Clearance of vegetation

The World Wildlife Fund (Living Forests Report, Chapter 5: Saving Forests at Risk) in 2015 recognised eleven major deforestation fronts (places where the largest concentrations of forest loss or severe degradation are projected between 2010 and 2030).Collectively, these places will account for over 80 per cent of the forest loss projected globally by 2030, i.e. up to 170 million ha.on the planet (in approx order of scale): Amazon, Atlantic Forest/Gran Chaco, Borneo, Cerrado, Greater Mekong, Congo Basin, East Africa, New Guinea, Eastern Australia, Sumatra and Chocó-Darién. In addition, several temperate and boreal regions are undergoing considerable degradation, even though overall forest cover is not significantly changing.

Roughly 80% of original native vegetation has been cleared in New Zealand.