华盛顿（2018年9月12日） -More than a quarter of global tree cover loss between 2001 and 2015 was associated with commodity-driven deforestation, not likely to be forested again. These findings come from a study released today in科学由世界资源研究所，可持续发展联盟，阿肯色必威官网手机版大学，亚利桑那州立大学和马里兰大学的研究人员组成。

这first of its kind, the newglobal map of tree cover loss drivers可用Global Forest Watchbeginning today.

“除了看到树覆盖的地方以及何时发生的何时发生，人们现在还可以使用全球森林手表来了解为什么发生损失。”Nancy Harris, Forest Program Research Manager at World Resources Institute and coauthor of the study. The results provide deeper insight into the overall state of global forests by identifying where tree cover loss leads to a long-term reduction in forest cover, and where trees will likely regrow. “This study not only identifies where deforestation is occurring, just as importantly it tells us where forest loss is not deforestation."

这study identified five drivers most dominantly associated with gross global tree cover loss between 2001-2015:

  • 27 percent commodity-driven deforestation
    Defined as permanent conversion of forest for the expansion of commodities, such as palm oil, soy, beef, minerals, and oil and gas. These areas are not likely to be reforested.
  • 26％的林业
    定义为托管森林和林木种植园中的损失，预计收获后会再生。
  • 24％转移农业
    Defined as loss, primarily in tropical regions, that is cleared and burned for short-term cultivation of subsistence crops. These forests may or may not grow back, depending on the cultivation practices.
  • 23 percent wildfires
    Defined as loss from fires, where trees are likely to regenerate gradually over time. This loss was concentrated in the northern forests of Canada and Russia.
  • 0.6 percent urbanization
    定义为城市扩张的损失，并被认为是永久的，主要集中在美国东部。

最令人关注的发现是森林的“永久性”转换为生产棕榈油，大豆，牛肉，矿物质以及石油和天然气的商品，这些商品最集中在拉丁美洲和东南亚的热带森林中。现在可以量化由于商品生产而引起的森林砍伐，这对于承诺在其生产中零森林砍伐的公司尤为重要。研究结果表明，总体而言，公司没有达到这些承诺，因为平均5 million hectares of deforestation per year still comes from commodity supply chains.

“Although most changes to tree cover are temporary, such as when a forest recovered from a wildfire or when timber farms were replanted, patterns seen in the imagery showed that a significant proportion of global forests are not coming back,” saidPhilip Curtis，可持续性财团顾问和研究的主要作者。

这authors of the study visually interpreted thousands of satellite images in Google Earth to identify what caused forest disturbance around the world. Using a 10 by 10-kilometer grid for the entire globe, the researchers then trained a computer model to predict whether commodity production, forestry, shifting agriculture, wildfire or urbanization determine the most likely driver of tree cover loss between 2001 and 2015.

该分析和相应的地图为公司，决策者和保护主义者提供了更高的精确和优先级，试图减慢森林砍伐和不可持续的树木覆盖损失。这科学纸在这里可用.

More information available at:http://bit.ly/2OincHO