Several million hectares of tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2022, resulting in the release of billions of tons of CO2, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been particularly affected.

Massive Deforestation and Fires

According to a report, approximately 4.1 million hectares of tropical rainforest were destroyed worldwide last year. This is equivalent to an area the size of Switzerland. The loss was partly due to fires, but mainly caused by other factors such as deforestation. The WRI’s calculation shows that the equivalent of 11 football fields of forest disappeared every minute.

The total area of tropical rainforest destroyed within a year was only larger in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Last year, 10% more tropical rainforest was destroyed compared to 2021, which accounted for around 3.75 million hectares. “It’s not only the forests that humanity is destroying in record time, it’s our very foundation of life,” said Susanne Winter, Forest Program Manager at WWF Germany.

Brazil and the DRC hit hard

The WRI highlighted Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo as particularly affected. According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), approximately 729,000 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon region had already been deforested by 2020, accounting for 17% of the entire ecosystem. The Brazilian Amazon is considered a crucial carbon sink, stretching across nine states and approximately the size of Western Europe. It plays an important role in the global fight against climate change.

After a previous decline, deforestation and fires increased significantly during the tenure of the recently ousted right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro viewed the region primarily as an untapped economic resource and aimed to open up more areas for agriculture and mining, weakening environmental and regulatory agencies.

Bolsonaro’s successor, left-wing politician Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who served two previous terms from early 2003 to late 2010, has promised to strengthen environmental and climate protection. Recently, the police conducted a major operation against illegal gold miners operating in indigenous areas. However, Lula did not rule out controversial oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River into the Atlantic Ocean.

Oil and gas potential in the Congo Basin

After the Amazon rainforest, the Congo Basin is the largest remaining tropical forest area and one of the most exceptional ecosystems in the world. Known as the “lungs of Africa,” it extends from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries such as Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo. According to the WWF, the Congo Basin is home to around 10,000 species of tropical plants, of which nearly a third are found only in this region.

Thanks to its diverse and dense vegetation, the rainforest of the Congo Basin is one of the most important carbon sinks globally. It absorbs 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to scientists at the University of Leeds. At the same time, large reserves of oil and gas are believed to be present in the Congo Basin, which the Congolese government plans to exploit despite protests from nature and climate conservationists.

Ghana, Bolivia, and Angola witnessed the highest increase in forest loss, according to the WRI report. On the other hand, countries like Indonesia and Malaysia managed to keep their forest loss at a relatively low level.

2.7 Billion Tons of CO2 Released

Since 2014, numerous conservation organizations led by the WRI have been monitoring changes in forest landscapes worldwide using satellite technology through the Global Forest Watch platform. The annual report is produced by the WRI in collaboration with researchers from the University of Maryland.

Primary, untouched forests, known as pristine rainforests, are vital for biodiversity conservation and play a crucial role in carbon sequestration. The authors of the study estimated that the destruction of the 2022 forest area released 2.7 billion tons of CO2.

This roughly corresponds to the annual emissions from fossil fuels in India. “In the middle of the biodiversity and climate crisis, we simply cannot afford it,” said Winter from WWF Germany.