Football-pitch-sized tropical forest lost every 5 seconds: Report
Earth lost an area of tropical rainforest larger than the Netherlands or Switzerland last year, according to the latest data released by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The report said tropical trees—equivalent to a football pitch—fell or burned every five seconds, 10% more than the previous year. A total of 41,000 square kilometers of tropical forest was decimated in 2022.
Destroyed forests released 2.7 billion tonnes of CO2
The WRI said destroyed tropical forests released 2.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) last year, equivalent to the fossil fuel emissions of India. While Brazil was responsible for 43% of the loss, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Bolivia accounted for around 13% and 9%, respectively. Last year's destruction marked the fourth most devastating year for forests in two decades.
Some 1.6 billion people worldwide rely on forests
The report further stated that soil and vegetation worldwide have consistently absorbed around 30% of CO2 pollution since 1960, even as those emissions rose by half. Globally, nearly 1.6 billion people—half of them indigenous groups—rely on forests for their livelihood. Moreover, 90 billion tonnes of CO2 are stored in the Amazon basin's forest, which is twice the world's annual emissions from all sources.
Indonesia lost over 5% of global tropical forest
The WRI's report added that Indonesia lost over 5% of global tropical forest last year, while Brazil's deforestation climbed by 15% in 2022 compared to 2021. Other countries making the "top ten" list are Peru (3.9%), Colombia (3.1%), Laos (2.3%), Cameroon (1.9%), Papua New Guinea (1.8%), and Malaysia (1.7%). The rest of the world accounted for nearly 15% of forest loss in 2022.
