Global deforestation hasn’t slowed in any significant way in the four years since 127 countries pledged to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030. The newly published 2025 Forest Declaration Assessment shows that nations are 63% off track from meeting their zero-deforestation target. To be on track for that goal, deforestation was supposed to drop by 10% every year, capping out at 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) worldwide in 2024. However, roughly 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) were cleared globally that year, a negligible change from the 2018–2020 baseline of 8.3 million hectares (20.5 million acres), the report found. “Every year, the gap between commitments and reality grows wider,” Erin Matson, the assessment’s lead author and a consultant for Netherlands-based research think tank Climate Focus, said in a statement. “Forests are non-negotiable infrastructure for a livable planet.” Global deforestation has plateaued rather than slowed in the four years since the zero-deforestation pledge. Image courtesy of Forest Declaration Assessment 2025. Global primary forest loss increased in 2024, missing the deforestation target for that year by 190%. Image courtesy of Forest Declaration Assessment 2025. By the end of 2025, the target is for no more than 4.1 million hectares (10.1 million acres), meaning that to get back on track, the global deforestation rate would need to fall by half in a year. Mid-year estimates show that’s unlikely. Data from Brazil’s space institute, INPE, show there were deforestation alerts issued for 209,000 hectares (about 516,500 acres) in the Amazon…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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