The planet lost 12 million hectares of rainforest in 2019, according to Global Forest Watch

Text by: RFI Follow

As Indonesia sows clouds to rain and prevent potential destructive fires, the Global Forest Watch report, released Tuesday, June 2, paints a bleak picture of the state of the world's tropical forests.

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In 2019, the tropical forests lost 12 million hectares, of which a third of primary forests, humid, that is to say that in one year, the planet lost the equivalent of a football field of forest every 6 seconds. These forests are both necessary for storing carbon in the atmosphere, and rich in wild flora and fauna.

This disappearance of forests, whether burned or cut, is equivalent to almost 2 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. It is as if we had run 400 million cars for a year.

"  We are concerned that the rate of loss is so high, despite all the efforts made by different countries and companies to reduce deforestation,  " said Mikaela Weisse, who coordinates the Global Forest Watch, an online platform. which provides information on the state of the forests, on behalf of the American think tank World Resources Institute (WRI).

Brazil, champion of deforestation

In 2019, the deforestation champion is undoubtedly Brazil, with at least 1.4 million hectares, a third of which is primary forest. The Latin American giant is followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 475,000 hectares, Indonesia (324,000 hectares) and Bolivia, where 300,000 hectares went up in smoke last year.

Rising temperatures, droughts, and deforestation itself, whether for cash crops or the exploitation of wood and soil, were the cause of huge fires in 2019, and these fires have further increased the disappearance of primary forests.

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• Environment
• Brazil
• Ground floor
• Indonesia
• Bolivia

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