How Forests Shaped Civilization — and Still Decide Its Fate

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Throughout history, humanity has prospered by clearing and using forests. Trees have played a crucial role in the rise and fall of civilizations. They are so deeply intertwined with human society that, unless deforestation in developing countries is brought under control, the future itself will be at risk.

Forests cover about 30% of the Earth's land surface, yet their total area continues to decline. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), forest loss over the 35 years leading up to 2025 amounted to an area more than five times the size of Japan. The damage has been particularly severe in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, where large swaths of tropical rainforest are under threat from logging.

Essential Fuel and Materials

Forest loss is not a modern phenomenon. Some estimates suggest that global forest area has fallen to two-thirds of its size compared with 10,000 years ago. Humans have been cutting down forests since ancient times.

Wood is an exceptionally useful resource: it produces far more heat than grass when burned, is lighter and easier to work with than stone, and is abundant and easily accessible.

Wood was, and in some countries still is, indispensable for cooking and heating. Ancient civilizations relied on it to make tools and build shelters and homes. Forests therefore played a crucial role in enabling humans to spread across the globe.

Research by Koji Shichi, a team leader specializing in paleoecology at the Hokkaido Research Center of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, shows that the area around Lake Baikal in Siberia was once an uninhabited desert. Around 45,000 years ago, climate warming transformed it into a mixed landscape of grassland and forest, enabling human settlement.

As grasslands expanded, herbivores gathered, and humans likely followed them. Forests provided firewood and materials for hunting tools. Trees also offered cover, allowing hunters to approach prey unnoticed and to hide from dangerous predators — clear advantages for survival.

"However, forests in this region disappeared about 20,000 years ago as the climate cooled, and humans vanished at the same time," Shichi explains. "It raises the question of whether people can survive without access to forests."

Ancient Civilizations

During the hunter-gatherer era, tree cutting was limited in scale. That changed dramatically with permanent settlement and the advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, when large-scale deforestation began.

Forests were cleared to expand farmland, and additional land was needed for grazing livestock. As food production increased and populations grew, demand surged for timber to build homes and for firewood for daily use, accelerating forest destruction.

Many regions that once supported great ancient civilizations are now barren and forestless. While climate change, warfare, and other factors contributed to their decline, deforestation was undoubtedly one of them.

According to John Perlin's A Forest Journey, ancient Mesopotamia was once heavily forested. Urban development required vast amounts of timber, leading to extensive logging. As forests disappeared, soil erosion worsened and sediment accumulated in rivers, accelerating salinization caused by irrigation-based agriculture. Food shortages followed, and the civilization collapsed.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, often regarded as the world's oldest written story, tells of a Mesopotamian king leading an expedition to cut down prized Lebanese cedar trees. This cedar, depicted on Lebanon's national flag, was repeatedly over-harvested and now survives only in small remnants, such as World Heritage forests in northern Lebanon.

Deforestation as Human Nature

Ancient Greece and Rome also suffered timber shortages as their populations grew. When nearby forests were exhausted, they conquered surrounding regions to secure new resources. The expansion of ancient empires thus involved competition for forests.

Deforestation continued after the Age of Exploration. Demand for shipbuilding timber surged with trade and warfare, leading to massive logging of North America's forests for export to Europe. Wood was also widely used as fuel to produce iron, bricks, and glass, leaving many European forests stripped bare.

The point is that agriculture, cities, and industry have all depended on forest clearing. Deforestation has been a source of prosperity and can even be seen as part of human nature. This helps explain why it remains so difficult to stop today.

The Crisis of Tropical Rainforests

In Europe, the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century shifted energy use from wood to coal, easing pressure on forests. Elsewhere, however, deforestation simply moved to developing countries.

In many of these nations, firewood is still widely used for cooking. Population growth and poverty drive large-scale forest clearing, with agricultural products grown on cleared land exported abroad. Illegal logging that bypasses regulations remains widespread.

Why does deforestation persist? Hiroyasu Oka, a specialist in forest economics at the same institute, explains: "Some people seek to use land in ways that generate higher economic returns. Forests are particularly vulnerable in low-income countries with political instability, especially when they are located on flat, easily developable land."

Climate Change

At current rates, 10% of the world's forests will disappear within the next 100 years. In South America and Africa, losses could reach 30% by the end of the century, with Brazil's rainforests experiencing especially severe declines.

At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP), countries pledged to halt forest loss by 2030. While the global rate of decline has slowed — and Indonesia, once a hotspot, has recently seen forest area increase — there is little room for complacency.

Forests absorb and store carbon dioxide, and their loss accelerates global warming. Deforestation also reduces the soil's ability to retain water, increasing the risk of landslides and flooding. The destruction of tropical rainforests drives wildlife toward extinction and erodes biodiversity. Without forests, humanity itself faces grave danger.

Challenges Ahead

Europe and China have expanded forest cover through reforestation, learning from past mistakes. China, where excessive logging once plagued the Yellow River basin, now leads the world in net forest growth. However, planting a single tree species for timber can undermine biodiversity.

Forests are renewable resources, unlike minerals. But once logged land is converted to farmland or residential areas, regeneration becomes impossible. Tree-cutting tools have evolved from axes to chainsaws, and today specialized heavy machinery enables ever larger-scale logging.

Ancient empires invaded neighboring lands in search of forests to sustain their prosperity. European colonial powers drove deforestation worldwide through plantation agriculture. Even today, developed nations depend on forests in developing countries to support the global economy. The struggle over forests continues in new forms.

For many people in ancient and medieval times, forests were both essential for survival and objects of reverence. In the modern world, rapid urbanization has distanced people from forests, dulling awareness of the risks of losing them.

Efforts such as satellite monitoring of illegal logging and financial support for developing countries offer hope, but no decisive solution has yet emerged. As the global population continues to grow, the challenge remains: how can forests be used sustainably for the future?

RELATED: 

• As Oak Wilt Spreads, Hokkaido Officials Race to Save Timber
• Japan's Forests Exposed to Unregulated Foreign Investment
• Is Deforestation Really Eco-Friendly?

(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: Yosuke Osanai, The Sankei Shimbun

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