High-resolution mapping of global deforestation footprints and livelihood inequalities: Toward equitable forest governance

Forests play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem services and sustaining human livelihoods. However, under globalization, trade has increasingly exerted pressure on forest resources. Existing studies on deforestation footprints and forest-related incomes often overlook spatial heterogeneity and consistency, making it difficult to provide detailed information for precise land-use management policies. To address this gap, we develop an enhanced spatial input-output models by incorporating export-priority zones to construct 1 km-resolution deforestation footprint maps, which are then used to estimate forest-related incomes. Our findings reveal noticeable spatial heterogeneity in deforestation footprints within countries, with inland areas typically show lower deforestation footprints than coastal regions. Conventional country-level analyses overlook these details, often overestimating forest product incomes in inland regions (e.g., approximately 10% in the USA), while underestimating incomes in developed coastal regions (e.g., approximately 15% in China). Within 300 km of the coastlines, forest incomes are consistently underestimated, while more remote areas show the opposite bias. The pixel-level analyses in this study reveal statistically significant differences in forest product incomes within countries (p < 0.05), with inequality amplified by uneven locational advantages and different levels of economic development. These findings demonstrate that trade intensifies spatial inequalities in forest-based livelihoods. Policymakers should prioritize investments in infrastructure and market accessibility to reduce these disparities and promote more equitable and sustainable forest management.