Despite major progress in Brazil and Colombia, deforestation led by farming still cleared an area nearly equal to Switzerland

The destruction of the world’s most pristine rainforests continued at a relentless rate in 2023, despite dramatic falls in forest loss in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon, new figures show.

An area nearly the size of Switzerland was cleared from previously undisturbed rainforests last year, totalling 37,000 sq km

    • @hydroptic@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      8•9 months ago

      I know this sounds terrible (and I’m sure somebody will get their knickers in a twist about me being “defeatist”) but I’ve started feeling like we deserve all the shit that’s coming our way.

      We’re just smart enough to be able to fuck up our environment, but not nearly smart enough to not do that.

      • @sabreW4K3@lazysoci.alEnglish
        5•9 months ago

        We keep propping up this system that only exists to consume. It consumes the natural resources and as we can clearly see, we’re also considered a natural resource. The fact that slavery was a world trade and people are still stolen shows that. But also the fact that we see things like what’s happening in Jordan and Gaza and we turn a blind eye to it because there’s profit to be made.

        We could easily move beyond the notion that profit and wealth is the be all and end all of everything, but the richest would have nothing to make them feel superior. So instead of ensuring that everyone can be homed and have dinner on their tables, we instead choose to destroy the very thing keeping us alive. It’s really stupid.

        Even if you look at England. Everyone can see the damage that the government has done and instead of trying something new, the opposition has decided to cosplay as a younger version of the government. No progressive policies, just status quo.

        We need fundamental change at all levels, just so we can have a future, but fucking rich fucks don’t give a fuck. The fact that we’re destroying our rainforests for fucking farmland when there’s a global food surplus is fucking disgusting.

        Apologies for my French.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The destruction of the world’s most pristine rainforests continued at a relentless rate in 2023, despite dramatic falls in forest loss in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon, new figures show.

    While Brazil and Colombia recorded large drops in forest loss of 36% and 49% respectively, under the environmental policies of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, those falls were offset by big increases in Bolivia, Laos, Nicaragua and other countries.

    Changes in land use – of which deforestation is a central component – is the second-largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions and a main driver of biodiversity loss.

    At the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, governments agreed on the need to halt and reverse the loss and degradation of forests by 2030, after a commitment by world leaders at Cop26 in Glasgow to end their destruction this decade.

    Despite the lack of overall progress in the figures for 2023, researchers said the world could learn from the examples of Brazil and Colombia to meet deforestation targets.

    Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

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