[2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M. C., Potapov, P. V., Stehman, S. V., Smith-Rodriguez, K., Okpa, C., & Aguilar, R. (2017). 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. 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. The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. There are other aspects to consider. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. 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.) 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. But it was then that England reached its transition point and since then, forests have doubled in size. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Thats a lot of trees! Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. 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. There is little forest left. They are smaller, and more temporary. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1465), 195-210. As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. 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. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. Global forest resources. 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. How much deforestation happens every day? 38. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Several studies have assessed the stage of countries across the world.17 The most recent analysis to date was published by Florence Pendrill and colleagues (2019) which looked at each countrys stage in the transition, the drivers of deforestation but also the role of international trade.18 To do this, they used the standard metrics discussed in our theory of forest transitions earlier: the share of land that is forested, and the annual change in forest cover. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. The researchs results are The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Rome. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. If we fast-forward to 1700 when the global population had increased more than ten-fold, to 603 million. Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and 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. At the beginning of this phase, the forest area is at its lowest point. One of the reasons poorer countries clear forest to make room for farmland is that they achieve low crop yields. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. Lets take an example. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(1), 65-90.Mather, A. S., & Needle, C. L. (2000). That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. The United Nations, as well as experts at the World Wildlife Fund and Global Forest Watch, found that one million animals are in danger of extinction as a result of how much deforestation has occurred. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. For example, after we adjust for all the goods that the UK imports and exports, it caused more deforestation elsewhere than it did domestically. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. The amount of land used for agriculture land to grow crops as well as grazing land for livestock was expanding. 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). Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. 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. 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. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. 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. The data used in this chart comes from several sources. 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 fact that the per capita emissions after trade are very high means that a lot of their food products are consumed by people in Brazil and Indonesia. 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). estimate a 35% loss of global forest cover since 10,000. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? In contrast, most forest degradation two-thirds of it occurs in temperate countries. Not all forest is equal. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. The remaining 73% came from the three drivers of forest degradation: logging of forestry products from plantations (26%); shifting, local agriculture (24%); and wildfires (23%). 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. 1000 years ago, 20% of Scotlands land was covered by forest. 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 This rapid swapping of green for gray is harmful to the people living in these spaces, and it sets cities up for long-term environmental decline, according to the scientists. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. By Georgina Rannard. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. 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. Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation? But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. Over half of the worlds species reside in tropical forests.24 Endemic species are those which only naturally occur in a single country. In the figure we see visual examples from the study of forest loss classification by Philip Curtis et al. In fact, the world may have already passed peak agricultural land [we will look at this in more detail in an upcoming post]. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. That is why we should be focusing on tropical deforestation. Imported emissions are also high for Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands at around one tonne. At this stage, countries are still losing forest each year but at a lower rate than before. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. You will notice in the chart that this was not only expanding into previously forested land, but also other land uses such as wild grasslands and shrubbery. 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. Can we bring it to an end? 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. Most of todays richest countries all of Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea have passed the turning point and are now regaining forest. Why? 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. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss. To understand this more recent loss of forest, lets zoom in on the last 300 years. How many trees are cut down each year? Then things started to speed up. Notarnicola et al. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. They are also richer sites of biodiversity. This explains historical trends we see for countries across the world today. 71% of deforestation is for domestic production. It was a net importer. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Thats both an economic and environmental win. 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. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. How many trees are cut down each year?. Rome. In a related post we have combined this FAO data with global deforestation rates from Williams (2003) to document forest change over the last 300 years this gives us data on forest change from 1700 onwards. The researchs results are How many trees are cut down each year? For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. (2017). But, it would be wrong to think that the only impact rich countries have on global forests is through changes in their domestic forests. Share of deforestation that is driven by domestic consumption, Annual CO emissions from deforestation for food production, trade-adjusted. Tropical forests, on aggregate, have also passed peak deforestation in the 1980s the longest of all bars but have not passed the transition to reforestation. 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. What explains this? Belhaven Press. Hosonuma et al. The change is permanent. They also contribute to global deforestation through the foods they import from poorer countries. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. How many trees are cut down each year? Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. Most deforestation occurs for the production of goods that are consumed within domestic markets. Tropical forests and the changing earth system. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. How many trees have been cut down? Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. We see very clearly that the large Brazilian footprint is driven by its domestic demand for beef. 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