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28 October 2022.
Introduction:
2022 Forest Declaration Assessment was published on October 24 this year.
What are the key findings of the assessment?
- In 2021, deforestation rates have declined at the global level by 6.3 per cent compared to 2018-20 baseline.
- Though the rate of forest loss has deaccelerated, the climate goal of stopping deforestation by 2030 will not be achieved.
- A 10 per cent annual reduction is required to stop deforestation completely by the end of the present decade.
- In 2021, Brazil is the largest contributor of deforestation in the world. It recorded a 3 per cent increase in the deforestation rate last year compared to the 2018-2020 baseline.
- The deforestation rate in Bolivia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
- Around 145 countries have committed to stop and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030 at the COP26 in 2021.
- Global tree cover has increased by 130.9 million hectares over the past 20 years. Three-quarters of the increase was concentrated in 13 countries. The most significant increase was seen in Russia, Canada, the United States, Brazil and China.
- China recorded the largest net increase in green cover of 2.1 million hectares. India recorded 0.87 million hectares increase in tree cover.
- Around 90 per cent of total tree cover gain in the world is attributed to natural regeneration and assisted natural regeneration that occurred outside plantation.
- The increase in tree cover does not cancel out tree loss nor does it eliminate the adverse impact of forest degradation in terms of carbon storage, biodiversity, or ecosystem services.
- The report estimates that it would cost a maximum of 460 billion USD per annum to protect, restore and enhance forest on a global scale. Currently, domestic and international finances targeting mitigation of forest loss averages 2.3 billion per annum. This is less than 1 per cent of the required amount. The forest funding must increase 200 times to meet the 2030 goal