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We present a detailed look at the major 2022 Amazon forest loss hotspots, based on the final annual data recently released by the University of Maryland (and featured on Global Forest Watch).
This dataset is unique in that it is consistent across all nine countries of the Amazon, and distinguishes forest loss from fire, leaving the rest as a proxy for deforestation (but also includes natural loss).
Thus, we are able to present both deforestation and fire hotspots across the Amazon.
The Base Map (see right) and Results Graph (see below) reveal several key findings:
In 2022, we estimate the deforestation of 1.98 million hectares (4.89 million acres). This represents a major 21% increase from 2021, and is the second highest on record, behind only the peak in 2004.
Below, we zoom in on Brazil with additional maps and analysis showing the vast majority of the deforestation occurred in Brazil (72.8%)
Fires impacted an additional 491,223 hectares (1.2 million acres) of primary forest. This total represents a 1.6% increase from 2021, and the 4th highest on record (behind only intense fire seasons of 2016, 2017, and 2020). Moreover, each of the seven most intense fire seasons has occurred in the past seven years. Nearly 93% of the fire impact occurred in just two countries: Brazil and Bolivia.
In total, 2.47 million hectares (6.1 million acres) of primary forest were impacted by deforestation and fire. This total represents the third highest on record, only behind the post-El Niño years of 2016 and 2017.
Since 2002, we estimate the deforestation of 30.7 million hectares (75.9 million acres) of primary forest, greater than the size of Italy or the U.S. state of Arizona.
Brazilian Amazon
2016. This PDF was generated from MAAPROJECT.org MAAP is developed by Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) All use is Open-Access, but must contain an attribution link back to maaproject.org or the citation at the end of the article.
MAAP
Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project
https://maaproject.org
Brazil Base Map, 2022. Deforestation and fire hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon in relation to major roads. Data: UMD/GLAD, ACA/MAAP.
In 2022, the Brazilian Amazon lost 1.4 million hectares (3.56 million acres) of primary forest to deforestation. Fires directly impacted an additional 348,824 hectares.
The deforestation rose 20.5% from 2021, and was the highest on record since the peak years of 2002 – 2005. The fire impact was the 4th highest on record, only behind the intense fire years of 2016, 2017, and 2020.
The deforestation was concentrated along the major road networks, especially roads 230 (Trans-Amazonian Highway), 364, 319, and 163 in the states of Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Acre (see Brazil Base Map).
The direct fire impacts were concentrated in the soy frontier, located in southeastern state of Mato Grosso
2016. This PDF was generated from MAAPROJECT.org MAAP is developed by Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) All use is Open-Access, but must contain an attribution link back to maaproject.org or the citation at the end of the article.
MAAP
Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project
https://maaproject.org
Methodology
The analysis was based on 30-meter resolution annual forest loss data produced by the University of Maryland and also presented by Global Forest Watch.
This data was complemented with the Global Forest Loss due to fire dataset that is unique in terms of being consistent across the Amazon (in contrast to country specific estimates) and distinguishes forest loss caused directly by fire (note that virtually all Amazon fires are human-caused). The values included were ‘medium’ and ‘high’ confidence levels (code 3-4).
The remaining forest loss serves as a likely close proxy for deforestation, with the only remaining exception being natural events such as landslides, wind storms, and meandering rivers. The values used to estimate this category was ‘low’ certainty of forest loss due to fire (code 2), and forest loss due to other ‘non-fire’ drivers (code 1).
For the baseline, it was defined to establish areas with >30% tree canopy density in 2000. Importantly, we applied a filter to calculate only primary forest loss by intersecting the forest cover loss data with the additional dataset “primary humid tropical forests” as of 2001 (Turubanova et al 2018). For more details on this part of the methodology, see the Technical Blog from Global Forest Watch (Goldman and Weisse 2019).
Our geographic range for the Amazon is a hybrid designed for maximum inclusion: biogeographic boundary (as defined by RAISG) for all countries, except for Bolivia and Peru, where we use the watershed boundary, and Brazil, where we use the Legal Amazon boundary.
To identify the deforestation hotspots, we conducted a kernel density estimate. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case, forest cover loss. We conducted this analysis using the Kernel Density tool from the Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS. We used the following parameters:
Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.
2016. This PDF was generated from MAAPROJECT.org MAAP is developed by Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) All use is Open-Access, but must contain an attribution link back to maaproject.org or the citation at the end of the article.
MAAP
Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project
https://maaproject.org
For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: High: 3-14%; Very High: >14%.
Acknowledgements
We thank colleagues at Global Forest Watch (GFW), an initiative of the World Resources Institute (WRI) for comments and access to data.
This work was supported by Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and ICFC (International Conservation Fund of Canada).
Citation
Finer M, Mamani N (2023) Amazon Deforestation & Fire Hotspots 2022. MAAP: 187
