deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by logging and burning

8/8/2019 Deforestation is the Clearance of Naturally Occurring Forests by Logging and Burning

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DEFORESTATION is the elimination of forest and woodland areas on the large scale.

Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees or derived charcoal are used as, or sold, for fuel or

as a commodity, while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities,and settlements. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to

habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmosphericcarbon dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently

degrade into wasteland.

Disregard or ignorance of intrinsic value, lack of ascribed value, lax forest management and

deficient environmental law are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a largescale. In many countries, deforestation is an ongoing issue that is causing extinction, changes to

climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of indigenous people.

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Causes of Deforestation

Historic Factors: wars, industrialization, etc.

Population Growth

Natural disasters

Logging for timber

Agriculture

There are many root causes of contemporary deforestation, including corruption of governmentinstitutions, the inequitable distribution of wealth and power, population growth and

overpopulation, and urbanization. Globalization is often viewed as another root cause ofdeforestation, though there are cases in which the impacts of globalization (new ows of labor,

capital, commodities, and ideas) have promoted localized forest recovery.

In 2000 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) found that "the role of population dynamics in a local setting may vary from decisive to

negligible," and that deforestation can result from "a combination of population pressure andstagnating economic, social and technological conditions."

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence farming isresponsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of

deforestation; logging is responsible for 14% of deforestation and fuel wood removals make up5% of deforestation.

The degradation of forest ecosystems has also been traced to economic incentives that makeforest conversion appear more profitable than forest conservation. Many important forest


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functions have no markets, and hence, no economic value that is readily apparent to the forests'owners or the communities that rely on forests for their well-being. From the perspective of the

developing world, the benefits of forest as carbon sinks or biodiversity reserves go primarily toricher developed nations and there is insufficient compensation for these services. Developing

countries feel that some countries in the developed world, such as the United States of America,

cut down their forests centuries ago and benefited greatly from this deforestation, and that it ishypocritical to deny developing countries the same opportunities: that the poor shouldn't have tobear the cost of preservation when the rich created the problem.

Experts do not agree on whether industrial logging is an important contributor to global

deforestation. Similarly, there is no consensus on whether poverty is important in deforestation.Some argue that poor people are more likely to clear forest because they have no alternatives,

others that the poor lack the ability to pay for the materials and labour needed to clear forest.Claims that population growth drives deforestation have been disputed; one study found that

population increases due to high fertility rates were a primary driver of tropical deforestation inonly 8% of cases.

By the 1990s the majority of deforestation was caused by industrial factors, including extractive

industries, large-scale cattle ranching, and extensive agriculture.


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Effects of deforestation

Soil erosion

Landslides

Land degradation

Destruction of habitat

Medicinal loss

Global warming

Green house effect

Flooding

Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.

Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of

the enhanced greenhouse effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% ofworld greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, could account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic

carbon dioxide emissions. But recent calculations suggest that carbon dioxide emissions fromdeforestation and forest degradation (excluding peatland emissions) contribute about 12% oftotal anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions with a range from 6 to 17%. Trees and other plants

remove carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere during the process ofphotosynthesis and release oxygen back into the atmosphere during normal respiration. Onlywhen actively growing can a tree or forest remove carbon over an annual or longer timeframe.

Both the decay and burning of wood releases much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere.In order for forests to take up carbon, the wood must be harvested and turned into long-lived

products and trees must be re-planted. Deforestation may cause carbon stores held in soil to bereleased. Forests are stores of carbon and can be either sinks or sources depending upon

environmental circumstances. Mature forests alternate between being net sinks and net sources

of carbon dioxide (see carbon dioxide sink and carbon cycle).

Reducing emissions from the tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in

developing countries has emerged as new potential to complement ongoing climate policies. Theidea consists in providing financial compensations for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG)

emissions from deforestation and forest degradation".


