Researchers calculated that the loss of tropical primary forest in 2021 resulted in the release of 2.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India
An aerial view of a deforested area of the Amazonia rainforest in Porto Velho, Rondonia state, Brazil, on September 15, 2021. The Amazon basin has, until recently, absorbed large amounts of humankind's ballooning carbon emissions, helping stave off the nightmare of unchecked climate change. Image: Mauro Pimentel/AFP
Paris, France: Huge swathes of tropical rainforest were burned or hacked down for cattle and crops last year, led by destruction in Brazil, researchers said Thursday, warning that climate change itself is making it harder to reverse the losses.
Some 11.1 million hectares (27.5 million acres) of tree cover was lost across the tropics in 2021, with 3.75 million hectares of that in old-growth primary forests, according to annual research by Global Forest Watch, the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland.
"That's 10 football pitches per minute. And that goes on for a year," said Rod Taylor, who leads WRI's Forests Program.
Researchers calculated that the loss of tropical primary forest in 2021 resulted in the release of 2.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India.
Over 40 percent of the total tropical primary forest lost in 2021 was in Brazil, where some 1.5 million hectares was cut down or went up in smoke.