We developed a tropical forest vulnerability index (TFVI) to detect and evaluate the vulnerability of global tropical forests to threats across space and time. Four decades of satellite data show widespread vulnerability across the tropics, while the response of rainforests to heat and drying varies across the continents. The early warning from the index can identify regions for conservation and restoration.
In this paper, we assess the use and quality of forest monitoring data sources for national reporting to the FRA in 236 countries and territories. More specifically, we analyze the use of remote sensing and for forest monitoring in FRA 2005–2020, assess data quality in FRA 2020 using FAO tier-based indicators, and zoom in to investigate changes in tropical forest monitoring capacities in FRA 2010–2020.
Our interdisciplinary approach revealed the complexities of local direct and indirect DD drivers, and the complementarity of remotely sensed, spatially modelled and locally reported methods for driver identification. Overall, REDD+ interventions were found to be aligned with deforestation drivers.
This study assesses the impact of achieving cereal self‐sufficiency by the year 2050 for 10 sub-Saharan countries on GHG emissions related to different scenarios of increasing cereal production, ranging from intensifying production to agricultural area expansion.
Countries with limited forest monitoring capabilities in the tropics and subtropics rely on IPCC 2006 default aboveground net biomass change (∆AGB) rates. As part of the 2019 Refinement to these guidelines, we provide a rigorous and traceable updates of the IPCC 2006 default rates in tropical and subtropical ecological zones. This study is an important step towards quantifying the role of tropical and subtropical forests as carbon sinks with higher accuracy and our new rates can be used for large‐scale GHG accounting by governmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations and in scientific research.
We present an overview of the location, goals and activities, and an estimated climate change mitigation potential of 154 recent, ongoing and planned restoration projects in Latin America and the Carribean.
Countries are encouraged to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation (DD) in the development of national strategies and action plans for REDD+. In this letter we provide an assessment of proximate drivers of DD by synthesizing empirical data reported by countries as part of their REDD+ readiness activities and scientific literature.