By the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. Loss of Biodiversity: Forests are the only liveable habitat for a variety of species around the globe many of which have not even have been discovered. From 1850 to 1920, losses were around 50% higher at 30 million hectares per decade thats like losing a forested area the size of Italy every 10 years. When we cut down primary rainforest we are transforming this ecosystem forever. Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. This might paint a bleak picture for the future of the worlds forests: the United Nations projects that the global population will continue to grow, reaching 10.8 billion by 2100. Weve seen the five key drivers of forest loss. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Over the decade since 2010, the net loss in forests globally was 4.7 million hectares per year.1 However, deforestation rates were much significantly higher. Improvements in agricultural productivity tends to both drive and follow economic growth. Which countries are gaining, and which are losing forest? Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Another way that richer countries can contribute is by investing in technologies such as improved seed varieties, fertilizers and agricultural practices that allow farmers to increase yields. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. This highlights an important point: less than 20% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to clean fuels for cooking, meaning they still rely on wood and charcoal. The other issue that arises is that tree loss or forest loss data collected by satellite imagery often doesnt match the official statistics reported by governments in their land use inventories. Forests are mainly cut and burned to make space for local, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. This shifting agriculture category can be difficult to allocate between deforestation and degradation: it often requires close monitoring over time to understand how permanent these agricultural practices are. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. These countries might have high levels of afforestation at home, but theyre still having a net negative impact on the size of the worlds forests. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. 40% of traded deforestation ends up in high-income countries, meaning they are responsible for 12% of deforestation.29. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Whether we look at the distribution of endemic mammal species, bird species, or amphibian species, the map is the same: subtropical countries are packed with unique wildlife. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. The change is permanent. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. One option is to adopt stricter guidelines on what suppliers to source from, and implementing zero-deforestation policies that stop the trade of goods that have been produced on deforested land. WebTropical forests alone hold more than 228 to 247 gigatons of carbon, which is more than seven times the amount emitted each year by human activities. and an argument for why deforestation is worse than degradation. For example, Ellis et al. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. Noriko Hosonuma et al. Second, it makes clear how much deforestation accelerated over the last century. Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). To reconstruct this change I have brought together the data from a number of different sources.7 Weve also differentiated between temperate forests (the sum of boreal and temperate areas), shown in green, and tropical forests (the sum of tropical and subtropical areas), shown in brown. In a study published in Global Environmental Change, Florence Pendrill and colleagues investigated where tropical deforestation was occurring; what products were driving this; and, using global trade models, they traced where these products were going in international supply chains.34, They found that tropical deforestation given as the annual average between 2010 and 2014 was responsible for 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. We need more fuelwood to cook, more houses to live in, and importantly, more food to eat. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. How many trees are cut down each year?. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. The researchers found that 36 million trees are cut down in urban areas each year, and 167,000 acres of impervious areas (concrete, asphalt, etc.) Bringing all of these elements together, we can focus on a few points that should help us prioritise our efforts to end deforestation. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. In a previous article I showed that the types of food you eat matter much more for your carbon footprint than where it comes from this is because transport usually makes up a small percentage of your foods emissions, even if it comes from the other side of the world. Williams, M. (2003). By 1900, there were 1.65 billion people in the world (five times fewer than we have today) but for most of the previous period, humans were deforesting the world with only tens or hundreds of millions. The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end of deforestation is possible. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. First, it reiterates that deforestation is not a new problem: relatively small populations of the past were capable of driving a large amount of forest loss. Help us do this work by making a donation. What activities are driving this? Available here. But this is no longer the case: forest loss across North America and Europe is now the result of harvesting forestry products from tree plantations, or tree loss in wildfires. Thats an area the size of the United Kingdom. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. Forest loss or tree loss captures two fundamental impacts on forest cover: deforestation and forest degradation. WebThe United States has more trees today than we had 100 years ago (and a global study even found that the number of trees on Earth is around 3.04 trillion, a much higher number than previously believed.) It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. It breaks the change in forests into four stages, explained by two variables: the amount of forest cover a region has, and the annual change in cover (how quickly it is losing or gaining forest).15. Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Stage 2 The Early Transition phase is when countries start to lose forests very rapidly. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forest Resources Assessment estimates global deforestation, averaged over the five-year period from 2015 to 2020 was 10 million hectares per year. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. But we also need to know what products are driving this. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. If we can identify the producer countries, importing countries, and specific products responsible, we can direct our efforts towards interventions that will really make a difference. