In the past 25 years, 3.3 million km2 of forest has been cut down. This means that every 2 seconds a football field of forest disappears. There has been large-scale deforestation particularly in the Amazon basin, in the Congolese rainforest, in Indonesia, and in the boreal rainforests.

Trees are cut down to acquire land for livestock farming and agriculture, for construction, mining, oil extraction, and unsustainable timber production. The consequences for the ecosystem and the emissions of greenhouse gases are immense.