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.) Its useful to make this distinction because as we will see where the world has lost forests has shifted. 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. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. 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. Brazils emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. But we also see that some countries which import a lot of food have high emissions. 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. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. After long periods of forest clearance in the past, most of todays richest countries are increasing tree cover through afforestation. Agricultural and urban land: The UN FAO Statistical database provides data on global agricultural and urban land from 1961 onwards. The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. By Georgina Rannard. Most deforestation today occurs in low-to-middle income countries. Philipp Curtis and colleagues make this point clear. In their analysis of global forest loss, Philip Curtis and colleagues used satellite images to assess where and why the world lost forests between 2001 and 2015. 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 From this understanding we can define five reasons why we lose forests: Thanks to satellite imagery, we can get a birds-eye view of what these drivers look like from above. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. But urban land accounts for just 1% of global habitable land. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. Still, more than half of the worlds habitable land was forested. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? An area the size of the United States. Nature Sustainability, 1-9. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. But, supply chains are international. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. If we can take advantage of these innovations, we can bring deforestation to an end. 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. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. 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. Global forest resources. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. High-income countries were the largest importers of deforestation, accounting for 40% of it. 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. Deforestation also results in larger losses of biodiversity and carbon relative to degradation. But the solution is not so simple. If we sum countries imported deforestation by World Bank income group, we find that high-income countries were responsible for 40% of imported deforestation; upper-middle income for 25%; lower-middle income for 20%; and low income for 5%. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Half of global forest loss occurred between 8,000BC and 1900; the other half was lost in the last century alone. 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. Africa is also different here. Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. Most of our future deforestation is going to come from countries in the pre- or early-transition phase. 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. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, England (2001). 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. 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. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. 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 total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Classifying drivers of global forest loss. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. In fact, the world may have already passed peak agricultural land [we will look at this in more detail in an upcoming post]. (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. 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. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. (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. (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. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, How much deforestation happens every day? 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. are added every year. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. 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. 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. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. By Georgina Rannard. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Then things started to speed up. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. 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). Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, thats a valid concern. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. By combining our earlier Sankey diagram, and breakdown of emissions by product, we can see that we can tackle a large share of these emissions through only a few key trade flows. Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. are added every year. You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. 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. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 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. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The world loses almost six million hectares of forest each year to deforestation. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 59% occurs in Latin America, with a further 28% from Southeast Asia. Nature, 536(7615), 143. 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. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. This diagram is adapted from the work of Hosonuma et al. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. As we saw previously, this deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss. We can illustrate this through the so-called Forest Transition Model.14 This is shown in the chart. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. The 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. At the top of the list we see some of the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia. 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. Within this global aggregated trend there are many forest transitions at local, national or regional levels occurring. The changes to the forest are often temporary and its expected that they will regrow. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. 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. Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. 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. 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 amount of land used for agriculture land to grow crops as well as grazing land for livestock was expanding. It doesnt capture trees that are cut down in planted forests; the land is still forested, its now just regrowing forest. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. The breakdown of deforestation by region is shown in the chart. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall we lose around five million hectares each year. 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%. But we also need to know what products are driving this. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Rome. Less than one-third (29%) is for the production of goods that are traded. Nature, 525(7568), 201-205. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. 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. Across temperate forests the world gained 6 million hectares in the last decade. 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. Explore palm oil production across the world, and its impacts on the environment. When we cut down primary rainforest we are transforming this ecosystem forever. 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.) Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Deforestation was therefore responsible for [2.6 / 40.2 * 100 = 6.5%]. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Noriko Hosonuma et al. Forest loss or tree loss captures two fundamental impacts on forest cover: deforestation and forest degradation. 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. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. 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. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? From the 1920s through to the 1980s, decadal losses quadrupled to almost 120 million hectares. We manage to capture some of these differences in carbon in our related article on deforestation emissions embedded in trade. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? But forest cover increases through reforestation. By the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. In China, the biggest driver is demand for oilseeds which is the combination of soy imported from Latin America and palm oil, imported from Indonesia and Malaysia. From 1700 to 1850, 19 million hectares were being cleared every decade. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. If we look at where countries are in their transition today we can understand where we expect to lose and gain forest in the coming decades. The trees are not expected to regrow. Forests, biodiversity and people. But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. The researchs results are FAO. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Lets start at the top. Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. 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