More than 11 million hectares of forest lost in 2021

According to data from the World Resources Institute (WRI), in a study conducted at the University of Maryland (United States), approximately 11.1 million forests were lost in the tropics worldwide in 2021 — More than 40% of the worldwide natural vegetation loss, Brazil.

The results are part of a report released April 28.

According to the survey, Cambodia accounts for the highest percentage of total forest clearing, but the Amazon forest in Brazil has been declining aggressively in recent years. Some scientists even say, Amazon It can enter a tipping point that will lead to an irreversible transformation of large areas.

The report points out that deforestation of primary tropical forests is a major concern for scientists, as these are ancient forests responsible for storing large amounts of carbon and biodiversity – places that are unaffected or minimally impacted by humans.

irreversible deforestation

“The rate of loss of primary forests in the tropics has been stubbornly consistent over the past few years. While the tropics lost 11% less primary forest in 2021 than in 2020, this is a 12% increase from 2019 to 2020, mainly due to an increase in fire-related losses. followed the increase.

About 1.5 million hectares of primary tropical forest were destroyed in Brazil in 2021. More than 3.75 million hectares of moist forests have been deforested worldwide (rainforest).

In non-tropical regions such as Russia, more than 6.5 million hectares were lost in forest fires – the Russian region occupies the largest area of ​​\u200b\u200bforest on the planet. The Democratic Republic of Congo ranked second in deforestation of tropical forests, followed by Bolivia and Indonesia.