Determination of Deforestation Rates of the World's Humid Tropical Forests
Top Cited Papers
- 9 August 2002
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 297 (5583), 999-1002
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1070656
Abstract
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.Keywords
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