The pace of forest clearing is slowing and people are making the connection between forest loss and climate change. Trees are natural consumers of carbon dioxide. Destruction of trees not only removes these “carbon sinks,” but tree burning and decomposition pump into the atmosphere even more carbon dioxide, along with methane.
According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment, deforestation releases nearly a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere per year, though the numbers are not as high as recorded previously.. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent. (Van Der Werf, G. R. et al., 2009)
"Protecting forests can give you 30% of the emissions reduction and carbon capture you need in order to keep the planet from overheating," said M. Sanjayan, executive vice president and senior scientist at Conservation International. "The most effective way that we could spend to deal with climate change would be to spend on protecting on forests."
But the international community is failing to step up.
"If you look at the $400 billion that is being spent globally to deal with emissions, only 2% of that goes towards protecting and restoring forests," Sanjayan said.
"If the world temperature increased by more than 1.5 or 2% it would make life extraordinarily difficult for billions of people around the planet. Forests give us the most efficient way we know for mitigating that."
According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed and Forests now cover only 30% of the world's landmass.
Industrialized countries consume 12 times more wood and its products per person than the non-industrialized countries and almost half of world’s timber and up to 70% of paper is consumed by Europe, United States and Japan alone.
But,the burning of timber as fuel is also a major contributor. Fuel wood in sub Saharan African countries is consumed up to 200% times more than the annual growth rates of the trees.
Indonesia, with its thriving paper and palm oil industries, is losing more forest than any other country. Despite a forest development moratorium, the Southeast Asian nation has lost at least 39 million acres since the last century, according to research from the University of Maryland and the World Resources Institute.
But the good news is that forest cover is now actually increasing in most parts of the world including Asia, Europe and North America - with the Middle East and North Africa having the largest percentage increase in forest area between 1990 and 2015. Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa regions have lost the most with the biggest total decrease in forest area in Latin America and the Caribbean who removed 970,000 square kilometres of forest between 1990 and 2015
As architects and builders start to look at wood again for building, combined with the known positive effects on climate, it looks like we are on the cusp of the next timber age. Wood, it must be good, it grows on trees.
According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment, deforestation releases nearly a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere per year, though the numbers are not as high as recorded previously.. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent. (Van Der Werf, G. R. et al., 2009)
"Protecting forests can give you 30% of the emissions reduction and carbon capture you need in order to keep the planet from overheating," said M. Sanjayan, executive vice president and senior scientist at Conservation International. "The most effective way that we could spend to deal with climate change would be to spend on protecting on forests."
But the international community is failing to step up.
"If you look at the $400 billion that is being spent globally to deal with emissions, only 2% of that goes towards protecting and restoring forests," Sanjayan said.
"If the world temperature increased by more than 1.5 or 2% it would make life extraordinarily difficult for billions of people around the planet. Forests give us the most efficient way we know for mitigating that."
According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed and Forests now cover only 30% of the world's landmass.
Industrialized countries consume 12 times more wood and its products per person than the non-industrialized countries and almost half of world’s timber and up to 70% of paper is consumed by Europe, United States and Japan alone.
But,the burning of timber as fuel is also a major contributor. Fuel wood in sub Saharan African countries is consumed up to 200% times more than the annual growth rates of the trees.
Indonesia, with its thriving paper and palm oil industries, is losing more forest than any other country. Despite a forest development moratorium, the Southeast Asian nation has lost at least 39 million acres since the last century, according to research from the University of Maryland and the World Resources Institute.
But the good news is that forest cover is now actually increasing in most parts of the world including Asia, Europe and North America - with the Middle East and North Africa having the largest percentage increase in forest area between 1990 and 2015. Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa regions have lost the most with the biggest total decrease in forest area in Latin America and the Caribbean who removed 970,000 square kilometres of forest between 1990 and 2015
As architects and builders start to look at wood again for building, combined with the known positive effects on climate, it looks like we are on the cusp of the next timber age. Wood, it must be good, it grows on trees.
