Deforestation in 2023 fell dramatically in Brazil and Colombia, up to almost 40%, thanks to the action of their respective governments, although the decline was offset by an increase in the destruction of trees in various other countries, led by Bolivia, Nicaragua and Laos, and also in Canada, where forest fires are the main culprit. This is what emerges from the analysis carried out annually by the Glad laboratory of the University of Maryland and the World Resources Institute (WRI), cited by the BBC.
In particular, the research specifies, the loss of trees in the Brazilian Amazon last year decreased by 39%. Overall, 2023 saw the loss of 3.7 million hectares of forest, mostly primary, equal to ten football pitches per minute, which however marks a slight decline compared to 2022. Fires also played a dramatic role, especially in the northern hemisphere, with a peak in Canada, where the loss is five times greater than the previous year. But the most powerful effect on climate change still lies with Amazon deforestation, the research concludes.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA