Over the last 60 years, the global forest area has shrunk by 81.7 million hectares, contributing to a more than 60% decrease in global forest area per capita. According to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters by IOP Publishing, biodiversity loss threatens the future of biodiversity and affects the lives of 1.6 billion people worldwide.
A team of researchers led by Ronald C. Estoque of the Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) in Japan discovered that the global forest area has decreased by 81.7 million hectares from 1960 to 2019, equivalent to more than 10% of the entire Borneo Island, with gross forest loss (437.3 million hectares) outweighing gross forest gain (437.3 million hectares) (355.6 million hectares).
The researchers examined how global forests have changed over time and space using a global land use dataset. As a result of the decline in global forests combined with the increase in global population over the last 60 years, the global forest area per capita has decreased by more than 60%, from 1.4 hectares in 1960 to 0.5 hectares in 2019.
Forest loss and degradation have a negative impact on the integrity of forest ecosystems, reducing their ability to generate and provide essential services as well as sustain biodiversity. It also has an impact on the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide, the majority of whom live in developing countries and rely on forests for a variety of reasons.
Ronald C. Estoque
According to the authors, “Forest loss and degradation have a negative impact on the integrity of forest ecosystems, reducing their ability to generate and provide essential services as well as sustain biodiversity. It also has an impact on the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide, the majority of whom live in developing countries and rely on forests for a variety of reasons.”
Many people think of environmental concerns as a modern issue: humanity’s destruction of nature and ecosystems as a result of very recent population growth and increasing consumption. This is true for some problems, such as climate change. But it’s not the case for deforestation. Humans have been cutting down trees for millennia.
The results also revealed that the change in the spatiotemporal pattern of global forests supports the forest transition theory, with forest losses occurring primarily in lower-income countries in the tropics and forest gains occurring in higher-income countries in the extratropics. The study’s lead author, Ronald C. Estoque, explains, “Despite the fact that this spatial pattern of forest loss occurs primarily in less developed countries, the role of more developed countries in this forest loss needs to be investigated further. With the strengthening of forest conservation in more developed countries, forest loss is shifting to less developed countries, particularly in the tropics.”
“Today, monitoring of the world’s forests is an integral part of various global environmental and social initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. To help achieve the goals of these initiatives, there is a profound need to reverse, or at least flatten, the global net forest loss curve by conserving the world’s remaining forests and restoring and rehabilitating degraded forest landscapes,” the authors further explain.
Deforestation has a tragic history, in which we have lost not only these wild and beautiful landscapes, but also the wildlife that lives within them. However, the fact that forest transitions are possible should give us hope for a better future. Many countries have not only ended deforestation, but have also achieved significant reforestation. Our generation will be able to do the same on a global scale, bringing an end to the 10,000-year history of forest loss.
If we are to end deforestation, we must first understand where and why it is occurring, where countries are in their transition, and what can be done to accelerate their progress through it. We need to pass the transition point as soon as possible, while minimizing the amount of forest we lose along the way.
