Destruction of world’s pristine rainforests soared in 2022

June 27, 2023 - An area of primary rainforest the size of Switzerland was cleared or burned last year, despite a pledge by world leaders to stop deforestation by 2030.

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The tropics lost 4.1m hectares of primary rainforest in 2022, an increase of around 10% from 2021, according to figures compiled by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland.

At COP26 climate meeting in 2021, 145 world leaders signed Glasgow Declaration on forests, where they committed to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030”.

The increase of forest loss in 2022 shows that the political pledge is well off track.

Brazil, the DR Congo and Bolivia headed the table for tropical primary forest loss in 2022. Indonesia and Malaysia managed to keep rates of loss near record low levels after significant corporate and government action in recent years.