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Articles A Synthesis of Information on Rapid Land-cover Change for the Period 1981–2000 ERIKA LEPERS, ERIC F. LAMBIN, ANTHONY C. JANETOS, RUTH DE FRIES, FREDERIC ACHARD, NAVIN RAMANKUTTY, AND ROBERT J. SCHOLES This article presents a synthesis of what is known about areas of rapid land-cover change around the world over the past two decades, based on data compiled from remote sensing and censuses, as well as expert opinion. Asia currently has the greatest concentration of areas of rapid land- cover changes, and dryland degradation in particular. The Amazon basin remains a major hotspot of tropical deforestation. Rapid cropland in- crease, often associated with large-scale deforestation, is prominent in Southeast Asia. Forest degradation in Siberia, mostly related to logging activities, is increasing rapidly. The southeastern United States and eastern China are experiencing rapid cropland decrease. Existing data do not support the claim that the African Sahel is a desertification hotspot. Many of the most populated and rapidly changing cities are found in the tropics. Keywords: land use, cropland, deforestation, desertification, urbanization hanges in land cover and in the way people use ternational scales, augmented by a need for subnational and Cthe land have become recognized over the last 15 years national indicators of condition, status, and trends of the as important global environmental changes in their own global environment. Finally, there is a need to determine the right (Turner 2002). They are also intertwined in many ways interrelationships of remotely sensed and statistical inventory with other environmental issues, such as climate change and data, to integrate het