At the last count, there were more than three trillion trees in the world. A major study back in 2015 by a Yale University-led team of international researchers said this was around seven times more than had previously been estimated. What's been described by Yale as 'the most comprehensive assessment of tree populations ever produced' also said that human activity such as deforestation and land-use change was causing 15 billion trees to be lost each year. It estimated that the number of trees in the world had almost halved since the beginning of human civilization. Trees play a vital role in regulating climate and weather patterns by absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). The United Nations (UN) estimates that forests contain around 50% more carbon than is present in the atmosphere. When trees are cut down and forests are destroyed, the carbon they contain is released. This is a major contributor to global warming and the climate crisis. Deforestation accounts for more...
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