1990年到2020年，回顾30年来全球森林损失与森林增长——森林损失速度得到下降，扭转森林损失趋势仍然艰巨

Global Deforestation and Forest Growth over 30 Years

全球森林损失与森林增长：30年回顾

December 29, 2021

Forests are the great carbon capturers of our planet, and they are a key source of wildlife habitats and vital resources for people around the world.

森林是地球上重要的碳捕捉者，是野生动物栖息地关键所在和全球人类资源的重要来源。

But deforestation is threatening this natural infrastructure, releasing carbon into the atmosphere while simultaneously reducing wildlife diversity and making our environment more susceptible to environmental disasters.

然而，森林损失正威胁着这一天然的基础设施，让二氧化碳释放到大气，同时减少了生物多样性，使我们的环境更容易受到环境灾难的影响。

This article looks at global deforestation and forest growth over the past 30 years, mapping out the net forest change by country and region using data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

本文回顾过去30年全球森林砍伐与增长的情况，绘制出各国和区域的森林净变化情况。数据来源于联合国粮农组织（FAO）。

The State of Deforestation by Region

各区域森林砍伐的现状

Today, forests make up around 31% of the Earth’s total land area, spanning 15.68 million square miles (40.6 million km²). Over the past three decades, the world lost a bit more than 4% (685,300 square miles) of its forests.

如今，森林覆盖了地球陆地总面积的约31%，总面积为1568万平方英里（约4060万平方公里）。在过去的三十年里，全球损失了超过4%的森林（约68.53万平方英里/177.50万平方公里）。

Europe and Asia were the only two regions which had significant overall forest growth during this time period, while Oceania saw no significant change and North and Central America saw a slight reduction.

在这一时期，欧洲和亚洲是唯一两个森林面积显著增长的区域，而大洋洲没有显著变化，北美和中美洲的森林面积略有减少。

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

来源：联合国粮农组织

Africa along with South America and the Caribbean were the regions with the greatest amount of net forest loss, both losing more than 13% of their forests over the past 30 years. This is largely because these two regions have large amounts of forest area available, with the underlying land in high demand for agriculture and cattle-raising.
非洲、南美和加勒比地区是森林净损失最多的地区，这些地区在过去30年里都失去了超过13%的森林。这主要是因为这两个地区拥有大量的森林面积，并且对农业和养殖业用地需求旺盛。

Although the overall forest loss around the world is massive, the rate of forest loss has slowed down over the past three decades. While an average of 30,116 square miles were lost each year between 1990 to 2000, between 2010 to 2020 that number has dropped to 18,146 square miles, showing that the rate of overall loss has fallen by almost 40%.

尽管全球森林损失的总量巨大，但过去三十年中森林损失的速度已经放缓。从1990年到2000年间，每年平均损失30116平方英里（约7.8万平方公里），而在2010年到2020年间，这一数字降至18146平方英里（约4.7万平方公里），森林总损失的速度下降了近40%。

The Countries and Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Growth

各国的森林损失与增长及其驱动因素

Despite an overall slowing down of forest loss, certain countries in South America along with the entirety of Africa are still showing an increase in the rate of forest loss. It’s in these regions where most of the countries with the largest reduction in forest area are located:

尽管全球森林损失速度整体放缓，但南美的一些国家以及整个非洲地区仍然呈现出森林损失加速的趋势。这些区域是大多数森林损失最大的国家所在的地方：

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

来源：联合国粮农组织

Brazil, home to most of the Amazon rainforest, saw 356,287 square miles of net forest loss, largely fueled by farmers using the land to raise cattle for beef. It’s estimated that 80% of the deforested land area of the Amazon has been replaced with pastures, with the resulting beef production known to be among the worst meats for the environment in terms of carbon emissions.

巴西是大部分亚马逊雨林的所在地，净森林损失达到356,287平方英里（约92.2万平方公里），主要原因是农民将土地用于养殖肉牛。估计被砍伐的亚马逊土地中有80%已被牧场取代，而牛肉生产被认为是对环境碳排放影响最严重的肉类生产方式之一。

The other great driver of deforestation is seed and palm oil agriculture. These oils account for about 20% of the world’s deforestation carbon emissions, and their production concentrated in Indonesia and Malaysia is now expanding to other Asian countries along with Africa.

