Solutions to Deforestation in Africa: 7 Options and Data

Africa lost a net 2.96 million hectares of forest a year between 2015 and 2025, the second-largest net loss of any region after South America, according to the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025. The solutions to deforestation in Africa that have real evidence behind them all deal with the main cause, which is the spread of farmland into forest. This guide lists seven of them, ordered by the driver they target, shows the dated numbers, and gives farmers and landowners a calculator to test how much land higher yields could spare.

Below you will find the forest data for Africa from FAO and Global Forest Watch, the main drivers, the seven solutions with an African example for each, a guide to choosing the right mix, and answers to common questions.

Solutions to deforestation in Africa at a glance

The table sums up the seven approaches. Each one is explained in its own section further down, with the source behind it.

How much forest is Africa losing?

Africa had 662.6 million hectares of forest in 2025, about 16% of the world’s forest area. That is roughly 117 million hectares less than in 1990, based on FAO’s regional table. Net loss was 3.28 million hectares a year in 1990 to 2000, 3.63 million in 2000 to 2015 and 2.96 million in 2015 to 2025.

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Forest area in Africa

Million hectares, FAO reporting years (gaps between years are uneven)

FAO separates two measures. Net change is forest lost minus forest gained through planting and natural regrowth. Deforestation is the gross conversion of forest to other uses. Gross deforestation in Africa fell from 4.08 million hectares a year in 2000 to 2015 to 3.45 million in 2015 to 2025. FAO credits most of the recent slowdown in net loss to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where reported net loss fell by about 0.5 million hectares a year.

Satellite data from Global Forest Watch tell a less hopeful story for the DRC. Global Forest Watch, which its operators have renamed Global Nature Watch, publishes yearly tree cover loss data from the University of Maryland. In 2025 the DRC had the third-largest loss of tropical primary forest in the world, after Brazil and Bolivia, according to the WRI Global Forest Review (April 2026). Cameroon had its highest primary forest loss on record. The two sources measure different things: FAO uses country reports of net forest area, while the satellite series counts gross loss of old-growth forest only.

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Gross deforestation in Africa slowed after 2015

Million hectares of forest converted to other uses per year, by African subregion (gross, not net)

What drives deforestation in Africa

Farming is the main driver. A 2021 FAO satellite survey found that agricultural expansion drives almost 90 percent of global deforestation. In Africa and Asia, more than 75 percent of the forest area lost between 2000 and 2018 was turned into cropland.

• Small-scale shifting cultivation. In the DRC, it caused 86% of primary forest loss from 2002 to 2025, according to the WRI analysis of the 2025 data.
• Cash crops. The same analysis links rising loss in Cameroon partly to cocoa, and reports that the DRC’s cocoa area grew more than five-fold from 2015 to 2024. The World Bank names cocoa farming as a main pressure on Ghana’s forests.
• Food and fuelwood needs. In parts of the Congo Basin and Madagascar, WRI links loss to local needs for food and fuelwood, poverty, population growth and weak governance.
• Conflict and fire. Armed conflict displaced communities in Cameroon, and rebel conflict has fuelled land clearing in the DRC. Fire caused 45% of the 2024 primary forest loss in the Republic of Congo, according to WRI’s report on the 2024 data.
• Small-scale mining. The World Bank lists it, with cocoa and unsustainable harvesting, among the pressures on Ghana’s forest belt.

Because farming is the main driver, the first three solutions below work on farms and village land. The other four change the money, the rules and the information around them.

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DR Congo: primary forest loss and the part caused by fire

Thousand hectares per year, humid tropical primary forest, 2018 to 2025

1. Grow more food on land already farmed

Best for: farming areas at the forest edge where yields are low and families clear new plots to grow more.

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Cereal yield: sub-Saharan Africa and selected comparisons

Tonnes per hectare, 2023 (regions and selected countries)

When yields are low, more food means more land. World Bank cereal yield data show sub-Saharan Africa averaged 1,570 kg per hectare in 2023, against a world average of 4,229 kg. South Africa reached 5,703 kg, so higher yields are possible on the continent.

Better seed, fertilizer at the right time and soil conservation practices can lift yields on fields already open. For practical methods, see our guide to soil conservation methods.

Higher yields do not protect forests on their own. A study of 58 countries from 1961 to 2014 found that most low-input, mainly developing countries still increased their cropped area as yields rose. The authors conclude that expecting intensive farming to protect wild land on its own is inadequate (PNAS, 2018). Yield gains help most when they come with land-use plans and enforcement, which are covered in solutions 3 and 6.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

2. Keep and regrow trees on farms

Best for: dry and semi-dry farmland, and cocoa and coffee areas where shade trees fit the crop.

Agroforestry means growing trees together with crops or livestock. Trees on farmland can supply firewood, fodder, fruit and timber close to home. The best-known African case is farmer-managed natural regeneration in Niger. Farmers protect and prune shoots that regrow from living stumps and roots instead of clearing them.

