Africa lost around 3.6m ha (about 14,000 sq miles) of tree cover in 2022, according to new data.
This includes about 800,000 ha (3,000 sq miles) of primary - or old-growth - tropical forests, with the majority of that loss coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ghana has also seen a massive increase in tropical primary forest losses in recent years of about 70% - mostly in protected areas.
Losses have also accelerated in other countries, like Angola and Cameroon.
Nevertheless, there are countries - like Ivory Coast, Gabon and Madagascar - that have managed to reverse this trend, suggesting improvements are possible.
Primary tropical forests are critical for nature, climate and people.
For example, they take planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, preventing further temperature rises.
Scientists warn this can't easily be done by newer trees planted elsewhere because primary forests have developed over such a long period of time.
The increase in global deforestation – defined as human-caused, permanent removal of natural forest cover – followed pledges made by over 100 world leaders in 2021 to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030”.
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