TORONTO -- The eating habits of an average person living in a G7 country is responsible for the felling of approximately four trees every year, according to new research.
The study, conducted by researchers out of Japan, found that the consumption of imported commodities, such as coffee, chocolate, beef, and palm oil, in Western countries increases deforestation in wildlife-rich tropical forests.
“Deforestation, a significant threat to biodiversity, is accelerated by global demand for commodities,” the study’s authors wrote.
Researchers say the study is the first to link maps of global deforestation to the wide range of foods imported across the world.
The findings were published on Monday in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal.
According to the study, researchers combined high-resolution data on forest loss and its drivers with a global database of international trade relationships between 15,000 industry sectors from 2001 to 2015.
The study’s authors say they were able to quantify each country's deforestation footprint based on the consumption of its population.
“Despite the growing recognition of the seriousness of deforestation in developing countries, deforestation footprints have remained largely unchanged [since 2000],” the authors reported.
While China, India and G7 countries, which includes Canada, have increased forest cover in their own countries, the study reported that they have also increased deforestation outside of their borders in biodiversity hotspots including in the Amazon and the forests of southeast Asia, Madagascar and Liberia.
According to the data, chocolate consumption in the United Kingdom and Germany is an important driver of deforestation in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, while beef and soy demand in the United States, Europe and China results in forest destruction in Brazil.
The study also found that coffee drinkers in the U.S., Germany and Italy are a cause of significant deforestation in central Vietnam, and timber demand in China, South Korea and Japan results in tree loss in northern Vietnam.
However, the researchers acknowledge that a lack of data meant they were unable to link consumption to specific areas within those countries causing deforestation.
Researchers noted the U.S. has a particularly large deforestation footprint as the country is the main importer of a wide variety of commodities including fruits and nuts from Guatemala, rubber from Liberia and timber from Cambodia.
Additionally, the researchers observed a high U.S. deforestation footprint in Canada as a result of the country being the primary export destination for Canada’s forest products.
According to the data, consumption in G7 countries accounts for an average loss of four trees a year per person, but the U.S. is above average with five trees being lost per capita.
The study reported that more than 90 per cent of deforestation from the U.K., Japan, Germany, France, and Italy is in foreign countries with half of this occurring in tropical nations.
The study also found that China causes the largest deforestation in Malaysia due to imports of palm oil and other farm produce.
Researchers say these findings could help target action to halt deforestation.
The study’s authors warn that steps need to be taken to protect tropical rainforests that are particularly threatened by the impacts of international trade, as they say “current efforts are still not effective enough.”
“Our results emphasize the need to reform zero-deforestation policies through strong transnational efforts and by improving supply chain transparency, public–private engagement and financial support for the tropics,” the study said.
Researchers say that international deforestation caused by trade will continue to drive environmental impacts globally if G7 countries don’t work to tackle the issue.
“While G20 countries are still dependent on tropical forests and mangroves, economic growth does not solve the embodied deforestation in the tropics and subtropics,” they wrote.
