A lost cause. The global fight against deforestation has failed as the world falls short on acting upon its pledge to halt the occurrence according to a recent report.

The New York Declaration on Forests, a pledge aimed to cut deforestation in half by next year and put it to a complete stop by 2030, failed to deliver on its key pledges. The global agreement launched back in 2014 at the United Nations climate summit hasn’t kept deforestation from continuing at distressing rates; which will ultimately lead to a defeat in the battle against climate change according to experts.

NYDF Assessment Partners’ report that assessed the results of the pledge suggested that deforestation rates not only persisted, it even increased.

Co-ordinator of the report and director of Climate Focus Charlotte Streck gave a disheartening insight regarding the report’s result. “Since the NYDF was launched five years ago, deforestation has not only continued – it has actually accelerated,” she tells BBC.

The report further revealed that annual carbon emissions stemming from global deforestation are tantamount to the greenhouse gases of Europe. It also pointed out that the world is losing tree cover in areas the size of the United Kingdom annually from 2014 to 2018.

90% of global deforestation is recorded from tropical forest loss particularly in the nations of Amazonia including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.

But as deforestation persists in these areas, new hotspots are being identified in West Africa with Congo’s tree-felling at twice the rate in the past five years. The devastating report shows a bleak future for our planet.