There are about 5 billion acres of forest land that can be rehabilitated and restored by 2050, of which about 2.5 billion acres have been converted to agricultural areas indiscriminately.
The State of the World's Forests 2022
The new report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the State of the Forests 2022 reviews the role of the world's forests in combating poverty and reducing the effects of climate change by using their resources in sustainable ways while stopping the bleeding of their excessive and indiscriminate exploitation.
The FAO issues its report on forests every two years. It was issued this year on the fifth of October under the title "Solutions from forests for a green launch and resilient and sustainable economies." Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable The authors of the report aim to clarify the visions and policies that can be pursued in the forest sector.
According to the report, green solutions and policies are summarized in 3 main axes: stopping deforestation and working to preserve them, reforming degraded lands and expanding the scope of agriculture, and finally the sustainable use of forests and preparing green policies.
Forest restoration proceeds
The world’s forests cover 31% of the general land area, but between 1990 and 2020, the world lost about 420 million hectares (1,038 million acres) of them, and although this decline has decreased relatively, every year about 10 million hectares (about 25 million acres) disappear. acres) due to the excessive exploitation of its resources and the spread of fires, especially agriculture.
According to the report, agricultural expansion causes the loss of 90% of forest areas, as they are usually converted to pastoral areas or to grow products in an unsustainable manner. In the event that this trend is reversed and green policies are adopted, forests will contribute to reducing carbon dioxide by 14%, in addition to preserving biodiversity and the resources on which the local population in particular depends.
The report also warned of the growing overexploitation of forest resources in parallel with the growing population, which will exceed 9.5 billion people by 2050, which will cause an increase in pressure on forest resources and an increase in the demand for food by more than 50%.
The report estimated that there were about two billion hectares (about 5 billion acres) of land that could be rehabilitated and restored by 2050, of which one billion hectares (about 2.5 billion acres) had been converted into agricultural areas indiscriminately.
According to estimates, the rehabilitation of 350 million hectares (about 2.5 million acres) of degraded land will have very large financial returns ranging between 700 billion and 9 thousand billion dollars, and every dollar invested in such projects will have a net return of up to 30 dollars.
Sustainable use of forest resources
According to the report, over the past two decades, the exploitation of forest resources has witnessed a significant increase in the demand for wood, for example, in 2020 it increased by 12% than it was in the past, when about 4 billion cubic meters were produced.
Therefore, the rational use of these resources will contribute to advancing the so-called green economy by providing job opportunities, and the establishment of institutions in the field of wood processing will provide, for example, about 25 million jobs in Africa by 2050, and revenues of up to $83 billion.
But the current investment in forest resources is still - according to the report - weak and must reach $200 billion each year by 2050, if the world is to preserve forests and their resources.
The report also called for the involvement of more private capital, whose contribution is also still weak, as it is estimated at only 14% of the total funds invested in forests.
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