Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3

. 2020 Dec 8;11(1):5978.

doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3.

Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

H S Grantham¹, A Duncan², T D Evans², K R Jones², H L Beyer³, R Schuster⁴, J Walston², J C Ray⁵, J G Robinson², M Callow², T Clements², H M Costa², A DeGemmis², P R Elsen², J Ervin⁶, P Franco², E Goldman⁷, S Goetz⁸, A Hansen⁹, E Hofsvang¹⁰, P Jantz⁸, S Jupiter², A Kang², P Langhammer^{11

12}, W F Laurance¹³, S Lieberman², M Linkie², Y Malhi¹⁴, S Maxwell³, M Mendez², R Mittermeier¹¹, N J Murray^{13

15}, H Possingham^{16

17}, J Radachowsky², S Saatchi¹⁸, C Samper², J Silverman², A Shapiro¹⁹, B Strassburg²⁰, T Stevens², E Stokes², R Taylor⁷, T Tear², R Tizard², O Venter²¹, P Visconti²², S Wang², J E M Watson^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, 10460, USA. hgrantham@wcs.org.
² Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, 10460, USA.
³ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁴ Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada.
⁵ Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, 344 Bloor St W #204, Toronto, ON, M5S 3A7, Canada.
⁶ United Nations Development Programme, One United Nations Plaza, New York, NY, 10017, USA.
⁷ World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ Global Earth Observation & Dynamics of Ecosystems Lab, School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
⁹ Landscape Biodiversity Lab, Ecology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA.
¹⁰ Rainforest Foundation Norway, Mariboes gate 8, 0183, Oslo, Norway.
¹¹ Global Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 129, Austin, TX, 78767, USA.
¹² School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
¹³ Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, 4878, Australia.
¹⁴ Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁵ College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia.
¹⁷ The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA.
¹⁸ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA.
¹⁹ World Wide Fund for Nature Germany, Space+Science, Berlin, Germany.
²⁰ International Institute of Sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Brazil.
²¹ Natural Resource and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada.
²² International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.

PMID: 33293507
PMCID: PMC7723057
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3

Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

H S Grantham et al. Nat Commun. 2020.

. 2020 Dec 8;11(1):5978.

doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, 10460, USA. hgrantham@wcs.org.
² Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, 10460, USA.
³ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁴ Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada.
⁵ Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, 344 Bloor St W #204, Toronto, ON, M5S 3A7, Canada.
⁶ United Nations Development Programme, One United Nations Plaza, New York, NY, 10017, USA.
⁷ World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ Global Earth Observation & Dynamics of Ecosystems Lab, School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
⁹ Landscape Biodiversity Lab, Ecology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA.
¹⁰ Rainforest Foundation Norway, Mariboes gate 8, 0183, Oslo, Norway.
¹¹ Global Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 129, Austin, TX, 78767, USA.
¹² School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
¹³ Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, 4878, Australia.
¹⁴ Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁵ College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia.
¹⁷ The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA.
¹⁸ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA.
¹⁹ World Wide Fund for Nature Germany, Space+Science, Berlin, Germany.
²⁰ International Institute of Sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Brazil.
²¹ Natural Resource and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada.
²² International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.

PMID: 33293507
PMCID: PMC7723057
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3

Erratum in

Author Correction: Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity.
Grantham HS, Duncan A, Evans TD, Jones KR, Beyer HL, Schuster R, Walston J, Ray JC, Robinson JG, Callow M, Clements T, Costa HM, DeGemmis A, Elsen PR, Ervin J, Franco P, Goldman E, Goetz S, Hansen A, Hofsvang E, Jantz P, Jupiter S, Kang A, Langhammer P, Laurance WF, Lieberman S, Linkie M, Malhi Y, Maxwell S, Mendez M, Mittermeier R, Murray NJ, Possingham H, Radachowsky J, Saatchi S, Samper C, Silverman J, Shapiro A, Strassburg B, Stevens T, Stokes E, Taylor R, Tear T, Tizard R, Venter O, Visconti P, Wang S, Watson JEM. Grantham HS, et al. Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 20;12(1):592. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-20999-7. Nat Commun. 2021. PMID: 33473136 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Many global environmental agendas, including halting biodiversity loss, reversing land degradation, and limiting climate change, depend upon retaining forests with high ecological integrity, yet the scale and degree of forest modification remain poorly quantified and mapped. By integrating data on observed and inferred human pressures and an index of lost connectivity, we generate a globally consistent, continuous index of forest condition as determined by the degree of anthropogenic modification. Globally, only 17.4 million km² of forest (40.5%) has high landscape-level integrity (mostly found in Canada, Russia, the Amazon, Central Africa, and New Guinea) and only 27% of this area is found in nationally designated protected areas. Of the forest inside protected areas, only 56% has high landscape-level integrity. Ambitious policies that prioritize the retention of forest integrity, especially in the most intact areas, are now urgently needed alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and restoring the integrity of forests globally.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1. Methods used to construct the Forest Landscape Integrity Index.**
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index was constructed based on three main data inputs: (1) observed pressures (infrastructure, agriculture, tree cover loss), (2) inferred pressure modeled based on proximity to the observed pressures, and (3) change in forest connectivity.

