Global Deforestation
This section is intended to collect data on the current status of global deforestation. This is accomplished through the utilization of APIs, databases, news sources, MapBuilders, and academic journals.
Global forest loss map
Credits: University of Maryland, department of geographical sciences.
Results from time-series analysis of Landsat images characterizing forest extent and change.
Trees are defined as vegetation taller than 5m in height and are expressed as a percentage per output grid cell as ‘2000 Percent Tree Cover’. ‘Forest Cover Loss’ is defined as a stand-replacement disturbance, or a change from a forest to non-forest state, during the period 2000–2019. ‘Forest Cover Gain’ is defined as the inverse of loss, or a non-forest to forest change entirely within the period 2000–2012. ‘Forest Loss Year’ is a disaggregation of total ‘Forest Loss’ to annual time scales.
Reference 2000 and 2019 imagery are median observations from a set of quality assessment-passed growing season observations.
News List
Africa Pushes Land Restoration as a Path to Jobs and Resilience
Africa's battle against desertification and declining land productivity is increasingly becoming an economic challenge as well as an environmental one, with the African Development Bank pushing for greater investment in restoration projects that can ... [4969 chars]
Slumping cocoa price leaves West Africa’s farmers struggling to comply with EU’s anti-deforestation law
Tumbling cocoa prices risk slowing preparations for the EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR), as farmers and industry groups struggle to bear the costs of new measures to trace where cocoa beans were produced.
The price of a tonne of cocoa peaked at ... [1341 chars]
Can West Africa’s Cocoa Industry Meet EU Deforestation Rules?
West Africa’s cocoa industry is struggling to comply with new European Union anti-deforestation rules, raising concerns about supply disruptions and higher costs for chocolate makers.
The EU law, known as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), will ... [3460 chars]
West Africa cocoa sector struggles to meet EU anti-deforestation rules, raising supply concerns
AKURE, Nigeria Aug 17 (Reuters) - Ojo Ayaninuola, a small-scale cocoa farmer from Akure in southwestern Nigeria, was initially reluctant to let exporters map and geolocate his farm as part of measures to comply with a looming EU anti-deforestation l... [4129 chars]
Navigating the EU's Anti-Deforestation Law: Challenges for Nigeria's Cocoa Farmers
Small-scale cocoa farmer Ojo Ayaninuola from Akure, Nigeria, hesitated to adopt farm mapping technology, a new requirement to meet an impending EU anti-deforestation regulation.
Facing potential import access loss, Ayaninuola, along with other farmer... [438 chars]
Cutting Trees to Balance Budgets: International Monetary Fund Programs are Associated with Increased Deforestation
Photo by Matt Palmer via Unsplash.
International financial institutions (IFIs) are increasingly expected to support environmental and climate goals. Among them, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plays a central role in shaping economic policy acr... [4202 chars]
Upper Assam’s flood catastrophe is a direct result of river and mountain grabbing
Since July 19, an artificial flood has wreaked havoc in four Upper Assam districts. So catastrophic has this flood been that nearly 800 villages and an area of around 1,19,000 hectares of cropland have been submerged, sheets of mud have been deposite... [7039 chars]
‘We feared we’d all be drowned’: the Indian floods that killed more than 100 and left thousands homeless
It was a normal July morning in the Indian state of Assam. After finishing her chores and eating breakfast, Gitali Phukon, a resident of the town of Gaurisagar, left her home to buy groceries. After two days of rainfall that had made the unpaved road... [8407 chars]
One in four cocoa farm audits contain data manipulated to meet sustainability targets, researchers find
ETH researchers have used a sustainability program for cocoa cultivation in Côte d'Ivoire to demonstrate that, in one in four cases, data was manipulated to meet the program's requirements. If the auditor were aware of the required target values, dat... [7042 chars]
Assam Floods 2026: Rain falls in Nagaland, ruin lands in Assam. Can it be fixed?
The most unjust thing about the 2026 Assam floods is a matter of geography.
The rain that drowned Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat did not fall on them. It fell on the hills of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, on slopes stripped of trees and torn open ... [22490 chars]
News API sources: NewsCatcher & GNews