Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile

The study analyzes the expansion of timber plantations, primarily Pinus radiata, in south-central Chile from 1975 to 2007. Using satellite imagery and autologistic regressions, the research finds that plantations grew from 5.5% to 42.4% of the landscape. Early expansion (1975–1990) was strongly linked to forest-suitable soils, steep slopes, proximity to cities, and corporate landholdings. The study highlights that a significant portion of this expansion resulted from clearing secondary native forests, contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss.

• Timber plantations, primarily Pinus radiata, experienced massive growth in south-central Chile, increasing from 29,213 hectares (5.5% of the landscape) in 1975 to 224,716 hectares (42.4% of the landscape) in 2007, representing a ten-fold increase at an annual rate of 6.4%.
• The expansion between 1975 and 1990 was specifically associated with corporate landholding, large farms, proximity to main cities, steep slopes, and soils suitable for forests, though some of these drivers became less significant between 1990 and 2007 as plantations became the dominant land cover.
• Plantation expansion has directly caused deforestation and biodiversity loss in Chile, with 41.5% of new plantations between 1975 and 1990 and 22.8% between 1990 and 2007 established by clearing secondary native forests.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-to-forest-plantations-proximate-causes-and-implications-for-the-landscape-in-south-central-chile/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-to-forest-plantations-proximate-causes-and-implications-for-the-landscape-in-south-central-chile/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile |date=17 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-to-forest-plantations-proximate-causes-and-implications-for-the-landscape-in-south-central-chile/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025land, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-to-forest-plantations-proximate-causes-and-implications-for-the-landscape-in-south-central-chile/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }