Rapid highland forest loss in Southeast Asia during the early 21st century

Southeast Asia's (SEA) lowlands are known hotspots of agriculturally driven deforestation, but prior studies suggest that forest loss in the region's highlands has been small. These studies include the land cover reconstructions used within the global climate simulations that inform the IPCC. Presumably because there is little remaining forest to convert in the agriculturally suitable lowlands, these same studies project that SEA will experience relatively little future agricultural expansion. However, a number of local studies indicate recent agricultural expansion in parts of SEA's highlands. In this paper, we use improved methods to analyze agriculturally driven forest loss from 2000 to 2014 throughout the entire region, revealing a new frontier of agricultural expansion in SEA's highlands. Our findings stand in marked contrast to the agricultural retreat and reforestation seen in other global highlands, and suggest that simulations of global climate processes are failing to account for a potentially important land-atmosphere interaction.