ERL - Global Tropical Deforestation Up 53% 2001 - 2012, Largely Industrial Ag (Palm Oil, Soy)
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For their study, researchers at Duke University in the U.S. analyzed tree cover loss data detected by satellites between 2001 and 2012 and compiled by the University of Maryland. They restricted their analysis to tropical areas as defined by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
They then analyzed tree cover loss trends in respect to four deforestation class sizes: less than 10 hectares, 10 to 100 hectares, 100 to 1,000 hectares and more than 1,000 hectares. According to the FAO, household and other small-scale farms in tropical, developing nations tend to clear less than 10 hectares, so the authors used this number to define smallholder operations.
The data indicate that in the tropics overall, deforestation increased 53 percent between 2001 and 2012, from an average of around 69,000 square kilometers (6.9 million hectares or 26,600 square miles) per year during the first half of their study period to 79,000 square kilometers per year during the last half. When they looked at the scale of discrete deforestation events, the researchers found more than half were larger than 10 hectares.
This trend, they write, was most apparent in South America and Southeast Asia, where 79 percent of tropical deforestation occurred. In South America, the researchers found that small clearings contributed 42 percent to South America’s overall deforestation and 67 percent to Southeast Asia. In comparison, small clearing events accounted for more than 80 percent of overall deforestation in other regions. Overall, the researchers found the proportion of deforestation comprised of medium, large and very large clearings increased from 2001 to 2012. In Southeast Asia, that number went up 16 percent.
EDIT
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/tropical-deforestation-is-getting-bigger-study-finds/