The deforestation of the tropical rainforests has noticeably decreased in this millennium.

This is reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its latest report on the state of the world's forests.

According to this, the deforested area shrank by around 29 percent between the first two decades since the year 2000.

After an average of 11 million hectares of tropical rainforest disappeared annually between 2000 and 2010, it was only 7.8 million hectares per year between 2010 and 2018, the UN organization reported.

Christian Schubert

Economic correspondent for Italy and Greece.

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The FAO is far from giving the all-clear as tropical rainforests continued to shrink at an alarming rate.

However, the situation is not only bleak: If deforestation and natural regrowth are deducted, the loss of forest area has more than halved: from 6.8 million hectares a year in the first decade of the millennium to 3.1 million hectares between 2010 and 2018. During this period, the area of ​​planted forests increased by 46 million hectares.

An increased awareness of the dangers of deforestation and increased public and private investment in conservation and reforestation are reflected here.

Less forest fell victim to expanding agriculture.

Commitment from companies

In addition, the commitment of companies makes itself felt positively, writes the FAO.

Many corporations try to offset their CO2 emissions by planting trees.

Trading in pollution rights increases the incentives for such investments, it said.

The systems for controlling "green" investments improved.

"Despite continued land loss, forests absorbed more CO2 than they emitted between 2011 and 2020 due to reforestation and better forest management."

But competition with agriculture continues to destroy the world's green lungs.

157 million hectares of tropical rainforest - an area the size of western Europe - were lost between 2000 and 2018.

90 percent goes to the account of area expansion for arable land and cattle breeding.

In Europe, on the other hand, the need for infrastructure and urbanization predominates.

The heaviest deforestation took place in South America, followed by Africa.

Farmland expansion causes 50 percent of deforestation, followed by livestock at a good 38 percent.

The FAO has determined that palm oil cultivation alone has been responsible for 7 percent of the destruction of the rainforest since the beginning of the millennium.

By 2050, the world population is expected to increase to 9.7 billion people, which means that the need for food will increase by 35 to 36 percent.

"Pressures on forests from land demands are likely to increase," the FAO report said.

In addition, a third of the world's population still needs wood or other traditional fuels for cooking in the home.

For its study, the organization relied on satellite images, Google data and the support of 800 experts in 126 countries.