Lost tree cover the size of Italy in 2017

The world lost tree cover the size of Italy in 2017 as forests were cleared using fire to make way for farms from the Amazon to the Congo Basin. Tree cover loss, mostly in the tropics, totalled 294,000 square kilometres (113,000 square miles) last year, just short of a record 297

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 28 June 2018, 8:00 · Updated 21:42

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The world lost tree cover the size of Italy in 2017 as forests were cleared using fire to make way for farms from the Amazon to the Congo Basin.

Tree cover loss, mostly in the tropics, totalled 294,000 square kilometres (113,000 square miles) last year, just short of a record 297,000 sq kms in 2016, according to Global Forest Watch.

“Tropical forests were lost at a rate equivalent to 40 football (soccer) fields per minute” in 2017, Frances Seymour, of the WRI, said. Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar and Malaysia suffered the biggest losses.

Lost tree cover the size of Italy in 2017

Editorial Team Legacy

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