This chapter analyzes the drivers, patterns, and impacts of deforestation and forest degradation in Sabah, Malaysia. It identifies major direct causes such as logging, agricultural expansion (especially oil palm), infrastructure development, and forest fires, as well as underlying drivers including economic development, governance structures, and global market forces. The chapter highlights how land-use change has transformed Sabah’s forest landscapes, producing both economic benefits and significant environmental and social costs, including biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and threats to local livelihoods. It also reviews mitigation strategies such as sustainable forest management, forest certification, REDD+, and multi-stakeholder partnerships, emphasizing the need for integrated, equitable, and evidence-based forest governance.
Tag: agricultural expansion
Forest and climate change in Malaysia – An overview
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of forest and climate change dynamics in Malaysia, with particular focus on Sabah and Sarawak. It examines historical and recent trends in forest cover, highlighting the impacts of agricultural expansion, logging, and infrastructure development on deforestation and forest degradation. The chapter outlines Malaysia’s forest governance system, emphasizing decentralized state-level authority and the implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM) policies. It also reviews national and subnational climate change strategies, including REDD+, forest monitoring systems, and carbon mitigation commitments. While Malaysia retains significant forest cover, the chapter underscores ongoing challenges in governance coordination, Indigenous rights, and balancing development with conservation.
The political economy of deforestation and degradation in Sabah – The processes behind the drivers
This chapter examines the political economy underlying deforestation and forest degradation in Sabah, Malaysia. It analyzes how historical legacies, development policies, political dynamics, and global market forces interact to shape forest use and governance. The chapter highlights the role of logging regimes, agricultural expansion, patronage networks, and economic globalization in driving forest loss, while also exploring how policy reforms such as sustainable forest management have shifted practices over time. It emphasizes that deforestation is not only an environmental issue but also a product of complex political, economic, and institutional processes that require integrated, equitable, and long-term governance solutions.
Knowledge gaps on drivers of change in East African dry forests: insights from a systematic literature review
Dry forests, which support millions of vulnerable people, are among the most threatened ecosystems globally. This systematic review of 330 studies identifies key drivers of change in East African dry forests, including agricultural expansion, fuelwood extraction, and climate variability. The review highlights three major knowledge gaps: limited geographic coverage, weak interdisciplinary collaboration, and insufficient analysis of indirect drivers. Addressing these gaps is essential for developing sustainable forest management and policy frameworks. The study calls for context-specific, interdisciplinary approaches to conserve dry forests and the ecosystem services they provide, ensuring both environmental resilience and community well-being.
Reconstructing pre-agricultural expansion vegetation cover of Ethiopia
Landscape reconstructions can be used to define a reference condition from which to assess the magnitude of land changes caused by human influence. Since the beginning of the last century, the population of Ethiopia has increased drastically with large effects on the natural vegetation and biodiversity. However, the original land cover patterns in Ethiopia have not been precisely mapped, which hinder the identification of the biophysical and socio-economic factors that contributed to the current landscape patterns. The objective of this study was to reconstruct the past century vegetation landscapes of Ethiopia (i.e. vegetation cover before agricultural expansion) and identify which ecosystems have been most affected by land changes. First, the net primary productivity (NPP) was modelled based on the climatic constraints of natural vegetation growth (water availability, solar radiation and minimum temperature) derived from remote sensing and climate data. This analysis showed that water availability is the most critical constraint for vegetation growth for all regions and land cover types in Ethiopia. Then, the past vegetation was mapped based on predicted NPP. Our results show that i) the extent of broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest, open broadleaved deciduous forest, closed to open shrubland, mosaic forest-shrubland/grassland, sparse vegetation and grassland was 18.8%, 12.4%, 20.6%, 31.5%, and 16.8%, respectively, and ii) current agricultural landscapes were previously covered mainly by broadleaved evergreen and deciduous forest, which encompassed 38.9%. The least affected by agricultural expansion were sparse vegetation and grassland. Our study provides novel insights on pre-agricultural expansion landscapes in Ethiopia with critical information for scientists and other stakeholders working on the restoration and rehabilitation of degraded areas.