Despite 9%-decline in forest loss in 2023, forest destruction ‘stubbornly’ high, researchers say

The world lost 10 football fields of old-growth tropical forest every minute in 2023, TRTWorld cited a recent report.

Despite progress in the Amazon, researchers from the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland reported that high rates of tropical forest loss remain consistent.

Around 3.7 million hectares of primary tropical forest were lost last year, with impressive declines in Brazil and Colombia being counteracted by increases in forest loss elsewhere.

The Amazon saw a dramatic decline in forest loss, with Brazil losing 36 percent less primary forest than the previous year and Colombia seeing a roughly 50 percent decline in forest lost in a year.

Aside from soaking up huge quantities of carbon, tropical forests protect soil, host the majority of the world’s plant and animal species, and filter air and water.