Peru records significant decline in Amazon forest loss in 2021

Peru lost 137,976 hectares of its Amazon forests in 2021, a 32 percent decrease compared to 2020, the Ministry of Environment (Minam) reported Sunday.

The data were obtained as part of Minam’s National Program for Forest Conservation to Combat Climate Change, in collaboration with the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (Serfor) of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation.

Blanca Arce, the executive coordinator of the Forest Program, said in a press release that the studies had allowed a “significant reduction” in forest loss in at least 14 Amazon departments of this South American country.

According to the analysis, the Amazonas region registered a 62 percent decrease, from 11,541 hectares in 2020 to 4,329 in 2021.

Madre de Dios lost 23,142 hectares in 2021, a similar average to 2020.

In Loreto, the decrease was 43 percent, in Junín, 41.8 percent, in Cusco, 39.6 percent, in Pasco, 35.5 percent, in San Martín, 35 percent, in Ucayali, 23.2 percent, and in Huánuco 16.1 percent.

According to Arce, the data show a return to the trend of forest loss before the “exceptional event” of COVID-19 in 2020.

This means “that forest loss continues to be a very critical problem in the country and that its causes are still present,” which is why it is necessary to “strengthen the efforts and joint work of all sectors of the country to address this problem,” she warned.

The official added that the data on forest cover and loss by 2021 would allow public and private entities to intensify their strategies and actions for the “proper management of these ecosystems” in the country.