Partial photo: Chris Abney
Total tropical forest lost acreage increased by 12% over all in 2020 compared with 2019, despite the pandemic caused global economic downturn, which reduced demand for some commodities that have spurred past deforestation. Overall, more than 10 million acres of primary tropical forest were lost that year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland. As in previous years, most loss was driven by agriculture, either production of commodities like palm oil and cocoa or subsistence efforts by small farmers. Most of Brazil’s loss occurred in the Amazon rainforest, but the Pantanal, the enormous wetlands region in the country’s south, also covering parts of Bolivia and Paraguay, contributed greatly to the losses. The region experienced a historic drought, made worse by climate change, leading to a severe fire season, with 16 times more forest loss in 2020 than the year before.
www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/climate/deforestation-amazon-brazil.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Climate%20and%20Environment