Causes and Effects of Deforestation

Contents:

Introduction:

What is deforestation?

Causes of Deforestation

Effects of Deforestation:

General Effects

Case Study: Effects of

Deforestation on Indonesia

and Brazil

Conservation Measures

Message and Conclusion

What is deforestation?

›Deforestation is the removal of trees on a vast level for fulfilling all the requirements of the growing population.
›Brazil, Indonesia, Sudan, Zambia and Mexico are the countries with maximum forest cover loss annually.
›Forests are of great importance for the whole human fraternity as well as managing the natural balance in the environment. The regular cutting of the forests is creating lots of negative effects over the climate, environment, biodiversity, whole atmosphere as well as threatening the cultural and physical survival of the human being. Scientists have reported recently that the world is heating up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don't keep reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.
CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION

Environmental Causes of Deforestation
›Agricultural Activities: As earlier mentioned in the overview, agricultural activities are one of the major factors affecting deforestation. Due to overgrowing demand for food products, huge amount of trees are fell down to grow crops and for cattle grazing.

Logging: Apart from this, wood based industries like paper, match-sticks, furniture etc. also need a substantial amount of wood supply. Wood is used as fuel both directly and indirectly, therefore trees are chopped for supplies. Firewood and charcoal are examples of wood being used as fuel. Some of these industries thrive on illegal wood cutting and felling of trees.

›Forest Fires: Another example would be forest blazes; Hundreds of trees are lost each year due to forest fires in various portions of the world. This happens due to extreme warm summers and milder winters. Fires, whether causes by man or nature results in huge loss of forest cover.

Political Causes of Deforestation

›Today the governments of many developing countries have decentralized their control over the forestry sector and privatized many of the state-owned forest industries. The budgets of national forest services have been reduced and management has been transferred to local governments, private firms, and organizations, and NGOs. This transfer brings decision making closer to the local level where policy can be more responsive to local conditions, but can also result in new challenges, like compliance with environmental laws and elevated risk of corruption.

Research published in 2011 found that decentralization in Indonesia contributed to the country's high deforestation rate — the study concluded that politicians in forest-rich districts seem to repay their election debts by granting forest concessions.

Other Causes of Deforestation

Urbanization: Further on order to gain access to the forests, the construction of roads are undertaken; here again trees are chopped to create roads. Overpopulation too directly affects forest covers, as with the expansion of cities more land is needed to establish housing and settlements. Therefore forest land is reclaimed

Other Causes of Deforestation

Mining: Oil and coal mining require considerable amount of forest land. Apart from this, roads and highways have to be built to make way for trucks and other equipment. The waste that comes out from mining pollutes the environment and affects the nearby species

EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION

Climate Change

Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate change. Plants absorb Carbon Dioxide CO2 (a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere and uses it to produce food (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up trees). In return, it gives off Oxygen. Destroying the forests mean CO2 will remain in the atmosphere and in addition, destroyed vegetation will give off more CO2 stored in them as they decompose. This will alter the climate of that region. Cool climates may get a lot hotter and hot places may get a lot cooler

›Forests are complex ecosystems that affect almost every species on the planet. When they are degraded, it can set off a devastating chain of events both locally and around the world:

•Loss of species: Seventy percent of the world’s plants and animals live in forests and are losing their habitats to deforestation, according to National Geographic. Loss of habitat can lead to species extinction. It also has negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine.

›Water cycle: Trees are important to the water cycle. They absorb rain fall and produce water vapor that is released into the atmosphere. Trees also lessen the pollution in water, according to the North Carolina State University, by stopping polluted runoff. In the Amazon, more than half the water in the ecosystem is held within the plants, according to the National Geographic Society.

Soil erosion: Tree roots anchor the soil. Without trees, the soil is free to wash or blow away, which can lead to vegetation growth problems. The WWF states that scientists estimate that a third of the world’s arable land has been lost to deforestation since 1960. After a clear cutting, cash crops like coffee, soy and palm oil are planted. Planting these types of trees can cause further soil erosion because their roots cannot hold onto the soil. "The situation in Haiti compared to the Dominican Republic is a great example of the important role forests play in the water cycle," Daley said. Both countries share the same island, but Haiti has much less forest cover than the Dominican Republic. As a result, Haiti has endured more extreme soil erosion, flooding and landslide issues

›Life quality: Soil erosion can also lead to silt entering the lakes, streams and other water sources. This can decrease local water quality and contribute to poor health in populations in the area.

   All of these factors can have adverse effects on local economies. Increased flooding, lack of quality water, and inability to produce their own food causes many locals migrate to cities that lack infrastructure for them. Or, they work on plantations, worsening the deforestation problem and at times being subjected to inhumane working conditions.

Case Study: Effect of deforestation on Indonesia

›Palm oil production is one of Indonesia's biggest industries. The companies and individuals carrying out palm oil production use a method known as slash and burn technique to clear forests. This method involves burning down large hectares of forest to clear them for agriculture. Every year, the amount of smoke produced by this agricultural technique affects the atmosphere greatly. The pollutants released through this make the atmosphere highly toxic to breath in. This not only affects the country but also neighboring countries. This has been the concern of the Indonesian government for a long period of time, yet monitoring the activity of these companies and restricting them has been an impossible task for the country. The haze caused by burning affects the population but mainly children and elders. It causes breathing problems like asthma.

