Humans Have Destroyed 34 Percent of World's Tropical Forests

Human activity has devastated about two-thirds of the world's rainforests, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) reported on Tuesday.

RELATED:

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon Surges to 12-Year High

The study indicates that logging and land conversion, mostly for agriculture, has destroyed 34 percent of the world's original tropical forests as the area that has been wiped out is "roughly equal to the size of France."

In 2019 alone, more than 35 000 km2 were damaged, mainly in Brazil, which accounts for 35 percent of the devastation, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.

The situation in Brazil, worsened by the anti-environment policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, is even more critical considering that according to the study, 73.5 percent of the intact tropical forest that remain in the world are in the Amazon and neighboring areas of the Orinoco and the Andean jungle.