IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natsus/v3y2020i4d10.1038_s41893-019-0470-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Upturn in secondary forest clearing buffers primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon

Author

Listed:
  • Yunxia Wang

    (University of Leeds)

  • Guy Ziv

    (University of Leeds)

  • Marcos Adami

    (National Institute for Space Research (INPE))

  • Cláudio Aparecido de Almeida

    (National Institute for Space Research (INPE))

  • João Francisco Gonçalves Antunes

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA))

  • Alexandre Camargo Coutinho

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA))

  • Júlio César Dalla Mora Esquerdo

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA))

  • Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes

    (National Institute for Space Research (INPE))

  • David Galbraith

    (University of Leeds)

Abstract

Brazil contains two-thirds of remaining Amazonian rainforests and is responsible for the most Amazon forest loss. Primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has declined considerably since 2004 but secondary forest loss has never been quantified. We use a recently developed high-resolution land use/land cover dataset to track secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon over 14 yr, providing the first estimates of secondary forest loss for the region. We find that secondary forest loss increased by (187 ± 48)% from 2008 to 2014. Moreover, the proportion of total forest loss accounted for by secondary forests rose from (37 ± 3)% in 2000 to (72 ± 5)% in 2014. The recent acceleration in secondary forests loss occurred across the entire region and was not driven simply by increasing secondary forest area but probably a conscious preferential shift towards clearance of a little-protected forest ecosystem (secondary forests). Our results suggest that secondary forests loss has eased deforestation pressure on primary forests. However, this has been at the expense of a lost carbon sequestration opportunity of 2.59–2.66 Pg C over our study period.

Suggested Citation

  • Yunxia Wang & Guy Ziv & Marcos Adami & Cláudio Aparecido de Almeida & João Francisco Gonçalves Antunes & Alexandre Camargo Coutinho & Júlio César Dalla Mora Esquerdo & Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes & Dav, 2020. "Upturn in secondary forest clearing buffers primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(4), pages 290-295, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:3:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1038_s41893-019-0470-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0470-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0470-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41893-019-0470-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elahe Moradi & Alireza Sharifi, 2023. "Assessment of forest cover changes using multi-temporal Landsat observation," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1351-1360, February.
    2. Zhang, Yajuan & Zhang, Lijin & Wang, Huan & Wang, Yueyao & Ding, Jiaqi & Shen, Jiashu & Wang, Zheng & Liu, Yinglu & Liang, Chenyu & Li, Shuangcheng, 2022. "Reconstructing deforestation patterns in China from 2000 to 2019," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 465(C).
    3. Silva-Olaya, Adriana M. & Ortíz-Morea, Fausto A. & España-Cetina, Gina P. & Olaya-Montes, Andrés & Grados, Daniel & Gasparatos, Alexandros & Cherubin, Mauricio Roberto, 2022. "Composite index for soil-related ecosystem services assessment: Insights from rainforest-pasture transitions in the Colombian Amazon," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    4. Marcus V. F. Silveira & Caio A. Petri & Igor S. Broggio & Gabriel O. Chagas & Mateus S. Macul & Cândida C. S. S. Leite & Edson M. M. Ferrari & Carolina G. V. Amim & Ana L. R. Freitas & Alline Z. V. Mo, 2020. "Drivers of Fire Anomalies in the Brazilian Amazon: Lessons Learned from the 2019 Fire Crisis," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:3:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1038_s41893-019-0470-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.