forest loss (deforestation)
Recently I enjoyed reading several books about the life experiences of 19th century pioneers who traveled from UK to Canada and America, traveled into the wilderness, and worked hard under harsh conditions to carve farmland out of the wilderness. Their hard work seemed brave and worthwhile. However our modern world has moved to industrial scale clear-cutting of forests. Not brave and worthy but greedy and short-sighted.
Unfortunately the advance of civilization over the years has been marked by increasing loss of the world's forests. With deforestation comes greenhouse gas emissions emissions from the deforesting fires, and also major loss of species diversity. Reportedly most modern forest loss is occurring in tropical forests.
I've found several quite variant estimates of deforestation. One anomaly that puzzled me was that some authorities report that the rate of forest loss has continued to increase, but other authorities report rate of deforestation has begun to decrease. Subsequently I have discovered that the difference comes differences in definition of 'deforestation'. Consider an area of mature forest that is clear-cut then replanted with seedling trees. Some people consider that area no longer is a forest since it has lost its canopy and also has lost its diversity. But others say no legally it is still a forest. Personally I favour the former definition based on loss of tree canopies. Once mature canopy and strong diversity has returned an area is a forest again.
These charts show data from several sources merged as best I can. So touch wood as to their reliability, but the overall pattern seems to make some sense. In the first chart, which shows annual forest loss, you can see long steady loss of forests from 1750 to present, with more aggressive clearing of forests in last decades of 20th century into the early 21st century.
June 2018 Update: My charts were updated using tree canopy loss definition.
March 2020: Chart updated to include WRI data for 2018. Forecast model revised upward & extended to year 2200.
Addendum: I gather the world has roughly 4 billion = 4000 million hectares of forest remaining. Well you can do the math....
These charts show data from several sources merged as best I can. So touch wood as to their reliability, but the overall pattern seems to make some sense. In the first chart, which shows annual forest loss, you can see long steady loss of forests from 1750 to present, with more aggressive clearing of forests in last decades of 20th century into the early 21st century.
June 2018 Update: My charts were updated using tree canopy loss definition.
March 2020: Chart updated to include WRI data for 2018. Forecast model revised upward & extended to year 2200.
Addendum: I gather the world has roughly 4 billion = 4000 million hectares of forest remaining. Well you can do the math....