The expansion of tree plantations across tropical biomes

Changes in agricultural practices have led to the expansion of tree plantations across the tropics, but this expansion is poorly characterized. Nearly 7 million unique patches of observed tree cover gain are classified through satellite imagery to report on tropical tree plantation expansion between 2000 and 2012. Across the tropics, recent agricultural shifts have led to a rapid expansion of tree plantations, often into intact forests and grasslands. However, this expansion is poorly characterized. Here, we report tropical tree plantation expansion between 2000 and 2012, based on classifying nearly 7 million unique patches of observed tree cover gain using optical and radar satellite imagery. The resulting map was a subsample of all tree cover gain but we coupled it with an extensive random accuracy assessment (n = 4,269 points) to provide unbiased estimates of expansion. Most predicted gain patches (69.2%) consisted of small patches of natural regrowth (31.6 +/- 11.9 Mha). However, expansion of tree plantations also dominated increases in tree cover across the tropics (32.2 +/- 9.4 Mha) with 92% of predicted plantation expansion occurring in biodiversity hotspots and 14% in arid biomes. We estimate that tree plantations expanded into 9.2% of accessible protected areas across the humid tropics, most frequently in southeast Asia, west Africa and Brazil. Given international tree planting commitments, it is critical to understand how future tree plantation expansion will affect remaining natural ecosystems.

Automated summary

Changes in agricultural practices have led to rapid expansion of tree plantations in tropical regions, often encroaching intact forests and grasslands. Satellite imagery was used to classify observed tree cover gain between 2000 and 2012, revealing that both natural regrowth and plantation expansion contribute to increased tree cover across the tropics.