- Fact-finding team
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Image source, Getty Images
Felled trees coming from the Amazon
Many world leaders have pledged to end deforestation and reforestation by 2030.
However, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is at its highest level in 15 years. Elsewhere, deforestation remains a challenge.
Brazil: Continued illegal logging
About 60 percent of the vast Amazon rainforest comes from Brazil. These Amazon rainforests play an important role in absorbing harmful carbon dioxide. If these forests do not absorb this carbon dioxide, it will mix with the atmosphere. According to the National Space Research Organization (INPE), deforestation in Brazil has continued to decline since 2006.
Deforestation in Brazil
The agency said in a recent report that deforestation had increased by 22 percent in the past year alone, covering 13,235 sq km. Forests are also reported to be extinct.
President Zaire Bolzano has been criticized for promoting mining in the Amazon, deforestation and farming there.
Bolsanaro cuts funding for government agencies that take legal action against loggers and farmers who violate environmental laws. The fines levied on illegal loggers will be reduced by 20 percent by 2020.
Very accurate statistics are not available. However, a recent study found that 94 percent of deforestation and habitat destruction in Brazil were illegal.
But deforestation in the Amazon is not limited to Brazil. It is also happening in its neighbor Bolivia.
Deforestation details of major countries
Congo Basin: Agriculture and Mining
The Congo Basin is the second largest rainforest in the world. More than half of this bed is in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Greenpeace, an environmental campaign organization, says deforestation is the result of illegal logging by large and small companies.
Other threats include subsistence farming (deforestation to meet family needs), deforestation for fuel coal production, urban sprawl, and mining.
Endangered forest area in the Congo
Over the past five years, nearly 5 million hectares of primary forest have been destroyed annually, according to Global Forest Watch.
President Felix Shisekedi last month ordered an audit of lease allocations for harvesting in the public forest. It also includes an order relating to 14 lakh hectares. There were also allegations of corruption in this regard. This was welcomed by the activists.
A plan was announced earlier this year to repeal a ban on logging that had been in place since 2002. But, it has not been implemented for so long.
This is contrary to the approval given earlier this year to protect forests and increase forest cover by 8 percent.
Indonesia – Gardens in Palmyra
Extinct forest cover in Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the top five most deforested countries in the world in the last two decades.
According to the Global Forest Watch, 97.5 lakh hectares of forest were destroyed in the country between 2002 and 2020.
In 2014, President Widodo promised to take action against the plantation industry in Palmyra, which is a major cause of deforestation.
According to official figures, 80 percent of wildfires are caused by this. In 2016, a maximum of 9.29 lakh hectares of forest went missing. But, after that the deforestation rate decreased.
By 2020, annual deforestation will be reduced to 2.70 lakh hectares. In 2019, President Widodo imposed a three-year ban on new deforestation projects. The ban covers 6.6 crore hectares of forest. This year the ban has been extended indefinitely.
What to do to stop deforestation Project Is?
Image source, Getty Images
Indonesian deforestation
Forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming. Therefore, cutting down trees will have a big impact on climate change.
The UN estimates that 42 billion hectares, or 100 million acres, of forests have been destroyed since 1990. The main reason for this is agriculture.
At a recent climate conference, more than 100 world leaders pledged to stop deforestation and reforestation by 2030.
Attempts have already been made to protect the forest. In 2014, the UN announced a plan to halve deforestation by 2020 and halt it by 2030.
A new goal is set in 2017 to increase forest cover by 3 percent globally by 2030.
Map of lost forest cover from 1990-2020
However, a report released in 2019 states that deforestation was rampant. It also says it has become a challenge to combat climate change.
Reforestation has taken place in some places due to natural or tree planting. It takes many years for trees to mature enough to fully absorb carbon dioxide.
BBC Truth Verification Team
In the last ten years, 47 lakh hectares of forests have been destroyed annually. The worst-hit countries are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia.
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