Abstract
Recent studies identifying underlying and proximate drivers of tropical deforestation and forest degradation have applied a multitude of methodologies, with varying and sometimes conflicting results. Divergent results can have implications for evidence-informed programs, policy action, and land use planning since these differences can lead to controversy as to which drivers should be addressed by deforestation and emissions-reduction or conservation programs, in addition to mismatch between the scale of study results and the scale of policy and program implementation. To identify and reconcile divergences between results among different scales and methodological approaches, we systematically reviewed 231 articles in the drivers of deforestation literature and found inconsistency in scale applied within studies (e.g., differences between the stated scale of analysis and scale of article recommendations), and variation in the number and type of drivers identified between studies by methodology. Additionally, global and regional studies tended to feature recommendations that would be difficult to implement, or that targeted large-scale problems lacking specificity. This study clarifies common themes in driver identification and what is needed for drawing contextualized, scale-appropriate conclusions relevant to forest conservation policy and sustainable land use planning. We suggest improvements to recommendations drawn from drivers of deforestation studies and avenues to reconcile divergences in approaches and results, which will support efforts to advance forest conservation and sustainable forest management outcomes.
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Data availability
A complete list of articles reviewed is included in Supplementary Materials. The cleaned database of articles included in the analysis with codes assigned to each article is available upon request in Microsoft Excel format. The pre-cleaning Zotero folder can also be shared upon request.
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Acknowledgements
This research was made possible by the team at Forestry Division (NFO) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). The primary FAO Officers who supported this work were Dr. Rémi D’Annunzio and Dr. Aurélie Shapiro, with conceptual and research design input, in addition to overall project guidance provided by Caroline Merle. Consultation with Dr. Adia Bey further supported the methodological design and approach. At Pennsylvania State University, doctoral students Melanie Jones and Emma Chiaroni contributed to coding of literature for intercoder reliability. Co-PI Dr. Edwin Sabuhoro provided oversight. The authors are also grateful for the recommendations of anonymous reviewers whose suggestions improved this work.
Funding
This research was funded by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (Grant FAO-Penn State 2022 “Drivers of Deforestation” OSP no. 228015) and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). This material was also supported by the National Science Foundation Research Trainee Program LandscapeU and NRT Traineeship Fellowship (Grant #DGE 1828822) in addition to the NASA PA Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship (Award Number 80NSSC20M0097).
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KPB and ACS: contributed to the study conception and design. CAH: reviewed the study conception materials. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by KPB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KPB and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Bernhard, K.P., Shapiro, A.C. & Hunt, C.A. Drivers of tropical deforestation: a global review of methodological approaches and analytical scales. Biodivers Conserv 33, 1–29 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02747-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02747-z