Brazil, in contrast, caused more deforestation domestically in the production of goods for other countries than it imported from elsewhere. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. The paths between these end boxes indicate where emissions are being traded the wider the bar, the more emissions are embedded in these products. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. 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. (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). Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. How many trees are cut down each year? Net forest loss is not the same as deforestation it measures deforestation plus any gains in forest over a given period. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. 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. 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. 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). Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. 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. Hence, we should keep in mind that forest area is not the only aspect that matters where that forest is and how rich in life it is matters too. How much forest has the world lost? Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. But, understanding the role of deforestation in the products we buy is important. This emphasises two important points. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. How many trees have been cut down? And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end of deforestation is possible. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every 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. As we will see later, this is dominated by palm oil exports to Europe, China, India, North America and the Middle East. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. 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. It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 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 the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. 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. How do these two measures compare? They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. But forest cover increases through reforestation. After seeing this data, people might argue that we should cut back on trade. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. The first step in doing this is for rich countries to monitor their deforestation impacts overseas more closely. 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. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. They also contribute to global deforestation through the foods they import from poorer countries. 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.) Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. 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. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. 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. 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. 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. 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. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. 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. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. It provides long-term estimates on forest cover in 10,000 and 5,000 years BP. Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but actually achieved substantial reforestation. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Williams, M. (2003). 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. Science, 349(6250), 827-832. 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. Environmental Research Letters, 14(5), 055003. Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. 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. But not all of it is to produce products for local markets. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. 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. Tropical forests are often more productive than temperate forests, meaning they store more carbon. Urbanization, the other driver of deforestation accounts for just 0.6%. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. Noriko Hosonuma et al. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). Africa is also different here. How much deforestation happens every day? 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%. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. 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. Licenses: All visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are open access under the Creative Commons BY license. We manage to capture some of these differences in carbon in our related article on deforestation emissions embedded in trade. The annual change is now positive. 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.) 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. Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. By the 19th century the forest area was reduced to a third of what it once was. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. See the distribution of global forests and which countries have the most forest cover. 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