Spatial, spectral and temporal patterns of tropical forest cover change as observed with multiple scales of optical satellite data

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) contain more tropical high-biodiversity forest than the remaining areas of the planet combined, yet experienced more than a third of global deforestation during the first decade of the 21st century. While drivers of forest change occur at multiple scales, we examined forest change at the municipal and national scales integrated with global processes such as capital, commodity, and labor flows. We modeled multi-scale socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental drivers of local forest cover change. Consistent with LAC’s global leadership in soy and beef exports, primarily to China, Russia, the US, and the EU, national-level beef and soy production were the primary land use drivers of decreased forest cover. National level GDPs, migrant worker remittances, and foreign investment, along with municipal-level temperature and area, were also significantly related to reduced forest cover. This challenges forest transition frameworks, which theorize that rising GDP and intensified agricultural production should be increasingly associated with forest regrowth. Instead, LAC forest change was linked to local, national, and global demographic, dietary and economic transitions, resulting in massive net forest cover loss. This suggests an urgent need to reconcile forest conservation with mounting global demand for animal protein.

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Deciphering African tropical forest dynamics in the Anthropocene: How social and historical sciences can elucidate forest cover change and inform forest management

Anthropocene ◽

10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100214 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 100214 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

G. Walters ◽

J. Angus Fraser ◽

N. Picard ◽

O. Hymas ◽

J. Fairhead

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Tropical Forest ◽

Forest Dynamics ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Forest Cover Change ◽

Tropical Forest Dynamics

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Estimating fractional cover of tundra vegetation at multiple scales using unmanned aerial systems and optical satellite data

Remote Sensing of Environment ◽

10.1016/j.rse.2019.01.030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 224 ◽

pp. 119-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Henri Riihimäki ◽

Miska Luoto ◽

Janne Heiskanen

Keyword(s):

Satellite Data ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽

Fractional Cover ◽

Tundra Vegetation ◽

Optical Satellite Data ◽

Aerial Systems

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Approaches of Satellite Remote Sensing for the Assessment of Above-Ground Biomass across Tropical Forests: Pan-tropical to National Scales

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12203351 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (20) ◽

pp. 3351

Author(s):

Sawaid Abbas ◽

Man Sing Wong ◽

Jin Wu ◽

Naeem Shahzad ◽

Syed Muhammad Irteza

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Land Use ◽

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Tropical Forest ◽

Tropical Forests ◽

Satellite Remote Sensing ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Above Ground Biomass ◽

Forest Cover Change ◽

Ground Biomass

Tropical forests are acknowledged for providing important ecosystem services and are renowned as “the lungs of the planet Earth” due to their role in the exchange of gasses—particularly inhaling CO2 and breathing out O2—within the atmosphere. Overall, the forests provide 50% of the total plant biomass of the Earth, which accounts for 450–650 PgC globally. Understanding and accurate estimates of tropical forest biomass stocks are imperative in ascertaining the contribution of the tropical forests in global carbon dynamics. This article provides a review of remote-sensing-based approaches for the assessment of above-ground biomass (AGB) across the tropical forests (global to national scales), summarizes the current estimate of pan-tropical AGB, and discusses major advancements in remote-sensing-based approaches for AGB mapping. The review is based on the journal papers, books and internet resources during the 1980s to 2020. Over the past 10 years, a myriad of research has been carried out to develop methods of estimating AGB by integrating different remote sensing datasets at varying spatial scales. Relationships of biomass with canopy height and other structural attributes have developed a new paradigm of pan-tropical or global AGB estimation from space-borne satellite remote sensing. Uncertainties in mapping tropical forest cover and/or forest cover change are related to spatial resolution; definition adapted for ‘forest’ classification; the frequency of available images; cloud covers; time steps used to map forest cover change and post-deforestation land cover land use (LCLU)-type mapping. The integration of products derived from recent Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) satellite missions with conventional optical satellite images has strong potential to overcome most of these uncertainties for recent or future biomass estimates. However, it will remain a challenging task to map reference biomass stock in the 1980s and 1990s and consequently to accurately quantify the loss or gain in forest cover over the periods. Aside from these limitations, the estimation of biomass and carbon balance can be enhanced by taking account of post-deforestation forest recovery and LCLU type; land-use history; diversity of forest being recovered; variations in physical attributes of plants (e.g., tree height; diameter; and canopy spread); environmental constraints; abundance and mortalities of trees; and the age of secondary forests. New methods should consider peak carbon sink time while developing carbon sequestration models for intact or old-growth tropical forests as well as the carbon sequestration capacity of recovering forest with varying levels of floristic diversity.

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Global tropical forest area measurements derived from coarse resolution satellite imagery: a comparison with other approaches

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892998000083 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 37-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

PHILIPPE MAYAUX ◽

FRÉDÉRIC ACHARD ◽

JEAN-PAUL MALINGREAU

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Satellite Data ◽

Information Technologies ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Forest Area ◽

Base Line ◽

High Resolution Data ◽

Forest Policies ◽

Forest Distribution ◽

Definition Of

Definition of appropriate tropical forest policies must be supported by better information about forest distribution. New information technologies make possible the development of advanced systems which can accurately report on tropical forest area issues. The European Commission TREES (Tropical Ecosystem Environment observation by Satellite) project has produced a consistent map of the humid tropical forest cover based on 1 km resolution satellite data. This base-line reference information can be further calibrated using a sample of high-resolution data, in order to produce accurate forest area estimates. There is good general agreement with other pantropical inventories (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Forest Resources Assessment 90, World Conservation Union Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests, National Aeronautics & Space Administration [USA] Landsat Pathfinder) using different approaches (compilation of existing data, statistical sampling, exhaustive survey with satellite data). However, for some countries, large differences appear among the assessments. Discrepancies arising from this comparison are here analysed in terms of limitations associated with each approach and they are generally associated with differences in forest definition, data source and processing methodology. According to the different inventories, the total area of closed tropical forest is estimated at 1090–1220 million hectares with the following continental distribution: 185–215 million hectares in Africa, 235–275 million hectares in Asia, and 670–730 million hectares in Latin America. A proposal for improving the current state of forest statistics by combining the contribution of the various methods under review is made.

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