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. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. However, most align on the relative change in forests over this period. The grey line marks where the area of domestic regrowth of forests is exactly equal to imported deforestation. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. Mapping tree density at a global scale. More than four times as much. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(1), 65-90.Mather, A. S., & Needle, C. L. (2000). Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. But, it would be wrong to think that the only impact rich countries have on global forests is through changes in their domestic forests. Less than one-third (29%) is for the production of goods that are traded. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. We then get high-income countries share of deforestation as: [40% of the 29% that is traded], which is equal to 12%. 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. Rome. It was a net importer. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. 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. 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. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of The world passed peaked deforestation in the 1980s and it has been on the decline since then we take a look at rates of forest loss since 1700 in our follow-up post. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. 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. It provides long-term estimates on forest cover in 10,000 and 5,000 years BP. Second, it makes clear how much deforestation accelerated over the last century. We need more fuelwood to cook, more houses to live in, and importantly, more food to eat. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. Rome. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of The taller the bar, the larger the change in forest area. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. Crowther, T. W., Glick, H. B., Covey, K. R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D. S., Thomas, S. M., & Tuanmu, M. N. (2015). Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, Data on the annual change in domestic forests is sourced from the UN FAOs Forest Resources Assessment. Improvements in crop yields mean the per capita demand for agricultural land continues to fall. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. The researchs results are The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 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. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. How do these two measures compare? 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 cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? We see this in the chart. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. 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.) In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. 79% of exported deforestation ended up in those countries that had stopped losing domestic forests. Thats an area the size of the United Kingdom. Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. 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.) Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but actually achieved substantial reforestation. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per 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. Most of our future deforestation is going to come from countries in the pre- or early-transition phase. Forest loss or tree loss captures two fundamental impacts on forest cover: deforestation and forest degradation. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. 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). In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. At their Global Forest Watch platform they were already presenting maps of forest loss across the world. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en. Classifying drivers of global forest 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. This might put the responsibility for ending deforestation solely on tropical countries. Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. 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. In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. All other material, including 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. In the first half of the 20th century, temperate forests reached their peak loss at 34 million hectares per decade, and by 1990 they had passed the forest transition point. 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. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. One of the reasons poorer countries clear forest to make room for farmland is that they achieve low crop yields. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Even with the most basic of lifestyles compared to todays standards, the per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 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. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? An area the size of the United States. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, England (2001). In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. From the 1920s through to the 1980s, decadal losses quadrupled to almost 120 million hectares. Nature, 525(7568), 201-205. That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. The change is permanent. Since year-to-year changes in forest cover can be volatile, the UN FAO provide this annual data averaged over five-year periods. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. Lets start at the top. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. Carbon emissions from deforestation: are they driven by domestic demand or international trade? Many countries have followed this classic U-shaped pattern. On the left-hand side we have the countries (grouped by region) where deforestation occurs, and on the right we have the countries and regions where these products are consumed. How many trees does IKEA cut down a 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. Imported emissions are also high for Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands at around one tonne. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. 1000 years ago, 20% of Scotlands land was covered by forest. Across temperate forests the world gained 6 million hectares in the last decade. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? A future with more people and more forest is possible. After we adjust for imports and exports, how much CO2 from deforestation is each country responsible for? More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 432). 38. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in the early transition phase and are losing forests quickly. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Many consumers are concerned that their food choices are linked to deforestation in some of these hotspots. 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. In Latin America and Southeast Asia in particular, commodity-driven deforestation mainly the clearance of forests to grow crops such as palm oil and soy, and pasture for beef production accounts for almost two-thirds of forest loss. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. Our crop yields improve and so we need less land for agriculture. The turn of the 20th century is when global forest loss reached the halfway point: half of total forest loss occurred from 8,000BC to 1900; the other half occurred in the last century alone. (2012) gathered this data from a range of sources including country submissions as part of their REDD+ readiness activities, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) country profiles, UNFCCC national communications and scientific studies. 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. The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. 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. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. By the 19th century the forest area was reduced to a third of what it once was. That these countries have recently regained forests is also visible in the long-term forest trends above. In 2012 the mid-year of this period global emissions from fossil fuels, industry and land use change was 40.2 billion tonnes. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. 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. After long periods of forest clearance in the past, most of todays richest countries are increasing tree cover through afforestation. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . Latin America exports around 23% of its emissions; that means more than three-quarters are generated for products that are consumed within domestic markets. Estimates vary, but most date the end of the last great ice age to around 11,700 years ago.Kump, L. R., Kasting, J. F., & Crane, R. G. (2004). The paths between these end boxes indicate where emissions are being traded the wider the bar, the more emissions are embedded in these products. 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. Many countries have much less forest today than they did in the past. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. How many trees are cut down each year? But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. For example, Ellis et al. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. (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. Pendrill, F., Persson, U. M., Godar, J., & Kastner, T. (2019). Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. The data used in this chart comes from several sources. How much forest has the world lost? But they wanted to contribute to a more informed discussion about where to focus forest conservation efforts by understanding why forests were being lost. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. are added every year. The breakdown of deforestation by region is shown in the chart. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. 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%. I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. 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. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1465), 195-210. Mather refers to an annual loss of less than 0.25% as a small loss. The changes to the forest are often temporary and its expected that they will regrow. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. Countries may lose some forest each year, but this is at a very slow rate. How many trees are cut down each year?. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. 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. Countries which lie above the grey line such as the United States, Finland, China restore more forest each year domestically than they import from elsewhere. Ellis, E. C., Beusen, A. H., & Goldewijk, K. K. (2020). 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. Thats 6 billion hectares. Can we bring it to an end? Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. Hosonuma et al. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. 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. Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). 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.) But by studying how forests have changed over time, theres good reason to think that a way forward is possible. But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. 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. 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? The bar chart just below shows the earths surface cover just after the end of the last ice age.3 10,000 years ago 57% of the worlds habitable land was covered by forest. Rudel, T. K. (1998). Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. Most deforestation occurs for the production of goods that are consumed within domestic markets. How many trees have been cut down? Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. That is why we should be focusing on tropical deforestation. The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. 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. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. Is there a forest transition? And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. (2020).References:FAO and UNEP. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. Science, 349(6250), 827-832. The Earth System (Vol. 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. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. The story of both soy and palm oil are complex and its not obvious that eliminating these products will fix the problem. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation? How many trees are cut down each year?. In the chart we see the comparison between the change in domestic forest area, and deforestation driven by imported goods.33 On the vertical axis we have the domestic change in forest area: this is shown only for countries where the forest area is increasing. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? But, supply chains are international. To investigate this question, researchers Florence Pendrill et al. The global population at this time was small and growing very slowly there were fewer than 50 million people in the world. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 753-765. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. 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 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. Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). 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. 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. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Help us do this work by making a donation. You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Imagine some temperate country was responsible for the deforestation of 25,000 hectares in tropical countries but was restoring its own forests at a rate of 50,000 hectares per year. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. Sometimes these restoration programmes pale in comparison to the deforestation theyre driving elsewhere. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? But its not the case for deforestation. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. Nature, 536(7615), 143. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). Its useful to make this distinction because as we will see where the world has lost forests has shifted. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. This diagram is adapted from the work of Hosonuma et al. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion. 38. But most emissions are driven by domestic markets this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem. FAO. 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. We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. 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. 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.) 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