title: International trade causes large net economic losses in tropical countries via the destruction of ecosystem services.
abstract: Despite the large implications of the use of tropical land for exports ("land absorption") on ecosystem services (ES) and global biodiversity conservation, the magnitude of these externalities is not known. We quantify the net value of ES lost in tropical countries as a result of cropland, forestland and pastureland absorption for exports after deducting ES gains through imports ("land displacement"). We find that net ES gains occur only in 7 out of the 41 countries and regions considered. We estimate global annual net losses of over 1.7 x 10(12) international dollars (I$) (I$1.1 x 10(12) if carbon-related services are not considered). After deducting the benefits from agricultural, forest and livestock rents in land replacing tropical forests, the net annual losses are I$1.3 and I$0.7 x 10(12), respectively. The results highlight the large magnitude of tropical ES losses through international trade that are not compensated by the rents of land uses in absorbed land.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Junning
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Symes
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117543, Republic of Singapore. dbsctlr@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: L Roman
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2894-1473
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Carrasco
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D044822:Biodiversity; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D003132:Commerce; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Conservation planning; Ecological footprint analysis; International trade; Tropical deforestation; Under-priced exports