Small forest disturbances add up to a Central African carbon loss that coarser maps can miss
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
A Nature Communications study used annual 10-m canopy-height maps built from spaceborne lidar, Sentinel radar and optical imagery to resolve biomass changes from 2019 to 2022. The analysis found that 87% of detected disturbances were smaller than one hectare. These small patches accounted for a substantial share of both carbon loss and regrowth, and the regional budget showed a net aboveground biomass-carbon loss of about 58 ± 9 Tg C per year, with gross losses only partly offset by gains.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Deforestation maps can miss the ecological importance of degradation that arrives as many small openings. For carbon accounting and forest management, monitoring needs to resolve the spatial grain at which selective logging, small clearings, fire and regrowth actually change biomass rather than treating only large clearings as meaningful change.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
The analysis covers aboveground biomass over a short 2019–2022 window and depends on remote-sensing and model calibration; it is not a complete ecosystem carbon budget and does not include all belowground or soil-carbon processes. Attribution of individual disturbance causes is also more uncertain than detection of canopy change itself.
SOURCE
Nature Communications
View original evidence ↗
EGU 2026 · Study abstract
View supporting source ↗
Annual 10-m canopy-height maps for 2019–2022 found that 87% of detected disturbance patches were under one hectare, while dense Central African forests showed a net aboveground biomass-carbon loss.
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