Map shows the millions of acres of Brazilian Amazon rain forest lost last year

Because of human activities the world continued to lose forests in 2018, according to data compiled by research group Global Forest Watch and analysts at the University of Maryland.

Clear cutting—removing large patches of forest indiscriminately—caused the highest loss of forest cover overall. Much of that was to make room for ranching, but other commercial activities like mining and soy production were also involved. Forest loss was down overall from the previous year by nearly 50 percent, largely due to massive wildfires in 2016 and 2017. But without wildfires, forest loss was up by roughly 13 percent. That has implications for climate change as well as other environmental concerns, the researchers note.

In addition to providing habitat for animals and other