How Much Of The Rainforest Has Been Destroyed – If you thought the devastating fires in the Amazon rainforest would wake people up to stop destroying the world’s pristine forests, think again. According to a new report, rainforest destruction increased by 12 percent from 2019 to 2020, with a total of 12.2 million hectares of trees cleared in 2020.
The research, conducted by the University of Maryland, was published by the World Resources Institute and made available online by its partner platform Global Forest Watch.
How Much Of The Rainforest Has Been Destroyed
Researchers found that in 2020, the world’s rainforests experienced a loss of 12.2 million hectares of trees. While deforestation refers to the deliberate clear-cutting of a large area of trees, usually to make room for development, loss of tree cover is when human activity or natural activity causes the tree canopy to be removed. (It’s also important to note that the 12.2 million acres may not represent a net change in tree loss in 2020, as more trees may have been planted that are not included in the data.)
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Of the 12.2 million hectares of trees destroyed, 4.2 million hectares were lost to moist tropical primary forests. These forests are crucial for biodiversity as well as carbon storage, which means we could be losing rare animal and plant species, which means we are certainly losing crucial carbon storage. According to Global Forest Watch, the amount of carbon storage lost in 2020 is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of 570 million cars. If that doesn’t prove that we need to protect the world’s forests, nothing will.
Added. In total, all this results in an annual increase in primary forest loss of 12 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.
In 2020, the tropics lost 12.2 million ha of trees. Of this, 4.2 million ha – an area the size of the Netherlands – was within tropical primary rainforest. Learn more at #GlobalForestReview https://t.co/DtWavoMOFX @UMD_GLAD pic.twitter.com/RokaK1QaYb — Global Forest Watch (@globalforests) March 31, 2021
“We are still losing primary forest at an unacceptable rate,” said Rod Taylor, director of the World Resources Institute, according to
Deforestation: Scarred Earth Where Tropical Rain Forest Has Been Destroyed By Human Development Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Image 130064626
. “A 12 percent year-on-year increase is too much when the trend should be declining.”
“Every year we sound the alarm, and the numbers continue to rise,” added Frances Seymour, a fellow at the World Resources Institute, according to
@globalforestswatch updates its data on primary forest loss in 2020. Among the top 10 most deforesting countries, it’s no surprise to see Brazil well ahead on the path of destruction. But Bolivia is a surprise. Here’s the list and more https://t.co/wK2NZNjMbH pic.twitter.com/YZghEyK1rn — Gustavo Faleiros (@gufalei) March 31, 2021
According to new data, Brazil, home to about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, is where most of the forest loss is in 2020. About 1.7 million hectares of Brazilian forests were lost in 2020; in addition, the loss of primary forests in Brazil in 2020 was 25 percent higher than in 2019.
Despite Cop26 Pledges, The World Is Losing Way Too Many Trees
Illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest is a widespread problem and has only gotten worse since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019. Bolsonaro has deliberately allowed loggers, miners and other developers to exploit and clear the Amazon over the past two years, to the dismay of environmentalists around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected nearly everything in 2020 — and Global Forest Watch believes that may have helped push those numbers up in 2020. While there were no direct links between the coronavirus pandemic and illegal logging, the group noted that there are more than usual reports of illegal logging in protected forests in 2020, perhaps due to quarantines loosening restrictions and the security of protected areas.”Scary” new data shows that humanity has degraded or destroyed two-thirds of the world’s rainforests “We must stop destroying forests and other nature, for of our health, biodiversity and climate”
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New data from a Norwegian non-profit organization is raising new concerns about humanity’s destruction of the natural world, revealing on Monday that humans have devastated about two-thirds of the world’s original tropical rainforests.
What If The Amazon Rainforest Was Completely Destroyed?
Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) analysis found that human activities, including logging and land-use change – often for agriculture – have destroyed 34% of old-growth tropical rainforests and degraded 30% worldwide.
RFN defined degraded forests as those that have been partially destroyed or completely cleared, but replaced by newer growth. The group’s definition for intact forest, considered too strict by some experts, includes only areas that are at least 500 square kilometers or 193 square miles; trees and biodiversity are at greater risk in smaller zones.
