Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) is a crucial component of global climate change mitigation. Remote sensing can provide continuous and spatially explicit above-ground biomass (AGB) estimates, which can be valuable for the quantificatio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sy, Veronique de, Herold, M., Achard, F., Avitabile, V., Baccini, A., Carter, S., Clevers, J.G.P.W., Lindquist, E., Pereira, M., Verchot, Louis V.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: IOP Publishing 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112506
_version_ 1855535861607694336
author Sy, Veronique de
Herold, M.
Achard, F.
Avitabile, V.
Baccini, A.
Carter, S.
Clevers, J.G.P.W.
Lindquist, E.
Pereira, M.
Verchot, Louis V.
author_browse Achard, F.
Avitabile, V.
Baccini, A.
Carter, S.
Clevers, J.G.P.W.
Herold, M.
Lindquist, E.
Pereira, M.
Sy, Veronique de
Verchot, Louis V.
author_facet Sy, Veronique de
Herold, M.
Achard, F.
Avitabile, V.
Baccini, A.
Carter, S.
Clevers, J.G.P.W.
Lindquist, E.
Pereira, M.
Verchot, Louis V.
author_sort Sy, Veronique de
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) is a crucial component of global climate change mitigation. Remote sensing can provide continuous and spatially explicit above-ground biomass (AGB) estimates, which can be valuable for the quantification of carbon stocks and emission factors (EFs). Unfortunately, there is little information on the fate of the land following tropical deforestation and of the associated carbon stock. This study quantified post-deforestation land use across the tropics for the period 1990–2000. This dataset was then combined with a pan-tropical AGB map at 30 m resolution to refine EFs from forest conversion by matching deforestation areas with their carbon stock before and after clearing and to assess spatial dynamics of EFs by follow-up land use. In Latin America, pasture was the most common follow-up land use (72%), with large-scale cropland (11%) a distant second. In Africa deforestation was often followed by small-scale cropping (61%) with a smaller role for pasture (15%). In Asia, small-scale cropland was the dominant agricultural follow-up land use (35%), closely followed by tree crops (28%). Deforestation often occurred in forests with lower than average carbon stocks. EFs showed high spatial variation within eco-zones and countries. While our EFs are only representative for the studied time period, our results show that EFs are mainly determined by the initial forest carbon stock. The estimates of the fraction of carbon lost were less dependent on initial forest biomass, which offers opportunities for REDD+ countries to use these fractions in combination with recent good quality national forest biomass maps or inventory data to quantify emissions from specific forest conversions. Our study highlights that the co-location of data on forest loss, biomass and fate of the land provides more insight into the spatial dynamics of land-use change and can help in attributing carbon emissions to human activities.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace112506
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
publishDateSort 2019
publisher IOP Publishing
publisherStr IOP Publishing
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1125062025-02-19T13:42:45Z Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data Sy, Veronique de Herold, M. Achard, F. Avitabile, V. Baccini, A. Carter, S. Clevers, J.G.P.W. Lindquist, E. Pereira, M. Verchot, Louis V. carbon sinks mitigation tropical forests emission remote sensing Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) is a crucial component of global climate change mitigation. Remote sensing can provide continuous and spatially explicit above-ground biomass (AGB) estimates, which can be valuable for the quantification of carbon stocks and emission factors (EFs). Unfortunately, there is little information on the fate of the land following tropical deforestation and of the associated carbon stock. This study quantified post-deforestation land use across the tropics for the period 1990–2000. This dataset was then combined with a pan-tropical AGB map at 30 m resolution to refine EFs from forest conversion by matching deforestation areas with their carbon stock before and after clearing and to assess spatial dynamics of EFs by follow-up land use. In Latin America, pasture was the most common follow-up land use (72%), with large-scale cropland (11%) a distant second. In Africa deforestation was often followed by small-scale cropping (61%) with a smaller role for pasture (15%). In Asia, small-scale cropland was the dominant agricultural follow-up land use (35%), closely followed by tree crops (28%). Deforestation often occurred in forests with lower than average carbon stocks. EFs showed high spatial variation within eco-zones and countries. While our EFs are only representative for the studied time period, our results show that EFs are mainly determined by the initial forest carbon stock. The estimates of the fraction of carbon lost were less dependent on initial forest biomass, which offers opportunities for REDD+ countries to use these fractions in combination with recent good quality national forest biomass maps or inventory data to quantify emissions from specific forest conversions. Our study highlights that the co-location of data on forest loss, biomass and fate of the land provides more insight into the spatial dynamics of land-use change and can help in attributing carbon emissions to human activities. 2019-09-01 2021-03-08T08:35:31Z 2021-03-08T08:35:31Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112506 en Open Access IOP Publishing de Sy, V., Herold, M., Achard, F., Avitabile, V., Baccini, A., Carter, S., Clevers, J.G.P.W., Lindquist, E., Pereira, M., Verchot, L.V. 2019. Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data. Environmental Research Letters, 14 (9): 094022. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3dc6
spellingShingle carbon sinks
mitigation
tropical forests
emission
remote sensing
Sy, Veronique de
Herold, M.
Achard, F.
Avitabile, V.
Baccini, A.
Carter, S.
Clevers, J.G.P.W.
Lindquist, E.
Pereira, M.
Verchot, Louis V.
Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title_full Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title_fullStr Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title_full_unstemmed Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title_short Tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
title_sort tropical deforestation drivers and associated carbon emission factors derived from remote sensing data
topic carbon sinks
mitigation
tropical forests
emission
remote sensing
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112506
work_keys_str_mv AT syveroniquede tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT heroldm tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT achardf tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT avitabilev tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT baccinia tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT carters tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT cleversjgpw tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT lindquiste tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT pereiram tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata
AT verchotlouisv tropicaldeforestationdriversandassociatedcarbonemissionfactorsderivedfromremotesensingdata