Most ‘frontiers of plantation expansion’ are losing far more trees to deforestation than harvesting
▻http://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/most-frontiers-of-plantation-expansion-are-losing-far-more-trees-to-d
An international research team mapped tree plantations in seven tropical countries that are currently experiencing plantation expansion.
They found that those countries contained 45 million hectares of plantations – an area bigger than the U.S. state of California. While the more plantation-heavy countries were losing much of their tree cover inside plantations, several were losing upwards of 90 percent outside of them in areas of natural forest.
The authors hope their study can help in land-use planning that directs plantation development and expansion to already-degraded areas rather than supplanting forests.
