The Bigger Picture: Tropical Forest Change in Context, Concept and Practice

background

This article discusses differing concepts of reforestation between the fields of forest science and land change science. Most data from the field of forest science is small in scale and evaluates growth and production from the perspective of use of wood products.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The percent of forest plantations in total forest area increased between 1990 and 2000 in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nepal, India, and Madagascar and decreased in Vietnam. Only for India and Vietnam has there been evidence that forestation is happening on a national scale. The author suggests that the uncertainty about large-scale trends in pan-tropical forest area is not only from issues of forest monitoring, but also lack of information about land change.