PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yunxia Wang
AU  - Peter M. Hollingsworth
AU  - Deli Zhai
AU  - Christopher D. West
AU  - Jonathan Green
AU  - Huafang Chen
AU  - Kaspar Hurni
AU  - Yufang Su
AU  - Eleanor Warren-Thomas
AU  - Jianchu Xu
AU  - Antje Ahrends
TI  - New high-resolution maps show that rubber causes significant deforestation
AID  - 10.1101/2022.12.03.518959
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.12.03.518959
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/12/05/2022.12.03.518959.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/12/05/2022.12.03.518959.full
AB  - Understanding the impacts of cash crop expansion on natural forest is of fundamental importance. However, for most crops there are no remotely-sensed global maps1, and global deforestation impacts are estimated using models and extrapolations. Natural rubber is an example of a major commodity for which deforestation impacts have been highly uncertain, with estimates differing more than five-fold1–4. Here we harnessed earth observation satellite data and cloud computing5 to produce the first high-resolution maps of rubber and associated deforestation covering all Southeast Asia. Our maps indicate that rubber-related forest loss has been significantly underestimated in policy, by the public and in recent reports6–8. Our direct remotely-sensed observations show that deforestation for rubber is two to threefold higher than suggested by figures currently widely used for setting policy4. With over 3.76 million hectares of forest loss for rubber since 1993 (2.77 [2.5-3 95% CI] million hectares since 2000), and over 1 million hectares of rubber plantations established in Key Biodiversity Areas, the impacts of rubber on biodiversity and ecosystem services in Southeast Asia are extensive. Thus, rubber deserves more attention in domestic policy, within trade agreements and in incoming due diligence regulations.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.