The world lost more than 9 million acres of tropical forest in 2019. It was the third-largest total loss of old-growth since 2002. Only 2016 and 2017 were worse, when heat and drought led to record fires and deforestation, especially in Brazil. nyti.ms/36VPmmb
Brazil, where deforestation of the Amazon through clear-cutting appears to be on the rise under the pro-development policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, was responsible for more than a third of the total global loss in 2019 nyti.ms/36VPmmb
Fires in Bolivia were a major cause of what was a significant increase in deforestation last year. The country’s primary forest loss of 720,000 acres was nearly double the total from 2018. The country now ranks 4th in deforestation globally. nyti.ms/36VPmmb
Researchers estimated that the loss of primary tropical forest in 2019 resulted in the release of more than 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide, or more than the emissions from all on-road vehicles in the U.S. in a typical year nyti.ms/36VPmmb 
