This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. This is shortly after the end of the last great ice age, through to the present day.2. 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. The first step in doing this is for rich countries to monitor their deforestation impacts overseas more closely. are added every year. International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. 79% of exported deforestation ended up in those countries that had stopped losing domestic forests. Agricultural and urban land: The UN FAO Statistical database provides data on global agricultural and urban land from 1961 onwards. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Mather, A. S. (2004). Lets start at the top. To understand this more recent loss of forest, lets zoom in on the last 300 years. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. International trade plays an important role in this growth, and may allow farmers to see the yield gains they need to produce more food using less land. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. Cuaresma, J. C., Danylo, O., Fritz, S., McCallum, I., Obersteiner, M., See, L., & Walsh, B. 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 would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. 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. Are they causing more deforestation elsewhere than they are regenerating in forests at home? By Georgina Rannard. Is there a forest transition? There is little forest left. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Decisionmakers could give as much of our attention to European logging as to destruction of the Amazon. (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). Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. At the beginning of this phase, the forest area is at its lowest point. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Philipp Curtis and colleagues make this point clear. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8753en. Not only would this be bad for people, it might also be bad for forests. But by studying how forests have changed over time, theres good reason to think that a way forward is possible. 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 emphasises two important points. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Thats a lot of trees! Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. 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. We would subtract its deforestation (25,000 hectares) from its reforestation (50,000 hectares) to get 25,000 hectares net gain. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. We know where deforestation emissions are occurring, and where this demand is coming from. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. 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). What if this deforestation is being driven by consumers elsewhere? Forest cover falls quickly, and the annual loss of forest is high. 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. Which countries are gaining, and which are losing forest? Forest loss or tree loss captures two fundamental impacts on forest cover: deforestation and forest degradation. For example, the average German generated half a tonne (510 kilograms) of CO2 per person from domestic and imported foods. This is because the latter only captures deforestation the replacement of forest with another land use (such as cropland). Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Brazils emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. 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%. 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). According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. Williams, M. (2003). The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. 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. But this is no longer the case: forest loss across North America and Europe is now the result of harvesting forestry products from tree plantations, or tree loss in wildfires. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. From 1700 to 1850, 19 million hectares were being cleared every decade. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? Pendrill, F., Persson, U. M., Godar, J., & Kastner, T. (2019). How many trees are cut down each year? 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. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. Since there is often year-to-year variability in deforestation or reforestation rates, this is shown as the five-year average. 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. 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. Lets take an example. This explains historical trends we see for countries across the world today. At this stage, countries are still losing forest each year but at a lower rate than before. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. 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). We therefore look at them both individually in more detail, to better understand what we can do about it. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. You will notice in the chart that this was not only expanding into previously forested land, but also other land uses such as wild grasslands and shrubbery. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. Noriko Hosonuma et al. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M. C., Potapov, P. V., Stehman, S. V., Smith-Rodriguez, K., Okpa, C., & Aguilar, R. (2017). People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. How many trees are cut down each year?. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. This is calculated by taking each countrys imported deforestation and subtracting its exported deforestation. 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. By Georgina Rannard. 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. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. We then get high-income countries share of deforestation as: [40% of the 29% that is traded], which is equal to 12%. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. First, it reiterates that deforestation is not a new problem: relatively small populations of the past were capable of driving a large amount of forest loss. Forest Transitions: why do we lose then regain forests? Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. On balance, it would still have a positive impact on the size of global forests; its net contribution would be increasing forest area by 25,000 hectares.32 However, this country might still be causing more damage than this for a couple of reasons. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? 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%. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. Before we look at trends in deforestation across the world specifically, its useful to understand the net change in forest cover. They cut down their forests and replaced it with agricultural land long ago. This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss. 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. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Can we bring it to an end? The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. We manage to capture some of these differences in carbon in our related article on deforestation emissions embedded in trade. When in history did we lose it? Africas emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. Tropical forests and the changing earth system. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. 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. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. The researchs results are Net forest loss is not the same as deforestation it measures deforestation plus any gains in forest over a given period. Most of todays richest countries all of Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea have passed the turning point and are now regaining forest. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. But urban land accounts for just 1% of global habitable land. For example, Ellis et al. 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? Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. Licenses: All visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are open access under the Creative Commons BY license. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. 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. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. 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