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<p>Transportation networks threaten global forests, but prior assessments have been regional or limited to single metrics (e.g., forest cover). Here, we present a global analysis of multidimensional road effects on forests, using high-resolution remote sensing data and a Grid-wise Environmental Matching for Background Reference (GEM-BR) strategy. We detect 18.6% lower forest cover, 2.7 m shorter canopy height, 52.2 gC m<sup>-2</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> reduced net primary productivity, and 23.0 patches per km<sup>2</sup> higher fragmentation within 1 km of roads compared to reference areas. Impacts extend up to 5 km with a clear distance decay effect, totaling 4.26 million km<sup>2</sup> of forest loss—equivalent to 10.7% of the&#xa0;2020 global forest extent. The Global South (tropics accounting for 54.8%) faces severe, worsening degradation (2000–2020), while the Global North shows milder impacts, with partial recovery. Critically, 89% of grid cells exhibit conflicting long-term trends across metrics, highlighting the inadequacy of cover-only assessments. We further find that road-linked degradation is tightly coupled with local human activity, and that global protected areas have insufficient capacity to curb ongoing degradation. Differences in impacts among regions suggest that road-linked forest degradation is tied to governance choices—urging integrated transport-forest planning to balance development and conservation.</p>

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Global impacts of transportation infrastructure on forest degradation and loss

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月4日

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  • Decheng Zhou,
  • Jingfeng Xiao,
  • Shuguang Liu,
  • Lin Huang,
  • Liangxia Zhang,
  • Jiangwen Fan,
  • Shuqing Zhao

摘要

Transportation networks threaten global forests, but prior assessments have been regional or limited to single metrics (e.g., forest cover). Here, we present a global analysis of multidimensional road effects on forests, using high-resolution remote sensing data and a Grid-wise Environmental Matching for Background Reference (GEM-BR) strategy. We detect 18.6% lower forest cover, 2.7 m shorter canopy height, 52.2 gC m-2 yr-1 reduced net primary productivity, and 23.0 patches per km2 higher fragmentation within 1 km of roads compared to reference areas. Impacts extend up to 5 km with a clear distance decay effect, totaling 4.26 million km2 of forest loss—equivalent to 10.7% of the 2020 global forest extent. The Global South (tropics accounting for 54.8%) faces severe, worsening degradation (2000–2020), while the Global North shows milder impacts, with partial recovery. Critically, 89% of grid cells exhibit conflicting long-term trends across metrics, highlighting the inadequacy of cover-only assessments. We further find that road-linked degradation is tightly coupled with local human activity, and that global protected areas have insufficient capacity to curb ongoing degradation. Differences in impacts among regions suggest that road-linked forest degradation is tied to governance choices—urging integrated transport-forest planning to balance development and conservation.