In Latin America and Asia the dominant driver of degradation was logging for products such as timber, paper and pulp this accounted for more than 70%. This is probably less than many people would expect. By Georgina Rannard. Population growth meant that todays rich countries across Europe and North America needed more and more resources such as land for agriculture, wood for energy, and for construction.8. They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. As of 2020, the UN estimates the planet is losing over 7,000,000 hectares per year to deforestation.27Between 1990 and 2015, the world lost 129 million hectares of forest an area about the size of South Africa.11 Natural forests lost by continent9include: Africa 3.2 million hectares Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data. Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. 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%. Just over one-quarter of global forest loss is driven by deforestation. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. The trees are not expected to regrow. As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. 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.) are added every year. To understand this more recent loss of forest, lets zoom in on the last 300 years. 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. 38. Explore more of our work on Forests and Deforestation, Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE, The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France, The relationships of population and forest trends, An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries, Increasing human dominance of tropical forests, Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion, Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland, Is there a forest transition? It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. And, we might place more value on preserving primary, native forests that havent yet been deforested over regrowing forests that have lost their previous ecosystems. Crowther, T. W., Glick, H. B., Covey, K. R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D. S., Thomas, S. M., & Tuanmu, M. N. (2015). As we explore in more detail in our related article, countries tend to follow a predictable development in forest cover, a U-shaped curve.9 They lose forests as populations grow and demand for agricultural land and fuel increases, but eventually they reach the so-called forest transition point where they begin to regrow more forests than they lose. The global population at this time was small and growing very slowly there were fewer than 50 million people in the world. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. The grey line marks where the area of domestic regrowth of forests is exactly equal to imported deforestation. For the past 30 years, temperate regions have seen a continued increase in forest cover through afforestation: you see this as the bars are now positive (pointing upwards). But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Mapping tree density at a global scale. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. 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. The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. Please consult our full legal disclaimer. The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. Help us do this work by making a donation. We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. On balance, it would still have a positive impact on the size of global forests; its net contribution would be increasing forest area by 25,000 hectares.32 However, this country might still be causing more damage than this for a couple of reasons. To quote them, they wanted to prevent a common misperception that any tree cover loss shown on the map represents deforestation. More than four times as much. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Data on net forest change, afforestation and deforestation is sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organizations Forest Resources Assessment. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Since then, deforestation rates have steadily declined, to 78 million hectares in the 1990s; 52 million in the early 2000s; and 47 million in the last decade. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Not all forest is equal. To do this, they quantified where deforestation was occurring due to the expansion of croplands, pasture and tree plantations (for logging), and what commodities were produced on this converted land. Habitat loss is the leading driver of global biodiversity loss.25 When we cut down rainforests we are destroying the habitats of many unique species, and reshaping these ecosystems permanently. In the figure we see visual examples from the study of forest loss classification by Philip Curtis et al. Rudel, T. K. (1998). The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? How many trees does IKEA cut down a That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. Williams, M. (2003). Web42 million trees are cut down each day. Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). Thats both an economic and environmental win. For example, the US imported 64,000 hectares of deforested land, but increased its domestic forest area by 275,000 hectares. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Countries may lose some forest each year, but this is at a very slow rate. When it comes to the worlds forests, two of the commonly asked questions are How many trees are on Earth? and How many trees are cut down each year? Then things started to speed up. Maxwell, S. L., Fuller, R. A., Brooks, T. M., & Watson, J. E. (2016). The change is permanent. At the top of the list we see some of the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Since the end of the last great ice age 10,000 years ago the world has lost one-third of its forests.5 Two billion hectares of forest an area twice the size of the United States has been cleared to grow crops, raise livestock, and use for fuelwood. 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. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. Low agricultural productivity and a reliance on wood for fuel meant that large amounts of land had to be cleared for basic provisions. Latin America exports around 23% of its emissions; that means more than three-quarters are generated for products that are consumed within domestic markets. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. On the x-axis we have imported deforestation. 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. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Forest Transitions: why do we lose then regain forests? Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). Hence, we should keep in mind that forest area is not the only aspect that matters where that forest is and how rich in life it is matters too. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. 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. 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. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. The relationships of population and forest trends. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Why? But, supply chains are international. 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. This is true for some problems, such as climate change. 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. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. This is measured in hectares, which is equivalent to 10,000 m. After seeing this data, people might argue that we should cut back on trade. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. Mather refers to an annual loss of less than 0.25% as a small loss. 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. The paths between these end boxes indicate where emissions are being traded the wider the bar, the more emissions are embedded in these products. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. 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. How many trees are cut down each year?. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Many people think of environmental concerns as a modern issue: humanitys destruction of nature and ecosystems as a result of very recent population growth and increasing consumption. Clearing of the Brazilian Amazon for pasture and croplands was a major driver of this loss. This was first coined by Alexander Mather in the 1990s.Mather, A. S. (1990). The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. Belhaven Press. Many countries have much less forest today than they did in the past. That these countries have recently regained forests is also visible in the long-term forest trends above. Countries that lie along this line would have a net-neutral impact on global forests: the area they are causing to deforestation overseas is exactly as large as the area they are regrowing at home. From the chart we see that this was driven by the continued expansion of land for agriculture. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. However, most align on the relative change in forests over this period. 2020. 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. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Luxembourg has the largest footprint at nearly three tonnes per person. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 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. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices. 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). Environmental Research Letters, 14(5), 055003. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. Since agriculture is responsible for 60 to 80% of it, what we eat, where its sourced from, and how it is produced is our strongest lever to bring deforestation to an end. 14% of deforestation is driven by consumers in the worlds richest countries we import beef, vegetable oils, cocoa, coffee and paper that has been produced on deforested land.12. Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. 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. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. 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. What if this deforestation is being driven by consumers elsewhere? From 1700 to 1850, 19 million hectares were being cleared every decade. and an argument for why deforestation is worse than degradation. The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. Notarnicola et al. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Stage 2 The Early Transition phase is when countries start to lose forests very rapidly. Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. The definition of forest can vary depending on aspects such as tree density and height. How much deforestation happens every day? 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. 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 number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. They also contribute to global deforestation through the foods they import from poorer countries. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. Note that this only measures the emissions from tropical deforestation it doesnt include any other emissions from agricultural production, such as methane from livestock, or rice, or the use of fertilizers. As of 2020, the UN estimates the planet is losing over 7,000,000 hectares per year to deforestation.27Between 1990 and 2015, the world lost 129 million hectares of forest an area about the size of South Africa.11 Natural forests lost by continent9include: Africa 3.2 million hectares Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Centuries ago it was mainly temperate regions that were driving global deforestation [we take a look at this longer history of deforestation in a related article]. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. It was a net exporter. A note on UN FAO forestry data Data on net forest change, afforestation and deforestation is sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organizations Forest Resources Assessment. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. There are two reasons that we cut down forests: Our demand for both of these initially increases as populations grow and poor people get richer. How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? are added every year. They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. 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. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end of deforestation is possible. Noriko Hosonuma et al. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Sometimes these restoration programmes pale in comparison to the deforestation theyre driving elsewhere. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. But we also need to know what products are driving this. Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. Deforestation rates accelerated. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. After we adjust for imports and exports, how much CO2 from deforestation is each country responsible for? Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. How much forest has the world lost? Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. The Forest Transition therefore tends to follow a development pathway.16 As a country achieves economic growth it moves through each of the four stages. 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. 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. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Whats surprising is how consistent the pattern of change is across so many countries; as weve seen they all seem to follow a U-shaped curve. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. 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