Deforestation has slowed since the 1990s, but around 11 million hectares of forest are still cleared every year, mostly in the tropics and mostly for farming, and the world is far off track to end it by 2030.
Updated October 13, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
In 2025, roughly how much tropical primary forest was lost every minute, on average?
10.9 million ha
Forest cleared each year
Average yearly deforestation in 2015–2025, down from 17.6 million hectares a year in 1990–2000. Based on country reports to FAO; many countries do not collect deforestation data directly, so FAO advises caution with these estimates.
Data year 2025. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2025
4.3 million ha
Tropical primary forest lost in 2025
Satellite-based loss of humid tropical primary forest from all causes, including fire. This is 36% less than the record in 2024 but still 46% more than a decade earlier.
Data year 2025. Source: World Resources Institute, using University of Maryland GLAD lab data published on Global Forest Watch, 2026
63% off track
Gap to the 2030 zero-deforestation path
Global deforestation of about 8.1 million hectares in 2024 was 63% above the path needed to end deforestation by 2030, according to the Forest Declaration Assessment, which combines satellite tree cover loss data with maps of the drivers of loss to estimate forest that is permanently lost.
Data year 2024. Source: Forest Declaration Assessment Partners, 2025
Unit: million hectares per year
Each point is FAO's average yearly deforestation for the period ending in that year: 1990–2000, 2000–2015 and 2015–2025. These are gross figures; new forest offsets part of them, so net forest loss was smaller (4.12 million hectares a year in 2015–2025, up from 3.68 million in 2000–2015). FAO advises caution because many countries do not collect deforestation data directly.
SDG target 15.2 called for halting deforestation by 2020, a deadline that passed with large-scale clearing still under way. Governments renewed the aim of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, in the 2021 Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use and later in the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement. The Forest Declaration Assessment 2025 found that about 8.1 million hectares were permanently deforested in 2024, 63% more than the path to zero by 2030 allows, and that degradation of 8.8 million hectares of tropical moist forest was more than double the level compatible with that goal.
The tropics hold 45% of the world's forests but accounted for 88% of all deforestation between 1990 and 2025.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2025South America and Africa had the highest deforestation rates in 2015–2025, at about 4.2 and 3.5 million hectares a year. Asia and Europe gained forest overall in the same period, with the largest net gains in China and the Russian Federation.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2025In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forest loss not caused by fire reached a record high in 2025. Small-scale shifting cultivation caused 86% of the country's primary forest loss between 2002 and 2025, and wood cut for firewood and charcoal, its main source of energy, is another major cause.
Source: World Resources Institute, using University of Maryland GLAD lab data published on Global Forest Watch, 2026Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage only about 4% of the land under protected status worldwide, and secure rights to their territories remain the exception rather than the rule.
Source: Forest Declaration Assessment Partners, 2025Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
Loading country values…
Values in % of forest area per year.
Yearly deforestation (forest converted to farmland, settlements or other uses) as a share of each country's forest area, as reported by countries to FAO; values are yearly averages for the latest period available per country, mostly 2020–2025 (shown as 2020) and otherwise 2015–2020, so years differ. Logging or fire where the land stays forest is not counted, and only about 130 countries and territories have a deforestation estimate in this dataset; the rest appear as no data, including important forest countries such as Bolivia, Peru, the United States, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia.
Source: FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, via Our World in Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from Our World in Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateFAO estimates that yearly deforestation fell from 17.6 million hectares in 1990–2000 to 10.9 million in 2015–2025, and net forest loss from 10.7 to 4.12 million hectares. Forests are still shrinking, however, and net loss rose again in the latest decade because less new forest is growing.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateMonitoring, enforcement, protected areas and land rights reduce clearing where they are applied consistently: after stronger policies and enforcement, Brazil's primary forest loss not caused by fire fell 41% in 2025 to its lowest on record. Proven approaches for clearing driven by poverty and for fires fuelled by heat and drought are much weaker.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowInternational public finance for forests averaged USD 5.7 billion a year in 2022–2024, equal to about 1.4% of the USD 409 billion spent each year on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies, and only 3% of companies assessed by Forest 500 meet expectations for strong deforestation commitments.
