Find out how much cellulose is made by all the plants in the biosphere and compare it with how much of paper is manufactured by man and hence what is the consumption of plant material by man annually. What a loss of vegetation?
According to a 2006 report from the UN, forests store about 312 billion tons of carbon in their biomass alone. If you add to that the carbon in deadwood, litter, and forest soil, the figure increases to about 1.1 trillion tons! The UN assessment also shows that the destruction of forests adds almost 2.2 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of what the U.S. emits annually. Many climate experts believe that the preservation and restoration of forests offers one of the least expensive and best ways to fight against climate change. Although it is difficult to get exact data about the quantum of cellulose produced by plants, but above information can give some idea. About 10% of cellulose is used in paper making. The percentage is less but wrong practice of cutting wood and re-plantation makes the problem complicated. Usually older trees are cut for large quantity of cellulose and re-plantation is limited to selected species of plants. Selected species disturb the biodiversity as it leads to monoculture .Add to this the problem of effluents coming out of a paper factory and the problem further aggravates.
