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Abstract
Forest degradation is widespread around the world, due to multiple factors such as unsustainable logging, agriculture, invasive species, fire, fuelwood gathering, and livestock grazing. In the Brazilian Amazon forest degradation from August 2006 to July 2016 reached 1,1 869 800 ha. The processes of forest degradation are still poorly understood, being a missing component in anthropogenic CO2 emission estimates in tropical forests. In this work, we analyzed temporal trajectories of forest degradation from August 2006 to July 2016 in the Brazilian Amazon and assessed their impact on the regional carbon balance. We combined the degradation process with deforestation-related processes (clear-cut deforestation and secondary vegetation dynamics), using the spatially-explicit INPE-EM carbon emission model. The trajectory analysis showed that 13% of the degraded area ended up being cleared and converted in the period and 61% of the total degraded area experienced only one event of degradation throughout the whole period. Net emissions added up to 5.4 GtCO2, considering the emissions from forest degradation and deforestation, absorption from degraded forest recovery, and secondary vegetation dynamics. The results show an increase in the contribution of forest degradation to net emissions towards the end of the period, related to the decrease in clear-cut deforestation rates, decoupled from the forest degradation rates. The analysis also indicates that the regeneration of degraded forests absorbed 1.8 GtCO2 from August 2006 and July 2016—a component typically overlooked in the regional carbon balance.
Highlights
Forest degradation carbon emissions are still poorly quantified, climate change mitigation schemes, such as the UN-led Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD +), will require accurate estimates of carbon emissions following forest disturbance (Olander et al 2008, Aragao and Shimabukuro 2010, Rappaport et al 2018, Maxwell et al 2019)
We can consider the information provided by the DEGRAD system in a given year as the indicator of an on-going degradation process caused mostly by fire or logging activities, some natural disturbance events cannot be differentiated from anthropogenic ones by the DEGRAD product
Trajectories distribution The trajectory analysis shows that the Single Degradation Event Trajectory is prevalent in the Amazon, during all the analyzed period covering 61% of the total degraded areas in a regeneration path without subsequent disturbances in the following 10 years
Summary
Forest degradation carbon emissions are still poorly quantified, climate change mitigation schemes, such as the UN-led Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD +), will require accurate estimates of carbon emissions following forest disturbance (Olander et al 2008, Aragao and Shimabukuro 2010, Rappaport et al 2018, Maxwell et al 2019). Forest degradation is a reduction in the capacity of a forest to produce ecosystem services such as carbon storage and wood products as a result of anthropogenic and environmental changes (Thompson et al 2013). It is a process with a broad distribution in the global forests and is one of the major responsible of biodiversity loss (IPBES 2019), due to multiple factors such as unsustainable logging, fire, agriculture, invasive species, firewood gathering, and livestock grazing. Forest degradation has shown significant values, frequently higher than deforestation (INPE 2020). The processes leading to degradation impact biodiversity (Barlow and Peres 2008, Berenguer et al 2018), carbon stocks(Gerwing 2002, Foley et al 2007, Blanc et al 2009, Anderson et al 2015, Lennox et al 2018, Silva et al 2018) and increase forest vulnerability to future burning (Nepstad et al 1999)
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