Satellites map where tree cover is lost every year, but telling permanent clearing apart from fire, harvesting and natural disturbance is difficult, and FAO notes that many countries do not collect deforestation data. Global estimates therefore differ by method, though they agree on the direction and on where most clearing happens.
Tropical primary forest loss fell 36% in 2025, led by Brazil, but it was still 46% higher than a decade earlier, fires in 2023–2025 burned more than twice as much tree cover as two decades before, and deforestation in 2025 was 70% above the level needed to meet the 2030 goal.
Forests cover about 4.14 billion hectares, roughly a third of the world's land. Deforestation means clearing forest and turning the land over to another use, most often farming, but also mining, roads or settlements. FAO estimates that about 489 million hectares were deforested between 1990 and 2025 and that clearing still averaged 10.9 million hectares a year in 2015–2025. New forest growing elsewhere makes up for part of this, but the world's total forest area is still shrinking, by about 4.1 million hectares a year. Nearly nine-tenths of the deforestation since 1990 took place in the tropics, and over the past decade clearing for permanent agriculture, such as pasture and crops, accounted for about 86% of it.
The losses fall hardest on people who depend directly on forests for food, fuel and income, and on places where poverty and conflict leave few alternatives. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, small-scale shifting cultivation caused most primary forest loss between 2002 and 2025, firewood and charcoal remain the main source of energy, and conflict in the east has pushed communities into new forest areas. In Bolivia, fires most likely set by people, together with the spread of cattle ranching and soy, drove primary forest loss in 2025 to its second-highest level on record. The effects reach far beyond these places: the loss of tropical primary forest released about 3.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2024, destroys habitat for wildlife, and leaves the remaining forest more exposed to fire, which caused 42% of all tree cover loss worldwide in 2025.
Two kinds of data are used. FAO compiles national statistics reported by countries in its Global Forest Resources Assessment, which also tracks SDG 15 (Life on Land); SDG target 15.2 called for halting deforestation by 2020. Satellite data, such as the University of Maryland maps published on Global Forest Watch, record where tree cover disappears each year. The two measure different things:
Deforestation
FAO defines deforestation as the conversion of forest to another land use, such as agriculture or infrastructure. Forest that is logged or burned but remains forest land is therefore not counted as deforested, even when it loses much of its carbon and wildlife.
Tree cover loss
Satellite data record any removal or death of trees, whether from clearing, harvesting of plantations and managed forests, fire, disease or storms. Tree cover loss is therefore not the same as deforestation: in 2025, fires caused 42% of the 25.5 million hectares of tree cover lost worldwide, and much burned or harvested forest can grow back.
Gross and net change
Deforestation is a gross figure. Net change subtracts the forest that spreads naturally or is planted elsewhere, so it is smaller: for 2015–2025, FAO estimates 10.9 million hectares deforested a year but a net loss of 4.12 million hectares. A net figure can hide the replacement of old natural forest by young or planted trees.
Primary forest and degradation
Many trackers focus on humid tropical primary forest: old-growth forest that has not been cleared in recent years and is especially rich in carbon and species. Degradation, where forest remains but is thinned by logging or fire, is tracked separately; in 2024 it affected 8.8 million hectares of tropical moist forest.
What works
Near-real-time satellite monitoring lets authorities find and act on illegal clearing. Brazil relaunched a federal anti-deforestation plan coordinating 19 agencies, and its environment agency issued 81% more violation notices and 63% more fines in 2023–2025 than in 2020–2022; non-fire primary forest loss fell to its lowest level on record in 2025.
