With nearly 390 billion trees from 16,000 different species, accounting for 10% of the planet’s total biodiversity, playing a key role in global climate regulation, and spanning an area equivalent to Australia across nine countries, the Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and its ecosystem is essential yet under threat. Protecting the rainforest will be a core subject of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), held in the Brazilian city of Belem from November 10 to 21. Ahead of a preliminary summit of national leaders, which will officially open the event, on November 6 and 7, here is an overview of the threats facing the approximately 7-million-square-kilometer Amazon rainforest.
Is deforestation continuing in the Amazon today?
Massive deforestation in the Amazon began in the 1960s and accelerated over the decades that followed. Between 1985 and 2022, 11% of the rainforest is estimated to have disappeared, according to a study that is set to be published in the journal Land Use Policy in January 2026, based on data from the MapBiomas network. This represents 640,000 square kilometers, an area equivalent to the size of France. Almost all of this land was converted into farmland, primarily pastures for cattle farming, with beef production being the main factor driving the deforestation.
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