Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 2 hrs ago
Global forest loss remains far above the 2030 target
More than 100 countries pledged to end large-scale forest loss by 2030 at the 2021 Glasgow climate summit.
A Climate Focus assessment found that 7 million hectares of forest were cleared worldwide in 2025, 15% less than in 2024.
The decline is welcome, but the 2025 loss was far above the 4.2 million hectares that the assessment says would have kept progress on track.
Forests absorb about one-third of the carbon dioxide people release each year, so their loss makes climate efforts harder.
Tropical Africa lost 2.4 million hectares, close to the 2.5 million hectares lost in tropical Latin America.
The assessment says forest loss fell by 33% in the Latin American region, while it showed no sign of falling in the Congo Basin, where farming expansion, logging and mining are major causes.
The 2030 goal remains far out of reach, and the assessment warns that progress can quickly reverse as it depends on government decisions.
More than 100 countries pledged in 2021 to end large-scale deforestation by 2030, but global forest loss remains far above the pace needed to meet that goal.
A Climate Focus assessment estimates that 7 million hectares of forest were lost in 2025, a 15 percent decline from 2024.
The assessment says annual forest loss should have fallen to 4.2 million hectares in 2025 to stay on track for the target.
Tropical Africa lost 2.4 million hectares, close to the 2.5 million hectares lost in tropical Latin America.
The report says deforestation in the Congo Basin showed no signs of declining, while Brazil’s measures helped reduce forest loss in the wider region by 33 percent.
- Who
- More than 100 countries made the 2030 pledge. Climate Focus assessed progress using data from more than two dozen civil society and research organizations.
- What
- Global forest loss remains far above the level needed to end large-scale deforestation by 2030.
- When
- The assessment reports forest loss in 2025. The pledge was made in 2021.
- Where
- Worldwide, with particular concern about tropical Africa and the Congo Basin.
- Why
- Deforestation is linked to agricultural expansion, timber extraction and mining, as well as economic incentives, weak governance and inadequate protection for Indigenous peoples and local communities.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The report puts average annual forest loss at 8.3 million hectares, using this as its reference level.
More than 100 countries pledged at the Glasgow climate summit to stop large-scale deforestation and the destruction of other landscapes by 2030.
Deforestation remained close to its previous level, although the report says it should have fallen by one million hectares each year from then on.
Forest loss reached 8 million hectares, compared with a maximum of 5 million hectares needed to stay on track, according to the report.
Forest loss fell 15 percent from 2024 to 7 million hectares, still above the 4.2 million hectares needed to stay on track.
- 2025 global forest loss
- 7 million hectares
- Change from 2024
- 15 percent decline
- 2025 level needed for 2030 target
- 4.2 million hectares
- Tropical Africa forest loss
- 2.4 million hectares
- Tropical Latin America forest loss
- 2.5 million hectares
- Forest loss in the Congo Basin
- No signs of a decline
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What people are saying
It is good news that we lost 15 percent less forest in 2025 than in 2024, but that looks partly so good only because the previous years were so bad.
The facts show us that the underlying forces destroying the world's forests – distorted economic incentives, weak governance and inadequate protection for Indigenous peoples and local communities – are still pervasive.