Africa is also an outlier as a result of how many people still rely on wood as their primary energy source. On the horizontal axis we have time, spanning from 1700 to 2020; on the vertical axis we have the decadal change in forest cover. 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]. How many trees does IKEA cut down a The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. 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. They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. 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. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. Across Africa, fuelwood and charcoal played a much larger role it accounted for more than half (52%). Countries may lose some forest each year, but this is at a very slow rate. (2010) looked at the primary drivers of deforestation and degradation across tropical and subtropical countries specifically.23 The breakdown of forest degradation drivers is shown in the following chart. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. An area the size of the United States. Africa is also different here. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. 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). Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. It provides long-term estimates on forest cover in 10,000 and 5,000 years BP. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. How much deforestation happens every day? But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. If poorer countries are cutting down forests to make food for rich consumers, then we should just stop trading these goods. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. This diagram is adapted from the work of Hosonuma et al. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? From this understanding we can define five reasons why we lose forests: Thanks to satellite imagery, we can get a birds-eye view of what these drivers look like from above. 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. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. 79% of exported deforestation ended up in those countries that had stopped losing domestic forests. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. This explains historical trends we see for countries across the world today. Land, 9(5), 129. 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. are added every year. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. 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). That these countries have recently regained forests is also visible in the long-term forest trends above. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Hosonuma et al. (2012).Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. From the chart we see that this was driven by the continued expansion of land for agriculture. 40% of traded deforestation ends up in high-income countries, meaning they are responsible for 12% of deforestation.29. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 753-765. Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. Clearing of the Brazilian Amazon for pasture and croplands was a major driver of this loss. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. 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. By combining our earlier Sankey diagram, and breakdown of emissions by product, we can see that we can tackle a large share of these emissions through only a few key trade flows. 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. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Deforestation, reforestation, and development, Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change, Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data, Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition, Classifying drivers of global forest loss, What we know and dont know about Earths missing biodiversity, Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers, Tropical forests and the changing earth system, Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013, Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions, Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. 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. 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. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. 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. Most tropical deforestation is driven by demand for products in domestic markets. 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 We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. By the 19th century the forest area was reduced to a third of what it once was. Even with the most basic of lifestyles compared to todays standards, the per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large. From the 1920s through to the 1980s, decadal losses quadrupled to almost 120 million hectares. But the solution is not so simple. At their Global Forest Watch platform they were already presenting maps of forest loss across the world. A future with more people and more forest is possible. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. Across sub-tropical countries we have a mix: many upper-middle income countries are now in the late transition phase. But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. Improvements in agricultural productivity tends to both drive and follow economic growth. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Lets start at the top. Noriko Hosonuma et al. 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. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. If we can take advantage of these innovations, we can bring deforestation to an end. 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. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. The researchs results are How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(9), 501-510. The world has lost one-third of its forest an area twice the size of the United States. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. 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. Bringing all of these elements together, we can focus on a few points that should help us prioritise our efforts to end deforestation. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. 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. 2020. In their analysis of global forest loss, Philip Curtis and colleagues used satellite images to assess where and why the world lost forests between 2001 and 2015. Then things started to speed up. Why? 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. Countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in the early transition phase and are losing forests quickly. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 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. For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. The carbon footprint of diets across the EU vary from country-to-country, and estimates vary depending on how much land use change is factored into these figures. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. How much forest has the world lost? 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. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Forests are mainly cut and burned to make space for local, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . 1000 years ago, 20% of Scotlands land was covered by forest. 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. 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 Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. Without reliable metrics that capture all of these differences, we will have to stick with total changes in forest area for now. Years ago the impact of the total carbon footprint of the trees on.... Of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year future with people. ( 52 % ) the United States change in forest area for now and 5,000 years ago a slow... 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