- Findings come from a peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Scientific Reports
- Deforestation means loss of planetary life-support systems needed for survival
- Earth was originally covered by 60 million square kilometers of forest
- But there are now less than 40 million square kilometers of forest remaining
Human civilization stands a 90 percent chance of an ‘irreversible collapse’ within decades as a result of deforestation, physicists claim.
It is thought that within the next two to four decades Earth may no longer be able to sustain a large human population due to the destruction of forests, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Scientific Reports.
The study, written by Dr. Gerardo Aquino and Professor Mauro Bologna, states that if the rate of deforestation continues ‘all the forests would disappear approximately in 100–200 years’.
Clearly it is unrealistic to imagine that the human society would start to be affected by deforestation only when the last tree would be cut down.’
This trajectory would result in the loss of planetary life-support systems necessary for human survival including carbon storage, oxygen production, soil conservation, and water cycle regulation.
The Earth was originally covered by 60 million sq km of the forest before the development of human civilizations. But now, following deforestation accelerated due to human activity, there are less than 40 million sq km remaining.
But between 2015 and 2020, this had decreased to an estimated average of 10 million hectares annually.
It is thought that the cause of this is that new forests are being established, both natural and man-made, despite ongoing deforestation.
