‍What’s happening? An assessment by international conservation charity Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed that 82% of the world’s major forestry companies fail to disclose the countries they source wood and pulp from, with only 4% reporting traceability to the forest management unit (FMU) level. The global timber and pulp trade, valued at over $480bn annually, faces serious risks from poor transparency. Logging alone caused the loss of 335,000 ha of tropical forest in 2024, as forest loss has doubled since 2023. With illegal logging accounting for up to 30% of global timber trade, ZSL urges the adoption of traceability systems to safeguard forests and markets. (Energy Live News)

Why does this matter? Around one-third of the Earth’s land mass is covered by forests, which play a vital role in mitigating the impact of climate change by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. Recent research indicates that forests have absorbed over 100 billion mt of CO2 in the past 30 years, almost half of the emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Nevertheless, they remain under constant threat from deforestation activities. Agricultural commodities, including beef, soy, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber and timber, are the primary drivers of deforestation, while illegal logging and mining are also significant contributors. Additionally, poor forest management along with hot, dry conditions exacerbated by global warming are substantially raising the risk of devastating wildfires.

Declining rainfall – Deforestation has also just been identified as the primary cause of declining dry-season rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, accounting for 74.5% of the 21 mm annual reduction between 1985 and 2020. Over the same period, maximum daily temperatures rose by 2C with 16.5% of this warming attributed to forest loss. Amazonian trees, which generate more than 40% of the region’s rainfall via transpiration, are essential to regional and continental weather systems. The study warns that if current rates of deforestation persist, dry-season rainfall could drop by a further 7 mm with an additional 0.6C warming by 2030, increasing drought risks across South America.

Rising mortality – Another recent investigation has linked tropical deforestation to more than 500,000 heat-related deaths between 2001 and 2020. Researchers found that land clearance in the Amazon, Congo and south-east Asia caused 28,330 excess deaths per year due to localised warming. Approximately 345 million people were exposed to elevated temperatures, with 2.6 million facing an increase of 3C. Deforestation accounted for over one-third of warming in these regions, intensifying heat stress, especially in densely populated south-east Asia. The findings demonstrate deforestation’s direct threat to human health, independent of global climate change, making the need to preserve forests ever more urgent.

Risky business – The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), delayed to 30 December 2025, will require proof that commodities such as coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soy, timber and rubber are not linked to recent deforestation before entering the EU. However, the European Commission faces pressure to weaken and postpone these requirements further. Only Belarus, North Korea, Myanmar and Russia have been labelled “high risk”, however they are not major exporters of these commodities and are subject to EU council sanctions. A proposed category of “negligible risk”, where countries deemed to have no deforestation risk would face minimal due diligence requirements, could create loopholes, critics argue. Despite no legislative movement on that suggestion, the Commission has already officially said the US “poses negligible risk to global deforestation” shortly after signing a 15% export tariff deal.

Where next? Despite world leaders committing to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, the world has made little progress in reaching that target. We can expect the debate to continue when COP30 takes place in Belém, Brazil, this November. With the country containing 60% of the Amazon and experiencing high levels of deforestation, we will be watching to see how the event unfolds to shape the future of forest protection both domestically and internationally.