BRAZILIA, 22 April. - (ANA) - Brazil lost 36% less primary forest in 2023 than in 2022, hitting its lowest level since 2015. That decline translates to a dramatic decrease in Brazil’s share of total primary forest loss in the tropics — from 43% of the tropical total in 2022 to only 30% of the total in 2023.

 

The Amazon biome experienced the largest decline, with 39% less primary forest loss in 2023 than in 2022. This is largely consistent with official government figures, which found a 22% decrease in Amazonian deforestation from 2022 to 2023 (read more about how the GFW data compares to Brazil’s official data). As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon holds outsized importance for global biodiversity and climate change mitigation.

 

The reduction in forest loss coincides with the transition of government leadership from President Jair Bolsonaro to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, at the beginning of 2023. During Bolsonaro’s tenure, his administration eroded environmental protections and gutted enforcement agencies. In contrast, Lula has pledged to end deforestation in the Amazon and other biomes by 2030, and already had a proven track record on this issue from his previous administration.

 

Since his reelection, President Lula has taken action to reduce forest loss, including revoking anti-environmental measures, recognizing new Indigenous territories, and bolstering law enforcement efforts (though some enforcement employees are currently on strike, saying they are overworked and undercompensated). These changes appear to be having an impact on the rate of forest loss, though it still remains higher than its low point in the early 2010s.

 

This positive news comes at a time when the Amazon is experiencing its worst drought on record. Though forest loss from fire did not increase in the Brazilian Amazon as a whole in 2023, the area surrounding the city of Manaus saw unprecedented fires, and the state of Roraima experienced a record-breaking number of fires in February 2024. Concern is growing that feedback loops between deforestation, warming temperatures and drought could result in a “tipping point” beyond which parts of the Amazon can no longer support rainforest and would turn into savannah.

 

And not all biomes in Brazil saw the reduction in forest loss seen in the Amazon: both the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes saw increased forest loss in 2023.

 

The Cerrado biome, a tropical savannah to the southeast of the Amazon, experienced a 6% increase in tree cover loss1 from 2022 to 2023, continuing a five-year increasing trend. The Cerrado is the epicenter of agricultural production in the country and the extent of its soy production has more than doubled over the past 20 years. Civil society organizations are calling on companies to commit to deforestation and conversion free farming as a way to ensure that their supply chains are not contributing to ecosystem loss in this valuable biome.

 

Meanwhile, the Pantanal biome, the world’s largest tropical wetland, experienced a spike in forest loss in 2023 due to fires. Fire is a normal feature of this ecosystem, however, a multi-year “megadrought” caused in part by climate change has resulted in repeated burning over large areas, which has experts worried about the ability of this ecosystem to recover.

 

 

 

 

 

Colombia also experienced a dramatic decline in primary forest loss in 2023, with a 49% reduction in primary forest loss compared to 2022.

 

Colombia's rate of primary forest loss increased significantly starting in 2016, coinciding with the country's peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). That agreement included resettling FARC members to new areas, leaving accessible large tracts of remote forests where they previously maintained strict control over land use. As a result, clearing by other armed groups and land speculators increased. The new figures for 2023 indicate a possible return to pre-peace agreement levels of forest loss.

 

Like Brazil, Colombia also recently experienced a change in leadership, inaugurating President Gustavo Petro Urrego in August 2022. His administration focuses on the environment, rural reform and peace to bring better quality of life for people. As part of those efforts, President Petro’s government is negotiating with different armed groups, with forest conservation as an explicit goal of the discussions. One of the armed groups currently in the negation process, the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), included penalties on forest clearing as a “gesture of peace.” However, it is unclear when or if negotiations will reach a final peace agreement with each of these groups.

 

Local communities have also been promoting the sustainable management of natural resources and the conservation of forests.-(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/22 April 2024 - - -