Deforestation decreases 15 percent globally by 2025
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In 2025, the world lost seven million hectares of forest, a 15 percent decrease in deforestation compared to the previous year.
A coalition of over two dozen civil society and research organizations assessed forest loss as part of the Forest Declaration Assessment, monitoring progress toward commitments made by 145 countries at the 2021 Glasgow climate summit.
These countries pledged to end deforestation and restore 30 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2030, but current rates mean they are falling short of this goal. The assessment found that the world has fallen behind by 10.7 million hectares, an area the size of Iceland, representing the difference between projected forest protection and actual forest destruction since 2021.
To meet the 2030 target, deforestation should have decreased by roughly one million hectares each year since 2021, but remained at 8.3 million hectares until 2024. For the first time, deforestation in the Congo Basin matched that of Latin America in 2025. The Congo Basin lost 2.4 million hectares, while Latin America lost 2.5 million hectares.
This change occurred because Latin American countries made policy advances to reduce deforestation by 33 percent, while African nations lack similar measures, with forest loss driven by agriculture, logging, and mining. The report warns that progress in Latin America is fragile and dependent on the policies of a few governments.
