Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. 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. In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. 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. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. Explore palm oil production across the world, and its impacts on the environment. See the distribution of global forests and which countries have the most forest cover. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings. That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. Forest cover falls quickly, and the annual loss of forest is high. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? (2019) quantified the deforestation embedded in traded goods between countries.30 They did this by calculating the amount of deforestation associated with specific food and forestry products, and combining it with a trade model. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. Williams, M. (2003). Mather, A. S. (2004). Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. They are smaller, and more temporary. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. 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.) If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. By Georgina Rannard. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. But, supply chains are international. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Available here. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. How many trees are cut down each year?. Land, 9(5), 129. How many trees does IKEA cut down a 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 interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 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 total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. 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. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Hosonuma et al. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Meanwhile, the global population increased by 147% from 3.1 to 7.6 billion.4 This means that agricultural land per person more than halved, from 1.45 to 0.63 hectares. Nature Sustainability, 1-9. The first step in doing this is for rich countries to monitor their deforestation impacts overseas more closely. 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. By the 19th century the forest area was reduced to a third of what it once was. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, Second, it makes clear how much deforestation accelerated over the last century. Then, using a physical trade model across 191 countries and around 400 food and forestry products, they could trace them through to where they are physically consumed, either as food or in industrial processes.Pendrill, F., Persson, U. M., Godar, J., Kastner, T., Moran, D., Schmidt, S., & Wood, R. (2019). Just over one-quarter of global forest loss is driven by deforestation. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. For this reason, data sources including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization tend to aggregate annual losses as the average over five-year or decadal periods. Year-to-year data on forest change comes with several issues: either data at this resolution is not available, or year-to-year changes can be highly variable. Estimates vary, but on average only 10-20% of carbon is lost during logging, and 10-30% from fires.27 In a study of logging practices in the Amazon and Congo, forests retained 76% of their carbon stocks shortly after logging.28 Logged forests recover their carbon over time, as long as the land is not converted to other uses (which is what happens in the case of deforestation). How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? estimate a 35% loss of global forest cover since 10,000. Over half of the worlds species reside in tropical forests.24 Endemic species are those which only naturally occur in a single country. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. But distilling changes to this single metric tree or forest loss comes with its own issues. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. 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.) Stage 1 The Pre-Transition phase is defined by having high levels of forest cover and no or only very slow losses over time. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Brazil and Indonesia alone account for almost half. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. How much deforestation happens every day? More than four times as much. University of Chicago Press. This increase was mostly driven by tropical deforestation as countries across Asia and Latin America followed the path of Europe and North America. But most emissions are driven by domestic markets this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem. In most rich countries, across Europe, North America and East Asia, forest cover is increasing, whilst in many low-to-middle income countries its decreasing. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. 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. 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 do these two measures compare? How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. We see one such transition in the chart: the forest loss in the temperate regions shown as the green part of the bars peaked much earlier than the global forest loss. Low agricultural productivity and a reliance on wood for fuel meant that large amounts of land had to be cleared for basic provisions. In the chart we see deforestation emissions per person, measured in tonnes of CO2 per year. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. In the coming decades this is where we might expect to see the most rapid loss of forests unless these countries take action to prevent it, and the world supports them in the goal. How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, thats a valid concern. Degradation drivers, including logging and especially wildfires can definitely have major impacts on forest health: animal populations decline, trees can die, and CO2 is emitted. How many trees have been cut down? Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Data on the annual change in domestic forests is sourced from the UN FAOs Forest Resources Assessment. Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. This diagram is adapted from the work of Hosonuma et al. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. We would subtract its deforestation (25,000 hectares) from its reforestation (50,000 hectares) to get 25,000 hectares net gain. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. 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. Forests are mainly cut and burned to make space for local, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy. We see this in the chart. 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. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. The researchs results are The definition of forest can vary depending on aspects such as tree density and height. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. I have reconstructed long-term data using various studies which Ive documented here. The breakdown of forest loss globally, and by region, is shown in the chart.22. Some countries within this group are still far behind peak deforestation: without concerted effort to protect these forests it could be many decades before forests in those countries approach the transition point [as we show in a related post].10. 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. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Most deforestation today occurs in low-to-middle income countries. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. But a small global population overall meant there was little pressure on forests to make space for land to grow food, and as wood for energy. 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. Lets take an example. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, Tree density in primary forests varies from 50,000-100,000 trees per square km, so the math would put this number at 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees cut down each year. Still, more than half of the worlds habitable land was forested. The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France. As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. This helps consumers understand what products they should be concerned about, but also allows us to target specific supply chains. 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