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Forests in Flux

Forests worldwide are in a state of flux, with accelerating losses in some regions and gains in others. Hansen et al. (p. 850) examined global Landsat data at a 30-meter spatial resolution to characterize forest extent, loss, and gain from 2000 to 2012. Globally, 2.3 million square kilometers of forest were lost during the 12-year study period and 0.8 million square kilometers of new forest were gained. The tropics exhibited both the greatest losses and the greatest gains (through regrowth and plantation), with losses outstripping gains.

Abstract

Quantification of global forest change has been lacking despite the recognized importance of forest ecosystem services. In this study, Earth observation satellite data were used to map global forest loss (2.3 million square kilometers) and gain (0.8 million square kilometers) from 2000 to 2012 at a spatial resolution of 30 meters. The tropics were the only climate domain to exhibit a trend, with forest loss increasing by 2101 square kilometers per year. Brazil’s well-documented reduction in deforestation was offset by increasing forest loss in Indonesia, Malaysia, Paraguay, Bolivia, Zambia, Angola, and elsewhere. Intensive forestry practiced within subtropical forests resulted in the highest rates of forest change globally. Boreal forest loss due largely to fire and forestry was second to that in the tropics in absolute and proportional terms. These results depict a globally consistent and locally relevant record of forest change.
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Supplementary Material

Summary

Materials and Methods
Supplementary Text
Figs. S1 to S8
Tables S1 to S5
References (2440)

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References and Notes

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Information & Authors

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Published In

Science
Volume 342Issue 616015 November 2013
Pages: 850 - 853

History

Received: 14 August 2013
Accepted: 15 October 2013

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Affiliations

M. C. Hansen* [email protected]
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
P. V. Potapov
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
R. Moore
Google, Mountain View, CA, USA.
M. Hancher
Google, Mountain View, CA, USA.
S. A. Turubanova
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
A. Tyukavina
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
D. Thau
Google, Mountain View, CA, USA.
S. V. Stehman
Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY, USA.
S. J. Goetz
Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA 02540, USA.
T. R. Loveland
Earth Resources Observation and Science, United States Geological Survey, 47914 252nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USA.
A. Kommareddy
Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
A. Egorov
Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
L. Chini
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
C. O. Justice
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
J. R. G. Townshend
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.

Notes

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

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Science
Volume 342|Issue 6160
15 November 2013
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Received:14 August 2013
Accepted:15 October 2013
Published in print:15 November 2013
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