**Fig. 2. Forest Landscape Integrity Index map.**
A global map of Forest Landscape Integrity for the start of 2019. Three regions are highlighted including (a) Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee USA, (b) a region in Shan State Myanmar, and (c) Reserva Natural del Estuario del Muni in Equatorial Guinea. Maps A1–C1 shows the Forest Landscape Integrity Index for these locations. A2, B2, and C2 are photographs from within these regions: (A2) the edge of Smoky Mountains National Park; (B2) shows a logging truck passing through some partially degraded forest along a newly constructed highway in Shan Stat; and, (C3) shows an intact mangrove forest within Reserva Natural del Estuario del Muni, near the border with Gabon. The stars in (a), (b), and (c) indicate approximate location of where these photos were taken. All photos were taken by H.S.G.

**Fig. 3. Forest Landscape Integrity Index map categorized into three illustrative classes.**
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index for 2019 categorized into three broad, illustrative classes and mapped across each biogeographic realm (a–g). The size of the pie charts indicates the relative size of the forests within each realm (a–g), and h shows all the world’s forest combined.

**Fig. 4. Forest Landscape Integrity Index map categorized into three illustrative classes for each major forested country.**
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index for 2019 categorized into three broad, illustrative classes for each major forested country in the world. (a) countries with a forest extent larger than 1 million km², and (b) countries with forest extent between 1 million km² and 100,000 km² of forest. The size of the bar represents the area of a country’s forests.

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References

1. Seymour F, Harris NL. Reducing tropical deforestation. Science. 2019;365:756–757. - PubMed
1. Pearson TRH, Brown S, Murray L, Sidman G. Greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forest degradation: an underestimated source. Carbon Balance Manag. 2017;12:3. - PMC - PubMed
1. Moen J, et al. Eye on the Taiga: removing global policy impediments to safeguard the boreal forest. Conserv. Lett. 2014;7:408–418.
1. Erb K-H, et al. Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass. Nature. 2018;553:73–76. - PMC - PubMed
1. Scholes, R. et al. IPBES (2018): Summary for policymakers of the assessment report on land degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2018).

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[1] Seymour F, Harris NL. Reducing tropical deforestation. Science. 2019;365:756–757. - PubMed

[2] Seymour F, Harris NL. Reducing tropical deforestation. Science. 2019;365:756–757. - PubMed

[3] Pearson TRH, Brown S, Murray L, Sidman G. Greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forest degradation: an underestimated source. Carbon Balance Manag. 2017;12:3. - PMC - PubMed

[4] Pearson TRH, Brown S, Murray L, Sidman G. Greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forest degradation: an underestimated source. Carbon Balance Manag. 2017;12:3. - PMC - PubMed

[5] Moen J, et al. Eye on the Taiga: removing global policy impediments to safeguard the boreal forest. Conserv. Lett. 2014;7:408–418.

[6] Moen J, et al. Eye on the Taiga: removing global policy impediments to safeguard the boreal forest. Conserv. Lett. 2014;7:408–418.

[7] Erb K-H, et al. Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass. Nature. 2018;553:73–76. - PMC - PubMed

[8] Erb K-H, et al. Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass. Nature. 2018;553:73–76. - PMC - PubMed

[9] Scholes, R. et al. IPBES (2018): Summary for policymakers of the assessment report on land degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2018).

[10] Scholes, R. et al. IPBES (2018): Summary for policymakers of the assessment report on land degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2018).

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Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

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Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

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