The UN says 420 million hectares of forest have been lost since 1990 and agriculture is the main reason for this.
It has been described as one of the most important agreements of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow: the attending countries have committed to ending and reversing deforestation by 2030.
It is not the first time that world leaders have made promises of this kind and many doubt that the agreements will be implemented on schedule.
In 2014, the United Nations announced an agreement to halve deforestation by 2020 and end it by 2030.
Then, in 2017, he set another goal to increase wooded land by 3% worldwide by 2030.
But deforestation continued at “an alarming rate”, according to a 2019 report, with serious consequences for the fight against climate change.
However, it is an issue that experts do not hesitate to describe as “urgent”.
And it is that forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂), one of the main contributors to global warming, so cutting down trees can have a great impact on life on the planet.
The UN says 420 million hectares of forest have been lost since 1990 and agriculture is the main reason for this.
There have been some reforestation efforts, through natural growth or planting, but trees take years to mature before they can fully absorb the CO₂.
Over the last decade, 4.7 million hectares of forest were lost annually, with Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Bolivia among the most affected countries.
For many, it is alarming that three Latin American countries are at the top of the list. We tell you what they are.
Brazil: illegal logging continues
Approximately 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil and it plays a vital role in absorbing harmful CO₂ that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.
After falling steadily since 2004, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased again, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
According to a report by the organization, in 2020 the deforestation rate was the highest in more than a decade.
President Jair Bolsonaro told the UN that, as of August this year, deforestation in Brazil fell compared to 2020.
However, the deforestation rate is still higher than before he took office in 2019.
Imazon, a research institute focused on the Amazon, says its data does not show that the rate of deforestation is slowing this year.
President Bolsonaro has been criticized for “anti-environmental” policies, such as promoting agriculture and mining in the Amazon.
The president has also been questioned because he has cut funding for government agencies that are responsible for prosecuting farmers and loggers who violate environmental law.
Fines for illegal logging fell 20% in 2020.
Exact figures are not available, but recent studies suggest that up to 94% of deforestation and habitat destruction in Brazil could be illegal.
The case of Bolivia
Brazil is not the only country responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon; neighboring countries, including Bolivia, also contribute.
Last year, Bolivia lost almost 300,000 hectares of tropical forest, the fourth highest in the world.
From 2002 to 2020, Bolivia lost 3.02 million ha of humid primary forest, which represented 51% of its total loss of tree cover in the same period, according to data from Global Forest Watch.
The total area of humid primary forest in the Andean country decreased by 7.4% in this period of time.
From 2001 to 2020, Bolivia lost 6.11 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 9.5% decrease in tree cover since 2000, which implies some 2.67 gigatons of CO₂ emissions.
In the country, according to the Global Forest Watch study, from 2001 to 2019, 74% of the loss of tree cover occurred in areas where the main drivers of the loss resulted in deforestation.
Peru
From 2002 to 2020, Peru lost 2.16 million hectares of humid primary forest and the total area of humid primary forest decreased by 3.1% in this period, according to Global Forest Watch.
In the same period, the country lost 3.39 million hectares of tree cover, which is equivalent to a decrease of 4.3% in the one that existed since 2000 and 2.17 gigatons of CO₂ emissions.
What happens in the rest of the world
Indonesia, in Asia, and the Congo region, in Africa, are the other areas that are among the highest rates of deforestation in the world.
Indonesia has been among the top five countries reporting the most forest loss for the past two decades.
According to data from Global Forest Watch, the country lost 9.75 million hectares of primary forest between 2002 and 2020, mainly due to logging for oil palm plantations.
Up to 80% of the fires were started for this purpose, according to official data.
In 2016, a record 929,000 hectares of forest disappeared, but since then there has been a steady decline in the rate of deforestation there.
The Congo forest basin is the second largest rainforest in the world. More than half are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The environmental campaign group Greenpeace says that illegal logging, by both large and small companies, is leading to deforestation.
Although the US and the European Union have banned the import of illegal timber, it is still smuggled out of the country.
Other threats include small-scale subsistence agriculture, coal and fuel extraction, urban sprawl, and mining.
In the last five years, the annual loss of primary forest there has been nearly half a million hectares, according to Global Forest Watch.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
