Where the Most Primary Forest has Been Lost

According to the latest available data of the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Review, Brazil saw by far the largest amount of primary forest loss in 2022 of any country worldwide. That year, more than 1.77 million hectares of humid primary forest is estimated to have been destroyed. This equates to around 43 percent of the world total.

Since this data was released Lula’s administration has pledged alongside more than 140 other countries to end deforestation by 2030. According to a World Economic Forum paper released Tuesday, the Brazilian government’s DETER database found that forest conversion to agricultural land in the Amazon was 4,000 km2 in 2023 - a reduction of 62 percent on the year before. The same could not be said of the Cerrado region, however, which saw 7,800 km2 converted to agriculture - an increase of 43 percent. As part of the country’s roadmap to hit this target, it will be bolstering its techniques for tracking illegal deforestation, as well as fighting environmental crime and creating incentives for greener practices.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the second country on the list, the majority of tree cover loss is linked to small-scale agriculture. The World Resources Institute says that while population growth and displacement due to conflict may have played a role in the increasing levels of tree cover loss that have been detected by the platform, improved satellite data may also be playing a part in better detecting small-scale clearings. 

In fourth place stands Indonesia, with some 230,000 hectares lost, accounting for 5.6 percent of the world’s primary forest loss in 2022. At the time of publishing the Global Forest Review, the country had been celebrated for seeing a major reduction in primary forest loss from the year before. However, a new report by Mongabay reveals that deforestation has increased once more in the major palm oil producing country in the past year, principally on the islands of Borneo and Papua. 

Deforestation is also being discussed in Europe right now as a new EU act will demand all companies selling commodities to the countries in the bloc to prove that they have not grown produce on land that has been deforested since 2020. This will include farmers living in countries shown on this chart, and will particularly impact smallholder farmers. According to Mongabay, smallholder farmers produce some 42 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil.