Guardian - Hundreds of millions of acres of forest could be lost in the next two decades in less than a dozen global hotspots for deforestation, conservationists have warned.
Research by wildlife charity WWF has identified 11 “deforestation fronts” where 80% of projected global forest losses by 2030 could occur.
Up to 170m hectares (420m acres) could be lost between 2010 and 2030 in these areas if current trends continued – equivalent to the disappearance of a forest stretching across Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
The areas are the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and Gran Chaco, and the Cerrado in South America, the Choco-Darien in Central America, the Congo Basin, East Africa, eastern Australia, the Greater Mekong in South East Asia, Borneo, New Guinea and Sumatra. Advertisement
The fronts, which are at sustained and increased risk of deforestation, are home to indigenous communities that depend on them for their livelihoods and endangered species, such as orangutans and tigers, WWF said.
But they are being lost to expanding agriculture, including livestock farming, palm oil plantations and soy production, as well as small-scale farmers, WWF’s latest Living Forests report warned.
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