Urbanization, the other driver of deforestation accounts for just 0.6%. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. 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? But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. Humans have been cutting down trees for millennia. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Forests, biodiversity and people. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. 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. It was a net exporter. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Countries with a negative change (shown in red) are losing more than theyre able to restore. A note on UN FAO forestry data Data on net forest change, afforestation and deforestation is sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organizations Forest Resources Assessment. 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. Forest degradation measures a thinning of the canopy a reduction in the density of trees in the area but without a change in land use. Thats a lot of trees! As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. 38. Rome. 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. 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. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Data from 1990 onwards is sourced from the UNs 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020.References:Williams, M. (2003). International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. Deforestation rates accelerated. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. Today thats just 34%. 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 is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. The breakdown of forest loss globally, and by region, is shown in the chart.22. 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. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. But we also see that some countries which import a lot of food have high emissions. The relationships of population and forest trends. Thats 6 billion hectares. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Lets take an example. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. Africa is also different here. Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. This explains historical trends we see for countries across the world today. 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. Forestry Commission. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. 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. There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) If we want to end deforestation we need to understand where and why its happening; where countries are within their transition; and what can be done to accelerate their progress through it. Thats both an economic and environmental win. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(9), 501-510. 432). How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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. 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]. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(1), 65-90.Mather, A. S., & Needle, C. L. (2000). High-income countries were the largest importers of deforestation, accounting for 40% of it. 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. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. Science, 349(6250), 827-832. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. theyre driving deforestation elsewhere; whilst many subtropical countries are partly cutting down trees to meet this demand from rich countries. 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 we also need to know what products are driving this. 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. Hosonuma et al. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Agricultural and urban land: The UN FAO Statistical database provides data on global agricultural and urban land from 1961 onwards. The first step in doing this is for rich countries to monitor their deforestation impacts overseas more closely. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. By Georgina Rannard. To investigate this question, researchers Florence Pendrill et al. 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. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. How many trees have been cut down? Lewis, S. L. (2006). A future with more people and more forest is possible. 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. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. When we cut down primary rainforest we are transforming this ecosystem forever. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. When we think of the growing pressures on land from modern populations we often picture sprawling megacities. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. 38. But it was then that England reached its transition point and since then, forests have doubled in size. Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. Noriko Hosonuma et al. 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. How many trees does IKEA cut down a [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. 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. Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion. Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. Since year-to-year changes in forest cover can be volatile, the UN FAO provide this annual data averaged over five-year periods. How much deforestation happens every day? 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. The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end of deforestation is possible. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. Brazils emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. Still, more than half of the worlds habitable land was forested. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. In a related article we look in much more detail at what agricultural products, and which countries are driving this. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. 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%). 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. The Earth System (Vol. What explains this? 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. 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.) The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forest Resources Assessment estimates global deforestation, averaged over the five-year period from 2015 to 2020 was 10 million hectares per year. University of Chicago Press.FAO (2020). There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. The researchs results are Weve seen the five key drivers of forest loss. Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). Nature, 536(7615), 143. From the 1920s through to the 1980s, decadal losses quadrupled to almost 120 million hectares. Deforestation also results in larger losses of biodiversity and carbon relative to degradation. Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. Science, 361(6407), 1108-1111. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. The researchs results are But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. At the end of this stage, countries are approaching the transition point. 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. 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 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. 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.) 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 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. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. (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. And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Maxwell, S. L., Fuller, R. A., Brooks, T. M., & Watson, J. E. (2016). This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. But by studying how forests have changed over time, theres good reason to think that a way forward is possible. (2018), published in Science.20, Commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization are deforestation: the forested land is completely cleared and converted into another land use a farm, mining site, or city. 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. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. On the horizontal axis we have time, spanning from 1700 to 2020; on the vertical axis we have the decadal change in forest cover. Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. are added every year. The paths between these end boxes indicate where emissions are being traded the wider the bar, the more emissions are embedded in these products. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. 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