| 英文摘要: | The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen steeply in recent years, according to official figures. These reductions are generally attributed to land protection policies put in place between 2004 and 2008. A perennial problem with protected areas, however, is the potential for transferral of forest clearance to other regions and neighbouring nations. Peter Richards from Brown University, USA, and colleagues investigate a more cryptic form of deforestation displacement; the extent to which official figures reflect changes in practice that exploit monitoring and legislation loopholes. Satellite data from the 'official' Brazilian Amazon deforestation monitoring project (known as PRODES) is compared with two independent satellite measures of forest cover. They find that following 2008 — when the PRODES system became integral to deforestation enforcement — a new pattern of deforestation emerged with activity shifting to dry, secondary and small forest patches (<6.25 hectares) that are not monitored by PRODES. Consequently, recent progress in protecting monitored forests in the Brazilian Amazon may be smaller than official figures suggest. |