Clearing wild forests to grow food, fibre, and fuel products can deliver large financial gains. However, the benefits that people obtain from forests—known as ecosystem services—are rarely considered in economic calculations, partly because there are few markets onto which they can be traded. In some regions, the benefits delivered by nature might be more economically valuable. A new study maps where it is profitable to replace tropical forests with cropland and how this might change under future agricultural production and carbon prices. The findings address a major applied challenge by helping to identify sites where forest conservation can be economically viable.

砍伐野生森林来种植食物，纤维和燃料产品可以带来巨大的经济收益。但是，人们从森林中获得的收益（称为生态系统服务）在经济计算中很少考虑，部分原因是可以交易的市场很少。在某些地区，大自然带来的利益可能在经济上更具价值。一项新的研究描绘了用农田代替热带森林在哪里有利可图，以及在未来的农业生产和碳价情况下这将如何改变。研究结果通过帮助确定森林保护在经济上可行的地点，解决了一个重大的应用挑战。