Check out this answer from Consensus:
While there are indications that global deforestation rates may have slowed in the past, the data’s reliability and accuracy remain contentious. Moreover, the impact of deforestation on biodiversity, especially in intact landscapes, is profound and alarming. Therefore, robust and large-scale conservation strategies are essential to mitigate the adverse effects of deforestation and protect global biodiversity.
Deforestation, the large-scale removal of forest cover, has been a significant environmental concern for decades. It impacts biodiversity, climate change, and the livelihoods of millions of people. This article examines whether global deforestation rates are decreasing, drawing on recent research findings.
Current State of Global Deforestation
Recent studies provide mixed insights into the trends of global deforestation. A comprehensive survey by the United Nations (U.N.) suggests that global rates of forest loss decreased in the 1990s. However, this report has faced criticism for being based on outdated and potentially inaccurate data2. The World Resources Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., argues that the U.N.’s methods and baselines have changed over time, making it difficult to compare deforestation rates accurately2.
Impact on Biodiversity
Deforestation has severe consequences for biodiversity, particularly in relatively intact landscapes. A study examining the effects of deforestation on vertebrate species worldwide found that even minimal deforestation in these areas significantly increases the risk of species being listed as threatened or moving to a higher threat category1. The study highlights high-risk hotspots in regions such as Borneo, the central Amazon, and the Congo Basin, predicting that 121-219 species could become threatened under current deforestation rates over the next 30 years1.
Conservation Efforts
The findings underscore the need for large-scale conservation efforts to protect intact forests. Currently, only 17.9% of high-risk areas are formally protected, and a mere 8.9% have strict protection measures in place1. To slow deforestation rates and avert a new wave of global extinctions, it is crucial to enhance these conservation efforts.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
Jennifer Swenson has answered Unlikely
An expert from Duke University in Environmental Science, Ecology, Forestry Sciences
Recent global analysis finds that 2016 had the highest tree loss rate over recent years (which includes fires). www.wri.org/blog/2017/10/global-tree-cover-loss-rose-51-percent-2016
This is currently the most consistently collected and processed dataset on forest loss and gain for the globe (but also includes plantations as forests). The website www.globalforestwatch.org provides a window for anyone interested in seeing where deforestation and reforestation is happening across the globe by year since 2001. This dataset does not map degradation of forests, which is an enormous issue for many reasons (noted by others here), and is much more difficult to track consistently over large areas.
Individual tracts of deforestation are also getting larger on average across the globe, reflecting the shift to large commercial enterprises from individual farmers. https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/tropical-deforestation-is-getting-bigger-study-finds/
One important distinction for the general public is that this question relates to RATES of forest loss, not amount lost every year. Every year human activities continue to remove forest that is not replaced by replanting/regrowth (but converted to other uses). Even if a given year’s rate decreases, the net loss of forest continues.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
Robin Chazdon has answered Likely
An expert from University of the Sunshine Coast in Ecology
Satellite-based studies and globally aggregated country-level forest inventories both show that global rates of deforestation have declined since 2010, based on data up to 2015. The most recent Forest Resources Assessment by FAO in 2015 reported that global annual rates of net forest loss declined from 7.3 M ha/yr in the 1990s to 3.3 M ha/yr between 2010 and 2015. There are three important points to emphasize regarding this statement. First, deforestation rates are often reported as NET rates, which are the balance between GROSS loss of forest area and GAINS in forest area during a particular time period. So, it is possible to find that natural forest areas have been cleared and replaced with tree plantations, with zero net deforestation recorded. Forest quality is often omitted in deforestation and reforestation statistics.
Second, rates of deforestation are highly uneven across forested regions of the globe. In temperate zones, forest cover has been expanding since the 1950s (negative rates of net deforestation), whereas in the tropics, deforestation rates remain high in many regions. From 2010 to 2015, tropical forest area declined at a rate of 5.5 M ha/yr, whereas temperate forest area expanded at a rate of 2.2 M ha/yr. Boreal and subtropical forests areas did not changed substantially during this time period.
Third, rates of forest degradation due to fragmentation, logging, road penetration, hunting, and fires are more difficult to measure than rates of deforestation but have severe consequences for global carbon emissions and for regional conservation of plant and animal populations. Models predict that 121–219 species of vertebrates in the Central Amazon, Borneo, and Congo Basin will become threatened under current rates of forest loss over the next 30 years. When only considering deforestation, tropical forests are still considered a global sink for carbon. But a recent global study found that carbon emissions from logging and other human-caused disturbances in tropical forests tip the balance to a net loss of carbon globally from tropical forest regions. More than half of the net carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation of tropical forests comes from America, 24% from Africa, and 16% in Asia.
