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Assessing the scale of rubber deforestation in southeast Asia
Understanding the extent of deforestation associated with agriculturally harvested crops has implications for conservation efforts. A method to assess satellite data offers an accurate way to estimate rubber deforestation.
High-resolution satellite data are being used to quantify deforestation directly at global1 and regional scales2. However, mapping the agricultural commodity drivers of deforestation is challenging — soya plants3 and palm oil trees4 are rare examples of success. Rubber plantations have proved more difficult to monitor. Global growth in demand for rubber has put high biodiversity and carbon-rich forests, mainly in southeast Asia, under pressure from deforestation. Writing in Nature, Wang et al.5 report that previous attempts to estimate the extent of deforestation associated with rubber plantations in southeast Asia are based on non-spatially explicit uncertain models that provide estimates varying by more than fivefold. Wang and colleagues implemented an innovative approach, using a massive volume of satellite data, cloud computing and image-processing algorithms to detect rubber deforestation in southeast Asia, thereby increasing the accuracy of such mapping.
Valeriano, D. M., Mello, E. M. K., Moreira, J. C., Shimabukuro, Y. E. & Duarte, V. In: Proc. Int. Soc. Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing35, 272–274 (2004).