What percentage of African rainforest has been cut since 1900?
Find our paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution here. Previous estimates of deforestation rates in Africa since the 1900s range between 35 and 55%.
Which country lost the most tropical forest in 1990?
Brazil led the world in terms of total deforested area between 1990 and 2005. The country lost 42,330,000 hectares (163,436 square miles) of forest, roughly the size of California.
How much forest was lost in the 20th century?
In the first half of the 20th century, temperate forests reached their peak loss at 34 million hectares per decade, and by 1990 they had passed the ‘forest transition point’.
When did tropical deforestation begin?
In contrast to nineteenth- and twentieth-century deforestation in the world’s temperate zones, deforestation in the tropics did not begin in earnest until after 1950, reaching rates of 12 million hectares per year in the 1990s. Rates have slowed in the twenty-first century, but not by much.
Is deforestation increasing or decreasing?
Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, down from 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. The area of primary forest worldwide has decreased by over 80 million hectares since 1990.
How much land has been deforested?
That’s 6 billion hectares. Today, only 4 billion hectares are left. The world has lost one-third of its forest – an area twice the size of the United States. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago.
Which area experienced the greatest tropical forest loss between 2000 2005?
South America — where large tracts of the Amazon rainforest are being cleared for cattle ranches and soybean plantations — suffered the largest net loss of forests between 2000 and 2005 of around 4.3 million hectares per year.
Which country has the worst deforestation?
According to the FAO, Nigeria has the world’s highest deforestation rate of primary forests. It has lost more than half of its primary forest in the last five years. The causes cited are logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of fuelwood.
Is there illegal logging in the US?
Illegal logging is not widespread in the US, but we are the world’s largest importer and end user of wood, including from some countries that have high rates of illegal logging. And the US is one of the world’s largest consumers of forest products.
When did deforestation start and why?
Although deforestation first became a serious concern in the 1950s, it has been an issue since humans began making fires hundreds of thousands of years ago. The extinction of plants and animals due to deforestation has occurred for thousands of years.
What is tropical deforestation?
The clearing of tropical forests across the Earth has been occurring on a large scale basis for many centuries. This process, known as deforestation, involves the cutting down, burning, and damaging of forests. The loss of tropical rain forest is more profound than merely destruction of beautiful areas.
How much has the world’s tropical forest changed in the last decade?
Across temperate forests the world gained 6 million hectares in the last decade. 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.
How does deforestation affect rainfall in the tropics?
Up to 30 percent of the rain that falls in tropical forests is water that the rainforest has recycled into the atmosphere. Water evaporates, condenses into clouds and falls again as rain. In addition to maintaining tropical rainfall, the evaporation cools the Earth’s surface. Deforestation is likely to create a drier, hotter climate in the tropics.
How much of the world has been lost to deforestation?
The world has lost one-third of its forests since the end of the last great ice age. Deforestation has continued throughout the last millennia but rates rapidly accelerated in the last few centuries. There was a marked acceleration in deforestation rates in the 20th century, particularly in tropical regions.
When did global deforestation peak?
Global deforestation reached its peak in the 1980s. We lost 150 million hectares – an area half the size of India – during that decade. Clearing of the Brazilian Amazon for pasture and croplands was a major driver of this loss.