It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. We see massive differences in how important each driver is across the world. 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. Many farmers rely on international buyers to earn a living and improve their livelihoods. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. The UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Is there a forest transition? Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings. According to the Environmental Paper Network, an estimated 30% of felled trees are used for paper products. On the left-hand side we have the countries (grouped by region) where deforestation occurs, and on the right we have the countries and regions where these products are consumed. 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 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. Brazils emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. Most of our future deforestation is going to come from countries in the pre- or early-transition phase. Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017, according to the most recent year of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. But not all of it is to produce products for local markets. Since then, deforestation rates have steadily declined, to 78 million hectares in the 1990s; 52 million in the early 2000s; and 47 million in the last decade. Since year-to-year changes in forest cover can be volatile, the UN FAO provide this annual data averaged over five-year periods. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. The change is temporary. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. 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. Global Environmental Change, 15(1), 23-31. 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. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. 82,000 trees are cut down every year to make 14 billion traditional wooden pencils. Thats equivalent to the area of South Africa. 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. In the chart we see the comparison between the change in domestic forest area, and deforestation driven by imported goods.33 On the vertical axis we have the domestic change in forest area: this is shown only for countries where the forest area is increasing. The research says 15.3 billion trees are chopped down every year. 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. This helps consumers understand what products they should be concerned about, but also allows us to target specific supply chains. They are also richer sites of biodiversity. Some of the worlds poorest countries are still in the pre-transition phase. There are other aspects to consider. 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. Thats an area 1.5-times the size of the United States. As I mentioned earlier, 14% of deforestation today is driven by consumers in rich countries. Brazil, in contrast, caused more deforestation domestically in the production of goods for other countries than it imported from elsewhere. Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation? A future with more people and more forest is possible. Scottish Geographical Journal, 120(1-2), 83-98. In the chart we see how emissions from tropical deforestation are distributed through international supply chains. 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. Humans have already destroyed around 46% of the trees on Earth. Stage 2 The Early Transition phase is when countries start to lose forests very rapidly. You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. But the magnitude of these impacts are often less than the complete conversion of forest. As we covered in a previous article, 60% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef, soybean and palm oil production. [4] Forests cover 4.06 billion hectares (just less than 31%) of 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. See the distribution of global forests and which countries have the most forest cover. Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, thats a valid concern. Global forest resources. For example, the average German generated half a tonne (510 kilograms) of CO2 per person from domestic and imported foods. The relationships of population and forest trends. Just over one-quarter of global forest loss is driven by 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? Imagine over 100 large harvesters working non-stop. The average across the EU was 0.3 tonnes CO2 per person. 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. 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. [1] That's 15.3 billion every year. 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). 95% of the worlds deforestation occurs in the tropics [we look at this breakdown again later]. There is some bad news, though: that number is likely to increase by 20% by 2023. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. People cut down 15 billion trees each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Note that this only measures the emissions from tropical deforestation it doesnt include any other emissions from agricultural production, such as methane from livestock, or rice, or the use of fertilizers. We therefore look at them both individually in more detail, to better understand what we can do about it. How many trees does IKEA cut down a Noriko Hosonuma et al. Bringing all of these elements together, we can focus on a few points that should help us prioritise our efforts to end deforestation. 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 et al. 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. Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 20002013. Rather than looking at total figures by country [if youre interested, we have mapped them here] we have calculated the per capita footprint. In the chart here we see the breakdown of deforestation emissions by product for each consumer country. Rome. If we fast-forward to 1700 when the global population had increased more than ten-fold, to 603 million. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. Nature, 536(7615), 143. We then get high-income countries share of deforestation as: [40% of the 29% that is traded], which is equal to 12%. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. And its not just in forests eitherits also happening on farms, in cities, and on private property. The problem is that it treats all forest loss as equal. Net forest loss is not the same as deforestation it measures deforestation plus any gains in forest over a given period. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Many consumers are concerned that their food choices are linked to deforestation in some of these hotspots. The researchs results are Lewis, S. L., Edwards, D. P., & Galbraith, D. (2015). Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. Lewis, S. L. (2006). In their analysis of global forest loss, Philip Curtis and colleagues used satellite images to assess where and why the world lost forests between 2001 and 2015. When we think of the growing pressures on land from modern populations we often picture sprawling megacities. 95% of global deforestation occurs in the tropics. How do these two measures compare? Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. In 2012 the mid-year of this period global emissions from fossil fuels, industry and land use change was 40.2 billion tonnes. 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. It feeds into the popular idea that eating local is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Across the US and Europe the breakdown of products is more varied. As we will see later, this is dominated by palm oil exports to Europe, China, India, North America and the Middle East. What if this deforestation is being driven by consumers elsewhere? 27% of forest loss results from commodity-driven deforestation cutting down forests to grow crops such as soy, palm oil, cocoa, to raise livestock on pasture, and mining operations. In the chart we see how the cover of the earths surface has changed over the past 10,000 years. 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. The biodiversity of managed tree plantations which are periodically cut, regrown, cut again, then regrown is not the same. According to CNN, each year over 1,000 plants and animal species go extinct due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. It would be good if there was data available that would capture these additional aspects. Can we bring it to an end? Thats a lot of trees! Countries with a negative change (shown in red) are losing more than theyre able to restore. 2020. Then things started to speed up. 59% occurs in Latin America, with a further 28% from Southeast Asia. In a study published in Global Environmental Change, Florence Pendrill and colleagues investigated where tropical deforestation was occurring; what products were driving this; and, using global trade models, they traced where these products were going in international supply chains.34, They found that tropical deforestation given as the annual average between 2010 and 2014 was responsible for 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. Stage 4 The Post-Transition phase is when countries have passed the transition point and are now gaining forest again. 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. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Notarnicola et al. Countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in the early transition phase and are losing forests quickly. This interactive map shows deforestation rates across the world. Mather, A. S., Fairbairn, J., & Needle, C. L. (1999). 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. Countries with a positive change (shown in green) are regrowing forest faster than theyre losing it. How many trees are lost to deforestation each year? This number comes from the World Bank, which estimates that there are 3 trillion trees on the planet. 71% of deforestation is for domestic production. In just over 100 years the world lost as much forest as it had in the previous 9,000 years. (2020). How many trees are chopped down for Christmas? 2020. Thats an area the size of the United Kingdom. 14% of deforestation is driven by consumers in the worlds richest countries we import beef, vegetable oils, cocoa, coffee and paper that has been produced on deforested land.12. But when forests are cut, burned or otherwise removed they emit carbon instead of absorb carbon. Second, it makes clear how much deforestation accelerated over the last century. Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. They also contribute to global deforestation through the foods they import from poorer countries. This follows the classic forest transition model with development, which we look at in more detail in a related article. All the software and code that we write is open source and made available via GitHub under the permissive MIT license. Improvements in crop yields mean the per capita demand for agricultural land continues to fall. How Many Acres of Trees Are Cut Down Each Year? What explains this? Global Environmental Change, 56, 1-10. After long periods of forest clearance in the past, most of todays richest countries are increasing tree cover through afforestation. Across Africa, fuelwood and charcoal played a much larger role it accounted for more than half (52%). It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use. This map shows the net change in forest cover across the world. Mapping tree density at a global scale. Most traded emissions are embedded in soy and palm oil exports to China and India; and beef, soy and palm oil exports to Europe. Healthy communities: Tree-filled neighborhoods lower levels of domestic violence and are safer and more sociable. This explains historical trends we see for countries across the world today. 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.) 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. 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. 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. Thats a lot of trees! Licenses: All visualizations, data, and articles produced by Our World in Data are open access under the Creative Commons BY license. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down every year. How much deforestation happens every day? Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. Thats 6 billion hectares. In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1465), 195-210. After we adjust for imports and exports, how much CO2 from deforestation is each country responsible for? In the chart we see deforestation emissions per person, measured in tonnes of CO2 per year. 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%). 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. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, England (2001). These countries might have high levels of afforestation at home, but theyre still having a net negative impact on the size of the worlds forests. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reducing meat and dairy intake particularly beef and lamb has the largest impact. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Thats more than the countrys CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, which are around 2.2 tonnes per person. A study published on September 2, 2015 in the journal Nature suggests these answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. 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. