists among soil and environmental variables are critical information for evaluating the effects of deforestation. We detect different spatial scales of variability in soil nutrient levels over a large region (hundreds of thousands of km2) in the Amazon, analyze correlations among soil properties at these different scales, and evaluate scale-specific relationships among soil properties and the factors potentially driving soil development. Statistical relationships among physical drivers of soil formation, namely geology, precipitation, terrain attributes, classified soil types, and land cover derived from remote sensing, were included to determine which factors are related to soil biogeochemistry at each spatial scale. Surface and subsurface soil profile data from a 3000 sample database collected in Rond“nia, Brazil, were used to investigate patterns in pH, phosphorus, nitrogen, organic carbon, effective cation exchange capacity, calcium, magnesium, potassium, aluminum, sand, and clay in this environment grading from closed canopy tropical forest to savanna. We focus on pH in this presentation for simplicity, because pH is the single most important soil characteristic for determining the chemical environment of higher plants and soil microbial activity. We determined four spatial scales which characterize integrated patterns of soil chemistry: less than 3 km; 3 to 10 km; 10 to 68 km; and from 68 to 550 km (extent of study area). Although the finest observable scale was fixed by the field sampling density, the coarser scales were determined from relationships in the data through coregionalization modeling, rather than being imposed by the researcher. Processes which affect soils over short distances, such as land cover and terrain attributes, were good predictors of fine scale spatial components of nutrients; processes which affect soils over very large distances, such as precipitation and geology, were better predictors at coarse spatial scales. However, this result may be affected by the resolution of the available predictor maps. Land-cover change exerted a strong influence on soil chemistry at fine spatial scales, and had progressively less of an effect at coarser scales. It is important to note that land cover, and interactions among land cover and the other predictors, continued to be a significant predictor of soil chemistry at every spatial scale up to hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

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.

Spatio-temporal Change Patterns of Tropical Forests from 2000 to 2014 Using MOD09A1 Dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Y.; Xiao, X.; Dong, J.

2016-12-01

Large-scale deforestation and forest degradation in the tropical region have resulted in extensive carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. However, restricted by the availability of good-quality observations, large uncertainty exists in mapping the spatial distribution of forests and their spatio-temporal changes. In this study, we proposed a pixel- and phenology-based algorithm to identify and map annual tropical forests from 2000 to 2014, using the 8-day, 500-m MOD09A1 (v005) product, under the support of Google cloud computing (Google Earth Engine). A temporal filter was applied to reduce the random noises and to identify the spatio-temporal changes of forests. We then built up a confusion matrix and assessed the accuracy of the annual forest maps based on the ground reference interpreted from high spatial resolution images in Google Earth. The resultant forest maps showed the consistent forest/non-forest, forest loss, and forest gain in the pan-tropical zone during 2000 - 2014. The proposed algorithm showed the potential for tropical forest mapping and the resultant forest maps are important for the estimation of carbon emission and biodiversity loss.

Structure and species composition of novel forests dominated by an introduced species in northcentral Puerto Rico

Treesearch

Oscar J. Abelleira Martinez; Mariela A. Rodríguez; Ivonne Rosario; Nataly Soto; Armando López; Ariel E. Lugo

2010-01-01

The African tulip tree, Spathodea campanulata Beauv., is an introduced species forming novel forest types in Puerto Rico. These forests develop naturally after deforestation, agricultural use and land abandonment, and there are many questions as to their ecological characteristics. We sampled structure and species composition of large, small, and juvenile trees (C10,...

The dynamical interactions of Amazon deforestation, intensification of cattle ranching and technology adoption: insights from a socio-ecological model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller-Hansen, Finn; Heitzig, Jobst; Donges, Jonathan F.; Cardoso, Manoel F.; Kurths, Jürgen; Thonicke, Kirsten

