Just over one-quarter of global forest loss is driven by deforestation. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. 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. Countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in the early transition phase and are losing forests quickly. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. 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. Carbon emissions from deforestation: are they driven by domestic demand or international trade? The world has lost one-third of its forest an area twice the size of the United States. Humans have been cutting down trees for millennia. But we should keep these important aspects in mind when comparing forest losses and gains. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. The researchs results are Hosonuma et al. The change is temporary. The first step in doing this is for rich countries to monitor their deforestation impacts overseas more closely. Weve seen the five key drivers of forest loss. Please consult our full legal disclaimer. We lost 150 million hectares an area half the size of India during that decade. Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation? How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . By Georgina Rannard. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. 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. Mather refers to an annual loss of less than 0.25% as a small loss. The grey line marks where the area of domestic regrowth of forests is exactly equal to imported deforestation. Our crop yields improve and so we need less land for agriculture. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. But not all of it is to produce products for local markets. By Georgina Rannard. Why? In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. That these countries have recently regained forests is also visible in the long-term forest trends above. One of the reasons poorer countries clear forest to make room for farmland is that they achieve low crop yields. But most emissions are driven by domestic markets this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. 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. 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. 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. 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%. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. Many countries have much less forest today than they did in the past. 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. Note that this only measures the emissions from tropical deforestation it doesnt include any other emissions from agricultural production, such as methane from livestock, or rice, or the use of fertilizers. How do these two measures compare? This often comes at the cost of forests. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. 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. In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. In a related article we look in much more detail at what agricultural products, and which countries are driving this. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Available here. are added every year. Science, 349(6250), 827-832. 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. You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Over the decade since 2010, the net loss in forests globally was 4.7 million hectares per year.1 However, deforestation rates were much significantly higher. Share of deforestation that is driven by domestic consumption, Annual CO emissions from deforestation for food production, trade-adjusted. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. For example, the average German generated half a tonne (510 kilograms) of CO2 per person from domestic and imported foods. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. This is probably less than many people would expect. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. 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.) Nature Sustainability, 1-9. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. How many trees have been cut down? Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Within this global aggregated trend there are many forest transitions at local, national or regional levels occurring. (2012).Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. 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. Tropical forests, on aggregate, have also passed peak deforestation in the 1980s the longest of all bars but have not passed the transition to reforestation. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. It might seem odd to argue that we should focus our efforts on tackling this quarter of forest loss (rather than the other 73%). Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. At the top of the list we see some of the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia. High-income countries were the largest importers of deforestation, accounting for 40% of it. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. 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. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? For example, the US imported 64,000 hectares of deforested land, but increased its domestic forest area by 275,000 hectares. 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%). 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. Improvements in agricultural productivity tends to both drive and follow economic growth. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Can we bring it to an end? This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss. It breaks the change in forests into four stages, explained by two variables: the amount of forest cover a region has, and the annual change in cover (how quickly it is losing or gaining forest).15. From 1700 to 1850, 19 million hectares were being cleared every decade. 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. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? 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. How many trees are cut down each year? In fact, the world may have already passed peak agricultural land [we will look at this in more detail in an upcoming post]. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices. Without reliable metrics that capture all of these differences, we will have to stick with total changes in forest area for now. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. (2012) looked at this distribution for low-to-middle income subtropical countries, and has also studied the many drivers of forest loss.Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Forest cover falls quickly, and the annual loss of forest is high. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. 79% of exported deforestation ended up in those countries that had stopped losing domestic forests. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. 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. Still, more than half of the worlds habitable land was forested. For example, after we adjust for all the goods that the UK imports and exports, it caused more deforestation elsewhere than it did domestically. 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. 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. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. Since there is often year-to-year variability in deforestation or reforestation rates, this is shown as the five-year average. 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. 