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Population Pressure And Global Markets Drive A Decade Of Forest Cover Change In Africa's Albertine Rift, Sadie J. Ryan, Michael W. Palace, Joel N. Hartter, Jeremy E. Diem, Colin A. Chapman, J. Southworth

Faculty Publications

Africa's Albertine Rift region faces a juxtaposition of rapid human population growth and protected areas, making it one of the world's most vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. Using satellite-derived estimates of forest cover change, we examined national socioeconomic, demographic, agricultural production, and local demographic and geographic variables, to assess multilevel forces driving local forest cover loss and gain outside protected areas during the first decade of this century. Because the processes that drive forest cover loss and gain are expected to be different, and both are of interest, we constructed models of significant change in each direction. Although rates of forest cover …