2017-04-01

Deforestation in the tropics - with vast consequences for the ecosystem and climate - is mainly driven by subsequent land use, which is not only determined by environmental and economic constraints but also influenced by the use of different production technologies. Inefficient production technologies can lead to excessive use of land, especially in areas where land is easily available and accessible. Here, the adoption of new technologies could help to use already converted land more intensively and ease pressures on ecologically valuable areas. In this study, we take the Brazilian Amazon as a prominent example region to explore the interplay of land-use decisions with environmental and economic dynamics in the process of land-use intensification and frontier expansion. Expansion of pasture land for cattle ranching to satisfy increasing domestic and international demands is one of the important drivers for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Pasture run-down and following land abandonment further drive the expansion of deforestation frontiers into pristine forests. Therefore, intensification of livestock production, especially better pasture management, could potentially reduce deforestation. However, a number of reasons including the large spatial extent of the region make the process of comparing the effectiveness of different management techniques, technologies and policies in the region difficult. Therefore, the effectiveness and possible outcomes of policies to foster intensification are highly debated in the literature. Some authors deny that intensification policies are a viable option to spare forests as long as they are not a scarce resource [1] while others insist that intensification has an effect if only supported by the right policies [2]. In this presentation, we introduce a concise agent-based model to study conditions under which intensification can reduce deforestation and explore the trade-offs between intensified and extensive land uses. While most agent-based models in land science are developed for small study regions, our approach is scalable also to regional levels and for this purpose abstracts from many local specificities. In the proposed model, a collection of cattle ranchers interacts with the local environment via decisions to convert forest into pasture land and manage this pasture. Deforestation and land abandonment is traced by simple land-cover succession equations and ecological dynamics consider the evolution of pasture productivity depending on pasture management, deforestation and tree regrowth. Agent decisions are captured by heuristic strategies depending on economic and ecological constraints. Agents can follow either an extensive strategy, corresponding to traditional cattle ranching with fallow periods and slash-and-burn fertilization, or an intensive strategy, i.e. cattle ranching with high inputs such as machinery and industrial fertilizers. The choice of the production strategy is modeled as a social learning process: Agents are located on a geometric network representing neighborhood and acquaintance relations and imitate the successful strategies of their neighbors. We will present a comprehensive analysis of the model and discuss conditions that foster sustainable land use. Finally, we will give an outlook at possible extensions of the model and applications to issues such as compliance with Brazil's Forest Code and feedbacks from changes in climate. References: [1] Kaimowitz, David and Arild Angelsen (2008). "Will Livestock Intensification Help Save Latin America's Tropical Forests?" In: Journal of Sustainable Forestry 27.1-2, pp. 6-24. [2] Cohn, Avery S, Aline Mosnier, Petr Havlík, Hugo Valin, Mario Herrero, Erwin Schmid, Michael O'Hare, and Michael Obersteiner (2014). "Cattle ranching intensification in Brazil can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by sparing land from deforestation." In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111.20, pp. 7236-7241.

The economic value of the climate regulation ecosystem service provided by the Amazon rainforest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heil Costa, Marcos; Pires, Gabrielle; Fontes, Vitor; Brumatti, Livia

2017-04-01

The rainy Amazon climate allowed important activities to develop in the region as large rainfed agricultural lands and hydropower plants. The Amazon rainforest is an important source of moisture to the regional atmosphere and helps regulate the local climate. The replacement of forest by agricultural lands decreases the flux of water vapor into the atmosphere and changes the precipitation patterns, which may severely affect such economic activities. Assign an economic value to this ecosystem service may emphasize the significance to preserve the Amazon rainforest. In this work, we provide a first approximation of the quantification of the climate regulation ecosystem service provided by the Amazon rainforest using the marginal production method. We use climate scenarios derived from Amazon deforestation scenarios as input to crop and runoff models to assess how land use change would affect agriculture and hydropower generation. The effects of forest removal on soybean production and on cattle beef production can both be as high as US 16 per year per ha deforested, and the effects on hydropower generation can be as high as US 8 per year per ha deforested. We consider this as a conservative estimate of a permanent service provided by the rainforest. Policy makers and other Amazon agriculture and energy businesses must be aware of these numbers, and consider them while planning their activities.

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.

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.

STS-65 Earth observation of Omo River Delta, Lake Turkana in Ethiopia / Kenya

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

STS-65 Earth observation taken aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, is of Omo River Delta and Lake Turkana in Ethiopia / Kenya. The Omo Delta at the north end of Lake Turkana (Rudolph) is one of the long-term environmental study sites of the Space Shuttle program. The environmental interest in this instance is the documentation of the delta's extension into the lake. This delta extension, or aggradation, is felt to be the result of large-scale soil erosion in the recently deforested areas of Ethiopia in the watershed of the Omo River. Using digitized, rectified, machine-classified, and mensurated NASA photography, it has been determined that the Omo Delta has increased in area by approximately 400% to about 1,800 square kilometers since it was first photographed during the Gemini program in 1965. This photograph documents the long-term and increasing turbidity of Lake Turkana and the continuing delta extension southward by both the northwest and northeast distributaries of the Om

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species.

