STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
24
The Earth’s most varied and most mysterious ecosystem, the tropical
rainforest, hasbeen reduced tohalf of itsoriginal size.Most of this loss
has taken place over the past five to six decades. Despite increased
awareness of the key role played by the tropical forests in solving
the most urgent global environment and development challenges,
the rate of tropical deforestation remains alarmingly high. Looking
more closely at developments in the last five to ten years, however,
we can note both significant policy changes and important examples
indicating that it is indeed possible to avoid continued deforestation
of the magnitude that has characterized recent decades.
Brazil, the worlds’ largest rainforest country, has reduced
deforestation from an average of 19,500 km
2
annually for the
period 1996–2005, to 5,800 km
2
in 2013. The Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), the world’s second largest rainforest
country, has kept deforestation rates low. DRC has maintained a
ban on new logging concessions since 2002, to ensure that the
concessions granted are consistent with its forest legislation. In
Indonesia, the world’s third largest rainforest country, the forests
are under immense pressure. Although the international official
forest statistics, the FAO’s Forest Resources Assessment,
1
reported
a significant decrease in Indonesian deforestation in the decade
2000–2010 compared to the previous decade, other reliable
sources report increasing deforestation
2
(see section 3). On the
political level, Indonesia has made reduced deforestation an
important goal, and necessary reforms in forest governance have
been initiated, along with a moratorium on new deforestation
concessions in significant parts of the forest. However, these
policy reforms are opposed by powerful groups in Indonesia, and
the effects remain to be seen.
Brazil, DRC and Indonesia are only three countries, but they hold
some 60% of the world’s remaining rainforests within their borders
and represent the main rainforest regions of the world: the Amazon,
the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia/Oceania. Looking closer at these
countries, one will find on the one hand, that reduced deforestation
is possible and compatible with economic development; and, on
the other, that countries face significant challenges in seeking to
shift over to a low-deforestation development path.
The tropical rainforest covers approximately nine million km
2
(about 6% of the terrestrial Earth),
3
although one should be aware
of significant uncertainty with regard to the extent of forest cover
and differences in deforestation trends depending onmethodology
used (see following pages). The rainforest represents huge areas
that provide livelihood for millions of people and habitats for an
immense biological diversity. It also plays a vital role for global
climate, rainfall and the water cycle. Still, the extent of the world’s
rainforest today is not larger than what would fit within the
borders of the United States. Spread out along the Equator, it is
State of the world’s rainforest
Global forest cover
Source: WCMC online database, accessed August 2014
Original forest cover
Current forest cover
