Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory
Forest ecosystems play an indispensable role in addressing various pressing sustainability and social-ecological challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. However, global forest loss has been, and still is today, an important issue. Here, based on spatially explicit data, we show that...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5 |
| _version_ | 1797747426447065088 |
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| author | Ronald C Estoque Rajarshi Dasgupta Karina Winkler Valerio Avitabile Brian A Johnson Soe W Myint Yan Gao Makoto Ooba Yuji Murayama Rodel D Lasco |
| author_facet | Ronald C Estoque Rajarshi Dasgupta Karina Winkler Valerio Avitabile Brian A Johnson Soe W Myint Yan Gao Makoto Ooba Yuji Murayama Rodel D Lasco |
| author_sort | Ronald C Estoque |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest ecosystems play an indispensable role in addressing various pressing sustainability and social-ecological challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. However, global forest loss has been, and still is today, an important issue. Here, based on spatially explicit data, we show that over the past 60 years (1960–2019), the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million ha (i.e. 10% more than the size of the entire Borneo island), with forest loss (437.3 million ha) outweighing forest gain (355.6 million ha). With this forest decline and the population increase (4.68 billion) over the period, the global forest per capita has decreased by over 60%, from 1.4 ha in 1960 to 0.5 ha in 2019. The spatiotemporal pattern of forest change supports the forest transition theory, with forest losses occurring primarily in the lower income countries in the tropics and forest gains in the higher income countries in the extratropics. Furthermore, economic growth has a stronger association with net forest gain than with net forest loss. Our results highlight the need to strengthen the support given to lower income countries, especially in the tropics, to help improve their capacity to minimize or end their forest losses. To help address the displacement of forest losses to the lower income countries in the tropics, higher income nations need to reduce their dependence on imported tropical forest products. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f103675b5cc5489b9a7d317e40eac30e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:24Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-f103675b5cc5489b9a7d317e40eac30e2023-08-09T15:14:13ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-0117808402210.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theoryRonald C Estoque0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9681-492XRajarshi Dasgupta1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0051-5090Karina Winkler2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2591-0620Valerio Avitabile3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3646-052XBrian A Johnson4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1911-3585Soe W Myint5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-1211Yan Gao6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1345-1583Makoto Ooba7Yuji Murayama8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4397-6882Rodel D Lasco9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3675-4237Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute , Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, JapanInstitute for Global Environmental Strategies , Hayama, Kanagawa, 240-0115, JapanLaboratory of Geoinformation and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University & Research , 6708 Wageningen, The Netherlands; Land Use Change & Climate Research Group, IMK-IFU, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre , 21027 Ispra (VA), ItalyInstitute for Global Environmental Strategies , Hayama, Kanagawa, 240-0115, JapanSchool of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85281, United States of AmericaCentro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , 58190 Morelia, MéxicoCenter for Climate Change Adaptation, National Institute for Environmental Studies , Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, JapanFaculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba , Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, JapanWorld Agroforestry Centre, International Rice Research Institute , Los Baños, 4031 Laguna, and Oscar M. Lopez Center, Pasig City 1604, Metro Manila, PhilippinesForest ecosystems play an indispensable role in addressing various pressing sustainability and social-ecological challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. However, global forest loss has been, and still is today, an important issue. Here, based on spatially explicit data, we show that over the past 60 years (1960–2019), the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million ha (i.e. 10% more than the size of the entire Borneo island), with forest loss (437.3 million ha) outweighing forest gain (355.6 million ha). With this forest decline and the population increase (4.68 billion) over the period, the global forest per capita has decreased by over 60%, from 1.4 ha in 1960 to 0.5 ha in 2019. The spatiotemporal pattern of forest change supports the forest transition theory, with forest losses occurring primarily in the lower income countries in the tropics and forest gains in the higher income countries in the extratropics. Furthermore, economic growth has a stronger association with net forest gain than with net forest loss. Our results highlight the need to strengthen the support given to lower income countries, especially in the tropics, to help improve their capacity to minimize or end their forest losses. To help address the displacement of forest losses to the lower income countries in the tropics, higher income nations need to reduce their dependence on imported tropical forest products.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5forest ecosystemsforest loss displacementforest transitionglobal forest losslow income countriesSDGs |
| spellingShingle | Ronald C Estoque Rajarshi Dasgupta Karina Winkler Valerio Avitabile Brian A Johnson Soe W Myint Yan Gao Makoto Ooba Yuji Murayama Rodel D Lasco Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory Environmental Research Letters forest ecosystems forest loss displacement forest transition global forest loss low income countries SDGs |
| title | Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| title_full | Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| title_fullStr | Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| title_short | Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| title_sort | spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory |
| topic | forest ecosystems forest loss displacement forest transition global forest loss low income countries SDGs |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5 |
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