Although some countries have managed to slow deforestation, the global picture remains discouraging. Nations with larger forested areas see forests shrinking faster. In 2022, the world lost a larger area of rainforest than Switzerland or the Netherlands. Much of this loss came from clearing land for livestock and agricultural products, based on satellite data analyzed by a leading research agency.
The deforested expanse is roughly the size of a football field each day, with mature tropical trees removed or burned every five seconds, around the clock. This marks a 10 percent increase over the previous year, according to the study’s author, the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Tropical forests cleared last year released 2.7 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, a figure comparable to the fossil fuel emissions of India, the world’s most populous nation, as reported by WRI’s Global Forest Watch.
Brazil accounted for 43 percent of all cleared forests, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bolivia contributed 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Countries most affected by deforestation
41,000 square kilometers of land were devastated globally in 2022, marking the fourth most destructive year for primary forests in two decades.
unkept promises
The rise in deforestation occurred one year after world leaders pledged to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.
“Since the turn of the century, we have seen real bleeding in some of the world’s most important forest ecosystems, despite years of efforts to reverse this trend,” stated Mikaela Weisse, Director of WRI’s Global Forest Monitoring. To inform.
“We are rapidly losing one of our most effective tools in the fight against climate change, protecting biodiversity and supporting the health and livelihoods of millions of people.”
On a planetary scale, vegetation and soil have absorbed about 30 percent of CO2 pollution since 1960, even as emissions have doubled overall.
“We are rapidly losing one of our most effective tools in the fight against climate change”
About 1.6 billion people rely directly on forest resources for food and livelihoods, with nearly half belonging to indigenous groups.
Deforestation in Brazil rose sharply during Jair Bolsonaro’s four-year presidency, increasing by 15 percent in the latest year compared to 2021.
The Bolsonaro administration rolled back environmental protections, allowed illegal deforestation, and weakened rights for indigenous peoples who have proven crucial guardians of healthy forests.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sworn in earlier this year, pledged to end deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 2030, though experts say challenges remain.
The intersection of climate change and deforestation is accelerating the Amazon basin’s shift from tropical forest to savanna, with potential global climate implications beyond South America.
Tropical rainforests act as major carbon sinks; roughly 90 billion tons of CO2 are stored in the Amazon Basin forests, a reservoir larger than many nations’ annual emissions combined.
“Stopping and reversing forest loss is one of the most cost-effective mitigations available today,” said Frances Seymour, WRI Senior Research Fellow for Forestry.
Republic of the Congo: deforestation and poverty
Over the past year, high rates of primary deforestation continued in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with more than half a million hectares destroyed in 2022, according to the report.
Unlike Brazil, the main drivers in that African nation are subsistence farming and small-scale charcoal production, reflecting the country’s poverty.
A $500 million deal signed two years ago to protect the Congo’s forests was derailed by a permit auction for oil and gas exploration.
Moreover, the government has announced the lifting of a moratorium on new logging rights, painting an even more worrying picture.
Bolivia: up 32%
Bolivia recorded the third-largest loss of primary forests in 2022, totaling about 4,000 square kilometers, a 32 percent increase from 2021.
“Most losses occurred in protected areas. The Global Forest Watch report covers the last remaining patches of primary forest in the country.”
Cocoa production, gold mining and fires contributed to this situation.
Indonesia accounted for just over five percent of global tropical forest loss last year (about 2,300 square kilometers), with deforestation levels down more than fourfold since 2016.
Other top ten countries for tropical forest loss in 2022 include Peru, Colombia, Laos, Cameroon, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia. The remainder of the world accounted for slightly under 15 percent of forest loss in 2022.
Reference: Global Forest Watch latest analysis on deforestation trends.
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