Today we discuss newly released data for 2020 that shows an increase in deforestation even as efforts to replant forests are sprouting up all over the world.

Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler joins us to unpack the 2020 deforestation data and how it fits into broader trends affecting global forest cover. We talk about how the Covid pandemic has impacted the world’s forests, how the 2020 fire season turned out, and what good news there is to be found in the deforestation data from last year.

As Rhett tells us, researchers recently determined that an area of forest the size of Madagascar has regrown since 2000. To help us take a closer look at the reforestation boom, we’re also joined on today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast by Mongabay staff writer Liz Kimbrough, who helped assemble Mongabay’s newly launched Reforestation Directory and wrote an accompanying feature article. Liz tells us about the impetus for the Directory, a database of hundreds of reforestation projects from across the globe that shows which tree-planting projects are publicly disclosing information on aspects of reforestation that are key to the projects’ success.

I wrote a recent article on reforestation as part of Mongabay’s Conservation Effectiveness series, so Liz and I ended up having more of a conversation about the findings of our respective coverage of reforestation.

You can explore the Reforestation Directory now, and here are all of the articles referenced in this episode of the Mongabay Newscast:

• “Global forest loss increased in 2020” (31 March 2021)

• “A Madagascar-sized area of forest has regrown since 2000” (12 May 2021)

• “Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?” (13 May 2021)

• “How settlers, scientists, and a women-led industry saved Brazil’s rarest primate” (14 May 2021)

• “How to pick a tree-planting project? Mongabay launches transparency tool to help supporters decide” (17 May 2021)

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, we ask that you please consider becoming a monthly sponsor via our Patreon page, at patreon.com/mongabay. Just a dollar per month will really help us offset the production costs and hosting fees, so if you’re a fan of our audio reports from nature’s frontline, please support the Mongabay Newscast at patreon.com/mongabay.

You can subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get your podcasts from. You can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website. Or you can download our new app for Apple and Android devices to gain fingertip access to new shows and all our previous episodes.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.