All those biome-specific papers I see that start out by claiming to be "the biggest" or "the most biodiverse" or "the most threatened" or some other thing of global importance, when we have yet to accurately define and map the #biomes on Earth, are getting beyond tedious.
That said, I have to add that #GrassyBiomes are grossly underappreciated compared to #Forests.
The 5th paragraph is an example of debunking a myth with another myth framed as "Truth". Besides the FAO's fatally flawed definition of #forest possibly protecting #GrassyBiomes from agric expansion, how can conversion to agric not be human-induced? #SavannasMatter
There are many misconceptions about EUDR deforestation monitoring and what is required for due diligence. In this blog, we break down three common myths and explain how companies can effectively use open-source data like that on GFW Pro for EUDR compliance.
@CelloMomOnCars
Raising trees to restore #grasslands (i.e. #afforestation) makes no sense at all.
Those who monitor global #forest cover, or have any other interest in global #forests should mask global non-forest areas such as #GrassyBiomes by using resources such as the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tool/iucn-global-ecosystem-typology) or the RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017© biomes map (https://ecoregions.appspot.com/). They are much better than the global #treecover / #treeheight maps that so many use.
The IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology is a comprehensive classification framework for Earth’s ecosystems that integrates their functional and compositional features. This new typology helps identify the ecosystems that are most critical for biodiversity conservation, research, management and human wellbeing into the future.
The worst ever map of global #forest cover is in Fig 1 of this paper:
#TropicalGrassyBiomes like the #Cerrado of South America are under threat of degradation by #Forestization.
Stop large-scale #TreePlanting in #GrassyBiomes. #Savannas are NOT "degraded forests".
Stop mapping global "forests" in terms of vegetation height and woody cover alone. That leads to misclassification of savannas as #forests.
When it comes to environmental destruction in Brazil, the world’s focus tends to be on the deforestation and burning of the Amazon. Yet the Cerrado, the second-largest Brazilian biome, at 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles), is being silently destroyed. Today, only 54.4% of the region is still covered with native vegetation, and a […]
Why is there still an obsessive interest in mapping global forests on the sole basis of remotely sensed vegetation height and woody cover?
For example:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425720305381#f0005
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13658816.2023.2183959
Such outdated approaches are prone to misclassifying #GrassyBiomes as "forest" or "degraded forest".
It's now known that plant functional traits and other data not easily acquired by satellites must be included.
For example:
https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/2022/9835284
Into "savanna states" or into "savanna-like states"? One assumes that forest and savanna are alternate stable states composed of species with very different functional traits. The other does not.
Savannas and other #GrassyBiomes are not "degraded forests".
Important work.
But the analysis depends on how restoration priority areas are determined, which depends on how ecosystems are defined. Strassburg et al. (2020) is seriously flawed in that regard. Their Extended Data Figs 1 and 5 do not distinguish between "forest" and #GrassyBiomes such as savannas, especially in Africa and South America. This leads to intact savanna areas being misclassified as "degraded forest" and mislabelled as "restoration priority areas".
Important work.
Caveat: The analysis depends on how restoration priority areas are determined, which depends on how ecosystems are defined. Strassburg et al. (2020) is seriously flawed in that regard. Their Extended Data Figs 1 and 5 do not distinguish between "forest" and #GrassyBiomes such as savannas, especially in Africa and South America. This leads to intact savanna areas being misclassified as "degraded forest" and mislabelled as "restoration priority areas".
Savannology