The goal of halting deforestation still requires a lot of work, the World Resources Institute said in a statement.
111,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforest were destroyed last year, according to a publication published by the World Resources Institute. recent report (switching to another service). It is a larger area than, for example, the area of Finland’s largest province, Lapland.
Almost a third of last year’s rainforest fellings were still old, native and rich in rainforest. Its felling rate last year was matched by ten football fields every minute, according to the report.
The figures in the report are based on data collected by the University of Maryland, USA.
Most of the devastation in Brazil
Most of the destruction occurred in Brazil, where more than 15,400 square kilometers of natural forests were felled. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, they were burned or beaten for almost 5,000 square kilometers.
In Bolivia, deforestation was the fastest since satellite surveys began in 2001. In Bolivia, 3,000 square kilometers were destroyed.
Indonesia, Peru, Colombia, Cameroon, Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia were also on the list of the countries that lost the most rainforests last year.
Despite the large numbers, deforestation slowed down by 11 per cent from the previous year. According to forest researchers, the destruction is still unsustainably fast.
Also in the coniferous forest zone of the northern hemisphere, especially in Russia, the devastation was extensive last year. Their biggest cause was forest fires.
The goal of halting deforestation is approaching
The extent of deforestation, according to the report’s authors, shows that the goal of halting deforestation is still a long way off.
A declaration signed by more than a hundred countries at the Glasgow climate summit in November pledged to end deforestation by 2030. Among the signatories were Brazil, Russia, China, the United States and also Finland.
As a glimmer of hope, the researchers mention in their report that in Malaysia and Indonesia, the rate of destruction of the primary, that is, old and species-rich rainforest has slowed significantly in recent years.
Mention is also made of Gabon in Central Africa and Guyana in South America, which have lost less than 1% of their old rainforest over the last two decades.
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