More
trees can improve people's well-being—a new report says
the opposite is true as well
Researchers
from the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Meteorological Institute found
that countries with longer life expectancies, and higher incomes and education,
were more likely to have expanding forests. From 1990 to 2015, forest growing stock—which measures the volume of trees and rate of forest growth—increased every year by about 1.31 percent in high income countries and by 0.5 percent in higher middle-income countries, according to the study published today in PLOS ONE.
This
is good news for tree lovers—and the planet, as forests gobble up excess carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.
"Where
people and nations are or become relatively well off, we can count on forests
absorbing carbon at increasing levels," said study co-author, Pekka Kauppi
of the University of Helsinki, in a statement.
On
the flip side, forest growing stock decreased about .29 percent per year in 27
lower middle income countries, and by .72 percent in 22 low income countries.
The largest forest losses are in Nigeria, Brazil and Indonesia.
The
researchers say in nations with higher well-being farmers are less likely to
farm on marginal land and more efficient farming has, in many cases, reduced the
need to clear more farm land.
Also,
better food handling and behavior is preventing waste, and there are
increasingly more alternatives to using wood as fuel.
"Highly
developed countries apply modern agricultural methods on good farmlands and
abandon marginal lands, which become available for forest expansion," the
authors wrote. "Developed countries invest in sustainable programs of
forest management and nature protection."
The
researchers examined whether increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could
be driving forest growth—but did not find any link.
"Weather
observations confirm indisputably that global temperatures are rising together
with atmospheric CO2 levels," said co-author Antti Lipponen of the Finnish
Meteorological Institute, in a statement.
"However,
the study shows that, over more than a century, changes in forest growing stock
around the world have been virtually unrelated to those trends."
Not
all areas in developing countries are gaining forests. US cities, for example,
are losing millions of trees each year, according to a study released last
week.
And,
according to the new study, some forests being lost—such as chunks of the
Amazon rainforest—are, unfortunately, those most rich with biodiversity.
Many
of the newer forests are "biologically less diverse, especially when they
consist of planted monocultures," the authors note.