{"id":134639,"date":"2023-11-20T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T06:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=134639"},"modified":"2023-11-15T11:11:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T10:11:58","slug":"new-forest-analysis-global-deforestation-veering-off-track-threatening-people-climate-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/new-forest-analysis-global-deforestation-veering-off-track-threatening-people-climate-and-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"New Forest Analysis: Global Deforestation Veering Off Track, Threatening People, Climate and Biodiversity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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A new study by a coalition of civil society and research organizations assessing progress toward pledges by countries, companies and investors to eliminate deforestation and restore 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 reveals that in 2022, global progress on protecting and restoring forests moved too slowly and, in some cases, worsened. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe world\u2019s forests are in crisis. All these promises have been made to halt deforestation, to fund forest protection. But the opportunity to make progress is passing us by year after year,\u201d said Erin Matson, a lead author of the Forest Declaration Assessment and a senior consultant at Climate Focus<\/strong>. \u201cWe saw that in 2021, efforts to end deforestation were already lagging. 2022 was a chance to catch up, but leaders fell short once again. We can\u2019t afford to keep stumbling on the road to no deforestation by 2030. It\u2019s now clear that halting deforestation will require sweeping changes to the economy \u2014 and that all of society has a role to play.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Overall, global deforestation increased by 4% in 2022 compared to 2021. This loss of some 6.6 million hectares of forest means that the world is 21% off track to eliminate deforestation by 2030. Efforts to protect primary tropical forests \u2014 the densest, most pristine forests on earth \u2014 are 33% off track, with 4.1 million hectares lost in 2022. Globally, the world needs to reduce deforestation by 27.8% to be on track in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual assessment of international commitments, including the Glasgow Leaders\u2019 Declaration on Forests and Land Use (2021), tracks progress on reducing forest loss compared to the average deforestation rate between 2018 and 2020 (the \u201cbaseline level\u201d), aiming to reach zero loss by 2030. In 2021, deforestation slowed, but not enough to be on track to reach the 2030 goal. In 2022, global deforestation rates increased, putting the world even further off track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHope isn\u2019t lost, though,\u201d added Franziska Haupt, a lead author and managing partner at Climate Focus<\/strong>. \u201cWe also find that some 50 countries are on track to end deforestation in their borders. Major rainforest countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia have demonstrated drastic reductions in forest loss. The reforms it takes aren\u2019t pie in the sky, and these countries set clear examples that others must follow. But the challenge is great: globally, we will need to reduce deforestation by 27.8% to be on track in 2023.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Across the tropics, progress on eliminating forest loss was off track in 2022. Forest loss increased by 8% from baseline levels in tropical Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil and Bolivia faring poorest. (The data do not yet reflect Brazil\u2019s deforestation reductions in 2023.) In contrast, deforestation decreased by 18% from baseline levels in the tropical countries of Asia, with Malaysia and Indonesia meeting their interim goals for 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture\u2014including cattle ranching, soy, palm oil production, and smallholder farming\u2014is the leading driver of forest loss across the tropics. Road expansion, fires, and commercial logging also destroy and degrade these forests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary forests in the tropics fared especially badly in 2022, with a 6% increase in their loss in 2022 compared to baseline levels. None of the three tropical forest regions \u2014 tropical Africa, tropical Asia, and tropical Latin America and Caribbean \u2014 are on track to eliminate the loss of these precious forests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also offers its most thorough assessment to date of progress on the protection of temperate and boreal forests, focusing on degradation, which poses an ongoing threat to all forests. Using a recently developed metric to track forest degradation at a global scale, the report finds that significant and widespread degradation is occurring each year in every one of the world’s regions. This finding is especially important because it illustrates the threats to forest biodiversity, stored carbon, and ecosystem resilience, even in temperate and boreal forest regions where outright deforestation is low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Assessment, some developed countries need to better protect their forests from degradation, mainly due to logging practices and climate change. In North America and Northern Europe, for example, logging companies still clear-cut large areas of forest, which sometimes include irreplaceable, primary and old-growth forests. Fortunately, policymakers are increasingly noting and addressing these issues in some of the concerned countries. Canada, for example, is working on developing a definition of forest degradation to improve its monitoring and reporting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhile we must applaud any success, progress in some countries or regions was undercut by failures to reduce forest loss in other countries,\u201d added Haupt<\/strong>. \u201cAll countries need to take responsibility: They need to limit their deforestation and degradation footprint at home and abroad, and they need to collaborate and support developing countries in this endeavor.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Among the study\u2019s additional key findings about 2022: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n