The Guardian
By Damian Carrington

The destruction of global forests slowed in 2021 but the vital climate goal of ending deforestation by 2030 will still be missed without urgent action, according to an assessment.

The area razed in 2021 fell by 6.3% after progress in some countries, notably Indonesia. But almost 7m hectares were lost and the destruction of the most carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests fell by only 3%. The CO2 emissions resulting from the lost trees were equivalent to the emissions of the entire European Union plus Japan.

Global heating could not be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels without ending deforestation, experts said. At the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, 145 countries pledged to end the felling of forests by the end of the decade. The demolition and degradation of forests causes about 10% of global carbon emissions.

However, based on current trends, the Glasgow leaders’ declaration would be as “hollow” as the pledge made by countries in 2014 to end deforestation by 2020, the assessment’s authors said.

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