Topic Overview

Forest destruction is one the biggest challenge in Asia as well as globally. In this topic, you will learn about the concept of deforestation, forest degradation and land use land cover change. In-depth analysis of major drivers (direct and indirect) of these challenges will be discussed along with how narrative of these drivers have been changed over time with case studies from East Asia and South-East Asia. You will be introduced the framework “tele-couple” to analyze deforestation and forest degradation in South-East Asia, particularly Indonesia, South America particularly Amazon forest in Brazil. Moreover, you will also analyze the impact of forest destruction in biodiversity conservation and society and discuss about policies and practices to address these challenges.

Learning Objectives

• Describe Deforestation, Forest Degradation and Land Use Land Cover Change (LULU).
• Identify and analyze the drivers of Deforestation, Forest Degradation and LULC.
• Explain the implications of those issues for conservation in Asia.
• Analyze policy and practices to address the issues in the context of Asia.

Required & Optional Readings

Required Readings

• Keenan, R. J., Reams, G. A., Achard, F., de Freitas, J. V., Grainger, A., & Lindquist, E. (2015). Dynamics of global forest area: Results from the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015. Forest Ecology and Management, 352, 9-20.
• Jayathilake, H. M., Prescott, G. W., Carrasco, L. R., Rao, M., & Symes, W. S. (2020). Drivers of deforestation and degradation for 28 tropical conservation landscapes. Ambio, 1-14.
• Carrasco, L. R., Le Nghiem, T. P., Chen, Z., & Barbier, E. B. (2017). Unsustainable development pathways caused by tropical deforestation. Science advances, 3(7), e1602602.

Fundamental Concepts

• Topic 2.1 Deforestation, forest degradation and land use change.pdf Download Topic 2.1 Deforestation, forest degradation and land use change.pdf

Self-test Quiz (For certificate learning only)

After viewing lecture PPT presentation for this topic, take 10 minutes to take this self-test quiz. It is intended to serve as a quick check points of your learning progress about the factual content for this topic. Immediate feedback or answer key will be provided after your attempt. Click Self-test Quiz 2.1 to start.

Online Discussions (For certificate learning only)

Each week you will participant in the topic discussions of the week. The purpose of these discussions is to enable you to critically discuss and apply the core concepts you learned each week. Each online weekly topic discussion will include two parts: 1) your initial response to topic discussion questions posted by the instructor; and 2) your peer comment on other peer posts. Instructor will post one or two discussion questions related to the assigned module and topic every week. Response to these online discussion question and subsequent peer comment on these responses is mandatory. By doing this, you will enhance your knowledge through multiple perspectives posted by your peers. These questions will be focused on the most important aspect of the assigned module and topic and reflection on how you can apply these concept and tools from the assigned module and topic in your own context. For detailed requirements and grading rubric go to Online Discussions page.

To join the online topic discussions for this week go to Online Topic Discussion 2.1.

Graded Assignment for the Week (For certificate learning only)

NA.