Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. 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. 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. 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.) (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. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? Lets take an example. It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. At the end of this stage, countries are approaching the transition point. Thats a lot of trees! With increasing development, urbanization and access to other energy resources, Africa will shift from local, subsistence activities into commercial commodity production both in agricultural products and timber extraction. The State of the Worlds Forests 2020. There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Brazil, in contrast, caused more deforestation domestically in the production of goods for other countries than it imported from elsewhere. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. 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. What this showed was that although humans have been deforesting the planet for millennia, the rate of forest loss accelerated rapidly in the last few centuries. But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices. How many trees does IKEA cut down a But, supply chains are international. 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. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. 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. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. 95% of global deforestation occurs in the tropics. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Its useful to make this distinction because as we will see where the world has lost forests has shifted. The change is temporary. How many trees are cut down each year?. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. Stage 1 The Pre-Transition phase is defined by having high levels of forest cover and no or only very slow losses over time. How many trees are cut down each year?. Mapping tree density at a global scale. Maxwell, S. L., Fuller, R. A., Brooks, T. M., & Watson, J. E. (2016). Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. 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. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. and an argument for why deforestation is worse than degradation. In the article we will look at the reasons we lose forest; how these can be differentiated in a useful way; and what this means for understanding our priorities in tackling forest loss. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. Sometimes these restoration programmes pale in comparison to the deforestation theyre driving elsewhere. How do these two measures compare? It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. 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. 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. What if this deforestation is being driven by consumers elsewhere? 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. In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. Lets put some numbers to them. The annual change is now positive. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. The taller the bar, the larger the change in forest area. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. The change is permanent. The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. If we fast-forward to 1700 when the global population had increased more than ten-fold, to 603 million. How many trees have been cut down? This helps consumers understand what products they should be concerned about, but also allows us to target specific supply chains. (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. 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? Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, This emphasises two important points. In the chart we see deforestation emissions per person, measured in tonnes of CO2 per year. If we can take advantage of these innovations, we can bring deforestation to an end. We see very clearly that the large Brazilian footprint is driven by its domestic demand for beef. The rate of forest loss changed a lot. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. The latter will experience short-term environmental impacts, but will ultimately regrow. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Africa is also different here. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. Nature, 525(7568), 201-205. 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.) Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. Brazils emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. 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. Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. As I mentioned earlier, 14% of deforestation today is driven by consumers in rich countries. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Tropical forests are often more productive than temperate forests, meaning they store more carbon. Most of todays richest countries all of Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea have passed the turning point and are now regaining forest. To quote them, they wanted to prevent a common misperception that any tree cover loss shown on the map represents deforestation. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. are added every year. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. By Georgina Rannard. 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. Are they causing more deforestation elsewhere than they are regenerating in forests at home? Tropical forests and the changing earth system. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. 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. 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. This is nearly always true of planted forests in temperate regions there, planted forests are long-established and do not replace primary existing forests. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. Not all forest is equal. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 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. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of 2020. Notarnicola et al. In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. 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. 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. 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. Many consumers are concerned that their food choices are linked to deforestation in some of these hotspots. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. The scale of deforestation today might give us little hope for protecting our diverse forests. 2020. The story of both soy and palm oil are complex and its not obvious that eliminating these products will fix the problem. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. 432). WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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. The researchs results are Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. 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. Is there a forest transition? This topic page can be cited as: All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. 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. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. But the magnitude of these impacts are often less than the complete conversion of forest. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). Across Africa, fuelwood and charcoal played a much larger role it accounted for more than half (52%). A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. At the beginning of this phase, the forest area is at its lowest point. Across sub-tropical countries we have a mix: many upper-middle income countries are now in the late transition phase. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. Then things started to speed up. 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. Global forest resources. Nature, 536(7615), 143. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. 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 the solution is not so simple. We should not only look at where these foods are produced, but also where the consumer demand is coming from. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. 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. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Since year-to-year changes in forest cover can be volatile, the UN FAO provide this annual data averaged over five-year periods. Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? The beginning of human civilization ( 4 ), 83-98 E. ( ). 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