As deforestation and wildfires driven by a changing climate take their toll on the world's forests, a new study has found that the global forest area per capita has fallen by more than 60 per cent over the past few decades.
The researchers, led by a team based in Japan, outlined their findings in a study published in Environmental Research Letters on Monday. From 1960 to 2019, the researchers say global forest area had declined by 81.7 million hectares, which is slightly larger than the entire island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
When factoring in the growth of the world's population, that loss in forest area over the past 60 years represents a 60 per cent decrease per capita.
"The continuous loss and degradation of forests affects the integrity of forest ecosystems, reducing their ability to generate and provide essential services and sustain biodiversity. It also impacts the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, who depend on forests for various purposes," the authors wrote.
In lower income countries, forest gains were overwhelmingly outweighed by forest losses. More than half of the world's forest losses were in Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest. In the last 60 years, the country had a net loss of 43.9 million hectares of forest area.
Satellite data showed that in the first half of 2022, a record amount of Brazil's Amazon was deforested.
Higher income countries often had net forest gains, although Canada was an exception to this trend. Since 1960, the country has lost 8.6 million hectares and gained only 5.7 million hectares, resulting in a net loss of 2.9 million hectares.
"For the top net forest-losing countries in terms of area over the past 60 years … the dominant drivers of forest loss are unprecedented commercial logging, industrial-scale clearing for mining, expansion of oil palm plantations, decentralization of forest management and socio-political transitions, among others," the authors added.
Forests are also under threat from wildfires, as scientists say the effects of climate change has made some areas around the world hotter and drier, making them more susceptible to extreme fires. Firefighters in California are currently battling the largest wildfire in the state so far this year. Fires have also threatened communities in B.C.'s interior, prompting evacuations.
"There is a profound need to reverse, or at least flatten, the global net forest loss curve by conserving the world’s remaining forests and restoring and rehabilitating degraded forest landscapes," the researchers said in the study.
Correction:
The headline of this story has been corrected to say global forest area has fallen 60 per cent per capita since 1960, according to the study, not 60 per cent. The article now also correctly states data that global forest area declined by 81.7 million hectares during the period examined in the study, not 81.7 hectares.
