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Deforestation by continent
Rates and causes of deforestation vary from region to region around the world. In 2009, two-thirds of the world's forests were located in just 10 countries: Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, India, and Peru.
Global annual deforestation is estimated to total 13.7 million hectares a year, similar to the area of Greece. Half of the area experiencing deforestation consists of new forests or forest growth. In addition to direct human-induced deforestation, growing forests have also been affected by climate change. The Kyoto Protocol includes an agreement to prevent deforestation, but does not stipulate actions to fulfil it.
By 2008, deforestation in Africa was estimated to be occurring at twice the world average rate, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Some sources claim that deforestation has already wiped out roughly 90% of West Africa's original forests. Today, deforestation is accelerating in Central Africa. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Africa lost the highest percentage of tropical forests of any continent during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. According to the figures from the FAO (1997), only 22.8% of West Africa's moist forests remain, much of them degraded. Nigeria has lost 81% of its old-growth forests in just 15 years (1990–2005).
Mass deforestation threatens food security in some African countries. One factor contributing to the continent's high deforestation rates is the dependence of 90% of its population on wood as fuel for heating and cooking. Research carried out by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2006 shows that rates of illegal logging in Africa vary from 50% in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea to 70% in Gabon and 80% in Liberia, where timber revenues played a major role in financing the Sierra Leone Civil War and other regional armed conflicts until the UN Security Council imposed a ban on all Liberian timber in 2003.
Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been caused partly by unregulated logging and mining, but mostly by the demands made by the subsistence activities of a poor population. In the east of the country, for example, more than 3 million people live less than a day's walk from Virunga National Park. Wood from the park's forests is used by many of those people as firewood, lumber for construction, and for the production of charcoal. Deforestation caused by subsistence farming is an acute threat to the park in general, and the habitat of the critically endangered mountain gorilla in particular. From 2014 to 2018, the rate of tree-felling in the Democratic Republic of Congo doubled.
The main cause of deforestation in the East African country of Ethiopia is a growing population and subsequent higher demand for agriculture, livestock production, and biofuel. Other reasons include low education and inactivity from the government, although the current government has taken some steps to tackle deforestation. Organizations such as Farm Africa are working with the federal and local governments to create a system of forest management. Ethiopia, the third largest country in Africa by population, has been hit by famine many times because of shortages of rain and depletion of natural resources. Deforestation has lowered the chance of getting rain, which is already low, and increased erosion. Berkeley Bayisa, an Ethiopian farmer, offers one example of why deforestation occurs. He reported that his district was once forested and full of wildlife, but that overpopulation caused people to come and clear it to plant crops, cutting all trees to sell as firewood.
Ethiopia has lost 98% of its forested regions in the last 50 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, around 420,000 km2 (160,000 sq mi) or 35% of Ethiopia's land was covered with forests. Recent reports indicate that forests now cover less than 14.2% or even only 11.9% as of 2005[update]. Between 1990 and 2005, the country lost 14% of its forests or 21,000 km2 (8,100 sq mi).
In 1963, Kenya had a forest cover of some 10 percent; by 2006, it had only 1.7 percent. Between 2000 and 2020 Kenya experienced a 6% net loss in tree cover, dropping by -285kha (2850000000 m2).
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Deforestation by continent AI simulator
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Deforestation by continent
Rates and causes of deforestation vary from region to region around the world. In 2009, two-thirds of the world's forests were located in just 10 countries: Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, India, and Peru.
Global annual deforestation is estimated to total 13.7 million hectares a year, similar to the area of Greece. Half of the area experiencing deforestation consists of new forests or forest growth. In addition to direct human-induced deforestation, growing forests have also been affected by climate change. The Kyoto Protocol includes an agreement to prevent deforestation, but does not stipulate actions to fulfil it.
By 2008, deforestation in Africa was estimated to be occurring at twice the world average rate, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Some sources claim that deforestation has already wiped out roughly 90% of West Africa's original forests. Today, deforestation is accelerating in Central Africa. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Africa lost the highest percentage of tropical forests of any continent during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. According to the figures from the FAO (1997), only 22.8% of West Africa's moist forests remain, much of them degraded. Nigeria has lost 81% of its old-growth forests in just 15 years (1990–2005).
Mass deforestation threatens food security in some African countries. One factor contributing to the continent's high deforestation rates is the dependence of 90% of its population on wood as fuel for heating and cooking. Research carried out by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2006 shows that rates of illegal logging in Africa vary from 50% in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea to 70% in Gabon and 80% in Liberia, where timber revenues played a major role in financing the Sierra Leone Civil War and other regional armed conflicts until the UN Security Council imposed a ban on all Liberian timber in 2003.
Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been caused partly by unregulated logging and mining, but mostly by the demands made by the subsistence activities of a poor population. In the east of the country, for example, more than 3 million people live less than a day's walk from Virunga National Park. Wood from the park's forests is used by many of those people as firewood, lumber for construction, and for the production of charcoal. Deforestation caused by subsistence farming is an acute threat to the park in general, and the habitat of the critically endangered mountain gorilla in particular. From 2014 to 2018, the rate of tree-felling in the Democratic Republic of Congo doubled.
The main cause of deforestation in the East African country of Ethiopia is a growing population and subsequent higher demand for agriculture, livestock production, and biofuel. Other reasons include low education and inactivity from the government, although the current government has taken some steps to tackle deforestation. Organizations such as Farm Africa are working with the federal and local governments to create a system of forest management. Ethiopia, the third largest country in Africa by population, has been hit by famine many times because of shortages of rain and depletion of natural resources. Deforestation has lowered the chance of getting rain, which is already low, and increased erosion. Berkeley Bayisa, an Ethiopian farmer, offers one example of why deforestation occurs. He reported that his district was once forested and full of wildlife, but that overpopulation caused people to come and clear it to plant crops, cutting all trees to sell as firewood.
Ethiopia has lost 98% of its forested regions in the last 50 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, around 420,000 km2 (160,000 sq mi) or 35% of Ethiopia's land was covered with forests. Recent reports indicate that forests now cover less than 14.2% or even only 11.9% as of 2005[update]. Between 1990 and 2005, the country lost 14% of its forests or 21,000 km2 (8,100 sq mi).
In 1963, Kenya had a forest cover of some 10 percent; by 2006, it had only 1.7 percent. Between 2000 and 2020 Kenya experienced a 6% net loss in tree cover, dropping by -285kha (2850000000 m2).