15 billion trees lost globally every year

Ōtepoti - The world loses about 15 billion trees a year and solutions to stop the loss of forests are critical to the health of the planet.

Artificial intelligence, satellites, drones and data are being deployed in global reforestation efforts.

Conserving, restoring and growing 1 trillion trees by 2030 could help restore biodiversity and fight climate change.

This is the vision of the 1t.org, the World Economic Forum’s global reforestation initiative, and it has launched a trillion trees annual challenge.

Despite significant efforts, the world continues to lose billions of trees a year or an estimated 10 million hectares, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

As much as 80 percent of the world's forests have been destroyed or irreparably degraded. Ancient forests are looted every day to supply cheap timber and wood products to the world. The price for this destruction is escalating climate change, biodiversity loss and community displacement.

GainForest , a non-profit sustainability association based in Zurich, Switzerland, uses artificial intelligence to try to reverse deforestation.

Its algorithms analyse data from satellites, drones and field monitoring to measure sustainable land use.

A smart contracts system then automatically unlocks donations to forest communities when restoration milestones are reached.

Private stakeholders can pledge money to indigenous communities and forest restoration projects through GainForest’s smart contracts.

Instead of felling trees to make room for crops and cattle, the solution encourages local farmers to preserve and restore ecosystems.

Nature-based solutions can provide at least 30 percent of the CO2 mitigation goals by 2030, yet receive only around three percent of the funding allocated to carbon capture

Solutions should allow institutions to invest in sustainable nature-based projects such as regenerative grazing or planting trees.

Reporting and tracking on zero deforestation, forest cover, carbon stored over time, and activities such as tree planting will help stop the axing of billions of trees annually.

Sixty-six percent of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, but most organisations don’t know the farmers they source from, let alone their impact.

A software solution Farm-Trace combines mobile, satellite and machine learning data and is already being used by farmers in the forest, coffee, cacao, cattle and spices sectors in seven countries.