Case Study: Effect of deforestation on Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

›Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest has always been a site of high deforestation. From 1970 to 2005 Brazil has been on the charts for country with highest deforestation. This practice of mass deforestation for urbanization is still carried out. Large hectares of the Amazon rainforest get cleared every year for timber, paper, to clear space for agriculture and to increase urban area. The Amazon is the worlds largest producer of oxygen. It plays a big role in absorption of greenhouse gasses and production of oxygen. Yet due to deforestation it has been seen that greenhouse gas levels have risen by at least 10% over the years in this region. Had the hectares of forest not been cleared these greenhouse gasses would have been absorbed by the trees of Amazon. This has also cause worldwide increase of greenhouse gasses. In addition this mass deforestation has also caused decline in biodiversity in the Amazon.

Conservation Measures:
Conservation of Forests

›Forests are invaluable resources. They offer shelter to a large variety of wildlife, participate in the water cycle, produce the life giving oxygen and provide us with a multitude of useful products ranging from latex to paper.

›That is why conservation of forests is paramount to the survival of not only the wide range of biodiversity, but also the human race itself.

Conservation measures include:

›Regulated and Planned Cutting of Trees:

One of the main reasons of deforestation is commercial felling of trees. Therefore, cutting should be regulated by adopting methods like:

Clear cutting: The clear cutting method is useful for those areas where the same types of trees are available over a large area. In that case, trees of same age group can be cut down in a selected area and then marked for replantation.

Selective cutting: In selective cutting only mature trees are selected for cutting

Shelter wood cutting: Shelter wood cutting is where first of all useless trees having been cut down followed by medium and best quality timber trees.

›Control over Forest Fire: Destruction or loss of forest by fire is fairly common; because trees are highly exposed to fire and once started it becomes difficult to control. In order to save forests from fire it is necessary to adopt latest techniques of firefighting. Some of the fire suppression techniques are to develop three metre wide five lanes around the periphery of the fire, back fires, arrangement of water spray, fire retardant chemicals should be sprayed from back tank and if possible by helicopters. There must be a trained staff of firefighters to control the fire.

›Proper Utilisation of Forest Products and Forests: Generally, forests have been cut for logs and rest of the tree – stump, limbs, branches and foliage, etc., are left out in the forest as worthless debris. Further waste occurs at the sawmill. There is a need to use all this waste material. Now several uses have been developed and products like waterproof glues, board, etc., can be obtained.

›Similarly, forests can easily be used or developed as tourist centres. By using them as tourist centres the country can earn substantial foreign exchange. This practice has been adopted by many countries, both developed and developing.

›The concepts of ‘national park’ and ‘game sanctuary’ have now become popular and every country has developed its unique forest area as a ‘national park’. In India alone, there are as many as 21 national parks. This scheme is a good method of forest conservation.

Food for thought

›Now that we’ve learned so much about deforestation, its causes and effects, here are some questions to get you thinking:

1. Do the benefits of deforestation outweigh the consequences of deforestation?

A1) Well, yes and no.Yes, the benefits of deforestation are more:

Companies or governments who conduct deforestation profit, as they manage to acquire land and forest resources necessary for their functioning. To a certain extent, consumers who purchase the forest products, or make use of the facilities on the deforested land are also benefitted. So yes, the benefits can be said to be substantial.

No, benefits do not outweigh the costs and consequences:

Those who lose their homes as a result of deforestation (humans and animals alike) have to look elsewhere for homes. The deforested land may become degraded, and thus become unrecoverable. If the land cannot be replenished, then companies requiring the land for construction will lose out. And the future generations will have to deal with whatever damage we cause today. The resources, forests and futures of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are being forever altered by deforestation going on today.

2. What is the impact of technology on deforestation?

A2) Technology has changed our lives in many ways. It has replaced the need for several products we obtain from forests. We now have synthetically manufactured rubber, lessening the need for natural rubber from forests. But technological advances have not completely replaced the need for forests, so in addition to acquiring land, forests are cut down also to obtain such forest products.

3. With the advanced technology available to us, will we be able to prevent or put a stop to the need for deforestation?

A3) This answer is more or less a continuation of the previous one, as both Q2 and Q3 discuss technology and deforestation. As mentioned above, technology has not completely replaced our need for forest products, but it certainly has come up with innovative solutions to prevent further deforestation. Putting a complete stop to deforestation may not be entirely possible in the near future, but Google has come up with a technology which can potentially prevent deforestation. Global Forest Watch 2.0, which will launch later this year, is an interactive, real-time, forest monitoring system. It uses satellite technology, data sharing and human networks around the world to provide information to better managing forests. Global Forest Watch 2.0, using satellite and remote sensing technology combined with human networks, aims to address these barriers to sustainable forest management. It also has a social media outlet. Social media outlets can spread information quickly, help communities organize and mobilize people to act.

Message and Conclusion

What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”
― Chris Maser

›The world’s forests are treasure troves of nature’s most valuable gifts and assets. That which Nature gives us, the amount we have taken from Nature, we can never repay. The least we can do is take care the forests we have left, and ensure their propagation for the future generations. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” We mustn’t mistake the abundance of products we obtain from nature as free gifts. If we continue to greedily consume all that is left of our forest resources, our future is in definite peril.

›Deforestation, in the large scale it is taking place today, has widespread effects, as we learned today.

›We may not be able to single-handedly put a stop to it, but we sure can attempt to protect our environment through small gestures: refraining from littering, throwing litter into recycling bins, bringing awareness among others regarding deforestation and conservation of forests, etc.

›Such small gestures, when performed by the community as a whole, can have a definite impact, and bring about improvement in the surrounding environment.

We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our Children