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Long-term forest degradation surpasses deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Open accessAbstract
Although deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon are well known, the extent of the area affected by forest degradation is a notable data gap, with implications for conservation biology, carbon cycle science, and international policy. We generated a long-term spatially quantified assessment of forest degradation for the entire Brazilian Amazon from 1992 to 2014. We measured and mapped the full range of activities that degrade forests and evaluated the relationship with deforestation. From 1992 to 2014, the total area of degraded forest was 337,427 square kilometers (km 2 ), compared with 308,311 km 2 that were deforested. Forest degradation is a separate and increasing form of forest disturbance, and the area affected is now greater than that due to deforestation.
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“Still, at least in many tropical forest regions, the area of degraded forests could well equal or even exceed the area of deforestation (15,16);”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [16]
In the citing paper
“Smaller areas with high transition potential were found scattered within deforestation frontiers, where most forests have been carved by roads50,51.”
From Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Matricardi, E. A. T., Skole, D. L., Costa, O. B., Pedlowski, M. A., Samek, J. H., & Miguel, E. P.
- Affiliations
- Universidade de Brasília (BR)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Department of Forestry, University of Brasilia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília 70.900-910, Brazil.
- Laboratório de Estudos do Espaço Antrópico (LEEA), Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ 28013, Brazil.
- Corresponding author
- Matricardi, Eraldo Aparecido Trondoli
- Skole, David Lewis
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2020-09-11
- Volume
- 369
- Issue
- 6509
- Pages
- 1378-1382
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W3085288603
- Cited by
- 411
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 45 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 72 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 92 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 21.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX14AD93G)
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (Finance Code 001)
- National Council of Science and Technology of Brazil (Productivity Grant)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Keywords
- forest degradation, deforestation, Brazilian Amazon, forest disturbance, long-term forest dynamics, tropical forests
- MeSH terms
- Brazil, Conservation of Natural Resources, Biodiversity, Forests
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