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. Latin America exports around 23% of its emissions; that means more than three-quarters are generated for products that are consumed within domestic markets. How do these two measures compare? From the 1920s through to the 1980s, decadal losses quadrupled to almost 120 million hectares. As we saw previously, this deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss. Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland. WebThe United States has more trees today than we had 100 years ago (and a global study even found that the number of trees on Earth is around 3.04 trillion, a much higher number than previously believed.) Thats a lot of trees! The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. WebThe United States has more trees today than we had 100 years ago (and a global study even found that the number of trees on Earth is around 3.04 trillion, a much higher number than previously believed.) There are other aspects to consider. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. After seeing this data, people might argue that we should cut back on trade. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A., Xu, J., & Lambin, E. (2005). The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. How many trees are cut down each year? If we look at where countries are in their transition today we can understand where we expect to lose and gain forest in the coming decades. But the magnitude of these impacts are often less than the complete conversion of forest. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. 15 billion trees are cut down every year.19 The Global Forest Watch project using satellite imagery estimates that global tree loss in 2019 was 24 million hectares. Thats a lot of trees! The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). What this showed was that although humans have been deforesting the planet for millennia, the rate of forest loss accelerated rapidly in the last few centuries. In the tropics, some forestry production can be classified as deforestation when primary rainforests are cut down to make room for managed tree plantations.21. The researchs results are Approximately 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are being cut each year according to a report referenced on the Rainforest Action Networks website (RAN) and other publications. Brazil and Indonesia alone account for almost half. How much deforestation happens every day? The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. Why? Given the current estimate of the total tree cover on the planet, that could equate to about 0.11% of trees being cut each year. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. How many trees have been cut down? International trade plays an important role in this growth, and may allow farmers to see the yield gains they need to produce more food using less land. Many countries have much less forest today than they did in the past. This means interventions at the national-level will be key: this can include a range of solutions including policies such as Brazils soy moratorium, the REDD+ programme to compensate for the opportunity costs of preserving these forests, and improvements in agricultural productivity so countries can continue to produce more food on less land. If we sum countries imported deforestation by World Bank income group, we find that high-income countries were responsible for 14% of imported deforestation; upper-middle income for 52%; lower-middle income for 23%; and low income for 11%. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . Although there is some year-to-year variability [you can explore the data use the timeline on the bottom of the chart from 2005 to 2013] we see a reasonably consistent divide: most countries across Europe and North America are net importers of deforestation i.e. Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data. I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. In the chart we see historical reconstructions of country-level data on the share of land covered by forest (over decades, centuries or even millennia depending on the country). Africa is also an outlier as a result of how many people still rely on wood as their primary energy source. You see that of the 14.9 billion hectares of land on the planet, only 71% of it is habitable the other 29% is either covered by ice and glaciers, or is barren land such as deserts, salt flats, or dunes. (2012).Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). They also contribute to global deforestation through the foods they import from poorer countries. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. theyre driving deforestation elsewhere; whilst many subtropical countries are partly cutting down trees to meet this demand from rich countries. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. The 11-month balance shows that 1,539,970 trees were cut down each day, which means 1,059 trees per minute or almost 18 trees per second. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? They are smaller, and more temporary. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but actually achieved substantial reforestation. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. The breakdown of forest loss globally, and by region, is shown in the chart.22. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. Deforestation was therefore responsible for [2.6 / 40.2 * 100 = 6.5%]. Then things started to speed up. Africas emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. What if this deforestation is being driven by consumers elsewhere? The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8753en. Why? The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Thats 6 billion hectares. Geographical Journal, 166(1), 2-13. Loss of Biodiversity: Forests are the only liveable habitat for a variety of species around the globe many of which have not even have been discovered. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. 27% of forest loss results from commodity-driven deforestation cutting down forests to grow crops such as soy, palm oil, cocoa, to raise livestock on pasture, and mining operations. Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of At their Global Forest Watch platform they were already presenting maps of forest loss across the world. For example, the US imported 64,000 hectares of deforested land, but increased its domestic forest area by 275,000 hectares. Philipp Curtis and colleagues make this point clear. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. This often comes at the cost of forests. The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. If we add 0.3 tonnes to this figure, deforestation would account for around one-sixth [0.3 / (1.5+0.3) * 100 = 17%].Notarnicola, B., Tassielli, G., Renzulli, P. A., Castellani, V., & Sala, S. (2017). Around half of this deforestation accounts for around 15 % of the worlds trees been... Together, we can focus on how habitable land is the only option per year elements! Canada ) of forest loss was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person start to lose forests rapidly. 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