Limits
Results depend on political will and can be reversed by a change of government. Enforcement is much harder where clearing is done by many smallholders for subsistence, or where armed groups control mining areas, as in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What works
Legal protection limits conversion of forest to farms, mines and roads. About 20% of the world's forests, 813 million hectares, are now in legally established protected areas, 251 million hectares more than in 1990. Recognising the territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities gives the people who live in forests the legal standing to defend them.
Limits
Protection on paper does not stop clearing without staff, funding and enforcement, and fires cross park boundaries. Recognition of community land rights is still slow and incomplete in most forest countries.
What works
The EU Deforestation Regulation requires companies placing cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber and many derived products on the EU market to show that they do not come from recently deforested land. It applies from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones, and is expected to cut emissions linked to EU consumption by at least 32 million tonnes a year.
Limits
The regulation was adopted in 2023 but will apply only from the end of 2026, and the EU amended it in December 2024 and December 2025 to reduce burdens on companies. It covers only products sold in the EU, so clearing for domestic markets or other importers is not affected, and its impact will depend on enforcement.
What works
Natural regrowth and tree planting add new forest each year and offset part of the losses: forest expansion averaged 6.78 million hectares a year in 2015–2025. Planted forests now make up about 8% of all forest area.
Limits
Expansion has slowed from 9.88 million hectares a year in 2000–2015. Young or planted forests store less carbon and support fewer species than the old natural forest being lost elsewhere, so regrowth does not cancel out deforestation.
What works
Restricting the use of fire to clear land, especially in droughts, detecting fires early and supporting local fire brigades can reduce burned forest. Fire has become a major cause of forest loss: it caused 42% of all tree cover loss worldwide in 2025.
Limits
Extreme heat and drought are making fires bigger and harder to control, and many fires in tropical forests are started by people, as in Bolivia in 2025, so fire control works only together with action on clearing and land use.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Proposed by Brazil, launched at the COP30 climate conference in the Amazon in November 2025 and hosted by the World Bank, the fund plans to invest public and private capital in bonds and use the returns to pay tropical countries for keeping their forests standing, with 20% of payments going directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. By late September 2026 governments had committed USD 7.3 billion, against a goal of USD 10 billion by the end of 2026 and USD 125 billion in the long run. Payments are unlikely before 2028, and critics say the near-term goal would barely cover the fund's costs.
The latest Global Forest Watch analysis separates loss caused by fire from other tree cover loss, and maps of the main driver of loss distinguish permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation, logging and fire. This helps governments and buyers target their response, but attributing individual fires to people or to climate remains uncertain.
Satellite methods are being developed to detect forest that is thinned by selective logging or fire without being cleared. Global estimates put degradation at 8.8 million hectares of tropical moist forest in 2024, but it is harder to see from space than clear-cutting, estimates are less certain, and few targets or payment schemes yet account for it.
Coordination gap
Clearing for permanent agriculture caused about 86% of global deforestation over the past decade. As long as pasture and crops earn more than standing forest, and the costs of clearing fall on others, landowners have reasons to keep converting forest.
Implementation gap
International public finance for forests averaged USD 5.7 billion a year in 2022–2024. That is only about 1.4% of the USD 409 billion in public money that goes each year to agricultural subsidies that harm the environment.
Implementation gap
Only 3% of the companies assessed by Forest 500 meet expectations for strong deforestation commitments, engagement in the beef and soy sectors remains low, and the EU's deforestation rules have been a focus of lobbying.
Coordination gap
Where people farm to feed themselves and rely on wood and charcoal for energy, enforcement alone cannot stop clearing. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, non-fire forest loss reached a record in 2025, driven by small-scale farming, firewood and charcoal, mining and displacement caused by conflict.
Technology gap
Selective logging and repeated fires can strip carbon and wildlife from a forest without clearing it. Degradation affected 8.8 million hectares of tropical moist forest in 2024, more than double the level compatible with the 2030 goal, yet it is harder to detect from space than clear-cutting.
