High-resolution maps show that rubber causes substantial deforestation.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the effects of cash crop expansion on natural forest is of fundamental importance. However, for most crops there are no remotely sensed global maps¹, and global deforestation impacts are estimated using models and extrapolations. Natural rubber is an example of a principal commodity for which deforestation impacts have been highly uncertain, with estimates differing more than fivefold^1-4. Here we harnessed Earth observation satellite data and cloud computing⁵ to produce high-resolution maps of rubber (10 m pixel size) and associated deforestation (30 m pixel size) for Southeast Asia. Our maps indicate that rubber-related forest loss has been substantially underestimated in policy, by the public and in recent reports^6-8. Our direct r

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10632130 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature