Analysis of food system drivers of deforestation highlights foreign direct investments and urbanization as threats to tropical forests.

ABSTRACT: Approximately 90% of global forest cover changes between 2000 and 2018 were attributable to agricultural expansion, making food production the leading direct driver of deforestation. While previous studies have focused on the interaction between human and environmental systems, limited research has explored deforestation from a food system perspective. This study analyzes the drivers of deforestation in 40 tropical and subtropical countries (2004-2021) through the lenses of consumption/demand, production/supply and trade/distribution using Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models. Our models explained a substantial portion of deforestation variability globally (R² = 0.74) and in Asia (R² = 0.81) and Latin America (R² = 0.73). The results indicate that tra

SUBMITTER: Sylvester JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11252123 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature