In 2018 12 million hectares of tropical rainforests or 30 football fields per minute were destroyed, the World Resources Institute reported. 3.64 million of these destroyed forests are primary and essential for climate and biodiversity, BTA reports.

The data is from the Global Forest Watch Annual Report for 2018, an organization that has been monitoring forests since 2001. Last year was the fourth worst for deforestation, after 2016 when the deforested area was 17 million hectares.

The most affected countries are Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia and Bolivia. The area of the tropical jungles destroyed last year is equal to Nicaragua, and the destroyed primary jungles are as big as Belgium.

New deforestation hot spots were revealed, particularly in Africa, where illegal mining, small-scale clearances and cocoa farm expansion led to notable tree loss in countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

The study revealed at least one positive. In Indonesia, primary forest loss slowed for the second year running, dropping by 63% compared to 2016.

This happened after the government imposed a moratorium on forest-clearing.

"The world's forests are now in the emergency room," said Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute, the research organization responsible for the study.