[1] That's 15.3 billion every year. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. 59% occurs in Latin America, with a further 28% from Southeast Asia. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. As we saw previously, this deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. What explains this? According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. 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. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. For example, Ellis et al. 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. Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. The rate of forest loss changed a lot. When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. University of Chicago Press. All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. 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. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. Which countries are gaining, and which are losing forest? On the horizontal axis we have time, spanning from 1700 to 2020; on the vertical axis we have the decadal change in forest cover. Licenses: All visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are open access under the Creative Commons BY license. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. (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. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. 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. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. From 1850 to 1920, losses were around 50% higher at 30 million hectares per decade thats like losing a forested area the size of Italy every 10 years. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. 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.) When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. 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.) But its not the case for deforestation. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. How many trees are cut down each year? The State of the Worlds Forests 2020. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. They cut down their forests and replaced it with agricultural land long ago. Firstly, international trade does play a role in deforestation its responsible for almost one-third of emissions. (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 understand this more recent loss of forest, lets zoom in on the last 300 years. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. 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. By 1900, there were 1.65 billion people in the world (five times fewer than we have today) but for most of the previous period, humans were deforesting the world with only tens or hundreds of millions. 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 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. 38. 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. How many trees are cut down each year? Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. 2020. Imported emissions are also high for Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands at around one tonne. Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. 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. It was a net importer. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. In Latin America and Asia the dominant driver of degradation was logging for products such as timber, paper and pulp this accounted for more than 70%. Low agricultural productivity and a reliance on wood for fuel meant that large amounts of land had to be cleared for basic provisions. 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. 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. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. These are big numbers, and important ones to track: forest loss creates a number of negative impacts, ranging from carbon emissions to species extinctions and biodiversity loss. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Then things started to speed up. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(9), 501-510. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. and an argument for why deforestation is worse than degradation. 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. 71% of this is driven by demand in domestic markets, and the remaining 29% for the production of products that are traded. 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. Carbon emissions from deforestation: are they driven by domestic demand or international trade? As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, This is probably less than many people would expect. 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? 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 Africa is also an outlier as a result of how many people still rely on wood as their primary energy source. In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. Environmental Research Letters, 14(5), 055003. Global forest resources. Available here. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Why? And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Nearly half (47%) of France was forested 1000 years ago; today thats just under one-third (31.4%). 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. 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. 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). There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 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%. They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. We can illustrate this through the so-called Forest Transition Model.14 This is shown in the chart. (2017). This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). We should not only look at where these foods are produced, but also where the consumer demand is coming from. The history of deforestation is a tragic one, in which we not only lost these wild and beautiful landscapes but also the wildlife within them. If poorer countries are cutting down forests to make food for rich consumers, then we should just stop trading these goods. Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. 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. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. 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