Global Forest Watch recently reported a complex situation for tropical forests worldwide, revealing both advancements and ongoing challenges in forest conservation. In 2023, the world lost approximately 9.2 million acres of tropical old-growth forests, an area exceeding the size of Maryland.
Despite this, the rate of forest loss has decreased by 9% compared to 2022, signaling some progress in preserving these critical ecosystems important for carbon storage and biodiversity.
Mikaela Weisse, director of Global Forest Watch, noted significant reductions in primary forest loss in Brazil and Colombia, with decreases of 36% and 49%, respectively.
However, she highlighted that these positive trends were overshadowed by increased deforestation and forest fires in countries like Bolivia, Nicaragua and Laos, impacting the overall progress in tropical forest conservation.
“This year we found really significant decreases in primary forest loss in Brazil and in Colombia, but unfortunately those decreases weren’t enough to actually reduce the overall rate of forest loss in the tropics,” Weisse said. “The decreases were counteracted by increases instead in countries like Bolivia, Nicaragua and Laos.”
Weisse also pointed out that Bolivia faces unique challenges with forest fires and agricultural expansion — often promoted by the government — posing significant threats to forest conservation efforts.
Fires and deforestation are identified as the main drivers of forest loss, critical to the global carbon capture cycle. From 2001 to 2021, forests managed by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon have been notably effective as carbon sinks, removing approximately 370 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. That is equivalent to the United Kingdom’s yearly fossil fuel emissions.
Over the past 40 to 50 years, nearly 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been converted, primarily into agricultural land. Experts warn that surpassing a 20% deforestation threshold could drastically alter the Amazon, transforming it into savanna-like terrain and potentially releasing about 99 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere — more than double the annual global emissions from fossil fuels.
Additionally, researchers have expressed concern that the global community is unlikely to meet the 2030 goal of halting and reversing forest loss due to deforestation, a commitment made by over 145 countries and territories in 2021.