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# Tropical rainforests lost 18% of undisturbed cover since 1990 while edge exposure increased
- URL: https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/2026-09-16-tropical-rainforest-cover-edge-exposure/
- Published: 2026-09-16T12:12:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-16T12:12:57.000Z
- Description: Annual land-use maps show forest loss and fragmentation moving together across the tropics, with especially large declines in Southeast Asia and West Africa.
- Author: Benjamin Worlund
- Tags: tropical forests, fragmentation, forest edges, deforestation, remote sensing, Land, Wildlife, Climate, Methods, #ecological-intelligence, #brief-2026-09-16, #priority-read, #peer-reviewed, #geo-global

Evidence

Peer-reviewed

Geography

Pantropical rainforest regions, 1990–2023

System

Tropical rainforests

## WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Annual tropical land-use maps from 1990–2023 indicate an 18.1% loss of undisturbed rainforest cover. Losses were uneven: about 25% in Asia, 14.8% in Africa and 14.5% in the Americas, with especially large regional declines in Southeast Asia, West Africa, the Amazon deforestation arc and Central America. The area of remaining forest within 100 metres of an edge increased by about 6.6%, showing that fragmentation rose alongside outright loss.

## WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Forest area and forest configuration are different conservation variables. A landscape can retain mapped rainforest while exposing more of it to edge-related changes in microclimate, disturbance and access. Monitoring only net area can therefore understate how much interior habitat and ecological continuity have changed.

## CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

The analysis depends on remote-sensing classifications and a fixed 100-m edge-distance metric. Edge exposure is a structural proxy, not a direct measurement of biodiversity loss or microclimatic change at every site.

## SOURCE

Scientific Reports · Original evidence  
[View original evidence ↗](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71092-2?ref=intelligence.wildlandseco.com)

From the Morning Brief · 2026-09-16

[Read the full Morning Brief →](https://intelligence.wildlandseco.com/morning-brief-2026-09-16/)