报告题目：Rapid highland forest loss in Southeast Asia during the early 21st century

　　报 告 人：Dr. Zhenzhong Zeng

　　单 位：Department of Civil and Environmental

　　Engineering, Princeton University

　　时 间：2018年6月11日下午2:30-3:30

　　地 点：大气所40号楼319会议室

　　欢迎大家踊跃参加并讨论！

　　Abstract

　　Southeast Asia’s (SEA) lowlands are known as hotspots of agriculturally driven deforestation, but prior studies suggest that forest loss in the region’s highlands has been small. These studies include the land cover reconstructions used within the global climate simulations that inform the IPCC. Presumably because there is little remaining forest to convert in the agriculturally suitable lowlands, these studies project that SEA will experience relatively little future agricultural expansion. However, a number of local studies indicate recent agricultural expansion in parts of SEA’s highlands. Here, we use improved methods to analyze agriculturally driven forest loss from 2000 to 2014 throughout the entire region, revealing a new frontier of agricultural expansion in SEA’s highlands. Our findings stand in marked contrast to the agricultural retreat and reforestation seen in other global highlands, and suggest that simulations of global climate processes failed to account for a potentially important land-atmosphere interaction.