This type of vegetation is the one that stores the most carbon and is richest in biodiversity; at the same time, it is the most threatened
A loss of primary forests, in Brazil, grew 15% in 2022, most of it in the Amazon. Although it has about 30% of the world’s forests, the country accounts for 43%. registration of this type of vegetation, the highest among all nations, according to Global Forest Watch (GFW). Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bolivia, Indonesia and Peru complete the list of the five largest deforestators on the planet.
Primary forests are those that have never been deforested. They are also the ones that store the most carbon, the richest in biodiversity and, at the same time, the most threatened. Over 96% of deforestation caused by man is concentrated in them.
In Brazil, the loss has exceeded 1 million hectares a year since 2016. In 2021, the country had lost 1.5 million hectares of primary forest throughout the country. Last year, 1.7 million hectares, the highest non-fire-related rate since 2005.
“We realize that Brazil was quite successful in the early 2000s, but from 2016 onwards deforestation rates started to accelerate,” says Jefferson Ferreira-Ferreira, forest data science coordinator at WRI Brasil.
GFW is a global monitoring platform. It uses data provided by the University of Maryland, with a resolution of 30 meters, to track deforestation trends.
