Share this on social media
Deforestation continues unabated ahead of COP26
(EurActiv, 25 Oct 2021) An average of 2,400 trees is cut down every minute, leading to an area the size of Belgium being deforested each year, according to the Latin America regional director for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), who was speaking ahead of the COP26 climate summit.
“It is considered that between 15 million and 18 million hectares of forests, an area the size of Belgium, is destroyed every year,” said Pina Gervassi, the regional director in Latin America for FSC, a certification body aiming to help reduce deforestation.
Such statistics are causing growing concern as the world goes into the United Nation’s annual climate summit. Forests play an essential role in combatting climate change and ensuring that global warming is limited before it causes drastic, irreversible changes to the planet.
The world’s forests are a key carbon sink, absorbing planet-heating CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow. They are also vital homes for biodiversity.
But forests are coming under pressure from agriculture and increasing cases of wildfires and damage caused by pests that are exacerbated by climate change.
It’s a double-whammy: when a forest goes up in flames, not only is the carbon it contains immediately released, its CO2-absorption capacity also disappears.
External link
EurActiv, 25 Oct 2021: Deforestation continues unabated ahead of COP26
More Related News
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
12 Apr 2024: EU Parliament approves deal on world’s first carbon removal certification scheme
9 Apr 2024: Forest carbon accounting allows Guyana to stay net zero while pumping oil
2 Apr 2024: ExxonMobil accused of ‘greenwashing’ over carbon capture plan it failed to invest in
4 Mar 2024: France strikes CO2 storage deal with Denmark
1 Mar 2024: Germany to adopt 2060 target for net-negative greenhouse gas emissions
27 Feb 2024: Berlin launches ‘milestone’ strategies to capture and remove CO2 permanently
6 Feb 2024: Q&A: The EU industrial carbon management strategy
1 Feb 2024: German carbon capture row heightened by EU’s draft 2040 climate plan
30 Jan 2024: EU Commission wants captured CO2 to become ‘tradeable commodity’
19 Jan 2024: What to make of Europe’s upcoming carbon management strategy
11 Jan 2024: German industry joins forces with green groups on CO2 capture
12 Dec 2023: With Africa's carbon sinks up for grabs, offset debate heats up
11 Dec 2023: COP28: Can 'carbon capture' keep fossil fuels viable?
28 Nov 2023: German Greens make way for European carbon management plan
24 Nov 2023: EU tables new regulation to track climate threats to forests using satellites
14 Nov 2023: UK sued for counting wood burning with carbon capture as ‘negative emissions’
30 Oct 2023: Heavy industry turns to carbon capture to clean up its act
27 Oct 2023: ‘Carbon gamble’? EU lawmakers back CO2 removal certification scheme
26 Sep 2023: Green NGO supports controversial CCS to ensure e-fuels reach CO2 neutrality
21 Sep 2023: Industrial carbon capture: Only for truly ‘unavoidable emissions’
20 Jul 2023: Spanish EU Presidency draws criticism on carbon capture technology
7 Jul 2023: With EU blessing, Denmark aims to corner carbon capture market
12 Jun 2023: Carbon markets will not save our planet
26 May 2023: UN advises against offsets for carbon removal technologies
25 May 2023: ‘Worthless’: Chevron’s carbon offsets are mostly junk and some may harm, research says
12 May 2023: After court blocks renewables push, US promotes carbon capture & hydrogen
11 May 2023: Is 2023 the year when carbon capture and storage finally takes off?
9 May 2023: Nations split over fossil fuels and carbon capture
28 Apr 2023: Mitsubishi bets on carbon removal while keeping coal plants
21 Apr 2023: US carbon capture incentives leave EU ‘lagging behind’, biofuel makers warn
20 Apr 2023: Volcanic microbe eats CO2 ‘astonishingly quickly’, say scientists
4 Apr 2023: The Guardian view on carbon offsetting: an overhaul is overdue
24 Mar 2023: EU says ‘not banning carbon offsets’ in greenwashing crackdown
20 Mar 2023: EU sets world’s first target for underground CO2 storage capacity
13 Mar 2023: Sunak to focus on carbon capture and mini-nuclear reactors in energy policy
