Summary
Tropical deforestation continues at alarming rates with profound impacts on ecosystems, climate, and livelihoods, prompting renewed commitments to halt its continuation. Although it is well established that agriculture is a dominant driver of deforestation, rates and mechanisms remain disputed and often lack a clear evidence base. We synthesize the best available pantropical evidence to provide clarity on how agriculture drives deforestation. Although most (90 to 99%) deforestation across the tropics 2011 to 2015 was driven by agriculture, only 45 to 65% of deforested land became productive agriculture within a few years. Therefore, ending deforestation likely requires combining measures to create deforestation-free supply chains with landscape governance interventions. We highlight key re
Regional applicability
This Global South–focused analysis has limited direct application to United Kingdom farming policy, as the UK has negligible tropical deforestation impacts. However, the findings are relevant to UK consumption-side policy (commodity imports, supply-chain due diligence) and inform climate commitments regarding tropical forest protection and agricultural land use.
Key measures
Percentage of deforestation attributable to agriculture; percentage of deforested land converted to productive agriculture; regional and commodity-specific deforestation rates
Outcomes reported
The study quantified the proportion of tropical deforestation driven by agriculture (90–99% across 2011–2015) and determined what fraction of cleared land actually converted to productive agriculture (45–65%). It synthesized pantropical evidence to clarify mechanisms and identified evidence gaps in deforestation trends and commodity-specific dynamics.
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