Forests and People

Forests cover about 30% of land and shrinking in most countries.

They contribute to the livelihoods of many of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty and nourish the natural systems supporting the agriculture and food supplies on which many more people depend. They account for as much as 90 percent of terrestrial biodiversity.

How much forests is available on Earth per person?
While the world's forests have disappeared faster in the last 100 years than ever before, the same time period also saw human population more than triple in size from 1.65 billion to over 6 billion. As a result, the forest-to-people ratio has fallen sharply. This ratio is defined as the area of forest available to each person to supply the broad array of goods and services that forests provide.

In the last four decades, the ratio of forested land to people has fallen by more than 50 per cent from a global average of 1.2 hectares in 1960 to 0.6 hectares in 1995; while the same period saw population double from 3 billion to over 6 billion.

In September 2011, the global population reached 7BILLION-where on EARTH will they get their wood?

Using a ratio of 0.1 hectare of forest cover per person (roughly a quarter acre) as a benchmark reveals that 1.7 billion people now live in 40 countries with critically low levels of forest cover. Many are vulnerable to scarcities of key forest products such as timber and paper and risk the collapse of vital forest services such as control of erosion and flooding in populated areas.By 2050, the global population is expected to increase to a total of about 9 billion, with growth occurring primarily in developing countries where the potential to increase arable land is minimal.

Future declines in forest resource availability will be greatest in developing countries, where 95 per cent of population growth is projected to occur and where many forests are already over-exploited for timber, fuel and farmland.

Forest CONNECT(ing)

We have been involved with Forest CONNECT for many years.

We also believe we have a responsibility to put something back through the TEAK 21 initiative:

The Irish Connection to TEAK 21

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Tom Roche (trading as) Just Forests Ltd.
Ringfort Workshop, Rathcobican, Rhode, Offaly, Ireland
Phone: +353 (0)86 8049389  |  E-mail: info@tomroche.ie
Company Registration Number: 612423 This website is an education awareness initiative of Just Forests Ltd Copyright © 2024 Tom Roche (trading as) Just Forests Ltd.