The area of primary tropical forest cut or burnt down in 2022 grew by 10% from 2021 to 15,830 square miles, pumping out 3 billion tons of CO2 or as much as India's total annual emissions from fossil fuels, according to a new report in collaboration with the University of Maryland.
Felling for timber or clearing for agriculture or development accounted for more than 80% of the forest lost. The remainder was destroyed by fire but GFW said, that unlike in boreal and temperate forests, most fires in the tropics were set by people.
Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw the most loss -- with rapid increases seen in Ghana and Bolivia -- but Indonesia and Malaysia managed to hold rates of primary forest loss near record-low levels.
GFW said the new data showed the world was failing to meet major commitments including a pledge by 145 countries at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021 to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 in recognition of its importance in combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
"Instead of consistent declines in primary forest loss to meet that goal, the trend is moving in the wrong direction," said GFW.
Primary forest loss in Brazil surged 15% from 2021 to 2022 to 6,834 square miles, mostly in the Amazon region where clear-cut deforestation was at its highest level since 2005 which GFW blamed on the populist policies of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
"Forest loss in Brazil decreased dramatically in the early 2000s under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but recent increases have coincided with the Bolsonaro administration eroding of environmental protections, gutting of enforcement agencies, attempted granting of amnesty for illegal deforestation and attempted weakening of indigenous rights," the report said.
Expansion of commodity agriculture, particularly soya beans, was the principal driver of forest loss in Bolivia which saw a record 32% increase to 1,050 square miles in 2022 from the previous year, the third highest in the world after Brazil and the DRC and more than Indonesia despite having less than half the area of primary forest.
Nearly 4,000 square miles of Bolivian forest have been cut down to make way for soybean cultivation since 2000, with sugarcane, corn, sorghum and cattle ranching also playing their part, said GFW. Human-set fires were responsible for around a third of the forest loss.
By contrast, forest loss in Indonesia which peaked in 2015, continued on its downward track more than halving the area lost in 2021 to just over 400 square miles in 2022 in pursuit of his "Net Sink" target of negative CO2 emissions from the forestry and other land use by 2030, fire prevention and suppression, and peatland and mangrove conservation.
Forest loss in Malaysia remained flat at around 270 square miles after reaching almost 1,000 square miles in 2012, due in part to corporate and government efforts including "No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation" commitments covering most of the palm oil sector and sustainability agreements on palm oil certification.
Other countries that drastically reduced forest loss in 2022 included Costa Rica, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Vietnam Gabon and Madagascar, according to the report.
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