For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Environment and Climate Resource Center page.

Since the birth of agriculture thousands of years ago, humans have cut down the world’s forests to grow food and expand their population.

But now experts believe the end of our “war on trees” is in sight amid what some are calling a new “green revolution” – finally breaking the causal link between growing numbers of people and falling numbers of trees.

At a United Nations meeting later this month, countries are expected to pledge to restore between 10 and 15 million hectares of woodland and to safeguard significant areas of the Amazon rainforest.

Several of the world’s biggest food firms have already made “no-deforestation” pledges that could substantially reduce clear felling in South-east Asia for palm-oil plantations, and more could sign up at the summit, which is being held in New York by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon on 23 September.

While trees are still being felled in alarming numbers, the rate has slowed dramatically. In the 1990s, 16 million hectares were lost every year, but this fell in the 2000s to about 13 million hectares – an area about the size of Greece.

Tim Christophersen, of the UN Environment Programme (Unep), expressed “cautious optimism”.

“I think we are seeing a real sea change in the way deforestation is being addressed and prioritised,” he said. “Looking at the list of possible [summit] announcements   there will be quite a few pledges of new funding and of new areas of forest that countries pledge to restore, turning the tide on deforestation, and some key private-sector commitments.” But he cautioned: “Some commitments are still being tied down… It will be interesting on the day to see how much is actually being pledged.”  
 

Mr Christophersen, Unep’s senior programme officer for forests and climate change, said the change in attitudes was partly because of the growing realisation of how valuable forests are. Recent research has added rainfall creation to the list of “eco-system services” provided by trees, such as removing carbon from the air, storing and purifying water, maintaining soil quality and providing a rich habitat. “A lot of these services are outside the market, so they are not priced, but they are priceless in a way,” he said.

In Brazil, deforestation was 70 per cent less in 2013 than average for the decade up to 2005, partly because the soy and beef industries signed up to a moratorium on felling forest for farmland. Brazil has unveiled a plan for an 80 per cent cut by 2020. A report by the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, called “Deforestation Success Stories”, said in June that Brazil’s actions had “already made a very large contribution to combating climate change – more than that of any other nation on Earth. For this… Brazil can rightfully be very proud”.