As the world’s population grew, forests were cut down, clearing lands for new building sites and farms, and to supply the wood required for construction and heating. Since the 1960’s more than half of the tropical forests were cut down. In the 1980’s and 90’s, 80% of the new agricultural land was developed by clearing forests.
Between 2011 and 2015, about 20 million hectares of forest was cut down. Since 2016, the cuts increased to an average of 28 million hectares a year, a surface larger than UK.
As a result of the deforestation, not only that the planet’s main source of oxygen is diminished, but large ecosystems are being disrupted, leading to an accelerated species extinctions. Deforestation and degraded forests account for 10% of the global greenhouse emissions.
The Great Green Wall is an 8000 km wall of trees being built in Africa and it’s meant to reduce desertification and help in the fight with the climate change. By 2030, the movement aims to have restored 100 million hectares of land across the width of Africa.
In 2017, Pakistan managed to hit their target of planting 1 billion trees. In 2018, they set a new target – planting 10 billion trees by 2023. However, critics are arguing that the project is going ahead without proper planning, leading to waste of resources and reduced impact of the project.
Under the Paris Agreement, India has pledged to increase its forest by 95 million hectares by 2030. In 2017, around 1.5 million volunteers planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours.
Solutions
Preserving the remaining forests.
Reforestation and Afforestation.
Shifting to sustainably sourced products.
Reusing and upcycling furniture.
Reducing waste.
Switch to tree-free paper, made of bamboo, hemp, jute or flax.