World Rainforest Losses At a High, While Africa Sees a Turnaround

The rate of primary forest loss in the tropics - countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Cameroon - has been stubbornly consistent over the last few years. Though the tropics lost 11% less primary forest in 2021 than in 2020, that followed a 12% increase from 2019 to 2020, mostly due to an increase in fire-related loss, according to Global Forest Watch.

In Africa, despite persistent high rates of loss in DR Congo, bright spots of hope can be found in the Congo Basin. The DR Congo and Gabon both experienced two years of declining primary forest loss. Both are recognised as high forest, low deforestation (HFLD) countries with promising developments on the horizon for their forests.

Gabon is the first African country to receive payment for reducing carbon emissions and deforestation, and the DR Congo recently passed a law, allowing Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to legally hold and manage - and thereby protect - their forests from unwanted commercial activities, writes Mikaela Weisse and Liz Goldman from Global Forest Watch.