New figures shown that the destruction of the world’s most pristine rainforests continued at a relentless rate in 2023, despite dramatic falls in forest loss in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon.
According to figures compiled by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland, an area nearly the size of Switzerland was cleared from previously undisturbed rainforests last year, totalling 37,000 sq km (14,200 sq miles).
This is a rate of 10 football pitches a minute, often driven by more land being brought under agricultural cultivation around the world.
Available reports show that while Brazil and Colombia recorded large drops in forest loss of 36% and 49% respectively, under the environmental policies of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, those falls were offset by big increases in Bolivia, Laos, Nicaragua and other countries.
Canada also experienced a record-breaking loss of forest due to fire, losing more than 8m hectares (20m acres).
Mikaela Weisse, who is the director of Global Forest Watch at the WRI, said: “The world took two steps forward, two steps back when it comes to this past year’s forest loss.
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“Steep declines in the Brazilian Amazon and Colombia show that progress is possible, but increasing forest loss in other areas has largely counteracted that progress,” she said. “We must learn from the countries that are successfully slowing deforestation.”
Changes in land use – of which deforestation is a central component – is the second-largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions and a main driver of biodiversity loss. Preserving rainforests is essential to limit global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, according to researchers.
Experts have since warned that continuing deforestation means governments are dangerously off-track when it comes to meeting their climate and biodiversity commitments.
Recall that at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, governments agreed on the need to halt and reverse the loss and degradation of forests by 2030, after a commitment by world leaders at Cop26 in Glasgow to end their destruction this decade.
However, the new figures show that the world is a long way from meeting this target, with little change in global forest loss for several years.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