Knowledge gap
All countries report their forest area to FAO, but many do not collect data on deforestation, natural expansion or planting, so FAO advises treating its estimates of these changes with caution. National and satellite figures use different definitions and are hard to compare.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
At what combination of deforestation, fire and warming could large parts of the Amazon or other tropical forests shift permanently to a drier, more open landscape, and can that be detected before it happens?
Will rules such as the EU Deforestation Regulation reduce clearing overall, or shift it to other buyers, other commodities or less protected ecosystems such as dry forests and savannas?
Which mix of secure land rights, farm support, alternatives to charcoal and direct payments reduces small-scale clearing in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo without making people poorer?
How much will heat and drought increase fire-driven forest loss in the coming decades, and how well do tropical forests that burn once or repeatedly recover?
Expansion of cattle ranching and crops such as soy drives much of the forest clearing in South America. Eating less beef, and asking retailers how they check their beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa and coffee supply chains, reduces your share of that demand. Labels and claims vary in quality.
Recycled paper and wood products with credible forest certification lower the chance that what you buy comes from cleared or illegally logged forest, although no label is a full guarantee.
Banks and investors finance companies that trade in high-risk commodities. Asking whether your bank or pension fund has a deforestation policy, and how it checks that the policy is followed, adds pressure that individual purchases cannot.
Organisations that help Indigenous Peoples and local communities secure legal rights to their land and monitor their forests are one way to contribute. Check that a group is accountable to the communities it works with and reports openly on what it does.
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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published 2025
Chapter of FAO's flagship assessment, built on reports from all 236 countries and areas. Source of global forest area (4.14 billion hectares, 32% of land), the share of forests in the tropics (45%), deforestation by period (17.6, 13.6 and 10.9 million hectares a year), net loss (10.7, 3.68 and 4.12 million hectares a year), regional rates and gains, the 489 million hectares deforested since 1990, the 88% tropical share, the FAO definition of deforestation and its caution on data availability.
FAO Newsroom (press release, 21 October 2025), published 2025
Launch release for the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025. Source of forest expansion rates (9.88 and 6.78 million hectares a year), the area and share of forest in protected areas (813 million hectares, about 20%, up 251 million hectares since 1990) and the share of planted forests (about 8%).
World Resources Institute, using University of Maryland GLAD lab data published on Global Forest Watch, published 2026
Annual analysis of satellite-based tree cover loss for 2025. Source of tropical primary forest loss (4.3 million hectares, down 36% from 2024, 46% above a decade earlier, more than 11 football fields a minute), global tree cover loss (25.5 million hectares, 42% from fire), the gap to the 2030 goal (70%), country findings for Brazil, Bolivia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the distinction between tree cover loss and deforestation.
Forest Declaration Assessment Partners (coordinated by Climate Focus), published 2025
Independent annual assessment of progress towards the 2030 forest goals by a coalition of civil society and research organisations. Source of global deforestation in 2024 (8.07 million hectares, 63% off track), degradation (8.8 million hectares), emissions from primary tropical forest clearance (3.1 billion tonnes), the 86% share of permanent agriculture, forest finance (USD 5.7 billion a year) against harmful agricultural subsidies (USD 409 billion), the Forest 500 result (3%) and the 4% of protected land managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment, published 2026
Official page on the EU Deforestation Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115). Source of the commodities covered, the application dates (30 December 2026 and 30 June 2027), the amendments of December 2024 and December 2025, the aims on emissions and biodiversity and the expected emission cut of at least 32 million tonnes a year.
Climate Home News (29 September 2026), published 2026
Most recent report found on the status of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility launched at COP30. Source of government commitments (USD 7.3 billion), the goals of USD 10 billion by the end of 2026 and USD 125 billion in total, hosting by the World Bank, the bond-based investment model, the 20% share for Indigenous Peoples and local communities and the expectation that no payments will be made before 2028.