Net Forest conversion — Emissions in South America

South America: Net Forest conversion — Emissions was 1.65 million kt in 2023. ▼ Falling

Latest (2023)
1.65 million kt
Change on year
unchanged
Rank
2nd
of 47 regions
All-time high
2.65 million kt
in 1990
All-time low
1.37 million kt
in 2011
Years of data
34
1990–2023

Net Forest conversion — Emissions in South America, 1990–2023

01.0M2.0M3.0M1990200620231990: 2.7M kt1991: 2.7M kt1992: 2.7M kt1993: 2.7M kt1994: 2.7M kt1995: 2.7M kt1996: 2.7M kt1997: 2.7M kt1998: 2.7M kt1999: 2.7M kt2000: 2.7M kt2001: 1.9M kt2002: 1.9M kt2003: 1.9M kt2004: 1.9M kt2005: 1.9M kt2006: 1.9M kt2007: 1.9M kt2008: 1.9M kt2009: 1.9M kt2010: 1.9M kt2011: 1.4M kt2012: 1.4M kt2013: 1.4M kt2014: 1.4M kt2015: 1.4M kt2016: 1.4M kt2017: 1.4M kt2018: 1.4M kt2019: 1.4M kt2020: 1.4M kt2021: 1.7M kt2022: 1.7M kt2023: 1.7M kt

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in kt.

Analysis

In 2023, net forest conversion — emissions in South America stood at 1.65 million kt.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 20.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, net forest conversion — emissions in South America peaked at 2.65 million kt in 1990 and was at its lowest, 1.37 million kt, in 2011.

South America ranks 2nd of 47 regions on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 34 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 2.65 million kt 2.65 million kt 2.65 million kt 10
2000s 2.02 million kt 1.95 million kt 2.65 million kt 10
2010s 1.45 million kt 1.37 million kt 1.95 million kt 10
2020s 1.59 million kt 1.42 million kt 1.65 million kt 4

Countries ranked near South America

  1. 1 Brazil 1.24 million kt compare
  2. 2 OECD 147,607 kt compare
  3. 3 Peru 130,591 kt compare
  4. 4 Canada 92,700 kt compare
  5. 5 Cambodia 71,652 kt compare

See the full ranking of 271 places →

More climate change data for South America

All data for South America →

Frequently asked questions

What is net forest conversion — emissions in South America?
Net forest conversion — emissions in South America was 1.65 million kt in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest net forest conversion — emissions recorded in South America?
The highest recorded value was 2.65 million kt in 1990.
What is the lowest net forest conversion — emissions recorded in South America?
The lowest recorded value was 1.37 million kt in 2011.
How does South America rank for net forest conversion — emissions?
South America ranks 2nd out of 47 regions with data for 2023.
Is net forest conversion — emissions rising or falling in South America?
Over the last ten years it is up 20.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this South America data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Net Forest conversion — Emissions (CO2). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Net Forest conversion — Emissions in South America. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 17 August 2026, from https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/net-forest-conversion-emissions-co2-fao-tier-1/south-america/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/net-forest-conversion-emissions-co2-fao-tier-1/south-america/">Net Forest conversion — Emissions in South America</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Net Forest conversion — Emissions (CO2)
Unit
kt
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
271 places, 9,006 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions Totals summarizes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disseminated in the FAOSTAT Climate Change domains of emissions from agrifood systems. Data are computed following the Tier 1 methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National greenhouse gas (GHG) Inventories (IPCC, 1996; 1997; 2000; 2002; 2006; 2014). Emissions from other economic sectors as defined by the IPCC are also disseminated in the domain for completeness. Methodological details can be found at: https://files-faostat.fao.org/production/GT/GT_en.pdf