另一个主要的森林损失的驱动因素是种子和棕榈油农业。这些油类大约占全球森林砍伐碳排放的20%，其生产集中在印度尼西亚和马来西亚，现在已经扩展到其他亚洲国家以及非洲。

While the demand for beef and palm oils drives deforestation, initiatives like the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) are providing incentives to protect forest land.

虽然牛肉和棕榈油的需求推动了森林损失，但像中部非洲森林倡议（CAFI）这样的举措正在为保护森林土地带来激励。

Select countries in the European Union along with the United Kingdom and South Korea have committed $494.7 million to six central African nations (Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo) for them to preserve their forests and pursue low emission pathways for sustainable development. The initiative has seen $202 million transferred thus far and an anticipated reduction of 75 million tons of CO2 emissions.

欧盟的部分国家、英国和韩国已承诺为六个中部非洲国家（喀麦隆、加蓬、中央非洲共和国、刚果民主共和国、赤道几内亚和刚果共和国）提供4.947亿美元，以帮助这些国家保护森林和追求低排放的可持续发展路径。迄今为止，该倡议已转移了2.02亿美元，预计减少7500万吨二氧化碳排放。

Forests and the Climate Crisis

森林与气候危机

It’s estimated that forests absorb around 30% of the world’s carbon emissions each year, making them the greatest and most important carbon sinks we have on land. When you pair this with the fact that deforestation contributes around 12% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, the importance of forest preservation becomes even more clear.

据估计，森林每年吸收全球约30%的碳排放，是我们陆地上最伟大、最重要的碳汇。当你对比每年的森林损失带来约12%的温室气体排放时，森林保护的重要性变得更加清晰。

But we often forget how much forests protect our environment by acting as natural buffers against extreme weather. Forests increase and ensure rainfall security, making nearby land areas significantly less susceptible to wildfires and natural droughts in hot and dry seasons along with flooding and landslides in wet seasons.

然而，我们常常忘记了森林充当极端天气的天然缓冲器而保护环境的作用。森林增加和确保降水安全，使附近的土地在干热季节不易发生野火和自然干旱，在湿季则能有效防止洪水和滑坡。

With every dollar invested in landscape restoration yielding up to $30 in benefits, reducing deforestation and investing in reforestation is considered an effective way to reduce the difficulty and costs of meeting climate and environmental protection goals. This is without even considering the benefits of maintaining the world’s largest wildlife habitat and source of species diversity, the home of the nearly 70 million indigenous people who live in forests, and the livelihood of 1.6 billion people who rely on forests every day.

每投入一美元用于森林景观恢复，能带来最多30美元的效益，因此减少森林砍伐并投资于植树造林被认为是实现气候和环境保护目标的有效方式。此外，森林保护和再造还有助于维护世界上最大的野生动物栖息地和物种多样性，保护近7000万土著人民的家园，以及维持每天依赖森林生存的16亿人的生计。

Preserving and Regrowing Forests for the Future

为未来保护和再造森林

Despite the short-term acceleration in forest loss seen in 2020, there have been positive signs about forest regrowth coming to light. A recent study found that previously deforested land can recuperate its soil fertility in about a decade, and layered plants, trees, and species diversity can recover in around 25-60 years.

尽管森林损失在2020年出现了短期加速，但森林再生的积极迹象逐渐显现。一项最新研究发现，曾经被砍伐的土地大约在十年内就能恢复土壤肥力，而分层植物、树木和物种多样性则大约需要25到60年才能恢复。

Along with this, in some instances these regrowing “secondary forests” can absorb more carbon dioxide than “primary forests”, giving hope that a global reforestation effort can absorb more emissions than previously thought possible.

与此同时，在某些情况下，这些再生“次生森林”的碳吸收能力甚至超过了原始森林。这一发现为全球范围内的再造林行动带来了新的希望，即通过植树造林，我们可以吸收比预期更多的碳排放。

From better financial incentives for local farmers and ranchers to preserve forest area to larger scale policies and initiatives like CAFI, curbing deforestation and promoting reforestation requires a global effort. Reversing forest loss in the coming decades is a daunting but necessary step towards stabilizing the climate and preserving the environment that billions of animals and people rely on.

从为当地农民和牧场主提供更具吸引力的经济激励，以保护森林区域，到实施像CAFI这样的更大规模政策倡议，减少森林损失并推动大规模造林，需要全球共同努力。为了稳定气候、保护数十亿动植物和人类赖以生存的环境，扭转未来几十年森林损失的趋势是艰巨但必须采取的行动。

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