More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. In Latin America and Southeast Asia in particular, commodity-driven deforestation mainly the clearance of forests to grow crops such as palm oil and soy, and pasture for beef production accounts for almost two-thirds of forest loss. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. There is little forest left. 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. 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. Decisionmakers could give as much of our attention to European logging as to destruction of the Amazon. 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.) Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. How many trees are cut down each year? What explains this? 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. 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. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. 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? University of Chicago Press. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. We see very clearly that the large Brazilian footprint is driven by its domestic demand for beef. Rudel, T. K. (1998). Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. 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. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. (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). In the map we see the net deforestation embedded in trade for each country. estimate a 35% loss of global forest cover since 10,000. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. 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. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. Today thats just 34%. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. (2020).References:FAO and UNEP. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. England is similar: in the late 11th century, 15% of the country was forested, and over the following centuries two-thirds were cut down. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss. Deforestation in Africa is mainly driven by local populations and markets; only 9% of its emissions are exported. The taller the bar, the larger the change in forest area. are added every year. The annual change is now positive. Most deforestation occurs for the production of goods that are consumed within domestic markets. Rome. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. Global Environmental Change, 15(1), 23-31. 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. Williams, M. (2003). Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. They are also richer sites of biodiversity. 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. 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. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. That means that each year, one percent of all trees are being destroyed. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? We know where deforestation emissions are occurring, and where this demand is coming from. Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, England (2001). Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. Deforestation rates accelerated. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. But distilling changes to this single metric tree or forest loss comes with its own issues. 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. It doesnt capture trees that are cut down in planted forests; the land is still forested, its now just regrowing forest. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. 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. 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). Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. They cut down their forests and replaced it with agricultural land long ago. 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. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. 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. Africa is also an outlier as a result of how many people still rely on wood as their primary energy source. 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. A new study published in Nature estimates the planet has 3.04 trillion trees. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. It was a net exporter. We should not only look at where these foods are produced, but also where the consumer demand is coming from. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Clearing of the Brazilian Amazon for pasture and croplands was a major driver of this loss. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Land, 9(5), 129. 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. However, most align on the relative change in forests over this period. FAO. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. How much forest has the world lost? Year-to-year data on forest change comes with several issues: either data at this resolution is not available, or year-to-year changes can be highly variable. How many trees have been cut down? How many trees does IKEA cut down a When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. Humans have been cutting down trees for millennia. If we sum countries imported deforestation by World Bank income group, we find that high-income countries were responsible for 14% of imported deforestation; upper-middle income for 52%; lower-middle income for 23%; and low income for 11%. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? But then the trend turned, and it moved from deforestation to reforestation. Africas emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. 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. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. Centuries ago it was mainly temperate regions that were driving global deforestation [we take a look at this longer history of deforestation in a related article]. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. But the magnitude of these impacts are often less than the complete conversion of forest. Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. See the distribution of global forests and which countries have the most forest cover. They are smaller, and more temporary. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. 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. Data on net forest change, afforestation and deforestation is sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organizations Forest Resources Assessment. The breakdown of deforestation by region is shown in the chart. In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. 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. To investigate this question, researchers Florence Pendrill et al. It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. This is probably less than many people would expect. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. 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. For example, Ellis et al. But international markets alone cannot fix this problem. Thats both an economic and environmental win. Thats like losing an area the size of Portugal every two 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. Thats a lot of trees! But, it would be wrong to think that the only impact rich countries have on global forests is through changes in their domestic forests. Net importers of deforestation (shown in brown) are countries that contribute more to deforestation in other countries than they do in their home country. The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. One of the reasons poorer countries clear forest to make room for farmland is that they achieve low crop yields. 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. 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. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Lewis, S. L. (2006). Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. In 2012 the mid-year of this period global emissions from fossil fuels, industry and land use change was 40.2 billion tonnes. Over half of the worlds species reside in tropical forests.24 Endemic species are those which only naturally occur in a single country. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A., Xu, J., & Lambin, E. (2005). How many trees have been cut down? The researchs results are According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. 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. The State of the Worlds Forests 2020. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Then things started to speed up. But not all of it is to produce products for local markets. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . By Georgina Rannard. Thats an area the size of the United Kingdom. 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.) (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. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. It assumes the impact of clearing primary rainforest in the Amazon to produce soybeans is the same as logging planted forests in the UK. The trees are not expected to regrow. Weve seen the five key drivers of forest loss. Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). Ellis, E. C., Beusen, A. H., & Goldewijk, K. K. (2020). 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. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? For example, after we adjust for all the goods that the UK imports and exports, it caused more deforestation elsewhere than it did domestically. But there are real reasons to believe that this century doesnt have to replicate the destruction of the last one. Agricultural and urban land: The UN FAO Statistical database provides data on global agricultural and urban land from 1961 onwards. How many trees are cut down each year? I have reconstructed long-term data using various studies which Ive documented here. How much do people in rich countries contribute to deforestation overseas? Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. WebHealthy trees mean: Healthy people: 100 trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year. The bar chart just below shows the earths surface cover just after the end of the last ice age.3 10,000 years ago 57% of the worlds habitable land was covered by forest. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. To put this in perspective, that would be around one-sixth of the total carbon footprint of the average EU diet.36. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. Several studies have assessed the stage of countries across the world.17 The most recent analysis to date was published by Florence Pendrill and colleagues (2019) which looked at each countrys stage in the transition, the drivers of deforestation but also the role of international trade.18 To do this, they used the standard metrics discussed in our theory of forest transitions earlier: the share of land that is forested, and the annual change in forest cover. But urban land accounts for just 1% of global habitable land. The scale of deforestation today might give us little hope for protecting our diverse forests. How Many Trees are Cut down for Paper Each Year . Stage 2 The Early Transition phase is when countries start to lose forests very rapidly. We lost 150 million hectares an area half the size of India during that decade. 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. Noriko Hosonuma et al. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. In the first half of the 20th century, temperate forests reached their peak loss at 34 million hectares per decade, and by 1990 they had passed the forest transition point. How many trees are cut down each year?. 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). 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. 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. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. It was a net importer. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. The course and drivers of the forest transition: the case of France. 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. This helps consumers understand what products they should be concerned about, but also allows us to target specific supply chains. Nearly half (47%) of France was forested 1000 years ago; today thats just under one-third (31.4%). [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. Lets put some numbers to them. 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. Forest cover falls quickly, and the annual loss of forest is high. Mapping tree density at a global scale. Rich countries such as the USA, France and the United Kingdom have had a long history of deforestation but are now passed the transition point. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Available here. On the horizontal axis we have time, spanning from 1700 to 2020; on the vertical axis we have the decadal change in forest cover. Forestry production and wildfires usually result in forest degradation the forest experiences short-term disturbance but if left alone is likely to regrow. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. The Earth System (Vol. 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 change is temporary. 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. 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 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. Nature Sustainability, 1-9. 71% of deforestation is for domestic production. Stage 4 The Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are now gaining forest again. 432). Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, 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 researchs results are 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). But most emissions are driven by domestic markets this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem. 38. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Rome. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. Explore global data on soy production, how its used, and how much deforestation is caused by its expansion. 38. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. 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.) By the 19th century the forest area was reduced to a third of what it once was. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(9), 501-510. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. 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. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? By Georgina Rannard. There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) 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. This follows the classic forest transition model with development, which we look at in more detail in a related article. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. 71% of this is driven by demand in domestic markets, and the remaining 29% for the production of products that are traded. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Firstly, international trade does play a role in deforestation its responsible for almost one-third of emissions. Forests, biodiversity and people. Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. Data from 1990 onwards is sourced from the UNs 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020.References:Williams, M. (2003). Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. The paths between these end boxes indicate where emissions are being traded the wider the bar, the more emissions are embedded in these products. Not all forest is equal. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. We can illustrate this through the so-called Forest Transition Model.14 This is shown in the chart. Forests are mainly cut and burned to make space for local, subsistence agriculture or for fuelwood for energy. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. Forest loss cut down each year land: the ravages of guns nets! Capture trees that are consumed within domestic markets this means policies in the UK and are. The us and Europe the breakdown of deforestation and forest degradation the forest transition model with,! We eat, not where we live: Williams, M. ( 2003 ) forests rapidly! 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