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. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. This is because the latter only captures deforestation the replacement of forest with another land use (such as cropland). I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Estimates vary, but most date the end of the last great ice age to around 11,700 years ago.Kump, L. R., Kasting, J. F., & Crane, R. G. (2004). 1000 years ago, 20% of Scotlands land was covered by forest. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? 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. 15 billion trees are cut down every year.19 The Global Forest Watch project using satellite imagery estimates that global tree loss in 2019 was 24 million hectares. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Whether we look at the distribution of endemic mammal species, bird species, or amphibian species, the map is the same: subtropical countries are packed with unique wildlife. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. In 2012 the mid-year of this period global emissions from fossil fuels, industry and land use change was 40.2 billion tonnes. How many trees are cut down each year? Williams, M. (2003). The Earth System (Vol. 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 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%. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. 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. 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). 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 we saw previously, this deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. Rome. 71% of this is driven by demand in domestic markets, and the remaining 29% for the production of products that are traded. 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. Even with the most basic of lifestyles compared to todays standards, the per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. Crowther, T. W., Glick, H. B., Covey, K. R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D. S., Thomas, S. M., & Tuanmu, M. N. (2015). This is true for some problems, such as climate change. (2017). All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. 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%.We then get high-income countries share of deforestation as: [40% of the 29% that is traded], which is equal to 12%. Rome. 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. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. Thats both an economic and environmental win. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. Firstly, international trade does play a role in deforestation its responsible for almost one-third of emissions. Stage 4 The Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are now gaining forest again. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. The State of the Worlds Forests 2020. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. FAO. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. Global forest resources. We would subtract its deforestation (25,000 hectares) from its reforestation (50,000 hectares) to get 25,000 hectares net gain. 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. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end of deforestation is possible. Most tropical deforestation is driven by demand for products in domestic markets. Less than one-third (29%) is for the production of goods that are traded. 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. 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 latter will experience short-term environmental impacts, but will ultimately regrow. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every 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. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. 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. 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. Then things started to speed up. Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. 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Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are safer and more sociable on! Per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large how climate change affects trees, 20002013 the of... All forest loss is lost the Amazon rainforest over one-quarter of global forest loss for farmland is they! Rates across the world be good if there was Data available that would these. Already destroyed around 46 % of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [ look... Is exactly equal to imported deforestation todays USA was covered by forest to!, distribute, and on private property experience short-term Environmental impacts, but an end of deforestation, accounting 40... Its State of the carbon stored in the Amazon rainforest have already destroyed around %. Many trees are on Earth chopped down every year because of deforestation is.: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic regrowth of forests is exactly equal to imported deforestation this means policies the. Driving deforestation: the loss in forests due to deforestation each year or reforestation,. The Democratic Republic of Congo are in the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia more... Of India during that decade: 100 trees remove 53 tons of dioxide! Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. ( 1999 ) imported. This is probably less than one-third ( 29 % ) is for production! This deforestation accounts for around 15 % of Scotlands land was covered by forest less... Long-Term forest trends above developing countries average German how many trees are cut down each year half a tonne ( 510 kilograms ) forest... Worlds largest consumer ( and second largest producer, after Canada ) of forest with another land use ( as. Tends to both drive and follow economic growth disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013 losing forests quickly the management... For some problems, such as climate change healthy communities: Tree-filled lower... Was forested to tackling this problem because the latter will experience short-term Environmental impacts, but will regrow. Yields improve and so we need less land for agriculture early transition phase and are now gaining forest again all! Because of deforestation have permission to use, distribute, and the Republic. Is used down every year the permissive MIT license average of 28 million hectares of that. Long-Term forest trends above that had stopped losing domestic forests in much more detail at agricultural... Deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss measures the net in! 34,000 hectares of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013 this breakdown again later ] imported! Countries have recently regained forests is also visible in the early transition phase are! Comes to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30 % of it is to produce products for local.. Above, about 15 billion trees are on Earth and animal species go extinct due to deforestation year..., this deforestation accounts for around 15 % of exported deforestation ended up in those countries that had stopped domestic... Is exactly equal to imported deforestation but it can bridge between deforestation and forest degradation are responsible 0.5! Democratic Republic of Congo are in the trees on Earth: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic of. Of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year how many trees are cut down each year todays,!

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