The importance of distinguishing between natural and managed tree cover gains in the moist tropics

Xueyuan Gao; Peter B. Reich; Jeffrey R. Vincent; Matthew E. Fagan; Robin L. Chazdon; Steffen Fritz; Dmitry Schepaschenko; Matthew D. Potts; Matthew C. Hansen; Martin Jung; Pedro H. S. Brancalion; María Uriarte; Trevor F. Keenan; Thomas W. Crowther; Ralph O. Dubayah; Myroslava Lesiv; Shunlin Liang; Dongdong Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-59196-1

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The importance of distinguishing between natural and managed tree cover gains in the moist tropics

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The importance of distinguishing between natural and managed tree cover gains in the moist tropics

Xueyuan Gao, Peter B. Reich, Jeffrey R. Vincent, Matthew E. Fagan, Robin L. Chazdon, Steffen Fritz, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Matthew D. Potts, Matthew C. Hansen, Martin Jung, …

Nature Communications, Vol.16(1), pp.1-6

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59196-1

PMCID: PMC12222686

PMID: 40603883

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Abstract

forest ecology

restoration ecology

tropical ecology

Naturally regenerated forests and managed tree systems provide different levels of carbon, biodiversity, and livelihood benefits. Here, we show that tree cover gains in the moist tropics during 1982–2015 were 56% ± 3% naturally regenerated forests and 27% ± 2.6% managed tree systems, with these differences in forest type, not only natural conditions (climate, soil, and topography), driving observed carbon recovery rates. The remaining 17% ± 3% likely represents small, unmanaged tree patches within non-forest cover types. Achieving global forest restoration goals requires robust monitoring, reporting, and verification of forest types established by restoration initiatives. Tree cover gains in the moist tropics (1982–2015) were 56% naturally regenerated forests and 27% managed tree systems, with forest type influencing carbon recovery. Effective forest restoration requires robust tracking of forest types established by restoration efforts.

Details

Title: The importance of distinguishing between natural and managed tree cover gains in the moist tropics
Authors: Xueyuan Gao (Corresponding Author) - University of Maryland, College Park
Peter B. Reich - University of Michigan
Jeffrey R. Vincent - Duke University
Matthew E. Fagan - University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Robin L. Chazdon - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Research Institute
Steffen Fritz - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Dmitry Schepaschenko - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Matthew D. Potts - University of California, Berkeley
Matthew C. Hansen - University of Maryland, College Park
Martin Jung - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Pedro H. S. Brancalion - Universidade de São Paulo
María Uriarte - Columbia University
Trevor F. Keenan - University of California, Berkeley
Thomas W. Crowther - ETH Zurich
Ralph O. Dubayah - University of Maryland, College Park
Myroslava Lesiv - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Shunlin Liang - University of Hong Kong
Dongdong Wang - University of Maryland, College Park
Publication details: Nature Communications, Vol.16(1), pp.1-6
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59196-1
ISSN: 2041-1723
PMID: 40603883; PMC12222686
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: All input datasets are available from the references cited. The moist tropical tree cover restoration areas and types map (Fig. 1) can be regenerated by running the Google Earth Engine codes provided herein.
Grant note: P.B.R. was supported by the National Science Foundation: Biological Integration Institutes NSF-DBI-2021898. S.F., D.S., and M.L. acknowledge funding from the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) for the Transparent Monitoring Project. T.F.K. acknowledges support from a NASA Carbon Cycle Science Award 80NSSC21K1705 and a NASA GEDI award # 80NSSC24K0600.
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991140385702621
Output Type: Journal article

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