World lost a football pitch sized area of rainforest every six seconds in 2019

The year 2020 is said to be the worst year of this century, however, last year was no exception for rainforests as over 11.9 million hectares of tree cover were lost in just three continents, according to Global Forest Watch's latest report. As per the GFW's data, primary forest loss was 2.8% higher in 2019 than the year before and it was the third-highest since the year 2000 with 2016, 2017 being the first and second highest respectively. The world lost a football pitch sized rainforest every six-seconds in 2019. 

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Deforestation report

The data shows several countries suffering huge losses with Brazil being the worst affected by deforestation. "Brazil single-handedly accounted for over a third of all loss of humid tropical primary forests worldwide, with more primary forest lost than any other tropical country in 2019," said the report.  

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"The primary forest loss data detect a wide range of forest disturbances – from deforestation for agriculture to understory fires to selective logging. While the increase in primary forest loss from 2018 to 2019 was modest, government data indicate that one particular form of forest loss — clear-cut deforestation for agriculture and other new land uses — has rapidly increased in the Brazilian Amazon over the past year," the report added. 

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Other major causes behind primary forest losses were bushfires, illegal mining, land grabbing, and making way for cattle grazing. Bolivia and Australia lost thousands of square kilometres to forest fires last year. Other countries in the list of top 10 nations that lost most primary forests in 2019 are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, Malaysia, Colombia, Laos, Mexico, and Cambodia. 

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