TAG: GS 3: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations released its latest report on July 22, 2024, offering a nuanced view of the global state of forests.
EXPLANATION:
- Titled “The State of the World’s Forests,” the report highlights both encouraging trends in reducing deforestation and ongoing threats posed by climate change, wildfires, and pests.
Global Deforestation Trends
- Decline in Deforestation Rates
- The report reveals a significant reduction in global deforestation rates over recent decades.
- From 1990 to 2020, about 420 million hectares (ha) of forest were converted to other land uses.
- However, annual deforestation rates fell from 15.8 million ha between 1990 and 2002 to 10.2 million ha between 2015 and 2020.
- The net rate of change in forest area has also decreased significantly, indicating a positive trend in forest conservation efforts.
- Forest Area Distribution
- As of 2020, forests covered approximately 4.1 billion ha, representing 31% of the Earth’s land area.
- The Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and China collectively account for 54% of global forest area.
- Other significant contributors include Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Peru, and India, which together add up to about two-thirds of the world’s forest area.
Regional and National Progress
- In 2020, several countries recorded annual gains in forest area, including China, Australia, India, Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy, and Romania.
- Preliminary data from the Global Forest Resource Assessment 2025 indicates an 8.4% decrease in deforestation in Indonesia for 2021-22, the lowest since 1990.
- Brazil reported a 50% decrease in deforestation in the Legal Amazon region in 2023 compared to 2022.
- Africa also showed a reduction in annual deforestation rates across various subregions and the continent as a whole between 2016-19 and 2020-22.
Threats from Wildfires and Pests
- Despite the progress in curbing deforestation, wildfires pose a significant threat to forests.
- In 2023 alone, fires affected approximately 383 million ha of land globally, emitting 6,687 megatons of carbon dioxide.
- This figure is more than double the European Union’s annual fossil fuel emissions.
- Notably, boreal fires in 2021 contributed to about 10% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, exacerbated by extended droughts that increased fuel consumption and fire severity.
- Forests are also under threat from pests.
- The pine wood nematode has caused substantial damage to pine forests in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, with the Korea Forest Service reporting the loss of 12 million pine trees between 1988 and 2022.
- In the United States, insects and diseases are projected to cause significant losses in forest land by 2027, affecting over 25 million ha.
Mangrove Forests
- Changes in Mangrove Areas
- The global mangrove area was recorded at 14.8 million ha, with South and Southeast Asia accounting for almost 44% of this total.
- The rate of gross global mangrove loss decreased by 23% between 2000-2010 and 2010-2020, but the rate of area gain also slightly declined.
- Factors such as aquaculture, natural retraction, conversion to oil-palm plantations, rice cultivation, and other agricultural uses contributed to these changes.
- Resilience of Mangroves
- Despite these challenges, mangroves demonstrated resilience, with natural expansion outpacing the area lost to natural causes.
- The net change in mangrove area globally was negative between 2000 and 2020, but natural expansion surpassed losses by a substantial margin.
Climate Change and Extreme Weather
- Climate change continues to pose a severe threat to forests through extreme weather events and sea-level rise, which particularly endanger mangrove ecosystems.
- These changes make local communities more vulnerable to disasters and threaten the ecological balance of forested regions.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.
- Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to “let there be bread”. It was founded in 1945.
- The FAO comprises 195 members, including 194 countries and the European Union.
- Its headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and it maintains regional and field offices worldwide, operating in over 130 countries.
- It helps governments and development agencies coordinate their activities to improve and develop agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and land and water resources.
- It also conducts research, provides technical assistance to projects, operates educational and training programs, and collects agricultural output, production, and development data.
