Forests around the world trap large amounts of carbon dioxide – and carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of global warming. Tree pruning accelerates climate change. According to the United Nations, we have lost 420 million hectares of forest every year since 1990, and the main reason for this is agriculture. At COP26 in Glasgow in early November, leaders from more than 100 countries promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.
How do they want to stop cutting trees?
Whether or not COP26’s promises will materialize is a mystery at the moment. What is certain, however, is that efforts have already been made to protect forests in the past. In 2014, the United Nations announced that a pact had been reached that cuts deforestation in half by 2020 and ends it by 2030. Then, in 2017, a commitment was added to this: they would not only put an end to deforestation by 2030, but also increase forests by three percent worldwide. However, deforestation continued “at an alarming rate” according to the 2019 report, which has also had severe consequences for the climate conflict.
Over the past decade, 4.7 million hectares of forests have been destroyed each year, with Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo being the worst affected countries. Although steps are taken to reforest in a natural or planted way, the trees will take years to mature enough to absorb carbon dioxide.
Brazil: Continued illegal logging
60 percent of the world’s rainforests are located in Brazil. This forest is an essential part of the terrestrial ecosystem, as it also absorbs most of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. When rainforests are destroyed, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.
Deforestation has been steadily declining since 2004, the number of deforestation has started to rise again in recent years and has never been as high in the past 15 years as it was last year. According to the latest reports, during the months of August 2020 and July 2021 The rate of deforestation in Brazil increased by 22 percent. In practical terms, this means that 13,235 square kilometers of forests have been cut down – this corresponds to 14% of Hungary’s land.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized several times for his policy of ignoring environmental protection, including subsidizing agriculture and mining along the Amazon River, or for drastically cutting budgets for government agencies that protect rainforests, so that they enjoy human rights and resources there. They can do little about illegal farmers and loggers who break the deforestation law.
It reduced fines for them by 20 percent in 2020. Exact data is not available, but recent studies show that logging and building in the Amazon is illegal by 94 percent.
Bolivia: Take their share of the annihilation of the Amazon
Brazil is not solely responsible for the extraction of the Amazon rainforest. Neighboring countries, including Bolivia, are also taking their share of deforestation. Last year, Bolivia lost nearly 300,000 hectares of tropical forest – the fourth highest in the world.
Congo: Agriculture and Mining
The Congo Basin is home to the second largest rainforest in the world. More than half of the forest belongs to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over the past five years, annual loss of rainforest has reached nearly half a million acres, Global Forest Watch estimates.
According to Greenpeace, both large and small businesses are logging in the area. And although the United States and the European Union have banned the import of illegal timber, they still often smuggle out of the country.
Small-scale farming, coal burning and logging, urban sprawl and mining are all threatening the forest.
Felix Tshisekedi, head of the organization, ordered a review of logging permits issued last month, including an area of 1.4 million hectares, following corruption allegations. Environmentalists also welcomed the move.
However, in the first half of 2021, the government announced that it would lift the ban on logging since 2002. Greenpeace says this goes against commitments made in the past to protect the forest and even increase its surface area by at least 8 percent. .
Indonesia: Primeval forest is being burned to make way for palm oil cultivation
Indonesia has consistently been among the top five countries in the world in terms of deforestation over the past 20 years. According to Global Forest Watch, the country lost 9.75 million hectares of rainforest between 2002 and 2020. The country’s president, Joko Widodo, promised in 2014 to end deforestation due to palm oil plantations. According to official figures, 80 percent of the forest fires were burned to clear the land for future plantations. In addition to burning trees without any purpose, they also actively contribute to the increase in global carbon dioxide.
In 2016, 929,000 hectares of forest disappeared – but a significant decrease has since been observed, and in 2020 the rate of deforestation is “only” 270,000 hectares.
In 2019, the head of state issued a three-year suspension of new deforestation, protecting nearly 66 million acres of rainforest and mountain forests. This measure was extended indefinitely in 2021.
