Growing Forests
A new study shows that, in richer countries, many more trees are springing up than are being felled.
Pekka Kauppi sought to identify exactly how much carbon is stored in the world’s forests. He analysed reports on the state of forests in 50 countries in 1990 and 2005 compiled by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. He also used information contained in national databases dating back hundreds of years.
Instead of merely estimating the area of forest in each part of the world (the traditional way of measuring forest cover), they took into account the volume of timber, the weight of the organic matter and the density of trees to calculate the carbon-capturing capacity of forests. In all the countries that have a GDP per head of $4,600 or more forests are recovering.
All major temperate and boreal forests are expanding.
India’s forests are no longer shrinking. In China the density of forest has fallen since 1949 in many parts of the country but the area of its forested land has steadily risen. The net result is an increase in the volume of China’s standing timber.
Urbanization decreases the likelihood of trees being felled for heating and building.
“Seeing the wood,” The Economist