Hundreds of millions of acres of forest could be lost in the next two decades in less than a dozen global hotspots for deforestation, conservationists have warned.
Research by wildlife charity WWF has identified 11 “deforestation fronts” where 80% of projected global forest losses by 2030 could occur.
Up to 170m hectares (420m acres) could be lost between 2010 and 2030 in these areas if current trends continued – equivalent to the disappearance of a forest stretching across Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
The areas are the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and Gran Chaco, and the Cerrado in South America, the Choco-Darien in Central America, the Congo Basin, East Africa, eastern Australia, the Greater Mekong in South East Asia, Borneo, New Guinea and Sumatra.
The fronts, which are at sustained and increased risk of deforestation, are home to indigenous communities that depend on them for their livelihoods and endangered species, such as orangutans and tigers, WWF said.
But they are being lost to expanding agriculture, including livestock farming, palm oil plantations and soy production, as well as small-scale farmers, WWF’s latest Living Forests report warned.
Unsustainable logging and wood fuel collection is also causing forest degradation – while mining, construction of hydroelectric dams and other projects cause roads to be built that open new areas of forest to settlers and agriculture, WWF warned.
The conservation group is calling for action including expanding and strengthening protected areas, recognizing the benefits forests provide and boosting schemes which provide incentives to countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.
WWF-UK is campaigning to close European Union loopholes which mean that products such as furniture, books or cards can be sold, which have been made from illegally or unsustainably sourced wood.
WWF analysis shows that more than 230m hectares (570m acres) of forest could vanish by 2050 if no action is taken, with the organization warning that forest loss must be reduced to near zero by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change and economic losses.
PHOTO: An endangered Sumatran orangutan in the forest of Bukit Lawang, in Indonesia’s Sumatra island, one of the key sites identified as at risk.
CREDIT: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images.