Losses in Brazil’s primary rainforests up 15% in 2022

Despite accounting for 30 percent of the forests worldwide, Brazil was responsible for 43 percent of the globe’s deforestation last year, retaining its position as the leading nation in forest loss. The destruction of 1.8 million hectares in 2022 resulted in 1.2 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide emissions—2.5 times the country’s annual emissions from fossil fuels.

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The data can be found in the latest update of the report Global Forest Watch, published this week by environmental think tank World Resources Institute (WRI).

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Through satellite imagery, it was revealed that the loss of primary forests in the tropical region—where vast humid forests like the Amazon are located—was 10 percent higher in 2022 from 2021. A total of 4.1 million hectares were lost, the equivalent to 11 football fields every minute. This loss resulted in 2.7 Gt of carbon dioxide emissions, a number comparable to India’s annual fossil fuel emissions.

The destruction of primary forests increased not only in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo—the two countries with most tropical forests in the world—but also in other nations, like Bolivia and Ghana. Among countries with large areas of primary forests, only Indonesia and Malaysia were able to maintain rates close to their lowest levels.

The figures show that the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, signed at COP26 in 2021 by over 140 countries, including Brazil, is not achieving its goal of preserving these biomes.

Primary forests

In Brazil, the loss of primary forests surged 15 percent in 2022, predominantly in the Amazon. It was the highest non-fire-related rate since 2005.

“This represents over 1.7 million hectares of primary tropical forests, which are the most mature, intact, and ecologically important forests for the world’s environmental system,” explained Jefferson Ferreira-Ferreira, forest data science coordinator at WRI Brasil.

While the exact causes cannot be determined, he argued, “key indicators show that a major portion of it stems from the expansion of agriculture and pastures, especially in the southwest Amazon, in Acre and Amazonas. In these states, tropical forest loss nearly doubled in the past two years, which poses a great risk as the region is home to the most pristine forests in the country.”

According to WRI Brasil, apart from the carbon impact, forest loss in the Amazon affects regional rainfall and could ultimately lead to a point of no return, where most of the ecosystem becomes a savanna. In the western Amazon, such losses are picking up speed.

“These losses can always be reversed, but it takes time. Immediate efforts that should be made include control measures and fines,” the WRI coordinator said.

Other initiatives

Further plans should also be implemented, Ferreira pointed out. “These are long-term actions, like strengthening the sector of the Amazon’s economy based on standing forests. A recent study by WRI in collaboration with other partners and a total of 75 researchers showed that the conservation and economic use of the forest could generate over BRL 1 trillion for the Brazilian economy. However, this requires truly structural actions that empower the forest economy.”

The study notes that several indigenous areas under threat in the Amazon also faced the loss of primary forests in 2022. The territories Apyterewa, in Pará state, Karipuna, in Rondônia, and Sepoti, in Amazonas, recorded record levels of land invasions. Losses from mining are also conspicuous on the Yanomami lands, in Roraima, where a government crackdown was launched to drive out illegal gold miners early this year.

Despite widespread forest loss, indigenous territories in Brazil have much lower deforestation rates compared to similar areas managed by other entities, and are considered the last carbon sinks in the Amazon.