Since 2001, area of mountain forests dropped by 7%
An international team of environmentalists concluded that the area of mountain forests has decreased by 7 percent over the past two decades, which is about one and a half to two times more than the area of France or Germany, according to the observations of scientists published in the journal One Earth, TASS reports
“For the first time, we systematised and summarised the results of observations of how the area of mountain forests changed and what anthropogenic and natural factors influenced their condition. Our calculations show that between 2001 and 2018, the area of mountain forests decreased by 7 percent (78 million hectares), and the rate of their losses has increased by 2.7 times in recent years,” the researchers write.
According to the current estimates of the UN World Food Organisation, every year the Earth’s forests lose about 10 million hectares of area as a result of their massive deforestation. Most of them occur on the territory of tropical and equatorial countries, which is associated both with the growth of their economy and population, and with the globalisation of the world economy.
