Humans are responsible for Earth’s deforestation.
Non-profit organizations work to find the best measures to curb decline in Earth’s tree population after recent studies have revealed that there are only 3 trillion trees left on the planet. Figures may seem promising at a first glance, but researchers warn that the Earth’s vegetation has been more than halved in the past century.
We assume deforestation is the consequence of industrial activities that are often performed by large companies. Yet, every person is responsible for the vegetation of our planet and there are things we all can do to prevent the decline of the tree population.
Wildfires often break out when tourists leave garbage behind at picnics and outdoor activities. Keeping forests clean is the most important condition to prevent the loss of trees. Around 15.3 billion trees are damaged each year as a result of wild fires; 10 billion are completely lost and the remaining 5 billion may or may not grow back, according to scientists.
Leading an environmentally friendly life could have a strong impact on the global population of trees. Consumers have the power to dictate companies what products they should sell and this by simply purchasing only those products that are made out of recyclable materials.
Humans can also make a difference by pointing the finger at companies that refuse to be environmentally friendly or do not have an adequate policy in this sense. Moreover, producers should be as transparent as possible when it comes to proving the efforts they make so that their industrial activities would not affect the surrounding environment.
All the above mentioned measures are now vital considering the findings that 38 researchers from Yale University have made in their most recent study. They have found that the global population of trees amounts to 3 trillion.
The news appears to be great when compared to previous studies that said the Earth’s vegetation consisted of only 400 billion trees. However, comparisons with previous statistics illustrate that 46 percent trees have been lost in the past period. Moreover, the vegetation has now reached its lowest point in history and things could get a lot worse if we continue to ignore the nature’s signals.
Scientists have collected the data through image satellites from 400,000 forest plots all over the world. They have found out that the largest forests are in the tropical regions, which are also victims of strong deforestations. Russia and North America also have large tree densities, according to the new satellite maps.
The findings of the new study were published on September 2th, in the journal of Nature.
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