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African exception to drivers of deforestation

Nature Geoscience volume 3, pages 375–376 (2010)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

Today, tropical deforestation is thought to be driven by growing export demand for both agricultural and primary products, such as palm oil and timber1,2. DeFries et al.3 build on this argument by correlating tropical deforestation with net agricultural trade and urban population growth. They conclude that local populations and markets are no longer the dominant drivers of deforestation in many tropical regions. Here, we would like to highlight tropical Africa as an exception to this rule: as DeFries et al. acknowledge, but do not emphasize, deforestation in their African dataset is not significantly correlated with net agricultural trade.

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Figure 1: Percentage forest loss3 versus staple-crop production9 in 12 sub-Saharan African countries.

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  1. Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, 08540, New Jersey, USA

    Brendan Fisher

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  1. Brendan Fisher
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Fisher, B. African exception to drivers of deforestation. Nature Geosci 3, 375–376 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo873

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