our planets forests are some of the most valuable resources we have they provide us with clean air a source of food construction material and much more even more importantly forests are a major line of defense against climate change a single tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year which makes them the most effective co2 scrubbing machines we have despite this force they're being systematically eliminated all across the world a process we know as deforestation each year 15 billion trees are lost the deforestation and forest degradation that's thirty-six
football fields worth of trees a minute and accelerating at this rate the world's rainforests may be completely gone within a hundred years this makes deforestation responsible for around 13% of the world's carbon emissions making it a major driver of climate changing not only doing the trees to absorb our carbon when they're removed much of the carbon that has stored his release the rapidly growing agriculture is responsible for the vast majority of p4 station global demand for food especially meat forces millions of acres of forest to be cleared for cattle soybean plantations and palm oil production
with timber and fuel extraction as well as wildfires drive the partial destruction force it's known as degradation all of this is driven by our relentless economic expansion and population growth both set to continue increasing dramatically while harvesting timber is necessary for our economy unrestrained deforestation can lead to the disruption of weather patterns and the collapse of entire ecosystems threatening our safety and other resources we depend on [Music] so what's the solution can we stop this seemingly unstoppable force the short answer yes but it'll take some work research has shown that it is possible to decouple
economic growth from deforestation by reconfiguring our supply chains and adopting sustainable land use policies thanks to the efforts of activists policymakers and businesses around the world deforestation is actually slowing down in some regions finally reforestation and afforestation efforts are growing worldwide one tree planted works with partners all across the globe to restore damaged forests and plant new ones you can become a part of these efforts by volunteering to plant trees in your area or supporting these initiatives abroad
