Rome, 8 november, 2021 (TATOLI) – Food and Agriculture Organization identified the Global Remote Sensing Survey data shows COP26 of Agricultural expansion drives almost 90 percent of global deforestation.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General QU Dongyu said an impact much greater than previously thought when releasing the first findings of its new Global Remote Sensing Survey (GRSS).
The FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said that Deforestation is the conversion of forest to other land uses, such as agriculture and infrastructure. Worldwide, more than half of forest loss is due to the conversion of forest into cropland, whereas livestock grazing is responsible for almost 40 percent of forest loss, according to the new study.
The new data also confirms an overall slowdown in global deforestation while warning that tropical rainforests, in particular, are under high pressure from agricultural expansion.
“According to FAO’s latest Global Forest Resources Assessment we have lost 420 million hectares of forest since 1990,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today in a speech prepared for a 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties.
(COP26) high-level dialogue entitled “Upscaling Actions to Turn the Tide on Deforestation” where FAO presented the new findings.
He emphasized that increasing agri-food productivity to meet the new demands of a growing population and halting deforestation are not mutually exclusive objectives.
Turning the tide on deforestation and scaling up the hard-won progress on this front is of vital importance to build back better and greener from the COVID-19 pandemic.
To succeed in such endeavor, we need to know where and why deforestation and forest degradation happen and where the action is needed, the Director-General said, noting that this can only be achieved by combining the latest technological innovations with local expertise on the ground. The new survey serves as a good example of such an approach, Qu added.
Increasing agri-food productivity to meet the new demands of a growing population and halting deforestation are not mutually exclusive objectives.
More than 20 developing countries have already shown that it is possible to do so. Indeed, the latest data confirms that deforestation has been successfully reduced in South America and Asia
According to the new data, in 2000-2018, Tropical forests are under threat and the vast majority of the deforestation took place in the tropical biomes. Despite a slowdown in deforestation in South America and Asia, the tropical rainforests in these regions continue to record the highest deforestation rates.
Deforestation drivers differ across the world’s regions
Agriculture remains the main driver of deforestation in all regions except for Europe, where urban and infrastructure development have a higher impact, the study says. Conversion to cropland dominates forest loss in Africa and Asia, with over 75 percent of the forest area lost converted to cropland. In South America, almost three-quarters of deforestation is due to livestock grazing.
The FAO-led study was conducted using satellite data and tools developed in partnership with NASA and Google, and close collaboration with more than 800 national experts from almost 130 countries.
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