Executive Summary: Forest Cover and Deforestation in Belize, 2010-2012

  • Executive Summary: Forest Cover and Deforestation in Belize, 2010-2012

by Emil Cherrington, Percival Cho, Ivanna Waight, Tanya Santos, Alex Escalante, Jorge Nabet, and Lewis Usher

 

 

Introduction 

Although Belize is recognized as the Mesoamerican nation with the highest percent forest cover (CATHALAC 2011), our recently concluded satellite-based analysis suggests that this privileged status is at risk from elevated deforestation. The nation’s forest cover has declined over the past three+ decades (Cherrington et al. 2010a), but the last two years has seen a significant increase in the rate of deforestation compared to previous years, prompting the need for continued national-scale monitoring using satellite imagery. This article summarizes that recently-completed assessment of (i) Belize’s current 2012 forest cover, and (ii) national deforestation estimates for the period 2010-2012.

 

 

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Keywords: forest cover, mesoamerica, satellite-based analysis, deforestation.

 

 

Suggested APA Reference: Cherrington, E. A., & Ek, E. (2010). Forest cover and deforestation in Belize: 1980-2010. NASA.

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