Ghana’s cocoa forest landscape has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa, at 3.2% per year. Forest degradation and deforestation across this agro-forest mosaic, which covers 5.9 million ha of Ghana’s High Forest Zone, is being driven by continued cocoa farm expansion and other types of agriculture, coupled with a recent up-surge in illegal mining and logging. View Country Profile. 

Guyana has an estimated 18.4 million ha of forests, accounting for about 85% of the country’s total land area. Much of these forests make up part of South America’s Guiana Shield, one of the largest remaining blocks of primary tropical forest on earth, containing the highest percentage of primary forest cover (over 90% is intact tropical forest) of any major tropical forested area. It is therefore critical for Guyana to choose a development pathway rooted in sustainable land use, including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Gabon is an equatorial country located at the western end of the Congo Basin rainforest, and is the second most forested country in the world. Substantial oil and mineral resources have helped to keep deforestation rates relatively low. The country’s main drivers of deforestation include some limited agricultural expansion, timber and fuelwood extraction, and infrastructure development.

In recent decades, Ethiopia has seen a decline in its forest cover, from 15 million ha in 1990 to 12.2 million ha in 2010. The country’s two most prominent drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are conversion of forests to agricultural land and unsustainable fuelwood consumption. These drivers have been enabled by deficiencies in Ethiopia’s regulatory and institutional environment. A lack of regulation combined with the absence of a strong, dedicated forestry institution have failed to adequately protect the country’s forests.

Forests in El Salvador account for just over 15% of the country’s total land area. The country’s main causes of deforestation vary from one zone to another, and include the expansion of agricultural activities, urban growth and infrastructure construction, livestock production, and firewood extraction. In El Salvador’s environmentally important mangroves, drivers of deforestation and degradation include illegal logging and extraction of firewood, agricultural and livestock activities, and the establishment of salt works and small shrimp hatcheries.

Colombia has 61.3 million ha of forests, accounting for 54% of the country's total land area. Enduring deforestation rates are attributed to the extension of Colombia’s agricultural and livestock frontier, illicit crops, population displacement, infrastructure development, mining and wildfires.

Forest cover represents about half of CAR’s total land area. The country’s increasing rate of deforestation and forest degradation has been attributed to several main drivers, including unsustainable livestock farming, slash-and-burn agriculture, informal and uncontrolled logging and collection of fuelwood and non-timber forest products, and infrastructure development.

Cambodia has one of the highest levels of forest cover in Southeast Asia, with approximately 10.7 million ha representing 59% of the country’s total land area. With an enduring deforestation rate of 0.8% per year, Cambodia is classified as a "high forest cover, high deforestation" country. Direct drivers of deforestation include unsustainable and illegal logging, forest fires and unsustainable fuelwood collection.

Cameroon’s rainforests cover approximately 46% of the national territory and account for 11% of the Congo Basin forest area. Cameroon is grappling with the adverse effects of climate change and with increasing pressure on forests. Direct drivers of deforestation in Cameroon include slash-and-burn agriculture, bush fires, infrastructure development, mining, and illegal fuelwood exploitation. 

Deforestation rates have increased progressively in Bolivia’s protected areas since the mid-1970s. The country’s main drivers of deforestation are the expansion of large-scale soy bean and other industrial crops, slash-and-burn practices, forest fires, infrastructure development and mining. One of Bolivia’s main underlying drivers of deforestation is the low price of land that has attracted foreign investments directly into the agricultural sector.