Fires drove record loss of world’s forests last year, ‘frightening’ data shows | Deforestation
The destruction of forests in the world reached the highest level ever recorded in 2024, driven by an increase in fires caused by global heating, according to new “frightening” data.
From the Brazilian Amazon to Taiga Siberia, the earth’s forests disappeared at a record rate last year, and the Italian region was lost to agriculture, fires, registration and mining, according to the analysis of the Maryland University hosted on Global forest watch.
In tropical regions, home to the most biological and carbon diversity forests on this planet, Fire is the main driver of the first time since the start of Global Records. However, the fire is not a natural part of tropical ecosystems. The northern forests in Canada and Siberia continued to burn last year.
Professor Matt Hansen, co -director of the Excellency Maryland Laboratory, who led the analysis, described the new numbers as “frightening”, while Elizabeth Goldman, co -manager of the Global Forest Watch participation, was described as anything that we saw in more than 20 years of data. “
In 2024, forest loss in Brazil Many higher levels have reached any level registered under extremist right -wing president Gear Bolsonaro, who is fueled by fire and the worst drought in the Amazon. The country constituted 42 % of all the first rainforest losses in tropical regions, and lost more than 25,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles). The data differs from the official statistics of Brazil, which use a different definition to remove forests that do not include fire.
in BoliviaThe loss of forests that had not been touched before, ranked second behind Brazil in the comprehensive loss for the first time, driven by drought, fire, and government that enhance the agricultural expansion of soybeans, livestock and sugar cane. The initial forest loss in Bolivia has increased by nearly five times Since 2020, it reaches more than 14,000 square kilometers (1.4 meters).
in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Congo-Brazzaville, the virgin rainforest loss has reached the highest recorded levels. The two countries are home to the rainy Congo basin, and they are the second largest in the world after the Amazon.
At COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, more than 140 world leaders pledged to stop the removal of forests By the end of the contract, but after less than four years the countries are outside the path: the loss of forests should decrease by 20 % annually from 2024 levels to face the target by 2030.
“The signal in these data is especially frightening,” said Hansen.
“We have a lot of work to be done to counter such a wide, destructive and increasing dynamic.”
Goldman described the standard losses as a “global red alert”.
She said: “[It is] A collective invitation to work for every country, work and every person who cares for a suitable planet. Our economies, our societies, our health – none of which can survive without forests. “
Of the 20 countries with the largest areas in the virgin forests, 17 now loses trees at a rate of faster than it was when the Glasgow 2021 deal was signed.
But despite the loss of the record, there were areas of hope. The first forest loss in Indonesia and Malaysia remained relatively low, as the latter came out of the top 10 for the first time.
Professor Peter Potabov, co -director of the Marilias CIA Laboratory, said the world risks the entry of a dangerous new session.
“The year 2024 was the worst year on the record of the loss of the firefighting forests, breaking the record in the past year only. If this trend continues, it may permanently turn the critical natural areas and unleash large quantities of carbon-condensation of climate change and supply the most extreme fires.
“This is a dangerous reaction episode that we cannot bear more than that,” he said.
Find more Covering the era of extinction hereHe followed the correspondence of biological diversity Vepi Weston and Patrick Greenfield In the Guardian app for more nature coverage
