An assessment has shown that although the destruction of global forests slowed in 2021, the climate goal of ending deforestation by 2030 will still be missed without urgent action.
The assessment showed that although the area razed in 2021 fell by 6.3% after progress in some countries, notably Indonesia, almost 7m hectares were lost and the destruction of the most carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests fell by only 3%.
While the CO2 emissions resulting from the lost trees were equivalent to the emissions of the entire European Union plus Japan, experts say that global heating could not be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels without ending deforestation.
Recall that at the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, 145 countries pledged to end the felling of forests by the end of the decade. The demolition and degradation of forests cause about 10% of global carbon emissions.
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The assessment’s authors however said that based on current trends, however, the Glasgow leaders’ declaration would be as “hollow” as the pledge made by countries in 2014 to end deforestation by 2020.
They noted that there was little clarity or transparency of the measures being taken to end deforestation and only 1% of the required funding was being provided and most importantly a lack of political will.
According to Erin Matson at Climate Focus, a policy group and one of the coalitions of organisations that conducted the assessment, “The [Glasgow declaration] was a big moment, the first time such a target had been embraced at the leaders level by so many countries, covering 90% of global forests.
Reports show that the largest area of destroyed forest in 2021 was in Brazil, where deforestation has risen under president Jair Bolsonaro, having fallen under his predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The election contest between the two men, on 30 October, has been described by scientists as likely to determine the fate of the Amazon. “The stakes are high,” Matson said.
A research associate at the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch, David Gibbs said, “We are quickly moving toward another round of hollow commitments and vanished forests.”
Four of the top five countries with the largest areas of deforestation – Brazil, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Paraguay –also increased the destruction in 2021.
But exceptional progress in some countries showed the 2030 goal was still possible, according to the authors. While Indonesia was the only country to cut deforestation in each of the past five years, its neighbour Malaysia, reduced forest destruction by about 25% in 2021, hence tropical Asia remains the only region on track for zero deforestation by 2030.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
