Agricultural products are often the first implicated in deforestation. However, the causes of forest degradation are much more diverse, and international trade plays an important role, a new study finds.
The European Union recently adopted new regulations to combat imported deforestation. It imposes on all “operators and merchants who are not SMEs” importing products in Europe to set up a vigilance system that excludes products resulting from deforestation from their supply chain. Several agricultural products and derivatives fall within the scope of the regulation, including livestock, timber, soybeans, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber. But according to a study published in the journal One Earth this January 20, other sectors are actively involved in forest degradation.
Focus on intact forest landscapes
The study is a reminder of how Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) are important climate regulators and havens for biodiversity. It defines PFI as “continuous tracts of forest and associated ecosystems showing no evidence of human interference and having sufficient space to maintain native biodiversity, with a minimum size of 500 km²”.
These forest areas are therefore neither artificially fragmented nor degraded. While studies most often focus on deforestation that leads to the complete removal of forest cover, focusing on intact forest landscapes helps shed light on degradation and fragmentation caused by different industries.
These IFLs are home to more diverse species, are more resilient to natural disturbances such as forest fires. In Africa and South America, they can store more than three times the amount of carbon per hectare as disturbed or poorly managed forests. Nevertheless, “even the removal of small tracts of forest can affect the overall structure and composition of the forest”recall the authors, led by Bin Chen, postdoctoral researcher at Fudan University (China).
Beyond just agricultural products
The study estimates that for the global economy in 2014, the total loss of IFLs amounted to 5.58 million hectares. Industrial logging, for example for the production of wood, paper and cardboard, is primarily responsible for the degradation of intact forest landscapes. It is thus responsible for 47% of this loss. Agricultural products are the second most responsible, ahead of mining and energy (15%).
Given the variety of factors at play, the authors call for more government involvement. “Beef production is widely thought to control deforestation in the Amazon, but it is difficult for consumers to realize that the production of highly processed equipment may involve wood and metals produced at the expense of intact forest landscapes. and that the services provided by the tertiary sectors can be supported by the electricity generated from the oil and gas associated with this loss”the authors point out.
International trade as a driving force
Regional land use change is today largely influenced by international markets. The authors therefore emphasize the importance of considering international markets when designing national conservation strategies.
For the 2014 economy, 37% of the PFI loss was due to international exports, mainly from Russia, Canada and tropical regions, to China, Europe and the United States. Of the PFI losses associated with exporting, global supply chains for forest, energy and mining products accounted for 51% and 26% of the losses respectively, the study calculates.