‘Alarming’ rate of mountain forest loss a threat to wildlife

The Făgăraş mountains in Romania. Seven per cent of mountain forest across the world has been lost in the past two decades. Photograph: Agent Green/AP

An area of mountain forest larger than the state of Texas has been lost since 2001, with the amount disappearing each year accelerating at an “alarming” rate, a study warns.

Scientists found 78m hectares (193m acres) of mountain forest have been lost across the world in the past two decades, which is more than 7% of all that exists. The main drivers of loss were logging, the expansion of agriculture and wildfires.