Thread by @MaxCRoser

How Europe changed since 1900:
– Croplands decreased
– Forests increased

[From the University of Wageningen’s 'Historic Land Dynamics Assessment’ research wur.nl/en/Expertise-S…]

The research project built this very good website where you can zoom in each region and compare 1900 with 2010: geo-informatie.nl/fuchs003/

1900 on the left vs 2010 on the right

This Nature paper from last year showed that “contrary to the prevailing view" global global forest area increased by 7.1% since 1982.

This is due to big increases outside the tropics that made up for big forest losses in the tropics.
nature.com/articles/s4158…

China is responsible for particularly big gains as this Nature Sustainability paper from this year showed.
“A 19% increase in forest area (330,000km2) in a single decade because of expanding natural forests and afforestation, in equal measures"
nature.com/articles/s4189…

How some journalists, celebrities, and politicians are using their platform to spread misinformation is incredibly irresponsible.

The photo Macron and Dicaprio shared was taken by a photographer who died in 2003.
The photo Madonna shared is from 1989. nytimes.com/2019/08/23/wor…

Protecting the tropical forests is an extremely important challenge for our time. But no one is helped if we base our understanding of the world on lies.

(Macron and Dicaprio’s claim that the Amazon is the source of 20% of oxygen is obviously also wrong yadvindermalhi.org/blog/does-the-…)

I think the consequence of the lies that some in the media and some politicians are spreading will be that more people disengage from fighting against environmental problems when the opposite is needed.