Editing Deforestation (section)

==== Rates of change ====
[[File:1990- Average annual forest area net change, globally, and by region and decade.svg|thumb|In decades since 1990, South America and Africa have shown the greatest loss of forest area, with global net loss in the 2010s still about 60% of the 1990s value.<ref name=FAO_2020>{{cite book |title=Global Forest Resources Assessment / 2020 / Key findings|url=https://www.fao.org/3/ca8753en/ca8753en.pdf |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |pages=2, 3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922053533/https://www.fao.org/3/ca8753en/ca8753en.pdf |archive-date=22 September 2023 |doi=10.4060/ca8753en |date=2020 |isbn=978-92-5-132581-0 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
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|image1 = 20210331 Global tree cover loss - World Resources Institute.svg
|caption1 = The rate of global tree cover loss has approximately doubled since 2001, to an annual loss approaching an area the size of Italy.<ref name=Mongabay_WRI>{{cite news|last1=Butler|first1=Rhett A.|title=Global forest loss increases in 2020|url=https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/global-forest-loss-increases-in-2020-but-pandemics-impact-unclear/|work=Mongabay|date=31 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401022404/https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/global-forest-loss-increases-in-2020-but-pandemics-impact-unclear/|archive-date=1 April 2021|url-status=live}} ● Data from {{cite web |title=Indicators of Forest Extent / Forest Loss |url=https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/forest-loss |publisher=World Resources Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527180607/https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/forest-loss |archive-date=27 May 2024  |date=4 April 2024 |url-status=live }} Chart in section titled "Annual rates of global tree cover loss have risen since 2000".</ref>
|image2 = 2002- Tropical primary forest loss - annual - World Resources Institute.svg
|caption2 = Loss of [[Old-growth forest|primary (old-growth)]] forest in the tropics has continued its upward trend, with fire-related losses contributing an increasing portion.<ref name=WRI_20220428>{{cite web|title=Forest Pulse: The Latest on the World's Forests|url=https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends|website=WRI.org|publisher=World Resources Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627150528/https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends|archive-date=27 June 2023|date=June 2023|url-status=live}} ● 2022 Global Forest Watch data quoted by {{cite news|last1=McGrath|first1=Matt|last2=Poynting|first2=Mark|title=Climate change: Deforestation surges despite pledges|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66013854|agency=BBC|date=27 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629065610/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66013854|archive-date=29 June 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
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A 2002 analysis of satellite imagery suggested that the rate of deforestation in the humid tropics (approximately 5.8 million hectares per year) was roughly 23% lower than the most commonly quoted rates.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Achard|first1=F|last2=Eva|first2=H. D.|last3=Stibig|first3=H. J.|last4=Mayaux|first4=P|last5=Gallego|first5=J|last6=Richards|first6=T|last7=Malingreau|first7=J. P.|year=2002|title=Determination of deforestation rates of the world's humid tropical forests|url=http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC23428|journal=Science|volume=297|issue=5583|pages=999–1003|bibcode=2002Sci...297..999A|doi=10.1126/science.1070656|pmid=12169731|s2cid=46315941}}</ref> A 2005 report by the United Nations [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO) estimated that although the Earth's total forest area continued to decrease at about 13 million hectares per year, the global rate of deforestation had been slowing.<ref name="pantropical">{{cite web|title=Pan-tropical Survey of Forest Cover Changes 1980–2000|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/y1997e/y1997e1f.htm|work=Forest Resources Assessment|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)|location=Rome, Italy}}</ref><ref>[http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/MEETING/003/X9591E.HTM Committee On Forestry]. FAO (16 March 2001). Retrieved 29 August 2010.</ref> On the other hand, a 2005 analysis of satellite images reveals that [[deforestation of the Amazon rainforest]] is twice as fast as scientists previously estimated.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jha|first=Alok|date=21 October 2005|title=Amazon rainforest vanishing at twice rate of previous estimates|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/oct/21/brazil.conservationandendangeredspecies}}</ref><ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1021/p04s01-sten.html Satellite images reveal Amazon forest shrinking faster], csmonitor.com, 21 October 2005.</ref>

From 2010 to 2015, worldwide forest area decreased by 3.3 million ha per year, according to [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]]. During this five-year period, the biggest forest area loss occurred in the tropics, particularly in South America and Africa. Per capita forest area decline was also greatest in the tropics and subtropics but is occurring in every climatic domain (except in the temperate) as populations increase.<ref>FAO. 2016. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015. How are the world’s forests changing?</ref>

An estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015.<ref name="GFRA2020" />

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|image3 = 2021 Top ten countries for tropical primary forest loss - World Resources Institute.svg
|caption3 = Home to much of the [[Amazon rainforest]], Brazil's tropical [[Old-growth forest|primary (old-growth)]] forest loss greatly exceeds that of other countries.<ref name=WRI_20240404>● 2021 data: {{cite web|title=Forest Pulse: The Latest on the World's Forests|url=https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends |website=WRI.org |publisher=World Resources Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627150528/https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends|archive-date=27 June 2023 |date=June 2023 |url-status=live}}<br>● 2022 and 2023 data: {{cite web |title=Forest Pulse: The Latest on the World's Forests |url=https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends |publisher=World Resources Institute / Global Forest Review |website=WRI.org |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240404205336/https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends |archive-date=4 April 2024 |date=4 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|image4 = 20220910 Amazon deforestation and degradation, by country - Amazon Watch.svg
|caption4 = Overall, 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been "transformed" (deforested) and another 6% has been "highly degraded", causing Amazon Watch to warn that the Amazonia is in the midst of a tipping point crisis.<ref name=AmazonWatch_202209>{{cite web|title=Amazon Against the Clock: A Regional Assessment on Where and How to Protect 80% by 2025|url=https://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2022-amazonia-against-the-clock-executive-summary.pdf|website=Amazon Watch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910025229/https://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2022-amazonia-against-the-clock-executive-summary.pdf|archive-date=10 September 2022|page=8|date=September 2022|quote=Graphic 2: Current State of the Amazon by country, by percentage / Source: RAISG (Red Amazónica de Información Socioambiental Georreferenciada) Elaborated by authors.|url-status=live}}</ref>
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Africa had the largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 million ha, followed by South America, at 2.6 million ha. The rate of net forest loss has increased in Africa in each of the three decades since 1990. It has declined substantially in South America, however, to about half the rate in 2010–2020 compared with 2000–2010. Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020, followed by Oceania and Europe. Nevertheless, both Europe and Asia recorded substantially lower rates of net gain in 2010–2020 than in 2000–2010. Oceania experienced net losses of forest area in the decades 1990–2000 and 2000–2010.<ref name="GFRA2020" />

Some claim that rainforests are being destroyed at an ever-quickening pace.<ref>[http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4521 Worldwatch: Wood Production and Deforestation Increase & Recent Content] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025184730/http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4521|date=25 October 2008}}, [[Worldwatch Institute]]</ref> The London-based Rainforest Foundation notes that "the UN figure is based on a definition of forest as being an area with as little as 10% actual tree cover, which would therefore include areas that are actually savanna-like ecosystems and badly damaged forests".<ref name="Butler">{{cite web|author=Butler, Rhett A.|date=16 November 2005|title=World deforestation rates and forest cover statistics, 2000–2005|url=http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1115-forests.html|work=mongabay.com}}</ref> Other critics of the FAO data point out that they do not distinguish between forest types,<ref>The fear is that highly diverse habitats, such as tropical rainforest, are vanishing at a faster rate that is partly masked by the slower deforestation of less biodiverse, dry, open forests. Because of this omission, the most harmful impacts of deforestation (such as habitat loss) could be increasing despite a possible decline in the global rate of deforestation.</ref> and that they are based largely on reporting from [[forestry]] departments of individual countries,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Remote sensing versus self-reporting|url=http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0629-deforestation.html}}</ref> which do not take into account unofficial activities like illegal logging.<ref>The World Bank estimates that 80% of logging operations are illegal in [[Bolivia]] and 42% in [[Colombia]], while in [[Peru]], illegal logging accounts for 80% of all logging activities. (World Bank (2004). ''Forest Law Enforcement''.) (The Peruvian Environmental Law Society (2003). ''Case Study on the Development and Implementation of Guidelines for the Control of Illegal Logging with a View to Sustainable Forest Management in Peru''.)</ref> Despite these uncertainties, there is agreement that destruction of rainforests remains a significant environmental problem.

The rate of net forest loss declined from 7.8 million ha per year in the decade 1990–2000 to 5.2 million ha per year in 2000–2010 and 4.7 million ha per year in 2010–2020. The rate of decline of net forest loss slowed in the most recent decade due to a reduction in the rate of forest expansion.<ref name="GFRA2020" />