We have not yet reached a zero net deforestation rate globally. Gross rates of deforestation and tree cover loss (a slightly different metric) remain significantly high in many forest regions. Restoring forest cover and qualities can mitigate some of these losses, but only if remaining areas of forest are protected and cared for.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
Lars Hein has answered Unlikely
An expert from Wageningen University and Research Centre in Environmental Science
Deforestation is playing out very differently in boreal, temperate and tropical forests.
Boreal forest cover may be gradually increasing, related to climate change which permits forests to expand to higher lattitudes.
Temperate forest cover is stable or perhaps slowly increasing in particular in Europe with the abandoment of marginal agricultural lands.
Tropical deforestation continuous unabated. However, the situation is quite different in tropical America, Africa and SE Asia. Brazil has managed to control deforestation to an important degree in the last 20 years but recent policy changes open the door to continued deforestation. Colombia has preserved much of its forest cover but the recent peace agreements open the door for land use change which has started already. In Peru deforestation is ongoing although at moderate pace.
In West Africa Ghana is in general doing a good job protecting its forests in natural parks, Ivory Coast managed to do so well until recently but is now subject to very rapid deforestation due to conversion to cacao farms. In Central Aftrica political instability has been putting a break on land cover change to date.
In SE Asia, again the situation differs by country. Thailand is protecting its forest in protected areas well, there is only limityed deforestation now in these protected areas. In Malysia there is still deforestation but at a modest pace (1 to 2% per year?). In Indonesia the situation differs by island. In Sumatra almost all lowland forest outside of protected areas has dissappaered (ie converted to plantations). The national parks in Sumatra are increasingly at risk, and there have been instances where parts of these parks have been converted to plantations as well. In Kalimantan, secondary forests are still being converted to plantations. In Papua, deforestation is very rapid at the moment in particular related to conversion to plantations.
The above examples are from country based assessments and scientific publications. Unfortunately there are no good, overarching data of tropical deforestation at the moment. FAO statistics (that depend upon national statistics) or WRI global forest cover maps (that confuse forests and plantations) are not reliable.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
Jean-François Exbrayat has answered Unlikely
An expert from Edinburgh University in Biogeography, Ecology, Environmental Science
Satellite-based estimates indicate an increasing trend of tree cover loss rates between 2000 and 2016 http://bit.ly/2EFPczp
However, deforestation has very different regional dynamics. Brazilian deforestation began to drop in 2005 but there’s been a slight increase in the last couple of years. Indonesian deforestation has increased steadily in the last 15 years with conversion from natural forests to oil palm plantations. In Africa deforestation has been prevented by national programmes but small-scale logging and conversion to subsistence agriculture is on the up in some of the less stable countries of the Congo basin.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
J. Rodrigo Garcia del Campo has answered Likely
An expert from Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia in Ecology
Deforestation has slowed slightly, but it is far from acceptable. 178 million hectares of forest has been lost worldwide over the past three decades, but the rate of loss has declined substantially during this period (FAO). Although this sounds like good news, the global area of forest areas continues to decline, posing a risk to sustainability.
Is global deforestation decreasing?
Ralph Trancoso has answered Likely
An expert from University of Queensland in Earth Sciences, Environmental Science, Ecohydrology, Climatology, Geography
Although this question is all about quantification and we already have the required tools (i.e., satellite imagery and remote sensing algorithms) to quantify, it is a complex question. I will explain why.
To begin with, deforestation in Brazil has definitely decreased over the last decades, but increased over the last few years. Similarly, in Australia (particularly in Queensland), deforestation reduced over the last decade, but emerged as a global hotspot last year. Thus, before drafting any answer few clarification would be necessary. The first one is what is the baseline period (e.g., last year, last two years, last decade)? While that would help with the Brazilian and Australian situations, the question complexity is still far from sorted. The second point that need to be clarified is what deforestation is. There are several types of “deforestation”, such as forest clearing, selective logging, or even a single tree removal. Trees can also be killed by bushfires, for instance, but should it be included within the “deforestation” definition? Third, we also need to define what a forest is. Does it include savannas with isolated trees? If so, to what extent? Does it include plantation forests and regenerated forests? If so, it is important being very careful to make sure that areas that have been cleared, than regenerated (or planted) and then cleared again you are not double counted.
Different regions adopt different definitions and methods for deforestation monitoring, which makes challenging the integration of figures at global scale. Likewise, global scale initiatives commonly use coarse resolution imagery, which is not reliable to get accurate figures and represent patch-scale processes where deforestation usually occurs. Some initiatives, such as this paper, adopted a uniform method to quantify biomass loss (and gain) globally and pointed that overall tropical forest deforestation has declined. But at the end of the day, the figures are just valid under the selected circumstances and may not be accurate at regional scales, mismatching figures from regional deforestation monitoring programs. Yet, given the latest global papers and the FAO figures (from 2005, which is not up-to-date), it is likely that the global deforestation is declining.