The global deforestation footprint of agriculture and forestry

In this paper, the authors reviewed the status of deforestation footprinting, comparing and contrasting methods and results from across global and regional studies. They highlighted a number of challenges which need to be addressed:

• Current deforestation footprinting methods do not always account for the impacts of non-agricultural land use.
• Deforestation footprinting data lacks harmonization. Though there is general agreement about the key drivers of deforestation, differing definitions and methods can complicate the interpretation of results.
• Any data produced must be communicated clearly, both in terms of its results and methodological approach. This will maximize its usefulness to decision-makers and civil society.
• Environmental policy is ever-evolving, with technical definitions and classifications shifting in scope. Deforestation footprinting techniques will need to co-evolve in scope to remain relevant and effective.

The authors emphasized that the availability of different methodologies is valuable as they produce information on different facets of the same deforestation challenges. However, more data transparency and further research efforts towards comparing results would enable better interpretation of perspectives offered by deforestation footprint studies.