In just thirteen years, between 2000 and 2013, the area of forests still considered untouched fell by 7.2 per cent worldwide. This means a loss of almost one million square kilometres: three times the total land area of Italy. This single figure is enough to understand how human activity, neglect and a lack of ecological awareness are depriving humanity of a genuine treasure of biodiversity, as well as a fundamental element in safeguarding global climate balance.

Canada, Russia and Brazil hold the majority of untouched forests

The alarm was raised last January, when a study published in the scientific journal Science Advances highlighted how the erosion of untouched forest areas is actually accelerating: the amount of forest lost in the three-year period 2011–2013 is three times that recorded ten years earlier. According to the authors of the analysis, entitled "Intact Forest Landscapes", areas showing no signs of human activity are therefore becoming increasingly scarce.

But what is meant by "untouched" areas? It should be noted that the definition used by the researchers is broader than, for example, the one used by the Fao in its reports on the state of forests. On the basis of this "extended" interpretation, the countries found to host the greatest amount of still-intact wooded areas are Canada (with three million square kilometres), Russia (2.7) and Brazil (2.4). In all three nations, losses recorded within the space of a few years were around five per cent.

From Indonesia to Paraguay: deforestation continues

When data are aggregated at continental level, it emerges that the area most affected by erosion is Latin America (more than 300,000 square kilometres lost between 2000 and 2013), followed by Africa (more than 100,000 square kilometres). But the most striking case is undoubtedly that of Paraguay, which saw 79 per cent of its untouched forests disappear within the space of a few years. Matthew Hansen, professor of geographical sciences at the University of Maryland in the United States and author of the research together with a group of Greenpeace experts, explained: "Unfortunately we cannot have any doubts about the results: the satellite observations are crystal clear."

Brazil has stated its intention to take remedial action, but in many cases concrete measures are lacking: tellingly, in the period between the summers of 2015 and 2016 alone, nearly 8,000 square kilometres of forest were destroyed in the South American nation, according to Brazil's Space Research Institute. Razed to the ground by loggers, farmers and ranchers. In the last year alone, the rate of deforestation grew by almost 30 per cent. This is a widespread phenomenon that cannot be attributed solely to government decisions: "For example," Hansen continues, "for palm oil to stop destroying forests in Indonesia, the entire global economy needs to be transformed. Consider that it is found in almost every product sold in the United States."

The main cause of deforestation is in fact agriculture. This is confirmed by the latest State of the World's Forests report produced by the Fao, according to which between 1990 and 2015 the total forested area in the world fell by 129 million hectares (bringing the global total to less than 4 billion hectares). The positive note is that, while in the 1990s an average of 7.3 million hectares were lost per year, in the period 2010–2015 the figure fell to 3.3 million. Even so, according to the United Nations agency the values remain "extremely worrying" — particularly in tropical regions and in the world's poorest countries.

"Agriculture can feed the world without destroying forests"

In the tropics in particular, between 2000 and 2010 the quantity of forest lost was almost identical to the increase recorded in the area of cultivated land. This is because the prevailing assumption is that, in order to meet the growing demand for food — including in anticipation of the demographic growth that will occur over the coming decades worldwide — it is inevitable to expand agricultural land at the expense of forested areas.

This approach is firmly challenged by Dominique Reeb, of the Fao's forestry department, who explained to the French daily Le Monde: "Food security is achievable by increasing yields through ecosystem-friendly practices and by integrating forest resources." It is trees themselves, in fact, that improve agricultural productivity, thanks to their ability to keep the soil moist, provide shade and protection to crops, and create a habitat suited to pollinators.

Forests are essential for mitigating climate change

Not to mention that forested areas are capable of mitigating climate change, thereby limiting impacts on food production. In Asia, by contrast, priority has largely been given to cultivated land: tellingly, it is on this continent that the highest proportion of agricultural land is found (more than half of the total surface area) and the lowest proportion of forests (just 19 per cent).

Also in geographical terms, the Fao identifies which countries — in the period 2000–2010 — gained forested areas within their territories and which instead lost them. In the first group are, among others, the United States, Chile, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom and China. "The state of the world's forests," observed José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Fao, "shows how some states have managed to improve agricultural productivity and the degree of food security of their populations, while at the same time recording an increase in forest cover. Today the challenge is to be able to encourage these positive trends especially in the poorest countries, where malnutrition is still widespread and forest area is declining." Negative data, by contrast, were recorded — among others — in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Portugal, Australia and numerous African and south-east Asian nations. The overall result is that today, on a planetary scale, crops cover 37.7 per cent of land, while forests account for just 30.7 per cent.

Good news for Italy, but only thanks to nature

One piece of good news, however, comes from boreal and temperate forests: in these areas the wooded surface has increased relative to agricultural land. This is explained primarily by the natural expansion of forests onto abandoned agricultural land. An increase of 26 million hectares was thus recorded in the macro-area comprising Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, as confirmed by a study published in 2011 by Pnas. But the phenomenon has been observed in Italy too: an analysis carried out by the Corpo forestale dello stato in 2016 indicates that the national forest area grew by 5.8 per cent compared to 2005, reaching close to eleven million hectares. Of this increase, however, only a small part is due to reforestation efforts: the rest is the result of the natural expansion of woodlands, itself a consequence of the progressive abandonment of agro-silvo-pastoral activities.

In Italy itself, last August saw the launch of the public consultation for the drafting of the Piano Nazionale di Adattamento ai Cambiamenti Climatici. On the subject of forests, it proposes – among other things – a series of actions: the protection of biodiversity and the enhancement of forest resilience, the fight against wildfires, the reduction of hydrogeological instability, the protection of mountain areas, and the search for tree species better suited to a changing climate.