Some 13 million hectares of the world’s forests are lost due to deforestation each year. The annual net loss of forest area between 2000 and 2005 was 7.3 million hectares (equivalent to the net loss of almost 2% of the world’s forests).
Forests used to be seen primarily as a source of timber production. Now they are recognised as being important for biological diversity, maintenance of ecosystem services and the mitigation of climate change. This is sustainable forest management.
The connection between deforestation and climate change:
- 20% of all human carbon emissions come from tropical forest destruction. Only the energy sector contributes more. The Forests’ role in controlling our climate is not yet completely understood. 13 million hectares of forest, an area larger than Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark combined; and comparable to the U.S. state of Pennsylvania is destroyed each year
- The world’s forest trees and soils contain twice as much carbon as is in the earth’s atmosphere. Tropical forests in particular are one of the world’s most important carbon banks; they store 120-400 tonnes of carbon in every hectare
- Deforestation releases 19 million tonnes of CO2 each day. This is equivalent to flying over 8 million people between London and New York City
- Over the last 50 years, more than half of the world’s tropical forests have been destroyed. Of the estimated original 1.6 billion hectares of tropical forest, only about one billion remain and we are rapidly diminishing this critical resource
Through purchasing trees in Brazil:
- You provide employment and training where they are much needed in the rainforest area of Brazil
- You help to reforest the jungle by reforesting an acre of deforested land for every acre of your trees we plant
- You are helping the environment by planting trees and reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere
- Naturally, the growth of trees on this scale can help offset not just an individual, but a company wide carbon footprint