Researchers estimated that this spread over about 5 million hectares in southern Niger. It reduced wind erosion and raised the output and sales of crops, fodder, firewood and fruit, according to an IFPRI paper by Reij, Tappan and Smale (2009). In Burkina Faso, traditional soil and water conservation brought at least 200,000 hectares of degraded land back into use. Women benefited from better supplies of water, fuelwood and other tree products.

The trend is not automatic. Among the 67 countries that reported agroforestry trends to FAO, the area of agroforestry in Africa decreased between 1990 and 2025, while it rose in Asia, Europe and South America.

▶ Satellite and AI tree detection that counts and maps individual trees across a plantation · 4:05

3. Give communities rights and a role in forest care

Best for: forests used by nearby villages where nobody has clear rights, so the first person to clear the land gains.

When a community holds legal rights to a forest and its products, it has a reason to guard it. Ethiopia has used participatory forest management, in which local forest user associations take part in managing a forest.

A remote-sensing study by Takahashi and Todo found that forest area rose by 1.5% in the first two years where an association existed, and fell by 3.3% where none existed (JICA Research Institute, 2011). There was a warning sign: forest loss was higher in the year an association was set up, which the authors read as possible last-minute logging before the rules started. Tenure reform therefore needs clear maps and early monitoring.

4. Pay for verified results

Best for: provinces and countries with a forest monitoring system and a plan to share benefits with the people who do the work.

Infographic

How a results-based forest payment works, in 5 steps

1. 1Sign an agreementCountry and fund agree terms, for example up to $50 million for 10 million tons.
2. 2Act on the groundForest protection, rehabilitation and agroforestry in the programme area.
3. 3MonitorThe country reports emission cuts for a set period.
4. 4VerifyAn independent third party checks the report.
5. 5Pay and shareThe fund pays and the country shares money under a benefit-sharing plan.

Clearing forest for crops brings income at once, while a standing forest may bring its users little cash. Results-based payments under REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) change that by paying for emission cuts after they are measured and verified.

Four African countries have received payments from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Mozambique was first, with $6.4 million in 2021 for 1.28 million tons of emission cuts in Zambézia Province. Ghana received $4.86 million in 2023 for its cocoa-forest landscape. Madagascar received $8.8 million in December 2023. Côte d’Ivoire received $35 million in June 2024 for 7 million tons, under a programme that covers forest conservation, rehabilitation and agroforestry in the cocoa belt. The Mozambique, Madagascar and Côte d’Ivoire releases say the cuts were confirmed by independent third-party verification.

The amounts are small next to the size of the forests. Each agreement allows up to about $50 million for 10 million tons, which is $5 a ton. See also carbon footprinting for farms.

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World Bank results payments to African countries

US$ million, one announced payment per country, year of announcement in brackets

5. Make supply chains deforestation-free

Best for: export crops such as cocoa, coffee, rubber and timber, where a few large buyers can set rules for many farms.

The EU Deforestation Regulation covers cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee and rubber, and products made from them. It applies from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and from 30 June 2027 for most micro and small operators (30 December 2026 for those already covered by the EU Timber Regulation), according to the European Commission (checked October 2026). Firms selling into the EU must be able to show that the goods do not come from recently deforested land. Doing that means tracing goods back toward the farms that grew them.

For a cocoa or coffee grower in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon or Ethiopia who sells to EU-bound exporters, clear farm records can help that tracing. See product traceability for field mapping and records.

6. Watch forests by satellite and act on alerts

Best for: large or remote forests where patrols cannot see clearing until it is too late.

Alert systems such as GLAD, built on NASA Landsat images processed at the University of Maryland, email subscribers when they detect forest clearing. They help only when someone receives them and acts. A study in Nature Climate Change compared the five years before and the first two years after the GLAD alert system started. In Africa, forest loss in areas where organisations subscribed to the alerts was 18% lower in the first two years than in the five years before (Oregon State University, 2021). The study found no substantial change in Asia or South America.

Programmes that manage many farms can view them on one map with a multi-farm dashboard, and developers can pull satellite layers through a satellite data API. Background on monitoring agriculture by satellite is in our French-language guide. Satellites show where vegetation changed. They do not show who cleared the land or why, so field checks are still needed.

▶ How the NDVI vegetation index turns satellite images into a measure of green cover, from bare ground to dense vegetation. · 14:37

7. Restore degraded land at scale

Best for: worn-out farmland, overgrazed hills and old mining or logging sites near forest.

Restoring land that is already degraded gives people timber, firewood and grazing without cutting into standing forest. Under the AFR100 initiative, 34 African countries have committed 129.5 million hectares toward a goal of 100 million hectares in restoration by 2030. The AFR100 site does not report how much land has been restored so far, so treat the pledges as targets.

Niger’s case shows that restoration can rely on trees regrowing from roots and stumps already in the soil, not only on new planting. Where planting is needed, it should use species that fit the site, and young trees need protection from grazing and fire.

