This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that investigated annual global losses in forests over time.

In this study, scientists used satellite imagery to estimate the amounts of forest that were lost annually, across the globe, from 2000 to 2012. Although most tropical countries showed an overall increase in forest loss over time, others experienced the opposite trend, possibly due to differences in government policies. The figure compares the annual forest loss in two different tropical countries, Indonesia (left) and Brazil (right), over the 12-year study period.

The “Educator Materials” document includes a captioned figure, background information, graph interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes a captioned figure and background information.