5 Countries with Worst Deforestation Rate in 2024

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - World Population Review, an agency that provides up-to-date global population and demographic data, releases the most recent data each year. Those data include the list of global deforestation rates by country. Citing worldpopulationreview.com, below are five countries with the worst deforestation rates:

1. Brazil 

From 2002 to 2022, Brazil has lost 29.5 Mha of its primary forest, a critical area that maintains biodiversity, carbon storage, and climate control. Citing research.wri.org, deforestation caused Brazil to lose 15 percent of its primary forest. By 2024, Brazil lost around -356,787 square miles of forest area (15.67 percent).

2. Indonesia

Citing globalforestwatch.org, Indonesia's primary forest area in 2001 reached 93.8 Mha. In 2022, it lost 230kha of primary forest. The World Population Review released the change in Indonesia's forest area due to deforestation in 2024 reaching -101,977 Mha (22.28 percent).

3. Democratic Republic of the Congo

The forests in Congo are home to wild animals such as gorillas and elephants. Unfortunately, it ranked as the third country with the worst deforestation rate in 2024, losing over -94,495 Mha (16.25 percent) of forest area.

4. Angola

Link.springer.com reported that the deforestation in Angola is mainly caused by the mass land opening by Angolans for housing. Angola lost around -48,865 Mha (15.97 percent) of forest area.

5. Tasmania

After wildfires in Tasmania, the country has lost a significant amount of its forest area. By 2024, the change of forest area in Tasmania reached -44,962 Mha (20.29 percent).

MELINDA KUSUMA NINGRUM

Editor's Choice: Indonesia Seeks Support from Netherlands Against EU Anti-deforestation Policy

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News