Upturn in secondary forest clearing buffers primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon

Yunxia Wang (), Guy Ziv, Marcos Adami, Cláudio Aparecido de Almeida, João Francisco Gonçalves Antunes, Alexandre Camargo Coutinho, Júlio César Dalla Mora Esquerdo, Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes and David Galbraith ()
Additional contact information
Yunxia Wang: University of Leeds
Guy Ziv: University of Leeds
Marcos Adami: National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
Cláudio Aparecido de Almeida: National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
João Francisco Gonçalves Antunes: Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
Alexandre Camargo Coutinho: Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
Júlio César Dalla Mora Esquerdo: Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes: National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
David Galbraith: University of Leeds

Nature Sustainability, 2020, vol. 3, issue 4, 290-295

Abstract: Abstract Brazil contains two-thirds of remaining Amazonian rainforests and is responsible for the most Amazon forest loss. Primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon has declined considerably since 2004 but secondary forest loss has never been quantified. We use a recently developed high-resolution land use/land cover dataset to track secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon over 14 yr, providing the first estimates of secondary forest loss for the region. We find that secondary forest loss increased by (187 ± 48)% from 2008 to 2014. Moreover, the proportion of total forest loss accounted for by secondary forests rose from (37 ± 3)% in 2000 to (72 ± 5)% in 2014. The recent acceleration in secondary forests loss occurred across the entire region and was not driven simply by increasing secondary forest area but probably a conscious preferential shift towards clearance of a little-protected forest ecosystem (secondary forests). Our results suggest that secondary forests loss has eased deforestation pressure on primary forests. However, this has been at the expense of a lost carbon sequestration opportunity of 2.59–2.66 Pg C over our study period.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0470-4

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