BERLIN/WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Bernama-dpa) – The world is far off track to meet a pledge to end deforestation by 2030, despite a decline in forest loss last year, German Press Agency (dpa) reported, citing an assessment by consultancy Climate Focus published with contributions from more than two dozen research and civil society organisations.
Around seven million hectares of forest were cleared worldwide in 2025, down 15 per cent from the previous year, the report found. However, this was well above the 4.2 million hectares that would have been the maximum consistent with meeting the 2030 target.
More than 100 countries pledged at the 2021 UN climate summit in Glasgow to halt and reverse forest loss by the end of the decade. Forests absorb around one-third of annual human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.
The report found that tropical Africa lost 2.4 million hectares of forest in 2025, roughly matching the 2.5 million hectares lost in tropical Latin America. While deforestation in the latter region fell by 33 per cent, driven by measures under Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, there was no sign of a decline in the Congo Basin.
Agricultural expansion, logging, and mining are major drivers of forest loss in the Congo Basin, the report said.
The authors warned that recent progress could quickly be reversed by political changes. Brazil's presidential run-off on October 25 could prove particularly significant, with Lula facing right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, presided over rising deforestation.
The report also warned that continued forest loss could increase the risk of the Amazon rainforest reaching a tipping point and irreversibly turning into savannah, further threatening global climate stability.
-- BERNAMA-dpa