Band 9: The pie chart below shows the main reasons why forests are declining worldwide. The table presents how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 2010s. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The pie chart illustrates the major contributors to the causes of worldwide deforestation, while the table presents the percentages of forests affected by these factors in North America, Europe, and South America during the 2010s.

Overall, logging is the leading cause of deforestation on a global scale. Additionally, Europe experienced the highest level of deforestation, while North America was the least affected.

According to the pie chart, logging accounts for the largest share of forest degradation at 40%, followed by agriculture at 30% and urban expansion at 20%. Only 10% of forest degradation is attributed to unspecified factors.

The table highlights that 25.5% of Europe’s forests were affected, with approximately 15% attributed to agriculture. South America ranked second, with 17.5% of its forests affected, primarily due to logging, which accounted for 13%. Notably, only 0.2% of forest degradation in South America was due to agriculture. North America experienced the least land degradation at 9.4%, with logging being the primary cause at 5.3%, while urban expansion had the smallest impact at just 1.6%.