e360 digest
03 Sep 2010:
Eighty Percent of Farmland
Carved Out of Forests in Tropics, Study Says
More than 80 percent of the agricultural land created in the developing world between 1980 and 2000 came from cutting down tropical forests, a continuing trend that has serious implications for biodiversity loss and global warming, according to a study by Stanford University researchers. Analyzing Landsat satellite data, the researchers determined that roughly half a million square miles of new farmland — an area roughly the size of Alaska — came into being in tropical regions during the 20-year period. Roughly 55 percent of the felled tropical forests were intact forests and 28 percent were forests that had experienced some degradation, such as small-scale farming and logging. Lead researcher Holly Gibbs said the destruction of so much tropical forest has major implications for climate change, since every million acres that is cut releases the same amount of carbon as 40 million cars. Gibbs and her colleagues, reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that population growth in the next half-century could mean a doubling of land needed for agriculture, likely leading to the loss of millions more acres of tropical forest. But Gibbs highlighted one encouraging sign, which is that the main drivers of forest destruction now are not small farmers but big agribusiness, which is more susceptible to pressure campaigns from environmental groups and consumers.
Email
Recommend
Tweet
Stumble Upon
Digg
ShareMore e360
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies.
SEARCH e360
CONNECT
Twitter: YaleE360e360 on Facebook
Donate to e360
View mobile site
Bookmark
Share e360
Email newsletter
Subscribe to our feed:
ABOUT
About e360Contact
Submission Guidelines
Reprints
e360 VIDEO
The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.
DEPARTMENTS
OpinionReports
Analysis
Interviews
e360 Digest
Video Reports
TOPICS
BiodiversityBusiness & Innovation
Climate
Energy
Forests
Oceans
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Sustainability
Urbanization
Water
REGIONS
Antarctica and the ArcticAfrica
Asia
Australia
Central & South America
Europe
Middle East
North America
e360 VIDEO REPORT
As temperatures rise and water supplies dry up, tribes in East Africa increasingly are coming into conflict. A Yale Environment 360 video reports on a phenomenon that could become more common: how worsening drought will pit groups — and nations — against one another. Watch the video.
e360 MOBILE
from Yale
Environment 360 is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile.
Top Image: aerial view of Iceland. © Google & TerraMetrics.
e360 VIDEO REPORT
Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, an e360 video examining the environmental and human impacts of this mining practice, won the award for best video in the 2010 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media. Watch the video.
OF INTEREST
RESOURCES
