An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries

Abstract

Countries are encouraged to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the development of national strategies and action plans for REDD+. In this letter we provide an assessment of proximate drivers of deforestation and forest degradation by synthesizing empirical data reported by countries as part of their REDD+ readiness activities, CIFOR country profiles, UNFCCC national communications and scientific literature. Based on deforestation rate and remaining forest cover 100 (sub)tropical non-Annex I countries were grouped into four forest transition phases. Driver data of 46 countries were summarized for each phase and by continent, and were used as a proxy to estimate drivers for the countries with missing data. The deforestation drivers are similar in Africa and Asia, while degradation drivers are more similar in Latin America and Asia. Commercial agriculture is the most important driver of deforestation, followed by subsistence agriculture. Timber extraction and logging drives most of the degradation, followed by fuelwood collection and charcoal production, uncontrolled fire and livestock grazing. The results reflect the most up to date and comprehensive overview of current national-level data availability on drivers, which is expected to improve over time within the frame of the UNFCCC REDD+ process.

Can CDM finance energy access in Least Developed Countries? Evidence from Tanzania

“…Coping with climatic risks is related to the abilities of people to fulfil basic needs (Eakin, Tompkins, Nelson, & Anderies, 2009), so improved EA could enhance adaptive capacity. Reduced biomass consumption would curtail deforestation and forest degradation, safeguarding important safety nets provided by forest resources (Hosonuma et al, 2012). Improved EA can also enable livelihood diversification and enhance people's productivity and income.…”

Export-oriented deforestation in Mato Grosso: harbinger or exception for other tropical forests?

“…Mato Grosso followed a generalized trajectory of forest clearing from wild lands (high forest cover, low deforestation) to a transition period (declining forest cover, high deforestation) towards intensified agriculture (low forest cover, low deforestation) [25][26][27][28]. Forest transition theory suggests that forest cover can increase with agricultural abandonment or plantations in a post-transition period as has been the case in many countries, including the USA, many European countries, China, India and Vietnam [29,30].…”

“…To determine whether countries face similar pressures for deforestation as Mato Grosso, we used three indicators: growth in the value of agricultural exports from 1991-2001 to 2008 [42, table C1]; self-reported drivers of deforestation in national strategies and action plans for REDDþ [28]; and a combination of percentage population that was urban in 2000 and average annual rate of change of percentage urban from 2000 to 2005 [43]. We considered a country to have similar or greater pressures than Mato Grosso if any of the three indicators were within 10 per cent less or any amount greater than the indicators for Brazil.…”

The role of forests in climate change mitigation : a discursive-institutional analysis of REDD+ MRV

“…Peru can thus be classified as a high forest cover, low deforestation country. In terms of 21 | P a g e the forest transition curve (Mather, 1992) -a measure of the status of deforestation and forest degradation in a given country -Peru is in the pre-transition phase, while Indonesia and Tanzania are in the early transition phase (Hosonuma et al, 2012 (Table 1.2). These representatives were selected because they have been involved in forest monitoring and/or in REDD+ MRV discussions in the respective countries, and were selected purposefully from relevant contacts found in the reviewed national documents (Creswell, 2014;Kumar, 2005;Punch, 2005).…”

“…This limited effectiveness of forest and climate regimes can perhaps be attributed to two factors. The first is political economy and global trade and investment patterns, whereby developed country investments and investors fuel deforestation in the tropics (Anderson et al, 2016;De Sy, 2016;Hosonuma et al, 2012;Kanninen et al, 2007;Kissinger et al, 2012), while their governments engage in environmental agreements like REDD+. The second is a lack of political will on both developed and developing countries to tackle drivers of deforestation and the main cause of global warming.…”