PubMed

Ter Steege, Hans; Pitman, Nigel C A; Killeen, Timothy J; Laurance, William F; Peres, Carlos A; Guevara, Juan Ernesto; Salomão, Rafael P; Castilho, Carolina V; Amaral, Iêda Leão; de Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionízia; de Souza Coelho, Luiz; Magnusson, William E; Phillips, Oliver L; de Andrade Lima Filho, Diogenes; de Jesus Veiga Carim, Marcelo; Irume, Mariana Victória; Martins, Maria Pires; Molino, Jean-François; Sabatier, Daniel; Wittmann, Florian; López, Dairon Cárdenas; da Silva Guimarães, José Renan; Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo; Vargas, Percy Núñez; Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto; Reis, Neidiane Farias Costa; Terborgh, John; Casula, Katia Regina; Montero, Juan Carlos; Feldpausch, Ted R; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N; Montoya, Alvaro Javier Duque; Zartman, Charles Eugene; Mostacedo, Bonifacio; Vasquez, Rodolfo; Assis, Rafael L; Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante; Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni; Andrade, Ana; Camargo, José Luís; Laurance, Susan G W; Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça; Marimon, Beatriz S; Marimon, Ben-Hur; Costa, Flávia; Targhetta, Natalia; Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães; Brienen, Roel; Castellanos, Hernán; Duivenvoorden, Joost F; Mogollón, Hugo F; Piedade, Maria Teresa Fernandez; Aymard C, Gerardo A; Comiskey, James A; Damasco, Gabriel; Dávila, Nállarett; García-Villacorta, Roosevelt; Diaz, Pablo Roberto Stevenson; Vincentini, Alberto; Emilio, Thaise; Levis, Carolina; Schietti, Juliana; Souza, Priscila; Alonso, Alfonso; Dallmeier, Francisco; Ferreira, Leandro Valle; Neill, David; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Arroyo, Luzmila; Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes; Souza, Fernanda Coelho; do Amaral, Dário Dantas; Gribel, Rogerio; Luize, Bruno Garcia; Pansonato, Marcelo Petrati; Venticinque, Eduardo; Fine, Paul; Toledo, Marisol; Baraloto, Chris; Cerón, Carlos; Engel, Julien; Henkel, Terry W; Jimenez, Eliana M; Maas, Paul; Mora, Maria Cristina Peñuela; Petronelli, Pascal; Revilla, Juan David Cardenas; Silveira, Marcos; Stropp, Juliana; Thomas-Caesar, Raquel; Baker, Tim R; Daly, Doug; Paredes, Marcos Ríos; da Silva, Naara Ferreira; Fuentes, Alfredo; Jørgensen, Peter Møller; Schöngart, Jochen; Silman, Miles R; Arboleda, Nicolás Castaño; Cintra, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat; Valverde, Fernando Cornejo; Di Fiore, Anthony; Phillips, Juan Fernando; van Andel, Tinde R; von Hildebrand, Patricio; Barbosa, Edelcilio Marques; de Matos Bonates, Luiz Carlos; de Castro, Deborah; de Sousa Farias, Emanuelle; Gonzales, Therany; Guillaumet, Jean-Louis; Hoffman, Bruce; Malhi, Yadvinder; de Andrade Miranda, Ires Paula; Prieto, Adriana; Rudas, Agustín; Ruschell, Ademir R; Silva, Natalino; Vela, César I A; Vos, Vincent A; Zent, Eglée L; Zent, Stanford; Cano, Angela; Nascimento, Marcelo Trindade; Oliveira, Alexandre A; Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma; Ramos, José Ferreira; Sierra, Rodrigo; Tirado, Milton; Medina, Maria Natalia Umaña; van der Heijden, Geertje; Torre, Emilio Vilanova; Vriesendorp, Corine; Wang, Ophelia; Young, Kenneth R; Baider, Claudia; Balslev, Henrik; de Castro, Natalia; Farfan-Rios, William; Ferreira, Cid; Mendoza, Casimiro; Mesones, Italo; Torres-Lezama, Armando; Giraldo, Ligia Estela Urrego; Villarroel, Daniel; Zagt, Roderick; Alexiades, Miguel N; Garcia-Cabrera, Karina; Hernandez, Lionel; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau; Milliken, William; Cuenca, Walter Palacios; Pansini, Susamar; Pauletto, Daniela; Arevalo, Freddy Ramirez; Sampaio, Adeilza Felipe; Valderrama Sandoval, Elvis H; Gamarra, Luis Valenzuela

2015-11-01

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict that most of the world's >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century.