Over the past 60 years, the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares, a loss that has led to a decline in global forest area per capita. According to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the loss of biodiversity is threatening the future of 1.6 billion people.
A team of researchers, led by Ronald C. Estoque from the Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, has found that the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares from 1960 to 2019.
The team looked at how global forests have changed over time. The global forest area per capita has been decreasing since 1960 due to the decline in global forests and the increase in global population.
The authors say that the continuous loss and degradation of forests affect the integrity of the forest. It has an impact on the lives of at least 1.6 billion people who depend on forests for various purposes.
The results show that the forest transition theory is supported by the fact that the lower-income countries in the tropics lose a lot of forest. "Despite this spatial pattern of forest loss occurring primarily in the less developed countries, the role of more developed nations in this said forest loss also needs to be studied more deeply." The less developed countries are more affected by forest loss due to the strengthening of forest conservativism in more developed countries.
Monitoring the world's forests is an important part of various environmental and social initiatives. To help achieve the goals of these initiatives, there is a need to reverse or at least flatten the global net forest loss curve.
More information: Ronald C Estoque et al, Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory, Environmental Research Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters
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