De-forestation is the second biggest cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide, accounting for 18% of world greenhouse gas emissions.  The net loss of forests is 7.3 million hectares per year – twice the size of Belgium - releasing stored carbon in the trees back into the atmosphere.  So the natural ability of forests to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is being reduced; but deforestation is also a major cause of global warming.  And the scale of destruction is increasing.

Most of the deforestation is caused by man.  Some deforestation is a result of urban development but most woodland is felled for timber or converted to arable land for crops and grazing.  Conversion removes the possibility of the natural regeneration of the forests.  Often the poor quality of the soil, with the lack of water retention from the trees, can lead to the land becoming unproductive and eventually turning to desert.  Farmers then have to move on and clear even more forest.

To make matters worse as much as half of the rainfall in a tropical rain forest can be from moisture from the trees.  Less evaporative cooling leads to a rise in temperatures that further damages the land.  Droughts increase the number, range and severity of forest fires; and increase the number of ‘at risk’ areas.  The carbon released into the atmosphere adds to global warming.  Changing climate decreases the likelihood that the woodlands regrow and reabsorb carbon again. 

Man is destroying trees at a faster rate than new ones are being grown.  The destruction of the tropical rainforests is much publicised.  But, tropical dry forests are being lost at a higher rate than the rainforests; and temperate forests in regions such as Siberia account for up to a third of annual deforestation.  Treepak’s technologies aim to reverse this trend.  Our automated technologies enable millions of trees to be produced, planted and grown to replace felled forests on a massive scale.  By adding value back into the forestry process Treepak reverses this cycle encouraging forests to be grown rather than destroyed.