The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests

This commentary by Scott Vaughan, President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), discusses the book 'On the Edge: The State and Fate of the World’s Tropical Rainforests' by Claude Martin. The text outlines the scientific history of tropical rainforest research, the primary drivers of deforestation—specifically agriculture and infrastructure—and the progress made through protected areas and remote sensing. It further examines the intersection of forest loss with climate change, carbon emissions, and the risks of species extinction.

• Tropical rainforests exhibit extreme biodiversity; for instance, a single tree in Peru once yielded 43 different ant species, and one hectare of Peruvian rainforest has had approximately 41,000 arthropod species identified, with beetles making up one quarter of that total.
• Agriculture is identified as the primary driver of tropical forest loss, particularly in the Amazonian region, where historically up to 70 per cent of deforestation is linked to subsistence and cash crops. In Brazil, roughly 50 per cent of forest loss is attributed to large-scale agro-industrial land conversion, while in Indonesia, the figure is 12 per cent.
• The transition to cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire has led to a massive reduction in forest cover, dropping from approximately 14 million hectares in the 1960s to one million hectares currently.
• Environmental advocacy is increasingly dangerous; a Global Watch report indicated that in 2014, an estimated 114 murders were linked to efforts to stop illegal logging, large-scale hydropower development, and land clearing for commercial crops, specifically targeting indigenous leaders.
• Significant progress has been made in forest conservation through protected areas, which saw a fourfold increase for tropical rainforests between 1990 and 2013. In the Amazon, a network of 400 protected areas across nine countries covers 166 million hectares, supported by the Brazilian government's decision to protect 25 per cent of its Amazon forests.
• Climate change poses a severe risk to rainforests, with the IPCC estimating that deforestation accounts for 15 per cent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Droughts in the Amazon in 2005 and 2010 are linked to a loss of up to 2.2 billion metric tonnes of carbon storage.
• The environmental cost of land conversion in South America is estimated at over $300 billion, a figure surpassed globally only by the damages caused by coal-fired power plants in East Asia.

APA

Vaughan, S. (2015). The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/state-fate-tropical-rainforests-commentary.pdf

Chicago

Vaughan, Scott. The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2015. https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/state-fate-tropical-rainforests-commentary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vaughan |first1=Scott |title=The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2015 |url=https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/state-fate-tropical-rainforests-commentary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vaughan2015state, author = {Vaughan, Scott}, title = {{The State and Fate of Tropical Rainforests}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/state-fate-tropical-rainforests-commentary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }