are added every year. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. 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. Nature, 536(7615), 143. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. Even with the most basic of lifestyles compared to todays standards, the per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large. 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. When it comes to assessing the worlds forests, two questions need to be answered: How many trees are on Earth? and. We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Mather refers to an annual loss of less than 0.25% as a small loss. 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. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. But there are real reasons to believe that this century doesnt have to replicate the destruction of the last one. They are smaller, and more 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. Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland. This is also true for major economies such as China and India. From 1850 to 1920, losses were around 50% higher at 30 million hectares per decade thats like losing a forested area the size of Italy every 10 years. Stage 4 The Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are now gaining forest again. Although there is some year-to-year variability [you can explore the data use the timeline on the bottom of the chart from 2005 to 2013] we see a reasonably consistent divide: most countries across Europe and North America are net importers of deforestation i.e. As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. 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. 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 Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 753-765. (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. 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. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. 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. There are other aspects to consider. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. 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. 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 a lot of trees! How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . Notarnicola et al. Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. At this stage, countries are still losing forest each year but at a lower rate than before. The State of the Worlds Forests 2020. 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. We lost 150 million hectares an area half the size of India during that decade. Thats an area the size of the United Kingdom. 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 assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. Explore more of our work on Forests and Deforestation, Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE, The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France, The relationships of population and forest trends, An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries, Increasing human dominance of tropical forests, Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion, Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland, Is there a forest transition? Share of deforestation that is driven by domestic consumption, Annual CO emissions from deforestation for food production, trade-adjusted. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. Thats around half the size of Germany. 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. How much deforestation happens every day? 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. On balance, they add to the global forest stock. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. An area the size of the United States. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change. Forests: this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Decisionmakers could give as much of our attention to European logging as to destruction of the Amazon. 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. Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. Thats both an economic and environmental win. The story of both soy and palm oil are complex and its not obvious that eliminating these products will fix the problem. Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. 432). The Forest Transition therefore tends to follow a development pathway.16 As a country achieves economic growth it moves through each of the four stages. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. And to identify where deforestation is occurring; perhaps as important, show where forest loss is not deforestation. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. But, supply chains are international. 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. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. 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. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. Then, using a physical trade model across 191 countries and around 400 food and forestry products, they could trace them through to where they are physically consumed, either as food or in industrial processes.Pendrill, F., Persson, U. M., Godar, J., Kastner, T., Moran, D., Schmidt, S., & Wood, R. (2019). How many trees are cut down each year? According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 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. After we adjust for imports and exports, how much CO2 from deforestation is each country responsible for? Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation? More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. But they wanted to contribute to a more informed discussion about where to focus forest conservation efforts by understanding why forests were being lost. How many trees does IKEA cut down a In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. The definition of forest can vary depending on aspects such as tree density and height. 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. Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. In contrast, most forest degradation two-thirds of it occurs in temperate countries. Science, 361(6407), 1108-1111. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(1), 65-90.Mather, A. S., & Needle, C. L. (2000). 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. It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. Mapping tree density at a global scale. In the chart we see how emissions from tropical deforestation are distributed through international supply chains. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. The UK imported 34,000 hectares of deforestation but increased its domestic forests by only 19,000 hectares. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . 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. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, thats a valid concern. 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. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. Why? They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. The taller the bar, the larger the change in forest area. For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? We know where deforestation emissions are occurring, and where this demand is coming from. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. 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. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. 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. 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. Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. 71% of deforestation is for domestic production. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. The latter will experience short-term environmental impacts, but will ultimately regrow. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. 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. This often comes at the cost of forests. The breakdown of deforestation by region is shown in the chart. Forest cover falls quickly, and the annual loss of forest is high. Pendrill, F., Persson, U. M., Godar, J., & Kastner, T. (2019). There is little forest left. Since there is often year-to-year variability in deforestation or reforestation rates, this is shown as the five-year average. Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). 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. I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. 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. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. 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.) Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. Countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in the early transition phase and are losing forests quickly. Lets take an example. Thats equivalent to the area of South Africa. 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. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . 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. In a related post we have combined this FAO data with global deforestation rates from Williams (2003) to document forest change over the last 300 years this gives us data on forest change from 1700 onwards. Today thats just 34%. The world has lost one-third of its forest an area twice the size of the United States. On the x-axis we have imported deforestation. At the top of the list we see some of the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia. 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. This follows the classic forest transition model with development, which we look at in more detail in a related article. How many trees are cut down each year?. Still, more than half of the worlds habitable land was forested. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. How much deforestation happens every day? The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, We should not only look at where these foods are produced, but also where the consumer demand is coming from. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? 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. Within this global aggregated trend there are many forest transitions at local, national or regional levels occurring. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 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). Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. They first lose lots of forest, but reach a turning point and begin to regain it again. After long periods of forest clearance in the past, most of todays richest countries are increasing tree cover through afforestation. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. In a previous article I showed that the types of food you eat matter much more for your carbon footprint than where it comes from this is because transport usually makes up a small percentage of your foods emissions, even if it comes from the other side of the world. Classifying drivers of global forest loss. 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. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Carbon emissions from deforestation: are they driven by domestic demand or international trade? 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). As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. 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. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A., Xu, J., & Lambin, E. (2005). Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. Nature, 525(7568), 201-205. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. Philipp Curtis and colleagues make this point clear. 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. This demand for resources and land is not always driven by domestic markets. Some countries within this group are still far behind peak deforestation: without concerted effort to protect these forests it could be many decades before forests in those countries approach the transition point [as we show in a related post].10. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. 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. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. This might put the responsibility for ending deforestation solely on tropical countries. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Thats a lot of trees! In the article we will look at the reasons we lose forest; how these can be differentiated in a useful way; and what this means for understanding our priorities in tackling forest loss. (2017) estimate that the average EU diet, excluding deforestation, is responsible for 0.5 tonnes CO2 per person. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. At the end of this stage, countries are approaching the transition point. 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). How much forest has the world lost? Cuaresma, J. C., Danylo, O., Fritz, S., McCallum, I., Obersteiner, M., See, L., & Walsh, B. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. Rome. 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. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. But its not the case for deforestation. The fact that the per capita emissions after trade are very high means that a lot of their food products are consumed by people in Brazil and Indonesia. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Stage 1 The Pre-Transition phase is defined by having high levels of forest cover and no or only very slow losses over time. Explore palm oil production across the world, and its impacts on the environment. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Thats like losing an area the size of Portugal every two years. 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. The study also finds that human activity negatively affects tree abundance from the boreal forests to the equator. 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. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. England is similar: in the late 11th century, 15% of the country was forested, and over the following centuries two-thirds were cut down. 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 much deforestation happens every day? The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. How many trees are cut down each year?. That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. Forest Transitions: why do we lose then regain forests? According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 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. Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). Please consult our full legal disclaimer. University of Chicago Press.FAO (2020). Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. Brazil, in contrast, caused more deforestation domestically in the production of goods for other countries than it imported from elsewhere. 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. Improvements in crop yields mean the per capita demand for agricultural land continues to fall. 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. 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. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. The rate of forest loss changed a lot. Nearly all 95% of this deforestation occurs in the tropics. 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