We understand the importance of forests and the population living in them in the face of climate change challenges. In fact, hundreds of millions of hectares of forests have been lost in recent decades. Forests are an important part of stabilizing the ecosystem of soil, wetlands, and biodiversity, and are one of the sources of carbon dioxide absorption. Almost one third of the Earth’s surface is covered by forests, providing a wealth of resources, services, beauty, and natural reserves, and supporting the livelihoods of millions of people.

FAO data (2020) shows that in 30 years from 1990 to 2020, the global forest area has decreased by approximately 178 million hectares (an area roughly the size of Libya). The rate of deforestation has decreased in recent decades, but its distribution has become highly regional and geographically specific. According to FAO statistics, if 7.8 million hectares of forest were lost each year in the 1990s, in the past decade this amount has decreased, meaning about 4.7 million hectares per year.

However, deforestation rates have accelerated significantly in Latin America and Southern Africa. While in Europe and many parts of Asia, there have been stricter measures in place to preserve forests. However, these statistics still show that even though deforestation rates have decreased in the past thirty years, approximately 420 million hectares of forests have been lost since 1990 due to land conversion for other purposes.

The spread of the global pandemic has shown that even in rare cases, such as the non-separation of borders between wildlife and human life, protecting forests is essential. Most of the dry biodiversity lives in forests. Forests contain 60,000 different tree species, 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species, and 68% of mammal species on Earth.

Research shows that the dispersion and destruction of forest density, as well as the destruction of old-growth trees in the forest, greatly affects the speed of deforestation. Its effectiveness in preserving soil moisture and underground water resources, as well as being a habitat for wildlife, is severely affected. On the other hand, sparse and fragmented forests are more quickly polluted and become prey to fires.

According to FAO statistics, there are 34.8 million pieces of forest in the world, out of 1 to 680 million hectares, which require extensive restoration to reconnect fragmented forests.

The evaluation of the world’s forest resources published by FAO in 2020 showed that despite a decrease in the rate of deforestation in the past decade, approximately 10 million hectares are lost each year due to conversion to agriculture and other forms of forest exploitation.

In the field of activities that involve land use, agriculture has dominated as the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in the past decade, surpassing deforestation. This issue has raised more concerns with a recent study conducted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and published in Global Change Biology. This highlights the growing concern over securing food resources and the increasing need for agricultural land, as well as the impact of climate change on deforestation for agriculture. Official statistics are not available on the number of intentional human-caused forest fires and the percentage of those that are solely for the purpose of land grabbing and land use change. However, perhaps this example can shed some light on the situation. In Italy, strict enforcement of laws prohibiting any form of encroachment or occupation of forest land in the past two decades has helped revive forests that have been devastated by fires for over a century, and significantly reduced the history and number of organized fires by waste mafia in southern Italy.

The topic of preserving forests and managing agriculture is so important that, for example, during the climate negotiations at COP21 in Paris, researchers emphasized the need for representatives of forest conservation projects to be included in policy-making and planning, as these efforts are crucial for achieving sustainable forest management.

The development of agricultural lands to produce the necessary food for us or for animals in our food chain, clearly explains that even research, investment, and large-scale projects are often in service of obtaining more space for cultivated lands. The reality that the evaluation of the impact of agriculture and the provision of water and land for it even outweighs the destruction of natural resources and ignores the indirect responsibility of extensive industrial agriculture. As a result, statistics clearly show that deforestation has occurred more for agricultural purposes than for the wood and other raw materials industry.

Recent victories in forest protection for the purpose of halting and controlling the impact of climate change are at great risk due to the growing demand for meat, especially beef, in the world. In addition to the importance of this issue, livestock keeping is also one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions: FAO research data shows a 13% increase since 1990. Meat production in the world has increased by almost 70% between 1990 and 2012, while milk and egg production have increased by 39% and 93% respectively.

There are many reasons for deforestation. In South America and Africa, where developing countries are dynamic, but with high rates of poverty and inequality, statistics show that governments prefer to cut down trees to provide short-term space for profitable activities. In fact, there are a combination of social, political, and economic issues that cause these regions to cause extensive damage to forests. In practice, one of the main reasons for deforestation in these countries is promoted by farmers. In developing countries, it is estimated that agriculture is responsible for 40% of deforestation on average. Building roads and infrastructure, or deforestation for livelihood activities, such as using forest wood as a low-cost energy source, can also be damaging as human life expands into forest areas.

Some countries, especially India, are opposed to discussing the impact of agriculture on climate change in the United Nations session because they are afraid of reducing agricultural production.

A combination of economic inequality and climate injustice must also be addressed in deforestation. Unemployment and poverty among rural residents living in forested areas, as well as the loss of farming and agriculture, on one hand, and the lack of sustainable planning for the use of sustainable technologies in managing water and soil resources for agriculture, on the other hand, along with the mismanagement of food waste and preservation and distribution methods at the end of the production chain, are important issues that have been greatly overlooked. In fact, it can be said that deforestation and the acquisition of more land and monopolization of water resources have replaced land management and control of the farming and distribution process. It is a middle ground and a cheaper option for governments, but it is very damaging and expensive for the health of the planet and its inhabitants.