- Deforestation accelerates, undermining COP26 pledge to end forest loss
- Brazil leads in forest destruction, but Indonesia shows potential for reversal
- Positive actions in Indonesia and Malaysia offer hope for curbing deforestation
According to new research, an area of tropical forest the size of Switzerland was lost last year as tree losses accelerated.
It indicates that the political pledge made by world leaders at COP26 to end deforestation is far off track.
In 2022, approximately 11 football fields of forest were lost every minute, with Brazil leading the destruction.
The precipitous decline in forest loss in Indonesia, however, demonstrates that this trend can be reversed.
Over one hundred world leaders signed the Glasgow Declaration on forests at the COP26 climate conference in 2021, pledging to work together to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.”
In total, representatives from approximately 85 percent of the world’s forests signed on. This included former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who had loosened enforcement of environmental laws to permit development in the Amazon rainforest.
The Glasgow accord was reached after a 2014 agreement failed to halt the unrelenting loss of trees.
Now, according to a new analysis conducted by Global Forest Watch, the vow made in Glasgow is not being kept.
For global warming and biodiversity, the loss of tropical primary (old-growth) forests is deemed to be of particular concern.
Massive quantities of greenhouse gases are absorbed by the rainforests of Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia.
By removing or igniting these ancient forests, carbon is released into the atmosphere, increasing global temperatures.
These forests are also essential for sustaining biodiversity and millions of people’s livelihoods.
Scientists warn that these functions – or “ecosystem services” – cannot be readily replaced by planting trees elsewhere, because these forests have developed over such a lengthy period.
According to new data collected by the University of Maryland, the tropics lost 10% more primary rainforest in 2022 than in 2021, with a total of just over 4 million hectares (nearly 16,000 square miles) cut down or burnt.
This produced the same quantity of carbon dioxide as India’s annual fossil fuel emissions.
“The question is whether or not we are on course to end deforestation by 2030. “The simple answer is no,” said Rod Taylor of the World Resources Institute (WRI), which operates Global Forest Watch.
“On a global scale, we are adrift and moving in the incorrect direction. Our analysis indicates that global deforestation in 2022 exceeded by more than 1 million hectares the level required to achieve zero deforestation by 2030.”
In 2022, the decline of primary tropical forests in Brazil increased by more than 14%.
In the state of Amazonas, which contains more than half of Brazil’s intact forests, the rate of deforestation has nearly doubled in the past three years.
Against the grain
Positive developments demonstrate that it is possible to curb deforestation, even though the overall situation is not favorable.
Indonesia has reduced its primary tropical forest decline more than any other country over the past few years, since 2016 when it reached a record high.
Analysis indicates that this is due to both government and business actions.
New palm oil plantations were banned from deforestation in 2019, and fire monitoring and control increased.
Similar circumstances exist in Malaysia. No deforestation, peatland, or exploitation pledges cover 83% of palm oil refining capacity in both nations.
