The World To Be Without Trees In The Next 300 Years Despite New Discovery

A new study released this month has shown that there are some three trillion trees on the surface of the earth. The study has brought both joy and sadness because despite the discovery of the three trillion trees — more than previously projected, at 400 billion trees — the study suggested all could be gone in the next 300 hundred years.

The study was conducted by 38 scientists at the Global Forest Watch. It showed that the Earth lost more than 45 million acres of trees in 2014 alone. The researchers said they used a combination of satellite imagery with more than 400,000 measurements, from on-the-ground studies and government forestry inventories around the world, to arrive at the new figure.

If the trees are divided by the world’s population, that would make 422 trees for every person. The study said had it not been the activity of humans, such as illegal logging and agriculture use of lands, there would have been more trees available.

For example, the researchers said since the invention of the cutting tool known as the ax, the number of trees have dropped by 46 percent. Currently, people are responsible for the loss of some 15 billion trees every year, but this is consolidated with the growing of around 5 billion new trees, leaving the world with a 10-billion-tree annual deficit.

A post-doctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Thomas Crowther who led the study, told reporters that trees are very important to human survival. He was quoted as saying, “Trees are among the most prominent and critical organisms on Earth, yet we are only recently beginning to comprehend their global extent and distribution.”

Via: TakePart.com

In the past, Crowther teamed up with scientists from 15 countries to get a clearer picture for groups such as the United Nations’ “Billion Tree Campaign,” which wanted a solid baseline figure on tree totals around the world.

The UN’s “Plant for the Planet” program has planted 14 billion trees in 193 countries in the past eight years. The program is still running in many countries.

Reacting to the study, President of Plant for the Planet, Paulina Sanchez Espinosa said in a statement that more trees needed to be planted to save a major looming climate catastrophe on earth.

“It spells out that we need the greatest afforestation effort in human history. Each tree sequesters 10 kg of CO2 per year, which makes afforestation the cheapest, simplest to implement and the only globally scalable method of carbon capture and storage. We’ve nearly halved the number of trees on the planet, and we’ve seen the impacts on climate and human health as a result. This study highlights how much more effort is needed if we are to restore healthy forests worldwide,” she said.

That type of carbon storage, according to Paulina, is a key to keeping average global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists have already said any temperature increase above that would trigger a climate catastrophe and that effective and efficient environmental policies are needed to avert the situation.

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