How to choose the right mix

No single solution works everywhere. Ask four questions about the landscape:

1. What is replacing the forest? Small food plots point to solutions 1 and 2. Cocoa or coffee farms point to 2 and 5. Fire scars point to 6.
2. Who owns the land? If nobody holds clear rights, start with solution 3. Payments and supply-chain rules need a known owner.
3. Can anyone see the clearing? Without monitoring, rules and payments cannot be checked. Solution 6 supports all the others.
4. Who pays? Export buyers can fund supply-chain work. Results-based funds pay governments. Yield gains pay farmers directly.

In practice, the African examples above combine several approaches. Ghana’s and Côte d’Ivoire’s World Bank programmes pair payments with agroforestry in cocoa landscapes, and Niger’s regrowth was managed by farmers themselves.

What farmers and landowners can do

Farmers are not only the cause of forest loss. They also make many of the daily decisions that can stop it. Steps that fit a farm at the forest edge:

• Map your field boundaries and keep the map with your sales records, in case a buyer needs to trace where a crop was grown. For how field maps are used in lending, see satellite data for crop loans and insurance.
• Raise yields on your current plots before you open new land. Ask your local extension office about seed, fertilizer timing and soil cover.
• Protect useful trees and regrowing stumps on your land rather than clearing them.
• Join or form a forest user group if your area allows community forest management.
• Ask your cooperative or buyer whether a results-based payment or certification scheme covers your area.
• Check your fields and nearby forest on satellite images each season to spot change early.

People far from Africa can help too: buy cocoa, coffee and timber from sources that can show where they were grown, and support community forest groups and restoration projects with a track record. For a general list of solutions not tied to Africa, see our guide to deforestation prevention methods.

For satellite views of your own fields, Farmonaut shows vegetation change on fields you draw.

Country snapshots

The same solutions look different from country to country. This table pairs each country’s main forest problem with an approach under way there or, where none is cited, the wider context, using only the sources cited in this guide.

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Largest tropical primary forest loss, 2025

Thousand hectares, the eight largest countries by area lost

Two points stand out. First, each carbon payment covered emission cuts in a defined area over a set monitoring period, and was made only after the cuts were reported. Second, the farm-level cases, Niger and Ethiopia, began with local people gaining a stake in the trees.

Mistakes that make solutions fail

• Reading net change as deforestation. Net figures subtract forest gained through planting and natural regrowth, so they can hide how much forest was cleared. FAO reports both, and gross deforestation in Africa (3.45 million ha a year) is higher than net loss (2.96 million).
• Announcing rules before mapping. In the Ethiopian study, forest loss rose in the year user associations were set up.
• Raising yields with no land plan. In the PNAS study, most low-input countries kept expanding cropland as yields rose.
• Buying alerts that nobody reads. The fall in forest loss was measured where organisations subscribed to the alerts.
• Counting pledges as results. AFR100 lists 129.5 million ha committed but does not report how much has been restored.

How we checked the numbers

Forest area and loss figures come from the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 regional tables. Primary forest loss by country comes from Global Forest Watch data (University of Maryland) as published in the WRI Global Forest Review in April 2026. Yields come from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (2023 values). Payments come from World Bank press releases, and rule dates from the European Commission. We list a figure only where we opened the source and it states that figure. The order of the seven solutions follows the driver they tackle, starting with farmland, not a measured ranking of impact.

FAQ

What is the main cause of deforestation in Africa?

Turning forest into farmland. FAO’s 2021 survey found that more than 75 percent of the forest area lost in Africa and Asia between 2000 and 2018 became cropland. In the DRC, small-scale shifting cultivation caused 86% of primary forest loss from 2002 to 2025, according to WRI.

Is deforestation in Africa getting better or worse?

Both, depending on the measure. FAO reports that Africa’s net loss slowed from 3.63 million hectares a year (2000 to 2015) to 2.96 million (2015 to 2025). Satellite data show the DRC’s primary forest loss reached a record in 2024 and fell only 5% in 2025, while Cameroon set a new record in 2025.

Which African country loses the most forest?

The DRC. It had the third-largest tropical primary forest loss in the world in 2025, about 559,000 hectares, according to Global Forest Watch data in the WRI Global Forest Review.

How can I help combat deforestation in Africa from abroad?

Buy cocoa, coffee and wood products whose origin can be traced, and support community forest groups and restoration projects that publish their results. From 30 December 2026, EU rules require large and medium firms to show that these goods are not linked to deforestation.

What are the solutions to deforestation in points?

In short: raise yields on existing farms; keep and regrow trees on farms; give communities forest rights; pay for verified results; make supply chains deforestation-free; monitor forests by satellite and act on alerts; and restore degraded land.

What is REDD+?

REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Under it, countries or provinces are paid for emission cuts that are measured and checked by an outside body. Mozambique, Ghana, Madagascar and Côte d’Ivoire have received such payments from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.

Does planting trees solve deforestation?

Planting helps on degraded land, but it does not replace an old forest that is cut. Protecting standing forest comes first. On farmland, letting trees regrow from existing roots, as farmers did in Niger, is another option.

Can satellites stop illegal clearing?

Satellites can only flag clearing. In a 2021 study, forest loss in African areas where organisations subscribed to alerts was 18% lower in the first two years than in the five years before, and there was no substantial change in Asia or South America. Someone still has to check the site and enforce the rules.