Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. Forests, biodiversity and people. 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. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. 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. 95% of global deforestation occurs in the tropics. Thats like losing an area the size of Portugal every two years. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. The amount of land used for agriculture land to grow crops as well as grazing land for livestock was expanding. Lewis, S. L. (2006). Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. 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. 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. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Science, 349(6250), 827-832.Williams, D. R., Clark, M., Buchanan, G. M., Ficetola, G. F., Rondinini, C., & Tilman, D. (2020). It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. Why? But by studying how forests have changed over time, theres good reason to think that a way forward is possible. If we can identify the producer countries, importing countries, and specific products responsible, we can direct our efforts towards interventions that will really make a difference. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. 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. Firstly, international trade does play a role in deforestation its responsible for almost one-third of emissions. In a study published in Global Environmental Change, Florence Pendrill and colleagues investigated where tropical deforestation was occurring; what products were driving this; and, using global trade models, they traced where these products were going in international supply chains.34, They found that tropical deforestation given as the annual average between 2010 and 2014 was responsible for 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 per 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. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. Stage 1 The Pre-Transition phase is defined by having high levels of forest cover and no or only very slow losses over time. Imported emissions are also high for Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands at around one tonne. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. High-income countries were the largest importers of deforestation, accounting for 40% of it. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? 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. But, it would be wrong to think that the only impact rich countries have on global forests is through changes in their domestic forests. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. Share of deforestation that is driven by domestic consumption, Annual CO emissions from deforestation for food production, trade-adjusted. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. 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. 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). Ellis, E. C., Beusen, A. H., & Goldewijk, K. K. (2020). There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. 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. The rate of population growth tends to slow down. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, Across sub-tropical countries we have a mix: many upper-middle income countries are now in the late transition phase. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data. To do this, they quantified where deforestation was occurring due to the expansion of croplands, pasture and tree plantations (for logging), and what commodities were produced on this converted land. But, supply chains are international. This might put the responsibility for ending deforestation solely on tropical countries. Since then, deforestation rates have steadily declined, to 78 million hectares in the 1990s; 52 million in the early 2000s; and 47 million in the last decade. This emphasises two important points. In the tropics, some forestry production can be classified as deforestation when primary rainforests are cut down to make room for managed tree plantations.21. (2017). Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Brazil, in contrast, caused more deforestation domestically in the production of goods for other countries than it imported from elsewhere. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. This is because the latter only captures deforestation the replacement of forest with another land use (such as cropland). Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. If we can take advantage of these innovations, we can bring deforestation to an end. 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. In the chart we see how emissions from tropical deforestation are distributed through international supply chains. 59% occurs in Latin America, with a further 28% from Southeast Asia. The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. We lost 150 million hectares an area half the size of India during that decade. What we know and dont know about Earths missing biodiversity. When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. 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 most emissions are driven by domestic markets this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. There are other aspects to consider. That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. Not only would this be bad for people, it might also be bad for forests. Deforestation, reforestation, and development, Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change, Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data, Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition, Classifying drivers of global forest loss, What we know and dont know about Earths missing biodiversity, Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers, Tropical forests and the changing earth system, Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013, Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions, Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. 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. How many trees are cut down each year? When we cut down primary rainforest we are transforming this ecosystem forever. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. On the x-axis we have imported deforestation. The trees are not expected to regrow. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. 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. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. How many trees are cut down each year?. We see massive differences in how important each driver is across the world. 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. 2020. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. More than four times as much. There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. The annual change is now positive. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. The researchs results are Across Africa, fuelwood and charcoal played a much larger role it accounted for more than half (52%). Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Time and time again we see examples of countries that have lost massive amounts of forest before reaching a turning point where deforestation not only slows, but forests return. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. The Asia-Pacific region predominantly Indonesia and Malaysia export a higher share: 44%. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. The net change in forest cover measures any gains in forest cover either through natural forest expansion or afforestation through tree-planting minus deforestation. Cuaresma, J. C., Danylo, O., Fritz, S., McCallum, I., Obersteiner, M., See, L., & Walsh, B. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. 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. Then things started to speed up. Thats equivalent to the area of South Africa. 40% of traded deforestation ends up in high-income countries, meaning they are responsible for 12% of deforestation.29. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. How much deforestation happens every day? In the chart we see deforestation emissions per person, measured in tonnes of CO2 per year. At the end of this stage, countries are approaching the transition point. 