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009. 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. Why? Africa is also different here. Our World In Data is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1186433). How many trees are cut down each year?. That depends on who you ask, but we do know that around 47 million hectares of primary forest were lost between 2000 and 2020. Why? Africas emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. I have therefore excluded these categories so we can focus on how habitable land is used. By Georgina Rannard. Latin America exports around 23% of its emissions; that means more than three-quarters are generated for products that are consumed within domestic markets. (2010) looked at the primary drivers of deforestation and degradation across tropical and subtropical countries specifically.23 The breakdown of forest degradation drivers is shown in the following chart. This means they were responsible for 12% of global deforestation.31 It is therefore true that rich countries are causing deforestation in poorer countries. 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. How many trees are cut down each year in the Amazon rainforest? Are they causing more deforestation elsewhere than they are regenerating in forests at home? Web42 million trees are cut down each day. But it was then that England reached its transition point and since then, forests have doubled in size. The amount of land per person that was needed to produce enough food was not small in fact, it was much larger than today. But distilling changes to this single metric tree or forest loss comes with its own issues. Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. Cuaresma, J. C., Danylo, O., Fritz, S., McCallum, I., Obersteiner, M., See, L., & Walsh, B. International trade was responsible for around one-third (29%) of these emissions. 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. It doesnt capture trees that are cut down in planted forests; the land is still forested, its now just regrowing forest. WebThe UN FAO estimate that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year. Historical data pre-1990 is sourced from Michael Williams book, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory to global crisis. 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. Stage 3 The Late Transition phase is when deforestation rates start to slow down again. This means interventions at the national-level will be key: this can include a range of solutions including policies such as Brazils soy moratorium, the REDD+ programme to compensate for the opportunity costs of preserving these forests, and improvements in agricultural productivity so countries can continue to produce more food on less land. This is nearly always true of planted forests in temperate regions there, planted forests are long-established and do not replace primary existing forests. Tropical forests are home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. 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 and the changing earth system. And with the growth of technological innovations such as lab-grown meat and substitute products, there is the real possibility that we can continue to enjoy meat or meat-like foods while freeing up the massive amounts of land we use to raise livestock. Deforestation displaced: trade in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a global forest transition. For example, Ellis et al. Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. The same is true of the United States; back in 1630 46% of the area of todays USA was covered by forest. 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. Scheffers, B. R., Joppa, L. N., Pimm, S. L., & Laurance, W. F. (2012). It also estimates that 46% of the worlds trees have been cleared over the past 12,000 years. 38. The total cut down so far is over 470 million trees since January 1st. From the chart we see that this was driven by the continued expansion of land for agriculture. 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. Its State of the Worlds Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. 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. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. 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. Forest degradation measures a thinning of the canopy a reduction in the density of trees in the area but without a change in land use. Deforestation tends to occur on forests that have been around for centuries, if not millennia. But urban land accounts for just 1% of global habitable land. The world has lost one-third of its forest an area twice the size of the United States. Its the foods and products we buy, not where we live, that has the biggest impact on global land use. As to the number of trees this represents, its impossible to get an accurate count. University of Chicago Press.FAO (2020). Deforestation, reforestation, and development. That is why we should be focusing on tropical deforestation. How many trees have been cut down? Because people are starting to see how climate change affects trees. This might put the responsibility for ending deforestation solely on tropical countries. An area the size of the United States. Increasing human dominance of tropical forests. International trade is important for socioeconomic development. Not all forest is equal. 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. To quote them, they wanted to prevent a common misperception that any tree cover loss shown on the map represents deforestation. 38. At the beginning of this phase, the forest area is at its lowest point. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A., Xu, J., & Lambin, E. (2005). Countries which lie above the grey line such as the United States, Finland, China restore more forest each year domestically than they import from elsewhere. Even with the most basic of lifestyles compared to todays standards, the per capita footprint of our ancestors would have been large. Half of global forest loss occurred between 8,000BC and 1900; the other half was lost in the last century alone. 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.) There is a marked divide in the state of the worlds forests. Today, most deforestation occurs in the tropics. Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). 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%. Lets now focus on the consumers of products driving deforestation. As we saw previously, this deforestation accounts for around one-quarter of global forest loss. How many trees are cut down each year? ) of CO2 per person responsible for around one-quarter of global forest loss is by... 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