这篇文章最初发表于世界资源研究所。
热带地区失去了2940万英亩的树木覆盖in 2019, according to data from the University of Maryland,最近发布的关于全球森林观察。Of that loss, 9.39 million acres occurred within humid热带原始森林, areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. That’s the equivalent of losing a football pitch of primary forest every 6 seconds for the entire year.
Primary forest loss was 2.8 percent higher in 2019 than the year before and has remained stubbornly high for the last two decades尽管努力制止毁林。At least1.8亿吨of carbon dioxide emissions are associated with 2019 primary forest loss, equivalent to the annual emissions of 400 million cars. Although the rate of primary forest loss was lower in 2019 than the record years of 2016 and 2017, it was still the third-highest since the turn of the century.
该2019 data reveal that several countries suffered record losses, and fires created astonishing impacts in primary forests and beyond. Although the situation remains bleak at the global level, some countries showed signs of improvement, offering lessons for other nations. Here are the locations of note for tree cover loss in 2019 (use the slider to toggle between 2018 and 2019 data):
在玻利维亚火灾蔓延失控
玻利维亚经历了破纪录的树木覆盖的损失，由于火灾，无论是在原始森林和周围林地。在2019年占全国森林覆盖损失超过比上记录下一个最高的一年80％的更大。
在2019年的大面积火灾发生因combinationof climatic conditions and human activity. Many of Bolivia’s fires likely were started by people — as they are every year to clear agricultural land for planting — but spread out of control into forests due to sustained winds and dry weather.
Large-scale agriculture is a major driver of deforestation in Bolivia, particularly for soy and cattle ranching. The Bolivian government madeseveral regulatory changes近年来，以促进农业的扩张，其中包括2019年火灾之前，控制燃烧几个月放松限制。
圣克鲁斯，在森林中受灾最严重的火灾打击的省，是大农业的玻利维亚的震中。它的高度生物多样性Chiquitano干旱森林中尤其受到影响，报告说，nearly 12 percent它烧毁。专家认为它可能需要hundreds of years(Spanish) for this unique Bolivian forest to recover fully.
森林大火还蔓延到巴拉圭的部分，促使国家考虑申请赔偿from Bolivia for damages.
巴西accounted for a third of the world’s tropical primary forest loss
巴西single-handedly accounted for over a third of all loss of humid tropical primary forests worldwide, with more primary forest lost than any other tropical country in 2019. Outside of 2016 and 2017, when forest fires resulted in unprecedented forest loss, 2019 was Brazil’s worst year for primary forests in 13 years.
该在全球森林观察原始森林损失数据检测大范围森林扰动 - 从砍伐森林用于农业下木火灾到选择性记录。虽然原生林损失至2019年增加2018从温和了，government dataindicate that one particular form of forest loss — clear-cut deforestation for agriculture and other new land uses — rapidly has increased in the Brazilian Amazon over the past year (read more about different data sourceshere).
Unlike in neighboring Bolivia, forest fires in Brazil were not a major contributor to primary forest loss in 2019. The Brazilian Amazon did face异常高fire counts in August 2019, but many of these occurred onalready-deforestedareas as farmers prepared land for agriculture and cattle pastures. The lack of drought, public attentionearlyin the fire season and subsequentpreventative actionmay haveavertedfurther burning in Brazil’s primary forests.
原生林的损失在巴西模式的空间分析也表明在帕拉州土著领地内困扰损失的新热点。在Trincheira /Bacajá土著领地，森林砍伐而导致非法侵占土地加速in 2019. Mining threatens forests in other Brazilian territories, such asMundurukuandKayapó。同时，巴西政府提出的新法案在二月，将允许土著领地内的商业采矿，石油和天然气开采。
How is primary forest loss connected to fires?
In the Brazilian Amazon, fire and primary forest loss are密切关联即使前者不直接导致了后者。巴西亚马逊和其他热带雨林自然发生的火灾非常罕见。通常情况下，火灾信号之前的森林砍伐 - 农民和农场主普遍放火最近采伐迹地，以明确的树枝和树桩。火还在农业循环的作用，使曾经在过去的几年中被清除森林的土地，可以再次燃烧，重新种植或从牧场清楚杂草准备。
Of course, any burning on these cleared lands has the potential to escape into surrounding forests. Escaped fires are比较普遍;普遍上在茂密的森林已经被人类活动而退化。如果造成的损害是严重不够，烧伤区域将出现在全球森林观察为主的森林损失，是为广泛的林下火灾的情况下2016and2017。
Central Africa experienced sustained loss, as things improved in West Africa
Several countries in the Congo Basin experienced sustained or worsening primary forest loss in 2019, including theDemocratic Republic of Congo（DRC）。虽然原生林损失略有下降2018，2019记录第三高的年总纪录的损失。
Most of the primary forest loss in the DRC still appears to be incyclical agriculture areaswhich typically feed local populations, but there isemerging evidencethat some may be tied to large-scale commercial logging, mining and plantations. Primary forest loss in the DRC’s protected areas increased slightly, especially in reserves and hunting areas that have fewer financial resources for enforcing protection than national parks do, as well as in the eastern part of the country where there ismore population pressure from displaced persons and conflict。
West Africa experienced promising downward trends after a large increase in primary forest loss last year.Ghanaand科特迪瓦两个原始森林损失减少了超过50 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. A number of positive initiatives could be responsible, includingREDD+ programsandpledges两国和主要的可可和巧克力公司终止砍伐森林。为期一年的下降是令人鼓舞的，但时间会告诉我们，如果这些努力做出持久的影响。
Indonesia maintained lower losses for third year in a row
在利好消息，原生林损失Indonesiadecreased by 5 percent in 2019 compared to the year before, marking the third year in a row of lower levels of loss. Indonesia hasn’t seen such low levels of primary forest loss since the beginning of the century.
