Thread by @NASA_Landsat

Sizing Up How Agriculture Connects to Deforestation: Using #Landsat data from the past two decades, scientists are starting to pinpoint which crops and farming styles have lasting impacts on forests.

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148674/…

Every year, scientists at the University of Maryland publish new data about the state of Earth’s forests based on observations from #Landsat satellites. In 2020, Earth lost nearly 26 million hectares of tree cover—an area larger than the United Kingdom.

research.wri.org/gfr/forest-pul…

What is driving this forest loss?
How much deforestation was due to wildfires? Food production? Forestry management?
The Sustainability Consortium & @WorldResources use satellite data to quantify the major drivers of annual forest losses.

Food production has a huge impact on forests, particularly in the tropics.
Of the 16,000 square miles of humid tropical primary forest lost in 2020—an area about the size of the Netherlands—nearly half was due to food production.

Half of that (4,000 square miles), was lost to commodity crops (mostly in South America & SE Asia). Commodity-scale production often involves clear-cutting and results in significant impacts on forests.

Some commodity crops: beef, soybeans, palm oil, corn, and cotton.

"Forty years ago, we often saw small-scale deforestation creating roads that looked like fishbone patterns. By the middle of the #Landsat record, we see large-scale commodity production taking hold."
—Doug Morton, forest ecologist @NASAGoddard

A recent WRI analysis combined #Landsat data with economic & land-use data to parse the impact of seven different commodities on forests around the world: “One of the big things you notice in the data is the outsized role of cattle pastures in driving deforestation.” —M. Weisse

For companies trying to keep their supply chains deforestation-free, knowing which crops are being grown where is critical:

“Satellite data of forest change and loss is the first step in the process.”
—Christy Slay, conservation ecologist

landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/sites/landsat/…