The diversity in India’s geography results in large differences in natural forest cover

A detailed analysis of the earth’s trees was made a few years ago. The method for this global effort utilised ground-based sample counts extended to calculations on images from satellites, using sophisticated algorithms (Nature, 2015). The study estimated that our planet has about three trillion trees. The number came as a surprise, as it was much higher than all earlier scholarly estimates. And the satellite images also provided a measure of how these trees are distributed over the earth. The world average works out to a little over 400 trees per human.

South American rainforests contain 15-20% of all the trees on earth. Another large number, mostly conifers, is present in the Boreal forests or Taiga of the Northern latitudes, spread over Canada and Russia. As a result of this profusion of coniferous trees, every Canadian resident has the ‘luxury’ of nearly 9,000 trees.

In sharp contrast, 15 lakh people who live in the Middle Eastern Island nation of Bahrain make do with just 3,100 trees. About five trees per sq. km.

Other oxygen sources

It should be noted that vast areas of the earth are grasslands with relatively few trees. In all, grasses produce nearly as much oxygen as the trees of the world. Then we have marine cyanobacteria and algae — photosynthesis in these microscopic creatures produces as much oxygen as all the land plants.

Besides producing oxygen, trees play an important role in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Trees that lived millions of years ago, after being submerged in swamps and buried, slowly turned to coal, thus locking up carbon for a very long time. Of course, you can quickly undo all that effort by burning the coal in a thermal power plant to produce electricity, along with a lot of globe-warming carbon dioxide.

India’s forest cover

The estimate for our own country is about 28 trees for every person. A high population density, and a long history of deforestation has led to this number. Bangladesh, where the population density is three times that of India, has six trees per citizen. Both Nepal and Sri Lanka have a little over a hundred trees per person.

The diversity in India’s geography results in large differences in natural forest cover. Moist tropical forests, with their dense canopies, high rainfall, and rich biodiversity are seen in the Western and Eastern Ghats, the Northeast, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Eighty percent of the land area in Arunachal Pradesh is under forest cover; in Rajasthan it is less than 10%.

There is still a long way to go for India’s Forest Policy goal of one-third area under forests. Reforestation efforts contribute towards this goal, but of greater importance is the prevention of deforestation. The southern States are faring better at this. The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 states that the three States with the best improvement in forest cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

(The article was written in collaboration with Sushil Chandani, who works in molecular modelling)

• South American rainforests contain 15-20% of all the trees on earth.
• In all, grasses produce nearly as much oxygen as the trees of the world.
• The estimate for our own country is about 28 trees for every person.

A view of the semi-evergreen forest. Forest loss driven by rubber production in Southeast Asia could be two to three times higher than estimated, highlighting the challenges facing importers under pressure to find sustainable supplies
| Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy/The Hindu

Forest loss driven by rubber production in Southeast Asia could be two to three times higher than estimated, highlighting the challenges facing importers under pressure to find sustainable supplies, research showed on Wednesday.

Increasing global rubber demand is adding to pressure on natural forests and driving biodiversity loss, with Southeast Asia, responsible for 90% of global production, bearing the brunt, an international team of researchers warned.

The researchers, in a paper published by Nature, said that previous data suggested rubber was a relatively minor problem when it comes to deforestation, compared with commodities like soy and palm oil.

Explained | Global tropical primary forest cover continued decline in 2022: study 

But high-resolution satellite data, which helped identify more plantations run by smallholders, suggested that forest losses “greatly exceed” previous estimates.

More than 4 million hectares of forest have been lost to rubber plantations since 1993, with two thirds of it in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, they said.

More than 14 million hectares of land in the region – including China’s main rubber-producing provinces of Yunnan and Hainan – are devoted to rubber, up from 10 million in 2020.

Total losses could be even higher, with many plantations launched during a rubber boom 20 years ago now converted to other uses following a price crash in 2011.

A law will come into effect in the European Union at the end of next year to prevent commodity importers from buying goods that contribute to forest loss.

Why It Matters | India lost 668,400 ha of forest cover in the last 30 years

The law originally applied to soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee, with rubber added at the request of EU lawmakers last December.

To avoid fines, importers must provide information proving that products do not come from land deforested after 2020.

The rules could encourage buyers to source rubber from big producers with less complicated supply chains, said Antje Ahrends of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, lead author of the study published on Wednesday.

“Given the multitude of stages in the rubber supply chain, and the scattered nature of rubber production, it is difficult for traders and manufacturers … to locate exact rubber sourcing areas and to verify that no deforestation has occurred,” she said.

Organisations like the Forest Stewardship Council are working to improve traceability for smallholders – responsible for 85% of global production – and ensure their rubber can be sold in Europe, she said. (Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Robert Birsel)

A view of the semi-evergreen forest. Forest loss driven by rubber production in Southeast Asia could be two to three times higher than estimated, highlighting the challenges facing importers under pressure to find sustainable supplies
| Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy/The Hindu

Forest loss driven by rubber production in Southeast Asia could be two to three times higher than estimated, highlighting the challenges facing importers under pressure to find sustainable supplies, research showed on Wednesday.

Increasing global rubber demand is adding to pressure on natural forests and driving biodiversity loss, with Southeast Asia, responsible for 90% of global production, bearing the brunt, an international team of researchers warned.

The researchers, in a paper published by Nature, said that previous data suggested rubber was a relatively minor problem when it comes to deforestation, compared with commodities like soy and palm oil.

Explained | Global tropical primary forest cover continued decline in 2022: study 

But high-resolution satellite data, which helped identify more plantations run by smallholders, suggested that forest losses “greatly exceed” previous estimates.

More than 4 million hectares of forest have been lost to rubber plantations since 1993, with two thirds of it in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, they said.

More than 14 million hectares of land in the region – including China’s main rubber-producing provinces of Yunnan and Hainan – are devoted to rubber, up from 10 million in 2020.

Total losses could be even higher, with many plantations launched during a rubber boom 20 years ago now converted to other uses following a price crash in 2011.

A law will come into effect in the European Union at the end of next year to prevent commodity importers from buying goods that contribute to forest loss.

Why It Matters | India lost 668,400 ha of forest cover in the last 30 years

The law originally applied to soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee, with rubber added at the request of EU lawmakers last December.

To avoid fines, importers must provide information proving that products do not come from land deforested after 2020.

The rules could encourage buyers to source rubber from big producers with less complicated supply chains, said Antje Ahrends of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, lead author of the study published on Wednesday.

“Given the multitude of stages in the rubber supply chain, and the scattered nature of rubber production, it is difficult for traders and manufacturers … to locate exact rubber sourcing areas and to verify that no deforestation has occurred,” she said.

Organisations like the Forest Stewardship Council are working to improve traceability for smallholders – responsible for 85% of global production – and ensure their rubber can be sold in Europe, she said. (Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Robert Birsel)