Global deforestation fell in 2025, but Congo Basin losses surged

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-14 · by Agence France-Presse

Quick Summary

In 2025, global deforestation decreased by 15 percent compared to the previous year, with seven million hectares of forest lost worldwide. However, this positive trend was overshadowed by an increase in deforestation rates specifically in the Congo Basin and concerns over the upcoming super El Niño event expected to worsen conditions. The report, compiled by a coalition of research groups and NGOs, highlights that while the reduction is promising, it may not be sustainable given current challenges and forecasts for future environmental impacts.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-14, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Global deforestation slowed in 2025 with seven million hectares of forest lost, roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland, marking a 15% decrease from the previous year. However, this improvement is unlikely to continue due to worsening conditions in the Congo Basin and an intensifying El Niño weather pattern, according to a new study released on October 14, 2026. To meet the target set at the United Nations’ COP26 climate talks in 2021, deforestation would need to decrease by about one million hectares per year. The report, drafted by a coalition of research groups and NGOs, highlights that clearing forests for agriculture and mining remains the primary cause of deforestation.

Written for “Global Deforestation Trends In 2025” on 2026-10-14, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 78466 · logged 2026-10-14

Story

📰 Global Deforestation Trends In 2025
Environment · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 25% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 2 of 32 📰 publisher trust 59
“The articles discuss different topics related to environmental issues but describe separate events: one about a UN biodiversity summit and its goals, the other about global deforestation trends.”
The Straits Times · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 16% hedged 4 of 25 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the same study released on October 14, 2026, describing a global slowdown in deforestation but an increase in the Congo Basin.”

Cite this article

France-Presse, A. (2026, October 14). Global deforestation fell in 2025, but Congo Basin losses surged. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3370826/global-deforestation-fell-2025-congo-basin-losses-surged?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
4
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
25%
1 of 4 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2243 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Agence France-Presse
164 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Agence France-Presse
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 164 articles by Agence France-Presse →

Topics

Climate Focus El Nino the Republic of Ireland

Subjects

Climate Focus ORG · 1× Erin Matson PERSON · 1× the Republic of Ireland GPE · 1×

Narrative

Worldwide destruction dropped 15 per cent, though impending super El Nino threatens 2030 targets Deforestation slowed worldwide last year, 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 Wednesday.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-14
2026-10-14 · South China Morning Post
Global deforestation fell in 2025, but Congo Basin losses surged · mixed framing

Claims (4 extracted, 1 hedged)

Global deforestation fell in 2025, but Congo Basin losses surged asserted
losses → fall → 2025
Worldwide destruction dropped 15 per cent, though impending super El Nino threatens 2030 targets Deforestation slowed worldwide last year, 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 Wednesday. asserted
study → drop → Wednesday
Seven million hectares of forest – roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland – were permanently destroyed in 2025, a 15 per cent drop from the previous year, according to the annual Forest Declaration 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. uncertain
which → destroy → 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. asserted
Matson → ’ → briefing
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