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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Unspoilt forests fall to feed the global supply chain

Export of minerals, wood and energy drives a surprisingly high fraction of deforestation.
A general view of sun beams through the trees in a green forest in British Columbia

Large swathes of unbroken forest are being degraded to produce goods exported to countries such as the United States. Credit: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty

Agricultural expansion can plunder forests, but it is not the only human activity to do so. Researchers have found that more than one-third of the loss of Earth’s large, intact forests is driven by production for export — especially of wood, minerals and energy1.

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Nature 614, 11 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00119-9

References

  1. Kan, S. et al. One Earth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.12.006 (2023).

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