Study finds mining converted 190,000 hectares of African forest from 2001 to 2020

Researchers at the universities of Cambridge and Sheffield reported that mining converted nearly 190,000 hectares of forest in Africa between 2001 and 2020. The study found that every hectare cleared inside a mine's immediate footprint led to an average of 34 additional hectares of forest loss, typically from roads and settlements built to support the mine.

Regional variation In the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds more than half of global cobalt reserves used in electric-vehicle batteries, the multiplier rose to 58 hectares of additional forest loss per hectare cleared for mining. The researchers wrote that the minerals needed for technologies meant to address climate change could speed up ecological collapse in biodiversity hotspots.

The area converted equals roughly the size of Comoros, a small fraction of the continent's total forest cover.