, show that more than half of the destruction since 2002 has been in the Amazon and neighboring rainforests. Deforestation in South America – particularly in Brazil, home to much of the Amazon – has recently caused alarm over the rainforest’s role in carbon sequestration.
“Forests act as a two-lane highway in the climate system,” Nancy Harris, research director of the Forestry Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI), explained earlier this year. “Standing forests absorb carbon, but deforestation releases it into the atmosphere.”
Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest
A forest carbon flux map published in January by organizations including WRI found that between 2001 and 2019, forests emitted an average of 8.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from deforestation and other disturbances, but absorbed 16 billion metric tons per year in the same period period.
As more rainforests are destroyed, there is a greater potential for climate change, which in turn makes it harder for the remaining forests to survive, said report author Anders Krogh, a tropical forest researcher. “It’s a scary cycle,” Krogh said. The total loss between 2002 and 2019 was greater than the area of France, he found.
Deforestation in Brazil has increased since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro — an enemy of both environmental regulations and his country’s indigenous people — took office in early 2019. Brazil’s forest loss hit a 12-year high in 2020, according to satellite images from the state’s state space exploration.
“Instead of acting to prevent the increase in deforestation, Bolsonaro’s government has denied the reality of the situation, dismantled environmental agencies and attacked NGOs working on the ground in the Amazon,” Greenpeace Brazil activist Cristiane Mazzetti said in response to the data.
Rain Forest Threats Information And Facts
Bolsonaro had a close relationship with former US President Donald Trump – and both leaders have faced a flurry of global criticism for their similar response to various crises, from the raging coronavirus pandemic to the climate emergency.
Comments by Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo on Friday suggested that the recent swearing in of US President Joe Biden could signal a shift. According to
, Araújo — who has called human-caused climate change a “Marxist conspiracy” — said administrations are now cooperating on the crisis.
“Something that was seen as an obstacle … is completely out of the way. We are now working together … as key partners for a successful COP26 and the full implementation of climate agreements,” Araújo said, referring to the United Nations climate summit scheduled for November due to pandemic.
What Happened To Global Forests In 2020?
A UN report published late last month found that the international community is a long way from meeting the Paris climate agreement’s temperature targets of 1.5°C and 2°C based on pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions proposed by governments for the next decade .
Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of Brazil’s Observatório do Clima group, called Bolsonaro’s plan “a train wreck of reduced ambition” that “violates the Paris Agreement by giving the country a free pass to emit 200 million tons to 400 million tons of CO2 more than the 2015 pledge.”
“It completely eliminates any mention of deforestation control and lacks clarity about its conditionality,” Astrini added. He warned against accepting “such a dangerous precedent” and called for global pressure on his government to “go back to the drawing board” and formulate a pledge “with real goals”.
He noted, adding that Krog found the largest rainforest in the world “and its neighbors – the Orinoco and the Andean rainforest – make up 73.5% of tropical forests that are still intact.”
Amazon Rainforest Speeding Toward Climate ‘tipping Point’
The group found that after South American rainforests, the biggest deforestation hotspots since 2002 were Southeast Asian islands where trees were cleared for palm oil plantations, followed by Central Africa—especially around the Congo River basin, where forest loss is the result of agriculture and logging . .The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest threatens to accelerate beyond the point of no return. Countries and international organizations have called on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to strengthen environmental protections and indigenous land rights that he has weakened since taking office.
Scientists warn that the largest rainforest in the world is approaching a critical tipping point, after which there could be serious, irreversible consequences for the planet.
New data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research shows that more than 3,980 square kilometers of the Amazon – an area five times the size of New York – was cleared in the first six months of 2022, the highest figure in at least six years. Continued deforestation of the rainforest contributes to the loss of resilience or the ability of the forest to recover from droughts, fires and landslides. If this continues, it could cause the traditionally humid tropical climate of the Amazon to dry out, a phenomenon known as “die-off”. It is estimated that between 17 and 20 percent
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