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Making forest data fair and open

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 656–658 (2022)Cite this article

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Data on tropical forests are in high demand. But ground forest measurements are hard to sustain and the people who make them are extremely disadvantaged compared to those who use them. We propose a new approach to forest data that focuses on the needs of data originators, and ensures users and funders contribute properly.

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Fig. 1: Global distributions of per capita gross domestic product and tropical forest area.

Data availability

The data used to produce Fig. 1 are publicly available. Data on gross domestic product and population size are available from the World Bank at https://data.worldbank.org/indicator. Data on tropical forest area (closed, open or fragmented forests) were extracted from the Forests 2000 by Major Ecological Domains grid, provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization at http://www.fao.org/geonetwork.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank T. Pennington, F. Costa and A. Vicentini for helpful discussions and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. For support in making this possible, we thank the Royal Society (International Collaboration Award, ICA\R1\180100), the Leverhulme Trust (APX\R1\191094), NERC (NE/S011811/1 ‘ARBOLES’; NE/T01279X/1 ‘SECO’), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology (project contract 23/2020/HĐ-NĐT), the Global Land Programme, Missouri Botanical Garden, US National Science Foundation (Award 2020424) and the Peruvian Service for Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Renato A. F. de Lima, Oliver L. Phillips.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Renato A. F. de Lima & Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira

  2. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Oliver L. Phillips, Timothy R. Baker & Simon L. Lewis

  3. Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia

    Alvaro Duque

  4. Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, MO, USA

    J. Sebastian Tello

  5. Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA

    Stuart J. Davies & David Kenfack

  6. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Sandra Muller

  7. School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

    Euridice N. Honorio Coronado

  8. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), Iquitos, Peru

    Euridice N. Honorio Coronado

  9. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela

    Emilio Vilanova

  10. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Bronx, New York, USA

    Emilio Vilanova

  11. NORAGRIC Department, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

    Aida Cuni-Sanchez

  12. Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK

    Aida Cuni-Sanchez

  13. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Casey M. Ryan

  14. Instituto de Ecología Regional, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Tucumán, Argentina

    Agustina Malizia & Cecilia Blundo

  15. Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK

    Simon L. Lewis

  16. Tropical Botany, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Hans ter Steege

  17. Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Brazil

    Joice Ferreira

  18. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Nova Xavantina, Brazil

    Beatriz Schwantes Marimon

  19. Southern Institute of Ecology, Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Hong Truong Luu

  20. Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Universite Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

    Gerard Imani

  21. Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

    Luzmila Arroyo

  22. Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

    Luzmila Arroyo

  23. Department of Biological Sciences, Fourth Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone

    Moses N. Sainge

  24. Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), New York, NY, USA

    Moses N. Sainge

  25. Department of Horticultural Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa

    Moses N. Sainge

  26. Plant Systematics and Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Higher Teachers’ Training College, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Bonaventure Sonké

  27. Jardín Botánico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Peru

    Rodolfo Vásquez

Authors
  1. Renato A. F. de Lima
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  21. Cecilia Blundo
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  22. David Kenfack
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  23. Moses N. Sainge
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  24. Bonaventure Sonké
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Contributions

O.L.P. drafted the initial version of the manuscript with subsequent inputs from R.A.F.d.L. R.A.F.d.L. produced the figures. All authors contributed to discussing the theme, made suggestions and approved the text, along with the following positionality statement. Positionality statement: We, the authors, are all forest researchers working across different disciplines and networks to better understand tropical and subtropical forests and support their sustainable future. Some come from the South and are based in the South, some come from the North and based in the North, and some from the South are based currently in the North. We recognize that labels such as North and South, while useful, simplify complex realities, and are to an extent limited. In our careers we have been originators in the sense of working in the field to establish, identify and/or re-measure forest and savannah plots. We have also worked to get funding to establish and sustain plots, support data management, grow collaborations and do science. Many of us have also benefitted in different ways, including publications, building research groups and achieving professional recognition. Although our experiences, career stages and backgrounds are diverse, we are united by our convictions that the production and the use of forest data must become more equitable, that many less-visible colleagues who contribute vital work need proper recognition, and that fair, long-term collaboration across geographical, socio-economic and cultural divides is essential to build the best outcomes for science and society.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Renato A. F. de Lima or Oliver L. Phillips.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Rob Crystal-Ornelas and Mariana Chiuffo for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The Distribution of Tropical Forests and National Investments in Research and Development Across the World.

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de Lima, R.A.F., Phillips, O.L., Duque, A. et al. Making forest data fair and open. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 656–658 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01738-7

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