Global loss of forest area increased last year, warns a group of NGOs and researchers. Under these conditions, the objective of reversing the course of deforestation seems difficult to maintain.
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Contrary to international commitments, global deforestation is increasing. It increased by another 4% in 2022. That means more than 6.5 million hectares of forest disappeared last year. It’s as if we had cleared 1/8 of the surface area of France. This 4% increase in deforestation, compared to the previous year, endangers international commitments, estimates a group of NGOs and researchers in a report published Thursday October 24.
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Two years ago, during COP 26, the leaders of around a hundred countries representing the vast majority of the world’s forests committed to stopping the disappearance of its forests by 2030. Unfortunately, the continuation of the conversion of certain wooded areas into agricultural areas for livestock or cultivation, particularly soya, continues to wreak havoc.
Crucial importance for biodiversity
However, forests are essential for regulating the climate. Trees naturally store CO2. Deforesting means increasing carbon emissions, which reinforce the greenhouse effect. These emissions linked to deforestation increased by 6% in 2022. This is a very bad signal, especially since forests, particularly primary forests, are also crucial for biodiversity and the water cycle. These primary forests are particularly affected and represent two-thirds of the areas deforested last year.
To reverse the trend, we must continue the policies initiated because the picture is not entirely negative. Around fifty countries are in fact on the right track to end deforestation. The three best performers being Indonesia, Malaysia and Paraguay. Brazil is also making progress in protecting the Amazon, even another key area for our ecosystems, the Brazilian Cerrado savannah remains threatened. The report also welcomes the new rules introduced by the European Union which aim to curb imported deforestation. It is now prohibited to import cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, rubber wood, or beef from deforested lands into Europe after December 2020. But there remain big black spots in the financing of forest protection. With only two billion euros of public money invested worldwide each year, the report’s authors calculated that this was only twice the budget to build a stadium like Tottenham’s in London.