Panama is one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin American, but some of this growth has led to the loss of more than 250,000 hectares of mature forest in less than a decade. Uncontrolled deforestation has increased erosion rates and the risk of desertification, which are expected to be aggravated by the effects of climate change.
The area of highest priority for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Nicaragua is its Caribbean Coast that contains 80% (3.2 million ha) of Nicaragua’s total forest area, and is home to the country’s Bosawas Biosphere Reserve and Indio Maiz Biological Reserve. The Caribbean Coast has been a major source of deforestation and forest degradation in Nicaragua, driven primarily by extensive livestock and agricultural production, forest fires, firewood collection and logging.
Liberia’s forests are extremely rich in biodiversity and are recognized as a global conservation hotspot. The country has approximately 6.6 million ha of lowland tropical forests that form part of the remaining Upper Guinea forests of West Africa.
Kenya has an estimated 3.5 million ha of forest and an additional 24.5 million ha of bush land. The country loses about 12,000 ha of forest each year through deforestation driven primarily by forest conversion for agriculture and infrastructure development. The remaining forests are degraded due to several factors, including unsustainable land use, illegal logging, uncontrolled grazing and exploitation for charcoal.
Some of the most important forest cover areas in Indonesia lie in the country’s East Kalimantan Province. This region has just under 7 million ha of tropical forests which are home to a wealth of globally significant biodiversity, and that support numerous indigenous and other local communities. More than 10% of East Kalimantan’s remaining forest cover was lost over the past decade, due primarily to the expansion of oil palm plantations, timber plantations, and mining.
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.