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Basic Ways of Preventing Deforestation

Reforestation

Recycling

Cutting down only mature trees

Cut back on palm trees

Usage of coals

Wildlife Sanctuaries

Support Conservation Organizations

a) Use Recycled Items:

Today, a consumer can purchase a variety of recycled items, including notebook paper, books,

toilet paper, and shopping bags. When people use recycled products and make a conscious effort

not to waste, the demand for new raw material to replace these items can decrease.

b) Tree Care:

When cutting down trees single out full-grown specimens and spare younger varieties. In the

event that you must remove a tree for a legitimate reason (for safety issues or power lineinterference), make sure that for every tree lost another is planted in its place.

c) Farming Practices:

Those who plant crops at a farm can participate in putting a dent in deforestation by rotating

crops. It is suggested to replace the habit of using different portions of land each year with usingthe same portion of land to plant different crops. This practice has proven effective in

maintaining soil fertility. Farmers may also embrace many other options, such as high-yieldhybrid crops and hydroponics, which relies on a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient

solutions instead of soil.

d) Cut Back on Palm Oil:

In Malaysia and Indonesia, an increasing amount of trees are cut down in order to generate thepalm oil used in the production of some breads, chocolates, and shampoos. As a result, the native

orangutans are losing their habitat. You can spread awareness and limit your consumption ofproducts containing this type of oil.


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e) Coals:

As the chill of winter takes over the autumn season, try using coals instead of firewood in your

fireplace. While it only takes a couple of hours to consume a few logs here and there, keep inmind that it takes years for one tree to fully grow.

f) Reforestation:

Take a page from the Peoples Republic of China, where the government has in the past set a

requirement that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 is responsible forplanting three to five trees per year or complete an equal amount of work in other areas of

forestry. Since 1982, the government claims that at least one billion trees have been planted inChina as a result of the program.


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But why is Deforestation necessary ??

Economic benefits and Development

Sustenance

Increase in the usage of paper and products made from wood

Agricultural expansion

Increasing demands for fuel.

One of the easiest benefits of deforestation to spot are the economic ones. Lumber products are

one of the most staple constructive materials in human society. Whether it's raw lumber used for

making tables and houses, or paper and other wood by-products, we simply cannot live without

the use of lumber. Like steel and stone, wood is one of the most basic natural resources, and

unlike steel and stone, it is renewable simply by growing more trees. The only real trick to

balancing it's consumption is to grow more trees to replace the ones taken.

On a similarly related note, keep in mind that a lot of jobs revolve around the use of lumber.

Wood cutters aside, there are those who work in procesing plants to make glue from wood sap,

process pulp into paper, and others. This is another benefit of deforestation; it opens more job

opportunities for people who would otherwise be unemployed. These job opportunities are more

than simply a humanitarian concept; society at large would suffer if all of the people working in

the wood industry were to suddenly find themselves jobless.

This benefit of deforestation not only covers the people who cut down trees and process them,

but also extends to the people who "clean up" after them. For every patch of forest cut down,

arable land becomes available for farmers, or can be used as an area to place urban living sites

like apartments, houses, and buildings. The number of people employed by such a construction

project are many and varied. Or, if the city/government mandates replanting trees to replace the

lost ones, then jobs are also provided for those people who do the seeding after a patch of forest

is stripped.


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Few Statistics on Deforestation

1.) 60-70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon results from cattle ranches while the rest

mostly results from small-scale subsistence agriculture. Despite the widespread press attention,

large-scale farming (i.e. soybeans) currently contributes relatively little to total deforestation inthe Amazon

2.) Countries with the highest percentage of threatened species according to the IUCN Red

List

Countries with the highest percentage of threatened species

[(extinct+endangered+vulnerable)/(total assessed species-data deficient species)] derived from

IUCN 2006 data. The United States ranks sixth at 41 percent, New Zeland ninth (34%),

Madagascar tenth (34%), Australia fourteenth (32%), and Japan 31st (23%).

3.)Every year more than 8.5 million hectares of tropical rainforests are being razed

4.) In Nigeria 81% of its original forest cover is now permanently lost.

5.) The tropical rainforests of Brazil are less by 90-95%.

6.) Countries like India, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar,

China, Sri Lanka, the Congo and Ghana have lost much more than 50% of their rainforest

deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by logging and burning

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