Rainforest area the size of Switzerland destroyed in 2022
27 Jun 2023 03:50pm
Picture for illustrative purposes - FILE PIX
Around 4.1 million hectares of primary rainforest vanished, partly destroyed by fires, but mainly due to human deforestation activities.
The calculation by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, which was published on Tuesday, estimates a forested area the size of 11 football fields disappeared every minute.
The tropics lost 10 per cent more primary rainforest in 2022 than in 2021, WRI found, describing the pace of destruction as "relentless".
Primary forest, i.e. natural forest largely untouched by humans, is vitally important in the preservation of biodiversity and the storage of carbon dioxide.
Tropical forests in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to be particularly hard hit, the report said. Deforestation had accelerated most dramatically in Ghana and Angola in Africa, and in the South American country of Bolivia.
In contrast, some countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, had been able to keep the loss of their forests at a comparatively low level in 2022.
With the help of the Global Forest Watch platform, numerous conservation organisations led by WRI have been observing changes in forest landscapes worldwide since 2014, using satellite technology and other methods. WRI compiles its annual report in cooperation with the University of Maryland's tree cover loss data.
The area destroyed in 2022 released 2.7 gigatons of CO2, the authors of the study calculated. This is roughly equivalent to the annual emissions from fossil fuels in India - BERNAMA