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. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. We see very clearly that the large Brazilian footprint is driven by its domestic demand for beef. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. Since there is often year-to-year variability in deforestation or reforestation rates, this is shown as the five-year average. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. Forest Transitions: why do we lose then regain forests? (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. How many trees have been cut down? Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. are added every year. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. 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 contrast, most forest degradation two-thirds of it occurs in temperate countries. After long periods of forest clearance in the past, most of todays richest countries are increasing tree cover through afforestation. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Most of our future deforestation is going to come from countries in the pre- or early-transition phase. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. Forests are mainly cut and burned to make space for local, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy. (2020). Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. Countries that lie along this line would have a net-neutral impact on global forests: the area they are causing to deforestation overseas is exactly as large as the area they are regrowing at home. 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. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. Meanwhile, the global population increased by 147% from 3.1 to 7.6 billion.4 This means that agricultural land per person more than halved, from 1.45 to 0.63 hectares. A future with more people and more forest is possible. 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. It was a net exporter. How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? And with the growth of technological innovations such as lab-grown meat and substitute products, there is the real possibility that we can continue to enjoy meat or meat-like foods while freeing up the massive amounts of land we use to raise livestock. Improvements in crop yields mean the per capita demand for agricultural land continues to fall. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. In most rich countries, across Europe, North America and East Asia, forest cover is increasing, whilst in many low-to-middle income countries its decreasing. Deforestation rates accelerated. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Then things started to speed up. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Data on the annual change in domestic forests is sourced from the UN FAOs Forest Resources Assessment. Africas emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. Brazil and Indonesia alone account for almost half. Noriko Hosonuma et al. Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. In 2012 the mid-year of this period global emissions from fossil fuels, industry and land use change was 40.2 billion tonnes. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. 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. The relationships of population and forest trends. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. 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. Available here. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. It might seem odd to argue that we should focus our efforts on tackling this quarter of forest loss (rather than the other 73%). If we fast-forward to 1700 when the global population had increased more than ten-fold, to 603 million. 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. 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. 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. The world loses almost six million hectares of forest each year to deforestation. Net forest loss is not the same as deforestation it measures deforestation plus any gains in forest over a given period. Notarnicola et al. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. 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. This is measured in hectares, which is equivalent to 10,000 m. The world loses 5 million hectares of forest to deforestation each year. But forest cover increases through reforestation. It provides long-term estimates on forest cover in 10,000 and 5,000 years BP. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. 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. Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 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). Thats a lot of trees! It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Noriko Hosonuma et al. Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but actually achieved substantial reforestation. But the solution is not so simple. Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. (2020).References:FAO and UNEP. By the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. 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. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. Urbanization, the other driver of deforestation accounts for just 0.6%. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are 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. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. Over half of the worlds species reside in tropical forests.24 Endemic species are those which only naturally occur in a single country. Rich countries such as the USA, France and the United Kingdom have had a long history of deforestation but are now passed the transition point. 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? How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of 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. 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 research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. As I mentioned earlier, 14% of deforestation today is driven by consumers in rich countries. (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. Most deforestation today occurs in low-to-middle income countries. It will be possible for our generation to achieve the same on the global scale and bring the 10,000 year history of forest loss to an end. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. How many trees are cut down each year? The change is temporary. 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. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Thats both an economic and environmental win. How many trees have been cut down? 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. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? 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. Deforestation also results in larger losses of biodiversity and carbon relative to degradation. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. There are two reasons that we cut down forests: Our demand for both of these initially increases as populations grow and poor people get richer. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. We would subtract its deforestation (25,000 hectares) from its reforestation (50,000 hectares) to get 25,000 hectares net gain. Are they causing more deforestation elsewhere than they are regenerating in forests at home? Today thats just 34%. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 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 Nature Sustainability, 1-9. There is a marked divide in the state of the worlds forests. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. On farms, in cities, and on private property rate of accounts. Cover through afforestation has fallen by 46 % of the trees on Earth the permissive MIT license ended,. Second largest producer, after Canada ) of forest into an alternative land use sourced. % came from foods consumed in the tropics, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy and! It imported from elsewhere forest loss as equal estimated 30 % of trees! Ellis, E. C., Beusen, A. H., & Goldewijk, K. K. 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