In 2022, the planet lost an area of ??virgin tropical forest equivalent to the size of Switzerland or the Netherlands: primordial ecosystems largely destroyed for agriculture and livestock, according to an analysis of satellite data published on Tuesday.
That’s the equivalent of a football field of tropical trees felled or burned every five seconds, day or night last year — an area destroyed 10% more than 2021, concludes the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI).
Its satellite deforestation monitoring platform, Global Forest Watch (GFW), recorded in 2022 the destruction of more than 4.1 million hectares of tropical primary forests, crucial for the planet’s biodiversity and carbon storage.
The most affected country is Brazil, with a destroyed area representing 43% of global losses, ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo (13%) and Bolivia (9%).
“We are losing one of our most effective tools to fight climate change, protect biodiversity and support the health and livelihoods of millions of people,” Mikaela said at a press conference. Weisse, director of the GFW.
The primary tropical forests destroyed in 2022 thus released 2.7 billion tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the annual emissions of India, the most populous country in the world, according to the WRI, which leads this report.
Thus, the acceleration of forest destruction continues inexorably, despite the commitments made at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 by the main world leaders.
“Since the turn of our century, we have witnessed a haemorrhage of some of the most important ecoforestry systems on the planet, despite years of efforts to reverse the trend,” Ms. Weisse pointed out.
On a planetary scale, vegetation and soil alone have absorbed nearly 30% of carbon emissions since 1960, but these have increased by half.
Some 1.6 billion people, nearly half of whom are indigenous people, depend directly on forest resources for their livelihoods.
In Brazil, deforestation has steadily worsened during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023), increasing by another 15% in one year, according to the annual report of the GFW.
Under the Bolsonaro era, the Brazilian administration turned a blind eye to illegal deforestation, weakened indigenous rights and dismantled the country’s environmental policy.
His successor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, sworn in in January, pledged to end the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon by 2030. Experts believe, however, that he will have to overcome many challenges to do so. to arrive at.
Scientists fear that the Amazon basin, battered by climate change and deforestation, will eventually turn into savannah. A transition that would have the effect of profoundly disrupting the weather conditions in South America and the rest of the planet.
Some 90 billion tons of CO2 are stored in the trees and soils of the Amazon rainforest, twice the annual global emissions.
“Stopping and reversing forest loss is one of the most cost-effective ways to mitigate (the situation) we have today,” warned WRI expert Frances Seymour.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than half a million hectares of forest were destroyed in 2022, according to the report.
Mainly because of agriculture and the production of vital charcoal for households, 80% of which have no electricity.
A half-billion-dollar deal to protect the Congo Basin rainforest was signed by the DRC in 2021. But it was undermined by a recent tender for oil permits and blocks. gas tankers launched by the authorities.
On the third step of the ranking, Bolivia has failed to reduce the rate of its deforestation, which has increased by 32% compared to 2021.
“The majority of the losses occurred in protected areas, which cover the last patches of primary forest in the country,” the report said.
Cocoa production, gold mining and fires are the main reasons, according to the researchers.
In Indonesia, on the other hand, forest destruction has slowed down for the fifth consecutive year. The archipelago, responsible for 5% of global losses in 2021, has seen the extent of its felled areas divided by more than four since 2016.
In the top 10 of the 2022 ranking are then Peru (3.9% of global deforestation), Colombia (3.1%), Laos (2.3%), Cameroon (1.9%), Papua New Guinea (1.8%) and Malaysia (1.7%).
06/27/2023 12:33:10 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP