Between 2022 and 2023, both Brazil and Colombia experienced a sharp decline in primary forest loss, reported the University of Maryland's Global Land Analysis and Discovery laboratory. Brazil's rate was down 36%, while Colombia's decreased 49%.
The decreases in those countries were counteracted by sharp increases in forest loss in Bolivia, Laos and Nicaragua, and more modest increases in other countries, GLAD reported.
Total tropical primary forest loss in 2023 totaled 3.7 million hectares, the equivalent of losing almost 10 soccer fields of forest per minute, according to GLAD. This is a 9% decrease from 2022 but is nearly identical to the rate in 2019 and 2021. The forest loss produced 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2023, equivalent to almost half of the annual fossil fuel emissions of the United States.
The full report from GLAD is available from the World Resources Institute here. Updates on tree cover are available on the interactive Global Forest Watch website.
