[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:100:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","global",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"land",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","2d71d66ece141a4f7fb3658eead4ea84","Entry","2022-01-04T09:32:01.694Z","2023-11-27T09:05:43.893Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",536,18,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":57,"wrongPercentage":95,"name":96,"questionText":97,"statistics":98,"veryWrongStatistics":100,"correctSentence":102,"youWereWrong":103,"youWereRight":104,"dataSourceShortText":105,"dataSourceLinkLongText":106,"extendedAnswerText":107,"headingVeryWrong":108,"youWereVeryWrong":103,"headingWrong":109},"100",[38,60,78],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":55},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":52,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"5d659a8fb634207b2311f8c945bb2c5c","2022-01-04T09:31:42.795Z","2023-10-19T07:50:17.844Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},20,10,{"sys":53},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},"answer",{"globalId":56,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":59},"100-a1",false,true,"Decreased around 50%",{"metadata":61,"sys":64,"fields":75},{"tags":62,"concepts":63},[],[],{"space":65,"id":67,"type":21,"createdAt":68,"updatedAt":69,"environment":70,"publishedVersion":72,"revision":51,"contentType":73,"locale":34},{"sys":66},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"c4601c10051f49a596394839f3c549d0","2022-01-04T09:31:49.092Z","2023-10-19T07:50:26.202Z",{"sys":71},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},19,{"sys":74},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":76,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":77},"100-a2","Decreased around 30%",{"metadata":79,"sys":82,"fields":92},{"tags":80,"concepts":81},[],[],{"space":83,"id":85,"type":21,"createdAt":86,"updatedAt":87,"environment":88,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":51,"contentType":90,"locale":34},{"sys":84},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"06f276f534afe7a8ee5c5344b369098e","2022-01-04T09:31:54.432Z","2023-10-19T07:50:34.111Z",{"sys":89},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":91},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":93,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":94},"100-a3","Decreased around 10%",92,"Forest area","What happened to the global forest area in the last 30 years?",[99],"uk 0.925",[101],"uk 0.655","Globally, the area of natural forest decreased roughly 10% over the past 30 years.","Deforestation is real, but it's not as fast as you think.","Deforestation is happening much slower than most people think.","Source: FAO","We base this on two data sources using very different methods. First, the UN data is mostly based on official statistics reported from the ground. The second source is based on satellite imagery.\n\nThe first estimate comes from the latest Global Forest Resources Assessment from the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization FAO [1]. It is a collection of data on forest area, and other land with trees and wooded areas from 1990 to 2020. It estimates that the area covered with trees decreased by 4.2%, between 1990 and 2020.  A tree-covered area is defined as “forest or other areas with a canopy cover of 10% trees that are able to reach 5m in situ”, which includes planted trees and areas that are intended to be replanted. \n\nThe FAO’s estimate for loss of naturally regenerating forest is 8% from 1990 to 2020. This loss of natural forest is somewhat hidden in the total area covered with trees by the increase of, for example, fruit tree plantations, palm oil plantations and olive orchards and trees in urban settings. So while we aren’t losing as many trees as we think, most of the loss is coming from naturally regenerating forests, where biodiversity is usually many times higher than in planted forests\n\nGlobal Forest Watch is another source of tree cover data [3], which uses satellite imagery instead of on the ground reporting and measures only trees that meet the canopy requirement rather than those that are expected to grow to that height and coverage as well. Its estimate for tree cover from 2001 to 2021 is an 11% decrease. This does not include tree cover gain, which for 2001-2012 (only available years) was 38% of what was lost. \n\nTo avoid underestimating deforestion we chose the largest decrease from the two sources as our correct answer option.   \n\n[1]  [FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment data dashboard] (https:\u002F\u002Ffra-data.fao.org\u002FWO\u002Ffra2020\u002Fhome\u002F) \n\n[2]  [FAO 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report (page 16, 28)](http:\u002F\u002Fwww.fao.org\u002F3\u002Fca9825en\u002FCA9825EN.pdf)\n\n[3]  [Global Forest Watch. “Tree Cover Loss” and “Tree cover Gain”](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.globalforestwatch.org\u002Fdashboards\u002Fglobal\u002F)\n\n[4]  For this question we consulted eight independent experts, including Rodney Keenan of the University of Melbourne. ","We frequently hear about wildfires and deforestation and people easily imagine that natural forests are being lost at a much faster speed than is actually the case.\n\nDuring the past 30 years, roughly 10% of all natural forests have been chopped down. Roughly half of that area was replanted with new trees, either as plantations or as planted forests, which almost always have much less biodiversity, as the natural variation of trees of different ages and types is usually lost when replanted.\n\nTo stop deforestation it's important to recognize that it's much slower than people seem to believe, and also to realize that it is motivated by economic needs. Forest owners can make more money by turning forests into farmland or plantations. If forest owners are to stop chopping down their trees, they need other things to earn money from. Local farmers need to be economically compensated in order to avoid turning more forest into farmland.\n\n### Why is it bad to be wrong about this?\nMany people have lost hope and think it's too late to save what remains of nature. If people think that conservation efforts don't work, they give up and stop supporting the economic investments needed to protect the natural habitats and biodiversity that remains.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nMany people have seen environmental reports of terrible deforestation from places like the Amazon and Borneo, where large areas of unique forest have been lost. The media doesn't give the same attention to reports about forest that are not lost, and all the successfull conservation projects where natural forests are protected.\n\n### Can I trust this data?\nYes, but the definition of forest is not as trivial as it may seem. To call something a forest, how tall trees do you mean and how far apart? In any case, of the three answer options we give to this question, its definitely around 10% that is the most correct option, according to mutliple independent sources. \nIt is possible that 10% is a slight overestimation as the earliest satellite analyses missed some large forested areas. ","Deforestation in slow motion","Deforestation in slow motion "]