Y. Wang et al. reply

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 644; no. 8076; pp. E23 - E26
• Main Authors: Wang, Yunxia, Hollingsworth, Peter M., Zhai, Deli, West, Christopher D., Green, Jonathan, Harrison, Sam, Chen, Huafang, Hurni, Kaspar, Su, Yufang, Warren-Thomas, Eleanor, Xu, Jianchu, Ahrends, Antje
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 14.08.2025; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/853; 704/172; Agroforestry; Biodiversity; Crops; Deforestation; Estimates; Forests; Fruit trees; Humanities and Social Sciences; Indigenous peoples; Land use; Matters Arising; multidisciplinary; Plantations; Rubber; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tree crops; Trees; Cambodia; Laos; Southeast Asia
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08849-8

According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) data, the harvested rubber area in Cambodia has increased by more than sevenfold, in Laos by more than threefold and, in Myanmar, the area has nearly doubled since the 2011 crash in global rubber prices16. Recognizing this, we clearly highlighted upfront in our Article1 that “We use the term ‘deforestation’ but it is of note that we track any type of tree cover loss since 1993. [...]the rubber-related ‘forest’ loss quantified here can include the conversion or rotation of agroforests, plantation forests, agricultural tree crops and rubber itself”. Owing to inconsistencies in how effectively planted tree cover is excluded from what is classified as ‘forest’, uses of the terms ‘tree cover’ and ‘forest’ range from near synonymous use31 to varying degrees of distinction. [...]the concept itself remains the subject of ongoing debate—particularly regarding the exclusion of near-natural systems and agroforests, which can be of high value to Indigenous communities and biodiversity33. [...]under the FAO definition, the conversion of natural forest to rubber does not constitute ‘forest’ loss, whereas conversion of rubber to other tree crops, such as oil palm or fruit trees, does.