How much forest has the world lost? You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. 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. Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Lets take a look at which countries are causing deforestation overseas and the size of this impact. 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. But distilling changes to this single metric tree or forest loss comes with its own issues. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 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 This is nearly always true of planted forests in temperate regions there, planted forests are long-established and do not replace primary existing forests. Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, thats a valid concern. 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. 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. 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. 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. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A., Xu, J., & Lambin, E. (2005). Rome. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects 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. To investigate this question, researchers Florence Pendrill et al. The rate of deforestation is declining, but we still lost forests at a whopping 10 million hectares per year between 2015-2020. Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. As we will see later, this would be a distraction from our primary concern: ending tropical deforestation. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. Thats both an economic and environmental win. By 1900, there were 1.65 billion people in the world (five times fewer than we have today) but for most of the previous period, humans were deforesting the world with only tens or hundreds of millions. Imported emissions are also high for Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands at around one tonne. Imagine some temperate country was responsible for the deforestation of 25,000 hectares in tropical countries but was restoring its own forests at a rate of 50,000 hectares per year. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. This gives us an indication of the impact of the average persons diet. This is measured in hectares, which is equivalent to 10,000 m. Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Deforestation was therefore responsible for [2.6 / 40.2 * 100 = 6.5%]. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. 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). A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. 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. Low agricultural productivity and a reliance on wood for fuel meant that large amounts of land had to be cleared for basic provisions. The United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. But, understanding the role of deforestation in the products we buy is important. If you struggle to increase crop yields but want to produce more food, then expanding your agricultural land is the only option. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. The scale of deforestation today might give us little hope for protecting our diverse forests. The relationships of population and forest trends. But the solution is not so simple. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. 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. [2] Only 36% of the world's rainforests remain intact. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Globally we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year.11 Thats an area the size of Portugal every year. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but actually achieved substantial reforestation. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. 38. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. The world loses almost six million hectares of forest each year to deforestation. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Noriko Hosonuma et al. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. 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. Forests, biodiversity and people. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Brazil and Indonesia alone account for almost half. These are big numbers, and important ones to track: forest loss creates a number of negative impacts, ranging from carbon emissions to species extinctions and biodiversity loss. 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. When we cut down primary rainforest we are transforming this ecosystem forever. Cutting them down disrupts or destroys established, species-rich ecosystems. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. Growing all those trees requires about 19.7 square miles of land. Economic development and forest cover: evidence from satellite data. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. This is because the latter only captures deforestation the replacement of forest with another land use (such as cropland). Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. Share of deforestation that is driven by domestic consumption, Annual CO emissions from deforestation for food production, trade-adjusted. Lets put some numbers to them. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. By Georgina Rannard. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? See which countries are gaining forest though natural forest expansion and afforestation. At the end of this stage, countries are approaching the transition point. Most of our future deforestation is going to come from countries in the pre- or early-transition phase. Weve seen the five key drivers of forest loss. By Georgina Rannard. Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., & Romijn, E. (2012). 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%. Forestry Commission. The consumption choices of people in these countries cause deforestation elsewhere in the world. At the top of the list we see some of the major producer countries Brazil and Indonesia. Then things started to speed up. 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. Why should we care most about tropical deforestation? More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). 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. Tropical forests are also large carbon sinks, and can store a lot of carbon per unit area.26. What we know and dont know about Earths missing biodiversity. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. To do this, they quantified where deforestation was occurring due to the expansion of croplands, pasture and tree plantations (for logging), and what commodities were produced on this converted land. Web42 million trees are cut down each day. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. 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. In the chart we see deforestation emissions per person, measured in tonnes of CO2 per year. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. 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. Tropical forests are often more productive than temperate forests, meaning they store more carbon. But it was then that England reached its transition point and since then, forests have doubled in size. Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. The story of both soy and palm oil are complex and its not obvious that eliminating these products will fix the problem. 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. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. This often comes at the cost of forests. In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. When deforestation happens, almost all of the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation called the aboveground carbon loss is lost. 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. The change is permanent. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. Deforestation rates accelerated. 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. For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. We see massive differences in how important each driver is across the world. For example, Ellis et al. 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 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. 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. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution. Deforestation also results in larger losses of biodiversity and carbon relative to degradation. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. 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 researchers found that 36 million trees are cut down in urban areas each year, and 167,000 acres of impervious areas (concrete, asphalt, etc.) 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. Across Africa, fuelwood and charcoal played a much larger role it accounted for more than half (52%). According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. As we will see later, this is dominated by palm oil exports to Europe, China, India, North America and the Middle East. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. But by studying how forests have changed over time, theres good reason to think that a way forward is possible. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. 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%. Not all forest is equal. 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). It provides long-term estimates on forest cover in 10,000 and 5,000 years BP. It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change. Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. 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 United States is the worlds largest consumer (and second largest producer, after Canada) of forest products. Mather, A. S. (2004). Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. After seeing this data, people might argue that we should cut back on trade. 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. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. The diet of the average Brazilian creates 2.7 tonnes of CO2 from deforestation alone. Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. As mentioned above, about 15 billion trees are cut down each year. Science Advances, 3(4), e1601047. But urban land accounts for just 1% of global habitable land. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? This is true for some problems, such as climate change. 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). Decisionmakers could give as much of our attention to European logging as to destruction of the Amazon. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. 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. (2020). Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. Why? 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. estimate a 35% loss of global forest cover since 10,000. Deforestation, reforestation, and development. Thats 6 billion hectares. Countries below the line such as the UK and Germany are not growing forests fast enough to offset the deforestation theyre creating elsewhere. What are the major impacts of mass deforestation and forest loss? Its domestic demand, not international trade, that is the main driver of deforestation. 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? 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. Stage 4 The Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are now gaining forest again. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? Nature, 536(7615), 143. 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. Thats equivalent to the area of South Africa. The global population at this time was small and growing very slowly there were fewer than 50 million people in the world. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. 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? How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Nearly half (47%) of France was forested 1000 years ago; today thats just under one-third (31.4%). For this reason, data sources including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization tend to aggregate annual losses as the average over five-year or decadal periods. The default is shown for Brazil, but you can explore the data for a range of countries using the Change country button. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. 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 many trees are lost to deforestation each year? Mather refers to an annual loss of less than 0.25% as a small loss. Bringing all of these elements together, we can focus on a few points that should help us prioritise our efforts to end deforestation. The rate of population growth tends to slow down. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. Firstly, international trade does play a role in deforestation its responsible for almost one-third of emissions. The researchs results are All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. Across sub-tropical countries we have a mix: many upper-middle income countries are now in the late transition phase. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. The changes to the forest are often temporary and its expected that they will regrow. 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. Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. But, as countries continue to get richer this demand slows. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Then things started to speed up. (2017). Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. That was 6.5% of global CO2 emissions.35. 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 data used in this chart comes from several sources. If we fast-forward to 1700 when the global population had increased more than ten-fold, to 603 million. 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. By the mid-18th century, only 4% of the country was forested. It was a net importer. What activities are driving this? Not only would this be bad for people, it might also be bad for forests. 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. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. 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. 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. Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. This is probably less than many people would expect. Explore long-term changes in deforestation, and deforestation rates across the world today. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. 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.