Global tree count is upped to 3 trillion… but they could all be gone in 300 years

More than 3 trillion trees now grow on Earth, seven times more than scientists previously thought. But it’s also trillions fewer than there used to be, a new study concludes. The decline was blamed on humans by Yale forestry researcher Thomas Crowther. His study found that 15bn trees were cut down each year by people, with another 5bn trees replanted. At that rate, all of Earth’s trees will be gone in about 300 years, he warned.

These things really dominate our planet. They are the most prominent organisms on our planet and there are 3 trillion of them

Researcher Thomas Crowther

A previous estimate suggested there were 400bn trees, although that rough count was based on satellite images peering down from space. Dr Crowther and colleagues used 429,775 ground-based measurements along with satellite measurements and computer models to get a more accurate figure of 3.04bn. However, he said there used to be 5.6 trillion trees – so the number of trees on Earth has been chopped nearly in half.

Europe used to be almost covered by one giant forest and now it’s almost entirely fields and grasslands. Humans are absolutely controlling tree densities

Dr Crowther

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