Tree cover losses in northern regions of the world were the highest on record in 2021, according to a new analysis from Global Forest Watch. Figures for these boreal forests were up 30% on 2020, with wildfires causing massive losses in Russia.
Elsewhere, around ten football pitches per minute of tropical primary forest were lost across the year. Brazil, once again, led the way with a significant uptick in tree loss associated with agricultural expansion.
This new data records the losses of tree cover in 2021, and is not the overall net picture when new plantings are taken into account. Much of the focus for researchers is on the world’s tropical regions because this is where more than 96% of deforestation takes place. When it comes to tropical primary forests, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo top the table as they have for many years now.
But one of the big concerns in the new figures is the loss of boreal forests which are found in northern parts of Russia, Canada and Alaska. While the cutting or burning of trees in these regions rarely results in permanent deforestation, the number of trees destroyed in 2021 was up 30% on 2020, to the highest level yet recorded, Climate change is seen as a key driver of tree loss in these areas, with hotter drier conditions leading to more wildfires and greater damage from insects. Russia saw its worst fire season since records began in 2001, losing more than 6.5 million hectares.
“It’s hugely worrying,” said Rod Taylor from the World Resources Institute, part of the team behind the new analysis.
“Global warming is generally happening faster as you get closer to the poles, so it’s like having a changing climate and an ecosystem that’s not coping, so we’re seeing fires that burn more frequently more intensively and more broadly than they ever would under normal conditions.” Outside of northern regions, tree losses continued at very high levels in tropical areas – in terms of carbon, the destruction of these trees was equal to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India. Over 40% of this primary forest loss occurred in Brazil, with the non-fire related destruction increasing by 9% overall – researchers say that is normally associated with the expansion of agriculture. In some key states in the western Amazon region, these losses were as high as 25%.
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