Every year, about ten million hectares of forest are cut down in the world. This corresponds to about four times the size of Västra Götaland county. Grazing land for cattle in Latin America, cultivation of soy and palm oil and forest plantations for the production of pulp are some of the reasons for the great driving force behind deforestation.

- Brazil and Indonesia are the worst and account for 40 percent of deforestation in the tropics, says Martin Persson, associate professor at the Department of Space, Geo and Environmental Sciences at Chalmers.

"People have always destroyed the forest"

Overall, in the tropics, the decay has been quite constant over the last ten years. 2004-2005 was the highest in Brazil, according to Persson.

- People have always devoured forest to get agricultural land. Most parts of Europe were also covered with forests from the beginning. It is a gradual process that has been going on, he says.

The big difference now compared to previously according to Persson is that forestry is becoming increasingly commercially driven. Soy, palm oil and beef are driving factors, which have gained more attention in recent years.

"There has been a lot of pressure on large food giants who buy up, for example, palm oil, cocoa and coffee," says Martin Persson.

As a result, many of the companies have decided not to buy this type of raw material from deforested land, he explains. One goal is for the palm oil to be completely "deforestation-free" by 2020.

- But you will not succeed, shows a lot of reports.

Better forest legislation

Martin Persson believes that it is difficult to solve the problems of deforestation only by the individual actively consuming "better goods".

- In the end, this is about the tropical countries where deforestation has to have better and stronger forest legislation that makes it illegal. In some countries you already have it but instead you do not have the capacity to ensure that it is complied with, he says.