Less than one-third (29%) is for the production of goods that are traded. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Mather, A. S. (2004). Most deforestation occurs for the production of goods that are consumed within domestic markets. Many countries have followed this classic U-shaped pattern. (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. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. 1000 years ago, 20% of Scotlands land was covered by forest. are added every year. How many trees are cut down each year?. Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). 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. 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. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Maxwell, S. L., Fuller, R. A., Brooks, T. M., & Watson, J. E. (2016). The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. 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. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. Clearing of the Brazilian Amazon for pasture and croplands was a major driver of this loss. How many trees have been cut down? We see massive differences in how important each driver is across the world. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. This increase was mostly driven by tropical deforestation as countries across Asia and Latin America followed the path of Europe and North America. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. Thats a lot of trees! It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 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. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. We manage to capture some of these differences in carbon in our related article on deforestation emissions embedded in trade. Hosonuma et al. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. Why? Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. 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. What we know and dont know about Earths missing biodiversity. 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 WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. Licenses: All visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are open access under the Creative Commons BY license. 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). 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. 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 researchs results are How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Stage 2 The Early Transition phase is when countries start to lose forests very rapidly. 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. 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. Not all forest is equal. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. By Georgina Rannard. But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. 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. (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. 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. 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%. And, we might place more value on preserving primary, native forests that havent yet been deforested over regrowing forests that have lost their previous ecosystems. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? Science, 349(6250), 827-832. At their Global Forest Watch platform they were already presenting maps of forest loss across the world. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. We know where deforestation emissions are occurring, and where this demand is coming from. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. 38. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. To understand this more recent loss of forest, lets zoom in on the last 300 years. 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. By the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. 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. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. The global population at this time was small and growing very slowly there were fewer than 50 million people in the world. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. The data used in this chart comes from several sources. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. This topic page can be cited as: All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. Forest degradation measures a thinning of the canopy a reduction in the density of trees in the area but without a change in land use. Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. are added every year. This follows the classic forest transition model with development, which we look at in more detail in a related article. One option is to adopt stricter guidelines on what suppliers to source from, and implementing zero-deforestation policies that stop the trade of goods that have been produced on deforested land. 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. 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. When in history did we lose it? Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. Most tropical deforestation is driven by demand for products in domestic markets. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. By Georgina Rannard. 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. This highlights an important point: less than 20% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to clean fuels for cooking, meaning they still rely on wood and charcoal. Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Deforestation rates accelerated. 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 assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. Forestry Commission. How many trees are cut down each year? The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices. 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. Many rich countries are driving deforestation in other parts of the world, but are regrowing forests domestically. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. Across sub-tropical countries we have a mix: many upper-middle income countries are now in the late transition phase. In the map we see their assessment of each countrys stage in the transition. Habitat loss is the leading driver of global biodiversity loss.25 When we cut down rainforests we are destroying the habitats of many unique species, and reshaping these ecosystems permanently. Brazil, for example, went through a period of very rapid deforestation in the 1980s and 90s (its early transition phase) but its losses have slowed, meaning it is now in the late transition. Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. 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. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. In contrast, most forest degradation two-thirds of it occurs in temperate countries. 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). Thats a lot of trees! Today thats just 34%. 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. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. There is little forest left. But its not the case for deforestation. University of Chicago Press.FAO (2020). 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. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1465), 195-210. Rome. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. 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. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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.) Second, it makes clear how much deforestation accelerated over the last century. Net forest loss is not the same as deforestation it measures deforestation plus any gains in forest over a given period. But, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us confidence that a positive future is possible. Our crop yields improve and so we need less land for agriculture. 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. Thats around half the size of Germany. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. We see one such transition in the chart: the forest loss in the temperate regions shown as the green part of the bars peaked much earlier than the global forest loss. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. Lets take an example. Estimates vary, but on average only 10-20% of carbon is lost during logging, and 10-30% from fires.27 In a study of logging practices in the Amazon and Congo, forests retained 76% of their carbon stocks shortly after logging.28 Logged forests recover their carbon over time, as long as the land is not converted to other uses (which is what happens in the case of deforestation). Noriko Hosonuma et al. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? Half of global forest loss occurred between 8,000BC and 1900; the other half was lost in the last century alone. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? 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. The grey line marks where the area of domestic regrowth of forests is exactly equal to imported deforestation. 95% of global deforestation occurs in the tropics. Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M. C., Potapov, P. V., Stehman, S. V., Smith-Rodriguez, K., Okpa, C., & Aguilar, R. (2017). Tropical forests and the changing earth system. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. (2020).References:FAO and UNEP. As we will see later, this is dominated by palm oil exports to Europe, China, India, North America and the Middle East. 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. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. How much deforestation happens every day? Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. If poorer countries are cutting down forests to make food for rich consumers, then we should just stop trading these goods. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. The amount of land used for agriculture land to grow crops as well as grazing land for livestock was expanding. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. 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. It was a net importer. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. The scale of deforestation today might give us little hope for protecting our diverse forests. How many trees does IKEA cut down a 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. Since there is often year-to-year variability in deforestation or reforestation rates, this is shown as the five-year average. Thats 6 billion hectares. Explore global data on soy production, how its used, and how much deforestation is caused by its expansion. 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. Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) 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%. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. By Georgina Rannard. The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data. E. 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