减少谈到，尽管一激烈的火灾季节，这在previous yearsresulted in large areas of primary forest loss. While some damage from late-year fires might not be detected until 2020 data are available, three consecutive years of historically low loss numbers suggest that Indonesia may have turned a corner in its efforts to reduce deforestation.
Several Indonesian policies likely have contributed to this decline, including increased law enforcement to prevent forest fires and land clearing, and thenow-permanentforest moratorium on clearing for oil palm plantations and logging. Papua and West Papua, which together contain over a third of Indonesia’s remaining primary forest, also continued to experience low levels of loss in 2019, coinciding with their governors他们声明"sustainable provinces."
保护森林和印尼泥炭保护区域内的损失还是非常低的，但是从2018打勾略有上升，主要是由于自然原因，如风暴破坏。然而，的任务泥炭恢复代理（BRG），负责总统的指导下保护和恢复富含碳的泥炭地，被设置在2020年印度尼西亚的结束将需要继续监测泥炭地，以确保排水泥炭和清算受到尊重它的永久禁令。
哥伦比亚表明遏制戏剧性的森林损失的迹象
Colombiaalso experienced a significant decrease in primary forest loss in 2019, offering hope that the country may be changing course after heavy forest losses over the previous二years。Primary forest loss in Colombia rapidly increased after a 2016 peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which ended the violent conflict but also led to a power vacuum on previously occupied lands in the Amazon.
该trend reversal suggests that the Colombian government’s actions may be making an impact. The country set ambitious goals both to减少森林砍伐and植物百万棵树木（西班牙语）在毁林地区。四月2019年，哥伦比亚的总统发起“Operation Artemisa“（西班牙语），它采用军事，警察和其他公共实体在该国的国家公园停止砍伐森林，尽管其活动不without controversy。
Despite the decline, Colombia’s struggle to reduce deforestation is far from over. Colombia’s primary forest loss in 2019 was still higher than any year on record before the peace agreement, with large losses detected ina number of protected areas (Spanish)并继续为清算征占土地和养牛。哥伦比亚近实时毁林警报的数量为异常高in the first part of 2020, raising concerns that the decline in primary forest loss may be short-lived.
澳大利亚的火灾造成为甚树木覆盖的损失
Outside of the tropics,wildfiresscorched澳大利亚towards the end of 2019 and into early 2020, causing a massive surge in tree cover loss. 2019 was easily Australia’s worst year on record, with a sixfold increase in tree cover loss compared to the year before. And the true impact of Australia’s fires on tree cover loss is likely worse, as burning that continued into 2020 is not captured in the data.
而不是追求经济的复苏，这只会导致对健康未来的并发症和生计的数以百万计的人的世界里，政府可以围绕牺牲森林build back better.
该wildfires in Australia caused dozens of deaths, destroyed thousands of homes and killed hundreds of millions of animals. The eucalyptus-dominated woodlands where many blazes burned arewell-adapted火灾的周期，但强度，规模空前，澳大利亚的干旱火灾的相互作用，可能导致长期的损害。
Now is the time to double down on forest protection
尽管一些国家在遏制森林丧失明显的成功，2019年数据强调了一个事实：战斗遏制热带森林的损失还远没有结束。
Most countries and companies will fail to meet their2020和承诺周围的森林，剩余高达永远的热带原生林的损失。该coronavirus pandemicposes additional threats to the world’s forests in the months and years ahead. In the short-term, forests may be affected by a lack of enforcement, resulting in a higher incidence of illegal clearing and fires. In the medium-term, economic declines and stimulus measures may result in greater forest loss as countries attempt to stimulate their economies with extractive industries, as was the case in Indonesia during theAsian Financial Crisis。
而不是追求经济的复苏，这只会导致对健康未来的并发症和生计的数以百万计的人的世界里，政府可以围绕牺牲森林build back better。Investing in the restoration and sound stewardship of forests will create jobs, contribute to more sustainable economies and protect the forest ecosystems our world needs.
该authors acknowledge Peter Potapov and Svetlana Turubanova from the University of Maryland, who updated the tree cover loss data set. For additional trends related to the 2019 tree cover loss data, check out theGlobal Forest Watch dashboard pages。
