OSLO (Reuters) -
Forest fires in Brazil and Indonesia contributed to a record loss in
global tree cover in 2016, equivalent to the size of New Zealand, that
could accelerate deforestation blamed for climate change, an independent
forest monitoring network said on Monday.
Man-made global warming increased the risks of
wildfires by adding to extreme heat and droughts in some regions,
according to Global Forest Watch (GFW). This year, California and
Portugal have been among places suffering deadly blazes.
The combination of forest fires with land use
change and climate change could speed destruction in areas like the
Amazon and contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the gases
that contribute to global warming, the report said.
Worldwide, global tree cover losses rose 51 percent in 2016 from the previous year to 297,000 square kilometers (114,672 square miles), according to data from the University of Maryland compiled by Global Forest Watch (GFW).
That was a record high for GFW records stretching
back to 2000, and contrasted with some other satellite measurements that
indicated a slowdown in the pace of forest clearances to make way for
farms, cities and roads.
“We saw quite a dramatic spike in 2016,” said
Mikaela Weisse, research analyst at the U.S. think-tank World Resources
Institute which oversees GFW. “That seems to be related to forest fires
in countries including Brazil, Indonesia and Portugal.”
GFW measures loss of tree cover and does not estimate net changes in forests to take account of re-growth and new plantings.
By contrast, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture
Organization, using different methods, says the net global rate of
deforestation has slowed by more than 50 percent in the last 25 years.
GFW said Brazil’s Amazon region lost 37,000 square
kilometers of tree cover in calendar 2016, almost three times more than
in 2015.
That contrasts with official Brazilian data showing
that deforestation in the Amazon fell 16 percent in August 2016 to July
2017 compared with the same period a year earlier. Brazil said it was
the first decline in three years.
Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama said 2016 was the ninth-worst year for forest fires since monitoring began in 1998.
“The dry climate and low humidity made man-made fires gain larger dimension,” Ibama said in an email.
Weisse said GFW data often detected smaller-scale losses in tree
cover, including in layers beneath the forest canopy, while the
Brazilian data was better at recording clearances of large blocks of
forest.GFW said Indonesia lost almost 1 million hectares of tree cover in 2016, probably the delayed result of a severe fire season in 2015.
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