Doggart, N, Morgan-Brown, T, Lyimo, E et al. (4 more authors) (2020) Agriculture is the main driver of deforestation in Tanzania. Environmental Research Letters, 15 (3). 034028. ISSN 1748-9326
Abstract
Reducing deforestation can generate multiple economic, social and ecological benefits by safeguarding the climate and other ecosystem services provided by forests. Understanding the relative contribution of different drivers of deforestation is needed to guide policies seeking to maintain natural forest cover. We assessed 119 randomly selected plots from areas deforested between 2010 and 2017, in Tanzania. Through ground surveys and stakeholder interviews we assessed the proximate deforestation drivers at each point. Crop cultivation was the most commonly observed driver occurring in 89% of plots, compared to livestock grazing (69%) and charcoal (35%). There was evidence of fire in 77% of plots. Most deforestation events involved multiple drivers, with 83% of plots showing signs of two or more drivers. Stakeholder interviews identified agriculture as the primary deforestation driver in 81% of plots, substantially more than charcoal production (12%), timber harvesting (1%) and livestock (1%). Policy-makers in Tanzania have sought to reduce deforestation by reducing demand for charcoal. However, our work demonstrates that agriculture, not charcoal, is the main driver of deforestation in Tanzania. Beyond protected areas, there is no clear policy limiting the conversion of forests to agricultural land. Reducing deforestation in Tanzania requires greater inter-sectoral coordination between the agriculture, livestock, land, energy and forest sectors.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | deforestation; forest degradation; drivers; charcoal; forest transition model; Tanzania |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jan 2020 12:48 |
Last Modified: | 06 Apr 2020 13:49 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1748-9326/ab6b35 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:155750 |
Download
Filename: Doggart_2020_Environ._Res._Lett._15_034028.pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0