Global deforestation slowed in 2025 but surged in Congo basin: Study
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PARIS -
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deforestation → slow → basin
Deforestation slowed worldwide in 2025, but the improvement is unlikely to last as the situation deteriorates in Central Africa and an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern intensifies, a new study said on Oct 14.
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study → slow → Oct
Seven million hectares of forest – roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland – were permanently destroyed in 2025, a 15% drop from the previous year, according to the annual Forest Declaration Assessment.
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hectares → destroy → Assessment
The slowdown, however, is not enough to keep the world from missing a pledge to end deforestation by 2030, according to the report, which was drafted by a coalition of research groups and non-governmental organisations.
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which → keep → groups
The 2025 figure is “encouraging but so far it’s the exception, not a new trajectory”, Erin Matson, the study’s co-author and lead consultant at advisory group Climate Focus, said in a media briefing.
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Matson → ’ → briefing
To meet the target, agreed at the United Nations’ COP26 climate talks in 2021, deforestation would have to fall by around one million hectares per year.
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deforestation → meet → year
Clearing forests for agriculture or mining operations remains the leading drivers of deforestation.
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Clearing → clear → deforestation
2025’s improvement was due in part to progress in Latin America, with a 33% drop in what has historically been the world’s deforestation “hot spot”, according to the study.
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what → accord → study
The authors pointed particularly to Brazil’s deforestation action plan and increased enforcement in the country’s Amazon.
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authors → point → Amazon
‘Irreversible’
Progress in the region, however, “rests heavily on the choices of a small number of governments and remains highly vulnerable” to recent and upcoming elections across the Amazon basin.
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Progress → rest → basin
Brazil’s left-wing leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – who has vowed to end illegal deforestation by 2030 – faces populist right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in a runoff presidential election on Oct 25.
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who → vow → Oct
Deforestation had surged under the administration of Bolsonaro’s father, far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
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Deforestation → surge → father
Progress could also be threatened in Colombia and Peru, where hard-right presidents were recently elected, according to the experts.
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presidents → threaten → experts
Across the Atlantic in Africa, the situation deteriorated in the Congo basin, where rainforest loss reached 2.4 million hectares – near the same level of deforestation as the Amazon for the first time.
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loss → deteriorate → time
“Losing such a size of forest every year is a disaster,” said Sam Nguiffo, a lawyer and founder of the Centre for Environment and Development in Cameroon.
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Nguiffo → lose → Cameroon
“As humanity, we clearly cannot afford that because it will be totally irreversible,” he said.
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he → afford → that
Logging for timber or felling trees for agriculture or mining appear to prevail in forest management in Central Africa, Nguiffo said.
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Nguiffo → log → Africa
Deforestation has a “massive impact on the cultural identity and on the livelihood of local and indigenous communities”, he said.
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he → have → communities
“The erosion of the forest, both in size and in number of species, reduces the space available for communities and fuels conflicts,” the lawyer added.
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lawyer → reduce → communities
El Nino effects
El Nino, the warming phase of a natural climate cycle, also threatens progress because its effects include droughts, creating conditions for wildfires.
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effects → warm → wildfires
The current El Nino event, which emerged in June, is expected to peak later in 2026 but is already shaping up to be the strongest ever observed.
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which → emerge → 2026
El Nino has been associated with strong drought in Indonesia, where tracts of forest and plantations have been burning in biodiverse Borneo and South Sumatra for months.
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tracts → associate → months
“If projections of the historically strong 2026-27 El Nino materialise, drought and fire risks will intensify further across tropical forest regions,” the deforestation report said.
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report → materialise → regions
Matson, of Climate Focus, noted that there was a “huge spike” in tree cover loss during the last “super” El Nino event in 2015-2016.
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Matson → note → 2015
“We can’t fully predict the future but it’s unlikely, I would say, that in 2026 we’ll see the same kind of reductions (in deforestation) that we saw last year,” she said.
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she → predict → that
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