If we do not stop global deforestation, and not just tropical ones, stopping climate change will remain an elusive goal.
The Rainforest Foundation Norway said that from 2002 to 2019, the world lost 571,863 sq km of rainforest – more than the area of mainland France, GreenPost reported, citing a report from the Rainforest Foundation Norway.
The foundation analyzed information about all the tropical forests on the planet, including what happened to them in 73 countries from 2002 to 2019. In total there were 145 million square meters on Earth. km of tropical forest. Now only 36% remain fully intact, approximately 34% have completely disappeared, and 30% are in decline. Every year forests with an area the size of Belgium disappear (approximately 30,689 sq. km). Asia is suffering the most: 7% of the world’s tropical forests remain intact there. 72% remain in the Amazon, of which 42% are in Brazil.
The faster trees disappear, the more unsustainable climate change becomes. Destroying the tropics increases the amount of carbon dioxide that remains in the atmosphere and allows solar radiation to penetrate. This increases temperatures and leads to climate change. Deforestation in Latin America, Asia and Africa can affect rainfall and weather around the world, from the US Midwest to Europe and China.
China, Brazil, Bolivia and Congo have set a goal of protecting more than 50 million hectares of forest, equivalent to the size of Spain, over the next 15 years.
Developed countries have pledged to increase aid to less developed countries to $100 billion a year to cut emissions. Some of this money should go to rainforest conservation funds.