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Forest Loss in Protected Areas and Intact Forest Landscapes: A Global Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Matias Heino
  • Matti Kummu
  • Marika Makkonen
  • Mark Mulligan
  • Peter H Verburg
  • Mika Jalava
  • Timo A Räsänen

Abstract

In spite of the high importance of forests, global forest loss has remained alarmingly high during the last decades. Forest loss at a global scale has been unveiled with increasingly finer spatial resolution, but the forest extent and loss in protected areas (PAs) and in large intact forest landscapes (IFLs) have not so far been systematically assessed. Moreover, the impact of protection on preserving the IFLs is not well understood. In this study we conducted a consistent assessment of the global forest loss in PAs and IFLs over the period 2000–2012. We used recently published global remote sensing based spatial forest cover change data, being a uniform and consistent dataset over space and time, together with global datasets on PAs’ and IFLs’ locations. Our analyses revealed that on a global scale 3% of the protected forest, 2.5% of the intact forest, and 1.5% of the protected intact forest were lost during the study period. These forest loss rates are relatively high compared to global total forest loss of 5% for the same time period. The variation in forest losses and in protection effect was large among geographical regions and countries. In some regions the loss in protected forests exceeded 5% (e.g. in Australia and Oceania, and North America) and the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside those areas (e.g. in Mongolia and parts of Africa, Central Asia, and Europe). At the same time, protection was found to prevent forest loss in several countries (e.g. in South America and Southeast Asia). Globally, high area-weighted forest loss rates of protected and intact forests were associated with high gross domestic product and in the case of protected forests also with high proportions of agricultural land. Our findings reinforce the need for improved understanding of the reasons for the high forest losses in PAs and IFLs and strategies to prevent further losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Matias Heino & Matti Kummu & Marika Makkonen & Mark Mulligan & Peter H Verburg & Mika Jalava & Timo A Räsänen, 2015. "Forest Loss in Protected Areas and Intact Forest Landscapes: A Global Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-21, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0138918
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138918
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Antoine Leblois, 2021. "Mitigating the impact of bad rainy seasons in poor agricultural regions to tackle deforestation," Post-Print hal-03111007, HAL.
    3. Patrick O Waeber & Lucienne Wilmé & Jean-Roger Mercier & Christian Camara & Porter P Lowry II, 2016. "How Effective Have Thirty Years of Internationally Driven Conservation and Development Efforts Been in Madagascar?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Berman, Nicolas & Couttenier, Mathieu & Leblois, Antoine & Soubeyran, Raphael, 2023. "Crop prices and deforestation in the tropics," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. Joachim Maes & Adrián G. Bruzón & José I. Barredo & Sara Vallecillo & Peter Vogt & Inés Marí Rivero & Fernando Santos-Martín, 2023. "Accounting for forest condition in Europe based on an international statistical standard," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Hui Shi & Tiange Shi & Fang Han & Qin Liu & Zhi Wang & Hulan Zhao, 2019. "Conservation Value of World Natural Heritage Sites’ Outstanding Universal Value via Multiple Techniques—Bogda, Xinjiang Tianshan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-27, October.
    7. Dastan Bamwesigye & Petra Hlavackova & Andrea Sujova & Jitka Fialova & Petr Kupec, 2020. "Willingness to Pay for Forest Existence Value and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Emilia Janeczko & Radosław Dąbrowski & Joanna Budnicka-Kosior & Małgorzata Woźnicka, 2019. "Influence of Urbanization Processes on the Dynamics and Scale of Spatial Transformations in the Mazowiecki Landscape Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Timothy Neal, 2020. "Institutions and the Effectiveness of Environmental Protection," Discussion Papers 2020-15, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    10. Andonova, Liliana B. & Piselli, Dario, 2022. "Transnational partnerships, domestic institutions, and sustainable development. The case of Brazil and the Amazon Region Protected Areas program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Leblois, Antoine & Damette, Olivier & Wolfersberger, Julien, 2017. "What has Driven Deforestation in Developing Countries Since the 2000s? Evidence from New Remote-Sensing Data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 82-102.
    12. Isabel M.D. Rosa & Dennis Rentsch & J. Grant C. Hopcraft, 2018. "Evaluating Forest Protection Strategies: A Comparison of Land-Use Systems to Preventing Forest Loss in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, November.

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