Forests cover about 31% of the world’s land surface and are vital habitats for millions of species. Yet, every minute in 2023, the world will lose an area of primary forest equivalent to 10 football fields.
A report recently released by researchers from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland (USA) shows that although the fight against deforestation in the Amazon has made encouraging progress, the global primary forest system is still in an alarming state. In 2023, about 3.7 million hectares of primary tropical forest were lost, an area nearly the size of Bhutan.
The researchers focused on tropical forests because of their particular vulnerability to deforestation and their ability to store CO2, and considered different causes of destruction, such as farming, logging, and fires. In addition to absorbing large amounts of CO2, tropical forests protect the soil, are home to most of the world's plants and animals, and filter air and water. Deforestation and degradation are currently responsible for about 10% of global CO2 emissions, with serious impacts on human health. According to the Rome-based State of the World Forest Organization (SOFO), an estimated 289 million hectares of forest will be destroyed between 2016 and 2050 in the tropics alone, emitting 169 billion tons of CO2.
Last year, Brazil recorded a 36% decrease in primary forest loss compared to 2022. The most significant reduction was seen in the Amazon, which is considered the “green lungs” of the Earth, providing about 20% of the oxygen and absorbing 26,000 tons of air pollution each year. The figures were recorded in the first year of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s inauguration, with a commitment to protect the Amazon and restore forest protection measures. Meanwhile, in Colombia, primary forest loss has decreased by about 50% in one year.
But these gains have been overshadowed by deforestation elsewhere. Bolivia lost a record amount of forest for the third year in a row, partly due to land conversion to soybeans. Agriculture is also a major driver of deforestation in Nicaragua. The Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the massive Congo Basin, which absorbs more CO2 than it emits, lost more than 500,000 hectares of primary forest for the second year in a row. Wildfires have also caused extensive damage, reducing tree cover, particularly in Canada, which has experienced record-breaking blazes.
While deforestation in Brazil and Colombia has declined significantly, tropical forest loss elsewhere has increased, said Mikaela Weisse, director of WRI’s Global Forest Watch. This is the second year of full annual data on deforestation since the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), when more than 140 countries agreed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. However, the loss was nearly 2 million hectares more than the reduction needed to achieve that goal.
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