DEFORESTATION & REFORESTATION
Land and oceans currently absorb 50% of the CO2 created by human activity. Trees and forests are a powerful force for climate mitigation. As more forests are cleared for agriculture — mainly to grow soy, raise cattle, and produce palm oil — greenhouse gas emissions increase as a byproduct of nitrogen fertilizer and methane from cattle and sheep. Additionally, deforestation eliminates trees which are “breathing in” CO2 and “breathing out” moisture. Cattle ranching and soy bean farming in the Amazon, for example, account for 80% of deforestation there, and the raging fires during President Bolsonaro’s first year in office in 2019 are creating a climate, and a humanitarian, crisis. As deforestation has taken its toll, the Amazon has moved from carbon sink to a source of CO2, emitting more than it is able to absorb.
In the U.S., millions of acres of land have been opened to drilling and mining due to rollbacks by the Trump administration. A 2018 federal report found that about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from fossil fuel extraction on federal land. A timeline of Trump’s anti-public lands crusade is documented at Outside.
In June 2020, data from the University of Maryland suggests that we lost a football field of primary forest every six seconds in 2019, making our loss 2.8% higher than the year before.
In September 2020, a new danger was reported. As trees grow faster in warmer conditions, taking up and storing more carbon dioxide as they grow, they also die faster. This grew out of a report published in the journal Science in May 2020 that human felling of trees had cut forest area by 12% since 1900.
And, then there is permafrost…how climate change will affect it and how it will affect climate change...
08/18/23
The Trillion Trees ReForest Fund is restoring forests all over the world for the benefit of people, nature and the climate - for generations to come
03/09/23
American Forests has been at the forefront of every positive change that has happened in the nation’s forests and has always stood up for healthy forests.
07/25/22
Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a strategy for how the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will address a reforestation backlog of four million acres on national forests and plant more than…
11/01/21
Many stakeholders are concerned with the status of global forests and the effects of deforestation and forest degradation, for several reasons. Forests store the greatest amount of terrestrial carbon on Earth and play a significant…
08/25/21
The flux—or flow—of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the dominant contributor to the observed warming trend in global temperatures.1Trees, however, store (sequester)CO2from the atmosphere, accruingsignificant stores of carbon over…
05/19/21
Exemplary Forestry is a forest management approach created by New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) that prioritizes forests’ long-term health and outlines the highest standards of sustainability currently available to the region’s forest owners.
02/18/20
1t.org exists to connect, empower and mobilize a global reforestation community of millions, unleashing their potential to act at an unprecedented scale and speed, to ensure the conservation and restoration of one trillion trees within…
02/18/20
It all started with a school presentation and today Plant-for-the-Planet is a global movement with an ambitious goal: to fight the climate crisis by planting trees around the world.
02/18/20
We did it! But that doesn’t mean we’re done. Come back anytime you feel like planting a tree!
02/18/20
Natural climate solutions, Results and Discussion
02/18/20
Ecosia is like any other search engine, with one major difference: we use our profits to plant trees.
02/18/20
The prevention of deforestation and promotion of afforestation have often been cited as strategies to slow global warming. Deforestation releases CO2 to the atmosphere, which exerts a warming influence on Earth's climate. However, biophysical effects…
02/12/20
The world loses more than 7,000 square meters of tree cover per second, according to the most recent year for which we have complete data.
03/22/19
Want a climate-friendly home? Your yard is a good place to start. This is the first in a five-part series of guides on how to manage your outdoor turf to reduce your carbon footprint, all…
11/18/19
Eden Reforestation projects reduces extreme poverty and restores healthy forests by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees every year.
09/09/19
Amazon Watch was founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability…
09/09/19
Forest Monitoring Designed for Action: Global Forest Watch offers the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests.
09/09/19
WWF has been working to protect forests for more than 50 years and outlines here causes, impacts, what WWF is doing, and how you can help.
