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 primary causes of global deforestation, while the table compares the percentages of forests degraded by these factors in North America, Europe, and South America during the 2010s.

Overall, logging is the leading contributor to the decline of global forests. Among the three regions, Europe underwent the highest level of forest degradation, whereas North America impacted the least.

According to the pie chart, logging makes up the largest share of global forest degradation at 40%, followed closely by agriculture at 30% and urban expansion at 20%. Only a tenth of the forest is affected by other unspecified factors.

The table highlights that 25.5% of Europe’s forests were degraded, with approximately 15% attributed to agriculture. South America ranked second, with 17.5% of its forests badly impacted, primarily due to logging, accounting for 13%. Notably, almost no forest destruction in this area stemmed from agriculture. Conversely, North America experienced the lowest level of deforestation at under 10%, with logging being the primary cause at over 5%, while urban expansion had the smallest impact at just 1.6%.