Climate Change Statistics Part 3 from 3 parts in total, read the article before.
Part 3: Deforestation Increase, Biodiversity Decrease and Human Population Growth.
As green areas made of woods and forests disappear on Earth, species that live in them lose their habitat. Even in oceans can be seen a loss in biodiversity due to overfishing and overwarming. While deforestation increase and biodiversity decrease, data shows that human population keeps growing.
Deforestation Increase
16% of tree cover loss occurred from 2002 to 2020 [1], while humid primary forests lost 6.3 % of their area [2]. In 2001 tree cover loss was of 13.4 hectares, in 2020 it raised at 25.8. On the other hand, we define deforestation as the permanent loss of trees due to human activity [3]. One third of tree cover loss since 2001 happened because of to human settlement or non-forest land for agricultural purposes [4]. The other two thirds are caused by temporary natural factors, but they may require a large amount of time before they fully regenerate.
Biodiversity Decrease
Due to land conversion to agriculture and overfishing, 1 million species are threatened with extinction [5]. Between 1970 and 2016, the Earth had a 68% decrease of vertebrate species population both in lands and waters. The main causes of decrease in biodiversity are deforestation and habitat loss. But also, species overexploitation to hunting, poaching and trading, invasive species’ diseases, pollution and climate change play key roles [6].
Human Population
Data on human population show how it has steadily increased year by year, up to 7.753 billion. Moreover, especially during the last 5 years the statistics have recorded a fast-growing number of population above 65 years [7].
Through Climate Change Statistics ecoBirdy wants to show clearly how fast Earth’s climate situation is worsening, trying to spread awareness through scientific data. This installation follows the brand’s purposes to find new sustainable solutions, to reuse and recycle materials and to educate on the climate change issue: this is why Climate Change Statistics has such a meaningful value.
Source references:
[1] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.FRST.ZS
[2] https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/global/?category=summary&location
[3] https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/forest-loss
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_of_the_Amazon_rainforest
