Matt Hansenis a professor at the University of Maryland and lead author of the paper published in Science today.丽贝卡·摩尔是Google Earth Outreach计划的经理,也是科学论文的合着者。

一种新出版物科学揭示世界每天每分钟都会失去50个足球场的森林!

尽管此信息令人沮丧,但这项新研究的发布是在支持更好的森林管理和政策的数据方面绝对积极的发展。这科学provides the first high-resolution, global picture of annual forest cover change over the period 2000 to 2012, with the promise of timely annual updates starting in early 2014. Prior to this research, the world lacked up-to-date, globally consistent forest data-- most information about forests is years out-of-date by the time it finds its way into policymakers’ hands.

从新的地图中出现了三个关键发现,他们指出了解决方案政策制定者现在可以追求的解决方案。(有关更多关键发现,请滚动到帖子的底部。)

1)在过去的13年中,世界每天失去了相当于68,000个森林足球场 - 每分钟50个足球场。减少森林损失的努力应加速。

Check out our visualization of this astounding rate of loss.

More than one billion poor people取决于森林for their livelihoods, while we all depend on these ecosystems as a central part of the global carbon, water, and climate systems. Losing 2.3 million square kilometers of forest in just 13 years, as the new research shows, is therefore of great concern. This translates to 50 soccer fields’ worth of forests every minute of every day over the last 13 years . This includes losses due to fires and pests, as well as forests that were cleared for forestry operations, some of which are replanted or will regenerate naturally.

View a live visualization of the Science data以下。该数据也将在即将推出的GFW网站上进行介绍

另外,热带地区的森林丧失是增加每年大约两千平方公里。热带森林对穷人最有价值,储存最多的碳,并且比地球上几乎任何其他类型的森林都拥有更多的生物多样性。

但是有一些好消息。新数据表明,尽管巴西仍然遭受很高的森林清理率,但该国的年度森林损失率大约减半。巴西用来减少森林砍伐的策略可以告知政策制定者如何应对其他国家的森林下降速度:

  • 巴西已经投资了监视的顶级系统它的森林正在发生的事情,并在近乎现实的时期与执法机构和公众共享此信息。更好,一致和透明的数据可以改善森林管理。

  • 这country has made serious efforts to align financial incentives with better forest stewardship, such as making municipalities’ access to agricultural credit dependent upon reducing local rates of forest loss.

  • 巴西系统地认可了习惯土地权利和土著人民对森林土地的主张(尽管仍有一些重大的冲突和悬而未决的索赔)。现在,超过20%的亚马逊地区由土著人民管理。仍然存在一些冲突和主张,但进步是显着的。有证据表明,当当地社区和传统人民拥有管理自然资源的权力时,森林损失的速度下降。

Nonetheless,recent changes in Brazil’s Forest Code令人担忧的是,在过去的一年中,该国的森林损失率显着提高。重要的是,巴西继续做出巨大的努力来解决森林损失的直接和潜在的驱动因素,这是减少自己的森林砍伐并充当其他国家的榜样。

特别是印度尼西亚可能会从巴西的经验中学习。新研究表明,印度尼西亚的森林损失率稳步上升。即使印度尼西亚仅占巴西的四分之一,但两国现在每年都失去了几乎相同数量的森林。像大多数国家一样,印度尼西亚缺乏有关其森林状况的最新信息。另外,它没有使经济激励措施与减少森林损失的努力保持一致。印度尼西亚的森林暂停已取得了最新进展,该森林暂停阻止了新的许可证清除原发性森林,但遇到了执法挑战。现在说暂停是否减少了森林损失还为时过早。通过将农业业务转变为已清算或退化的土地,还可以做更多的事情来遏制印度尼西亚的森林损失。

快来了:全球森林观察

In early 2014, a new partnership convened by World Resources Institute, including the partners that made today’s publication possible – University of Maryland, Google, USGS and NASA – will launch全球森林观察

其他合作伙伴包括UNEP,ESRI,全球发展中心,挪威,美国,全球环境设施,Imazon,Jane Goodall Institute,NASA AMES研究中心,透明世界,Scanex,Canada Global Forest Watch和OSFAC。这种雄心勃勃的合作伙伴关系旨在免费提供有关每个人都可以免费使用的森林的近实时,高分辨率的数据。它还将使数千个小组通过创新的众包工具共享自己的信息。

2)几个“被忽视的”国家正在经历森林覆盖范围较高的损失。政策制定者需要更多地关注亚马逊,刚果和印度尼西亚头条新闻区域之外的森林。

巴西和印度尼西亚仍然占所有热带森林损失的一半。但是按百分比,许多其他国家正在更快地失去森林。这些其他国家的关注远低于大型热带森林国家,但需要大量的技术和财务支持才能降低其森林砍伐率。

经过providing a globally consistent measure of patterns of forest loss and gain, the new analysis helps highlight countries and regions that deserve more attention, for example:

  • 在2000 - 2012年间,马来西亚的森林损失为1.6%,而印度尼西亚的1.0%。虽然印度尼西亚损失的绝对区域要高得多,但应更加关注马来西亚的动态,由于其林业和棕榈油工业的扩大,这正经历着快速的森林砍伐。

  • 在非洲,对森林的关注往往专注于刚果地区,特别是刚果民主共和国。然而,科特·德·伊瓦尔(Cote d'Ivoire)和西非其他地区已经看到了更加巨大的森林损失动态,可能与冲突模式和全球农产品繁荣有关。例如,利比里亚目前正在目睹计划的争议油棕种植园的主要投资

  • 这tropical dry forests of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia are undergoing the highest rates of loss in Latin America. Again, this is likely linked with expanding agro-industry supplying global commodities markets.

一种common theme in many of these regions is growing global demand for commodities such as soy, beef,棕榈油, pulpwood, and biofuels. More granular analysis is needed to identify and quantify the precise drivers of forest loss. This will be possible, as researchers will soon be able to download and sift through the new global maps published today. In the meantime, new initiatives aimed at reducing forest loss linked with these commodities—such as the Tropical Forests Alliance 2020 and efforts like commodity roundtables—should be supported.

3)关于森林状况和土地使用变化的准确,透明的会计是帮助遏制森林损失的关键。更好的数据对于现在在波兰举行的全球气候变化谈判告知全球气候变化也至关重要。必威官网是真的吗

今天发布的分析与年度国际气候谈判相吻合(必威官网是真的吗COP 19). Human-caused forest loss isresponsible for about 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions。换句话说,减少温室气体的排放也取决于减少森林损失。新的分析表明,全球森林趋势正在反对应对气候变化的努力,对于一些主要的新兴经济体,例如印度尼西亚和巴西,森林损失可能会继续是必威官网是真的吗primary排放源。

一种t the same time, forests and land use change actually have the potential to sequester rather than emit greenhouse gases. Initiatives like the全球森林景观恢复伙伴关系波恩挑战are taking early steps to build a global “re-greening” movement, restoring productivity to deforested and degraded lands. We expect these and related efforts to gain far more attention in the near future, and encourage policymakers to embrace there-greening movement

High-quality, independently produced, credible, up-to-date data—shared in ways that policymakers, companies, civil society, and local communities can understand and act upon—is vital for improving forest management worldwide. The new, high-resolution maps published today show that this kind of information-sharing is now possible, thanks to advances in remote sensing science and cloud computing. Let’s turn this better data into better decisions.