Agriculture drives more than 90 percent of tropical deforestation
Halting deforestation will require a step-change in approach, and to be effective measures must address underlying and indirect roles of agriculture, says study. A new study published today in leading journal, Science, finds that between 90 and 99 percent of all deforestation in the tropics is driven directly or indirectly by agriculture. Yet only half to two-thirds of this results in the expansion of active agricultural production on the deforested land. The study is a collaboration between many of the world’s leading deforestation experts and provides a new synthesis of