On the link between forests and the economy

In earlier articles we reported on the soothing effect that the forest, or a walk in the woods, has on us.

That is far from the forest’s only secret. There is, for example, a direct link between a country’s economy and the forests in that country.

Scientists at the University of Helsinki have now found out which factors determine whether a forest grows or shrinks. Their study has been published in the journal “PLOS ONE”. The result is clear: when the economy is doing well, the forest area grows too.

Among other things, the scientists drew on data and analyses from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on forest areas from 1990 to 2015. These data and statistics were compared with environmental conditions and socio-economic factors.

The analysis of the data showed a link between a country’s economic status and the development of its forests.

In high-income countries, forests grew by between 0.5 and 1.3 per cent a year over the period studied. In Germany, forest growth was around 1.1 per cent. In low-income countries, forests shrink by around 0.79 per cent a year, measured against the total area.

The scientists explained this as follows:

Highly developed countries apply modern agricultural methods on good farmland and abandon marginal land, which becomes available for forest expansion.