Deforestation:
11 facts you need to know

The causes of deforestation — food, firewood, mineral extraction, unsustainable agricultural expansion — continue unabated around the world.

1. ​
   © CI/Olaf Zerbock

   One South Carolina, every year
   According to satellite data, tropical forests are being destroyed at a rate of about 8 million hectares (31,000 square miles) a year — an area equivalent in size to the state of South Carolina or the Czech Republic.

   
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2. © CI/Haroldo Castro​

   Fourteen Manhattans, every day
   Despite their immense value, since the 1960s, nearly half of the world’s rainforests have been lost. Every day, about 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of rainforest — an area nearly 14 times the size of Manhattan — are burned around the world.​

   
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3. © CI/Olaf Zerbock​​

   Every single minute
   About 36 football fields’ worth of trees are lost every minute due to deforestation.​

   
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4. © Kate Evans/CIFOR

   Brazil under siege
   In 2015, nearly 6,000 square kilometers (3,600 square miles) of forests — the size of Cyprus or the state of Maine — were lost in 2015 in the Brazilian Amazon alone, cut or burned to build ranches, croplands and roads.

   
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5. © CI/Terry Hills​

   15 million acres in Indonesia
   Indonesia has the highest deforestation rate in the world, losing 15 million acres of forest between 2000 and 2012.

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1. © CI/Peggy Poncelet

   80% due to agriculture
   Unsustainable agricultural expansion is the direct driver​ for around 80 percent of deforestation worldwide. Mining, infrastructure and urban expansion are the next most prominent drivers.

   
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2. © CI/Bailey Evans

   US$ 200 billion market
   Forest products account for about 1 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and the total global market for commercial wood products — including logs, lumber, panels, pulp and paper — is more than US$ 200 billion per year.​

   
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3. © Conservation International

   1 billion people
   More than 1 billion rural people depend on forests to some extent, and over 90 percent of people living in extreme poverty depend on forests for all or part of their livelihoods.

   
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4. © CI/Bailey Evans

   11% of emissions
   When forests are cleared, they emit carbon dioxide. Eleven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans can be blamed on deforestation — equivalent to the emissions from all the cars and trucks on Earth.

   
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5. © CI/Enrico Bernard

   Increasing pressure
   By 2050, the global demand for food could double. A more sustainable alternative is using existing farmland more efficiently, rather than clear more forests to grow food.​

   
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6. © CI/Haroldo Castro

   What are the effects of deforestation?
   Forests are vital for food, water and livelihoods — and they affect you, whether you know it or not. Read “Forest conservation: 14 things you need to know​” to learn more.​​​

   
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Our Solutions

The value of the services that forests provide is immense, yet it remains largely invisible. When this value is invisible, forests lose: They cannot compete against the short-term windfall of timber or newly cleared land for agriculture.

Conservation International works to show that forests are worth more standing than cut down. By identifying the full values of forests, we can create powerful incentives to ensure that they remain standing and can continue to support us.