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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

06/05/22 07:31 AM IST

State of the World’s Forests 2022

In News 
  • The world has lost 420 million hectares (mha), approximately 10.34 per cent of its total forest area in the last 30 years, according to the 2022 edition of The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) released recently. 
  • The report, released on day one of the World Forestry Congress, also presented three pathways for achieving green recovery and tackling environmental crises.
Major findings of the report 
  • The 420 mha of forests have been lost between 1990 and 2020, due to deforestation, though forests cover 4.06 billion ha (31 per cent) of the earth’s geographical area.
  • More than 700 mha of forest (18 per cent of total forest area) is in legally established protected areas.
  • Unless additional action is taken, an estimated 289 mha of forests would be deforested between 2016 and 2050 in the tropics alone, resulting in the emission of 169 GtCO2e.
  • Globally, ecosystems at risk of deforestation or degradation contain at least 260 Gt of irrecoverable or difficult-to-recover carbon, particularly in peatlands, mangroves, old-growth forests and marshes.
  • It stated that 15 per cent of 250 emerging infectious diseases have been linked to forests.
  • It further stated that 30 per cent of new diseases, reported since 1960, can be attributed to deforestation and land-use-change.
  • Deforestation, particularly in the tropics, has been associated with an increase in infectious diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.
  • The annual biomass extraction was expected to reach 44 billion tonnes by 2060, from 24 billion tonnes in 2017.
  • Demand for forest-based biomass is expected to rise further, mainly due to construction and packaging.
Suggestion to tackle environmental crises
  • Halting deforestation and maintaining forests
  • Restoring degraded lands and expanding agroforestry
  • Sustainably using forests and building green value chains
Source- DTE 

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