Scientists have calculated the loss of tropical forests deforested in 2018, according to BBC News. The planet has lost about 12 million hectares, which is equivalent to 30 football fields per minute. This indicator became the fourth since 2001 (that is, the beginning of the corresponding observations), only slightly falling short of the sad records of 2016 and 2017. Special concern of experts is caused by deforestation of primary, that is, virgin forests, untouched by human activity. In 2018, their area decreased by about one Belgium (3.6 million hectares).
The largest felling occurs in Brazil - 1,200,000 ha in 2018. In second place is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in third - Indonesia. Madagascar lost 2% of its primeval forest last year, the highest among tropical countries. Experts also noted an increase in felling rates in Ghana (by 60%) and in Cote d'Ivoire (by 26%) - this is due to large-scale gold mining and industrial production of cocoa.
The most wooded regions of the world are tropical, stretching from the Amazon in South America through West and Central Africa to Indonesia. The jungle of the Amazon is home to an estimated 20 million people, including local tribes who voluntarily abandoned civilization. Forests don't just provide food and shelter for people - they absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide and curb global warming.
In recent decades alone, the area of the jungle has decreased by millions of hectares. Despite the fact that in 2018 the rate of deforestation slightly decreased, the general trend has not changed - there are fewer and fewer forests on the planet. Meanwhile, some countries are seeking to compensate for the loss of vegetation. Thus, China and India (the main suppliers of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere) have greened more than 5 million square kilometers since 2000.