3 Mar 2023: Japan’s ‘green transformation’ would derail the energy transition in Asia
21 Feb 2023: Corporations push “insetting” as new offsetting but report claims it is even worse
10 Feb 2023: Denmark to put CO2 in seabed in step towards carbon negativity
27 Jan 2023: The Guardian view on carbon offsetting: a model with dangerous flaws
12 Jan 2023: Fossil fuel producers must be forced to ‘take back’ carbon, say scientists
23 Dec 2022: Carbon farming explained: the pros, the cons and the EU's plans
2 Dec 2022: EU Commission wants farmers, landowners to lead carbon removal push
25 Nov 2022: Could hemp be a key tool in fight against climate change?
22 Nov 2022: EU readies certification of carbon removals to help tackle climate change
15 Nov 2022: Deal reached on EU law regulating CO2 removals from forestry, land use
7 Nov 2022: Europe rapidly losing its forest carbon sink, study shows
28 Oct 2022: EU energy chief announces ‘strategic vision’ for CCUS in 2023
25 Jul 2022: EU could catch up with North America on carbon removal, experts say
5 Jul 2022: Payment for carbon farming: Towards an ambitious and pragmatic certification scheme
24 May 2022: Big tech’s growing embrace raises the stakes for CO2 removal
28 Apr 2022: Widespread carbon capture in Southeast Asia unviable without carbon pricing: report
22 Feb 2022: Europe aims to scale up infrastructure for permanent carbon removals
31 Jan 2022: Carbon offsetting is not warding off environmental collapse – it’s accelerating it
17 Dec 2021: Commission’s carbon farming ambition just buries the problem, stakeholders warn
16 Dec 2021: A sustainable carbons cycle or a vicious emissions cycle?
7 Dec 2021: Old UK oilwells could be turned into CO2 burial test sites
3 Dec 2021: A powerful and underappreciated ally in the climate crisis? Fungi
30 Nov 2021: EXPLAINER: What is 'net zero' and why does it matter?
4 Nov 2021: Forget net-zero: meet the small-nation, carbon-negative club
4 Oct 2021: Cop26 must urgently get specific on carbon removal in net-zero pathways
17 Sep 2021: EU plans certification scheme for carbon dioxide removals
17 Sep 2021: EU plans certification scheme for carbon dioxide removals
10 Sep 2021: World’s largest plant capturing carbon from air starts in Iceland
27 Jul 2021: Indonesia to burn coal well into the 2050s, under updated climate plan
27 Jul 2021: Indonesia to burn coal well into the 2050s, under updated climate plan
4 Jun 2021: Bill Gates and EU pledge $1 billion boost for green technology
31 May 2021: Climate change: six priorities for pulling carbon out of the air
10 May 2021: Dutch govt grants $2.4 bln in subsidies to huge carbon storage project
4 Mar 2021: The climate crisis can't be solved by carbon accounting tricks
8 Feb 2021: Elon Musk puts up $100 mln for global carbon reduction competition
14 Jan 2021: Carbon capture and storage won’t work, critics say
14 Jan 2021: China pushes technical solutions in race to meet climate goals
14 Dec 2020: 10 myths about net zero targets and carbon offsetting, busted
29 Oct 2020: BP leads energy companies preparing two major UK carbon capture projects
23 Oct 2020: Official: EU taking first steps to bring forestry into carbon market
15 Oct 2020: Microsoft in deal with Equinor for Norway CO2 storage project
8 Oct 2020: Carbon capture 'moonshot' moves closer, as billions of dollars pour in
28 Sep 2020: Growing momentum behind carbon capture can make it a new clean energy success story
24 Sep 2020: What is carbon capture, usage and storage – and can it trap emissions?
22 Sep 2020: EU Commission defends 2030 climate target against ‘accounting trick’ critique
21 Sep 2020: Seas and forests are muddying the carbon budget
21 Sep 2020: Norway to spend $1.8 bln on world's first full-scale CCS chain
14 Sep 2020: EU commission accused of 'cheating' on net-zero emissions accounting
4 Sep 2020: World’s first ‘carbon-capture at sea’ set for shipping trials
9 Jun 2020: The hyping of negative emissions
28 May 2020: There is space for carbon storage underground
23 Apr 2020: Could Microsoft’s climate crisis ‘moonshot’ plan really work?
13 Mar 2020: Tropical forests may be heating Earth by 2035
6 Mar 2020: World can avoid catastrophic global warming with climate solutions in hand today – study
10 Feb 2020: Do you have it in green? The living fabrics that can help clean the air
