Deforestation

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Images, Videos & Interactives

Edge of a dense forest in Romania where clear cutting has removed most trees, leaving a bare, brown slope beside standing green trees.

Deforestation in Brazil

Interactive satellite map of Rondonia, Brazil, showing dense unbroken rainforest in 1975, with timeline controls comparing images through 2024 and an inset map locating the state in the Amazon Basin.

World map using color codes to show the distribution of tropical rainforests, dry or deciduous forests, and deforested areas in the early 21st century. Dense green highlights rainforests in regions like the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central America, while yellow and orange indicate dry forests and areas affected by deforestation.

Learn how the Brazilian government incentivized forest clearing in the Amazon for beef production and ranching

Illegal mining operation

Borneo deforestation

Macaws in Manú National Park, Peru

Aerial view of a quarry site with exposed brown earth and construction vehicles, adjacent to dense green forest in Malappuram, Kerala, India.

At a Glance

default image

deforestation summary

Deforestation: Media

ecology

Videos

Learn how the Brazilian government incentivized forest clearing in the Amazon for beef production and ranching

Learn how the Brazilian government incentivized forest clearing in the Amazon for beef production and ranching

Deforestation of the Amazon River basin has followed a pattern of cutting, burning,...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Learn how deforestation in Central American countries like Belize gives way to erosion and poverty

Learn how deforestation in Central American countries like Belize gives way to erosion and poverty

In Belize and elsewhere in Central America, deforestation has caused serious problems.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Why are rainforests so important?

Why are rainforests so important?

Rainforests are where the ancestors of humans first evolved—and where our closest...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Edge of a dense forest in Romania where clear cutting has removed most trees, leaving a bare, brown slope beside standing green trees.

Deforestation

A section of clear-cut forest in Romania.

© Ionescu Bogdan/stock.adobe.com

Deforestation in Brazil

Deforestation in Brazil

The coastal forest of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, badly fragmented as portions...

Courtesy, Stuart L. Pimm

World map using color codes to show the distribution of tropical rainforests, dry or deciduous forests, and deforested areas in the early 21st century. Dense green highlights rainforests in regions like the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central America, while yellow and orange indicate dry forests and areas affected by deforestation.

Deforestation of tropical forests

Map of tropical forests and deforestation in the early 21st century.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Illegal mining operation

Illegal mining operation

An aerial view of an illegal gold mining activities in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil....

© Imago Photo/stock.adobe.com

Borneo deforestation

Borneo deforestation

Satellite images showing deforestation in Borneo from 2000 to 2018.

M.C. Hansen et al., University of Maryland, Google, USGS, NASA

Macaws in Manú National Park, Peru

Macaws in Manú National Park, Peru

Scarlet and red-and-green macaws fly over Manú National Park in southeastern Peru,...

© Miguel/stock.adobe.com

Aerial view of a quarry site with exposed brown earth and construction vehicles, adjacent to dense green forest in Malappuram, Kerala, India.

Habitat loss

Deforestation, as in this quarry in Kerala, India, reduces the overall habitat available...

© Gulfu Photography—Moment/Getty Images

deforestation

deforestation

Area of deforestation, Madagascar.

© Christopher Call Productions

Aerial view of Nauru, a small island surrounded by blue ocean, showing a narrow coastal strip of greenery and a barren, mined interior landscape.

Deforestation resulting from phosphate mining, Nauru.

Torsten Blackwood—AFP/Getty Images

Aerial view of Amazon rainforest showing a large cleared area with exposed soil and felled trees bordering dense green forest.

deforestation of the Amazon basin

Forested areas cleared for agriculture. Since the soils of the basin lack nitrogen,...

© luoman—E+/Getty Images

A river flows beside a barren area scattered with tree stumps, showing deforestation or drought effects; a dense forest stands in the background.

deforestation in Australia

Riverside deforestation in Australia.

© terrasprite—iStock/Getty Images

Smoke rises among scattered trees during slash and burn forest clearance in the Amazon rainforest, with charred ground and partially burned vegetation visible.

Amazon deforestation: slash-and-burn

Slash-and-burn forest clearing in the Amazon.

© Stockbyte/Getty Images

Charred tree trunks and smoldering ash cover a deforested area of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, with smoke rising among sparse remaining trees.

deforestation

Smoldering remains of a plot of deforested land in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.

© Brasil2/iStock.com

Satellite image of Carajás mining area, 1986Deforestation is evident in Brazil's Carajás region in the state of Pará, by comparing images from 1986 and 1992. Cleared land appears bluish green.

Satellite image of Carajás mining area, 1986Deforestation...

NASA Landsat Pathfinder/Tropical Rainforest Information Center

satellite imagery of deforestation

satellite imagery of deforestation

Colour-coded Landsat satellite images of Brazil's Carajás mining area, documenting...

NASA Landsat Pathfinder/Tropical Rainforest Information Center

Satellite image of Carajás mining area, 1992, showing extensive land clearance in zones that were forested in 1986. Cleared land appears bluish green.

Satellite image of Carajás mining area, 1992, showing extensive land clearance in...

NASA Landsat Pathfinder/Tropical Rainforest Information Center

Interactives

Interactive satellite map of Rondonia, Brazil, showing dense unbroken rainforest in 1975, with timeline controls comparing images through 2024 and an inset map locating the state in the Amazon Basin.

Interactive satellite map of deforestation in Rondônia, Brazil

An interactive timeline using Landsat satellite imagery to track Amazon rainforest...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., USGS

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