how many trees are cut down each yearhow many trees are cut down each 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. Humanitys biggest footprint is due to what we eat, not where we live. Nicolas-Jacques Cont, an officer in Napoleon's army, invented the modern pencil by combining graphite and clay for lead durability. The carbon footprint of diets across the EU vary from country-to-country, and estimates vary depending on how much land use change is factored into these figures. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Scientific Reports, 7, 40678. They cut down their forests and replaced it with agricultural land long ago. Note that in this study, the category of subsistence agriculture was classified as a deforestation driver, and so is not included. 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. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. Please consult our full legal disclaimer. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. How many trees are cut down each year?. This often comes at the cost of forests. Rural Sociology, 63(4), 533-552. But they wanted to contribute to a more informed discussion about where to focus forest conservation efforts by understanding why forests were being lost. In contrast, most forest degradation two-thirds of it occurs in temperate countries. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 40% of traded deforestation ends up in high-income countries, meaning they are responsible for 12% of deforestation.29. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. 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. An area the size of the United States. Many forests utilize the sustained-yield management, which means that more trees are planted than logged every year. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Nature, 536(7615), 143. Urbanization, the other driver of deforestation accounts for just 0.6%. Noriko Hosonuma et al. Without reliable metrics that capture all of these differences, we will have to stick with total changes in forest area for now. Nearly all 95% of this deforestation occurs in the tropics. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. Countries may lose some forest each year, but this is at a very slow rate. The rate of forest loss changed a lot. Hosonuma et al. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. 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. But distilling changes to this single metric tree or forest loss comes with its own issues. 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 total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. Healthy environment: One hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas? Some interesting facts state that every second, 1.5 acres of wood are cut down, 2020. Thats one football field of forest lost every single second around the clock. 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.) 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. In a related article we look in much more detail at what agricultural products, and which countries are driving this. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). The scale of deforestation today might give us little hope for protecting our diverse forests. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). 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. 71% of this is driven by demand in domestic markets, and the remaining 29% for the production of products that are traded. More than 7 million hectares of forest, or 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees, are cut down every year because of deforestation. The remaining 73% came from the three drivers of forest degradation: logging of forestry products from plantations (26%); shifting, local agriculture (24%); and wildfires (23%). But, overall, oilseeds and beef tend to top the list for most countries. It was predominantly temperate forests that were being lost at this time. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(9), 501-510. By Georgina Rannard. 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. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. There is a geographical argument (why the tropics?) There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. 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? Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). We can calculate this increase as [(7.63 billion 3.09 billion) / 3.09 billion * 100 = 147%]. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. 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. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimising the amount of forest we lose along the way. 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. 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. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. 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.) Most emissions 71% came from foods consumed in the country that they were produced. In a previous post we looked at this change in global forests over the long-run. 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. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. For the last two centuries forests have been growing and are almost back to where they were 1000 years ago.13. Since 1961, the amount of land we use for agriculture increased by only 7%. Forest loss measures the net change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to deforestation plus any expansion of forest through afforestation.6. Moving into the 20th century there was a stepwise change in demand for agricultural land and energy from wood. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. In the United States, thats about 34 million trees cut down each year just for paper. Just over one-quarter of global forest loss is driven by deforestation. How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? 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. 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. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. Each year, an estimated 15 billion trees are cut down around the world. 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. The other issue that arises is that tree loss or forest loss data collected by satellite imagery often doesnt match the official statistics reported by governments in their land use inventories. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. The breakdown of deforestation by region is shown in the chart. 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. 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. Our crop yields improve and so we need less land for agriculture. 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]. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. Web3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down per year. 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. Across temperate forests the world gained 6 million hectares in the last decade. 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. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. 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. 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. If poorer countries are cutting down forests to make food for rich consumers, then we should just stop trading these goods. As we will see later, this is dominated by palm oil exports to Europe, China, India, North America and the Middle East. WebEvery year from 2011-2015 about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? For example, Ellis et al. Why? Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. Stage 1 The Pre-Transition phase is defined by having high levels of forest cover and no or only very slow losses over time. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Today thats just 34%. 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 Forests the world gained 6 million hectares of forest were cut down 15 billion trees year! Change in forest cover: the loss in forests due to what we eat, not where live! States, thats about 34 million trees since January 1st the modern pencil by combining and. 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