Determination of deforestation rates of the world's humid tropical forests.
A recently completed research program (TREES) employing the global imaging capabilities of Earth-observing satellites provides updated information on the status of the world's humid tropical forest cover. Between 1990 and 1997, 5.8 +/- 1.4 million hectares of humid tropical forest were lost each year, with a further 2.3 +/- 0.7 million hectares of forest visibly degraded. These figures indicate that the global net rate of change in forest cover for the humid tropics is 23% lower than the generally accepted rate. This result affects the calculation of carbon fluxes in the global budget and means that the terrestrial sink is smaller than previously inferred.
Achard
Frédéric
F
Global Vegetation Monitoring Unit, Joint Research Centre, TP 440, 21020 Ispra, Italy. frederic.achard@jrc.it
Eva
Hugh D
HD
Stibig
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
Mayaux
Philippe
P
Gallego
Javier
J
Richards
Timothy
T
Malingreau
Jean-Paul
JP
D000349:Africa; D000383:Agriculture; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D006813:Humidity; D007194:India; D007843:Latin America; D008377:Maps as Topic; D018531:Spacecraft; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development; D014329:Tropical Climate
D002244:Carbon