An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries
Open accessAbstract
Countries are encouraged to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the development of national strategies and action plans for REDD+. In this letter we provide an assessment of proximate drivers of deforestation and forest degradation by synthesizing empirical data reported by countries as part of their REDD+ readiness activities, CIFOR country profiles, UNFCCC national communications and scientific literature. Based on deforestation rate and remaining forest cover 100 (sub)tropical non-Annex I countries were grouped into four forest transition phases. Driver data of 46 countries were summarized for each phase and by continent, and were used as a proxy to estimate drivers for the countries with missing data. The deforestation drivers are similar in Africa and Asia, while degradation drivers are more similar in Latin America and Asia. Commercial agriculture is the most important driver of deforestation, followed by subsistence agriculture. Timber extraction and logging drives most of the degradation, followed by fuelwood collection and charcoal production, uncontrolled fire and livestock grazing. The results reflect the most up to date and comprehensive overview of current national-level data availability on drivers, which is expected to improve over time within the frame of the UNFCCC REDD+ process.
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About 80% of global deforestation is the result of agriculture, while other significant causes include mining, logging, and urban development.
“About 80% percent of global deforestation is the result of agriculture (clearing land for pasture or crop production), while other significant causes include mining, logging, and urban development [353].”
From Tackling climate change with machine learning (2023) · cites this paper as [353]
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- Authors
- Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., Angelsen, A., & Romijn, E.
- Affiliations
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (JP)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Center for International Forestry Research (ID)
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
- Venue
- Environmental Research Letters
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2012-10-08
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 044009
- ISSN
- 1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2114844474
- Cited by
- 1,366
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 100 · 2023: 123 · 2022: 148 · 2021: 149 · 2020: 114 · 2019: 152 · 2018: 111 · 2017: 79 · 2016: 73 · 2015: 70 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 35.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Publication Database GFZ (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Direktoratet for Utviklingssamarbeid
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Keywords
- deforestation drivers, REDD+, commercial agriculture, subsistence farming, logging, fuelwood collection, charcoal production, uncontrolled fires, livestock grazing, developing countries, tropical forests, National Forest Strategy
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