Monitoring Forest Loss and Degradation at National to Global Scales Using Landsat Data

Potapov, P.; Turubanova, Svetlana; Hansen, Matthew C.; Zhuravleva, Ilona; Yaroshenko, Alexey; Laestadius, Lars

doi:10.1201/b13040-8

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…At national scales, legislation that prescribes forest management for landowners, such as Brazil's Forest Code, may be effective at scaling up restoration efforts but can be politically and socially unpopular and are susceptible to political change 68 . Previous studies 10,69,70 used general potential extents for reforestation (i.e., Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunities 71 ) and assumed that natural regeneration was possible and would occur across the entire potential extents (excluding a small fraction (7%) set aside for plantation forestry by 69,70 ). To determine the maximum additional global reforestation mitigation potential (10.1 PgCO2e yr-1 over 678 Mha), Griscom and colleagues 2017 69 assumed that natural regeneration would occur on 93% of potential reforestation areas, with the remainder going to plantations to maintain the status quo fraction of plantations to forest (7%).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The global potential for natural regeneration in deforested tropical regions

Williams,

Beyer,

Fagan

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Extensive forest restoration is a key strategy to meet nature-based sustainable development goals and provide multiple social and environmental benefits. Yet achieving forest restoration at scale requires cost-effective methods. Tree planting in degraded landscapes is a popular but costly forest restoration method, which often results in less biodiverse forests when compared to natural regeneration techniques under similar conditions. Here, we assess the current spatial distribution of pantropical natural forest (from 2000-2016) and use this information to present the first model of the potential for natural regeneration across tropical forested countries and biomes at 30-meter spatial resolution. We estimate that 215 million hectares - an area greater than the entire country of Mexico - have potential for natural forest regeneration, representing an above-ground carbon sequestration potential of 23.4 Gt CO2 (range 21.1-25.7 Gt) over 30 years. Five countries (Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico, and Colombia) account for 52% of this estimated potential, showcasing the need for targeting restoration initiatives that leverage natural regeneration potential. Our results facilitate broader equitable decision-making processes that capitalise on the widespread opportunity for natural regeneration to help achieve national and global environmental agendas.

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