Since 1990, an estimated 178 million hectares of forests have been lost worldwide. If you consider that one hectare corresponds to approximately 100.000 square meters, it is an area the size of Libya.
A growing phenomenon, as you will imagine: over a third of this extension belongs to the 2015-2020 period, in which the world lost 10 million hectares of forests per year.
Environmental scientists warn that forests must be restored, or the environmental impact will be devastating and lead to long-term climate consequences.
Forests, a slow extermination
Historically, forests are destroyed for several reasons: creation of agricultural land, grazing for livestock, or urban expansion and others. The industry, obviously (the wood industry, and not only) also has its role.
Globally, 300% of forests have been lost in the past 35 years. And of those that survived, 82% were compromised by human activity. More than half of the world's forests are now found in just five countries: Brazil, Canada, China, Russia and the United States.
A big problem, given that most animal species (80% of amphibians, 75% of birds and 68% of mammals) live in forests, according to the report The State of the World's Forests (I link it here).
The destruction of rainforests is, in fact, a mass extinction, and is largely due to man.
The “theatres of war”
Chainsaws and bulldozers are rapidly clearing Brazilian rainforests. If the phenomenon does not slow down, the southern Brazilian Amazon will lose 56% of its forests by 2050.
And the loss of the Amazon it will have the global impact of a meteorite. Photosynthesis helps reduce (but not eliminate) greenhouse gases. Trees provide long-term carbon storage, and fewer trees mean less removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. By reducing humidity, deforestation will produce a total imbalance in rainfall: in some areas it will be devastating and sudden, in (many) others it will drop by up to 40%.
And the animals? Too bad for them, and for us: some species could adapt and live in what environmentalists call “forest fragments” near urban areas. This would increase the risk of disease transmission to humans. You know what I'm talking about.
We need a protective shield
Forest reconstruction (which incidentally NOT enough to solve climate problems) will not happen in a few decades. It is necessary to accelerate at full blast, trying not to waste time reforesting on the right to continue deforesting when there is no need.
Among the most effective and ambitious projects, the Bonn challenge launched in 2011 by the German government. Its goal is to restore 350 million hectares of forests to the world by 2030. A "race" in which over 60 countries are currently participating.
Another important initiative, on the African side, is the "great green wall“: a mammoth screen of trees that aims to curb desertification and stimulate tree growth on the hottest continent on the planet.
The rest of the picture is not encouraging. If regions like Europe, Asia and Oceania are keeping up, South America continues to lose more hectares each year than it is being rebuilt. If forest loss were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world.
We go merrily to a ravine.
