Deforestation:

Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. The term does not include the removal of industrial forests such as plantations of gums or pines. Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area. Indigenous forests now cover 21% of the earth’s land surface.
Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography .
Deforestation results from removal of trees without sufficient reforestation, and results in declines in habitat and biodiversity, wood for fuel and industrial use, and quality of life.

Consequences of Deforestation

Alteration of local and global climates through disruption of:

  1. The carbon cycle. Forests act as a major carbon store because carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken up from the atmosphere and used to produce the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up the tree. When forests are cleared, and the trees are either burnt or rot, this carbon is released as CO2. This leads to an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration. CO2 is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect. It is estimated that deforestation contributes one-third of all CO2 releases caused by people.
  2. The water cycle. Trees draw ground water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). In Amazonia over half of all the water circulating through the region’s ecosystem remains within the plants. With removal of part of the forest, the region cannot hold as much water. The effect of this could be a drier climate.
  • Soil erosion With the loss of a protective cover of vegetation more soil is lost.
  • Silting of water courses, lakes and dams This occurs as a result of soil erosion.
  • Extinction of species which depend on the forest for survival. Forests contain more than half of all species on our planet - as the habitat of these species is destroyed, so the number of species declines.
  • Desertification The causes of desertification are complex, but deforestation is one of the contributing factors.

Causes of deforestation

It is necessary to understand the different causes of deforestation and forest degradation, that may be grouped into direct causes and underlying (or indirect) causes. The direct causes are easier to see and are those that, in most cases, are attributed the responsibility for deforestation. However, in fact it is the other causes –the so-called “underlying” causes– that determine that the direct causes take place.
The most important direct causes of deforestation include the conversion of forest lands for agriculture and cattle-raising, urbanization, road construction, industrial logging, mining, oil exploitation, construction of oil and gas pipelines, shrimp farming (in the case of mangroves), fires and the construction of huge hydroelectric dams. Large-scale mono culture tree plantations to ensure the global paper industry with cheap raw material, are also a direct cause of deforestation as in many cases they have been preceded by firing or clear cutting of native forests.
However, the real motor behind all these activities being carried out in an unsustainable and predatory way, is the “development” model currently in force. This model implies the unrestricted exploitation of the totality of the planet’s resources, with the aim of feeding an ever-growing consumer market, in particular in the Northern industrialized countries. Inequality in terms of exchange between North and South that has generated an increasing and unpayable foreign debt, obliging more and more resources to be exploited and extracted, just to pay off its service, has increased devastation.
In most cases, the hidden causes of deforestation and forests degradation are related to macro-economic strategies offering strong incentives to obtain short term profits, instead of seeking sustainability in the long term. Deeply rooted social structures are also important, causing unequal land tenure and discrimination of indigenous peoples, of subsistence farmers and of poor people in general. In other cases, political factors are at stake, such as the lack of participatory democracy, military influence and exploitation of rural zones by urban elites.

Economic Impact

Historically utilization of forest products, including timber and fuel wood, have played a key role in human societies, comparable to the roles of water and cultivable land. Today, developed countries continue to utilize timber for building houses, and wood pulp for paper. In developing countries almost 3 billion people rely on wood for heating and cooking. The forest products industry is a large part of the economy in both developed and developing countries. Short-term economic gains made by conversion of forest to agriculture, or over-exploitation of wood products, often leads to loss of long-term income. Both West Africa and Southeast Asia have experienced lower revenue because of declining timber harvests. Illegal logging causes billions of dollars of losses to national economies annual.

Replanting and sustainable forestry

It’s worth noting that proper sustainable forestry practices do not cause a net increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because a new tree is grown for every one cut down. By contrast, clear cutting and converting forestland into to urban areas has a very high negative impact - because the forest is destroyed and replaced with heat absorbing pavement and buildings.
Obviously, re-forestation, sustainable logging and protecting ancient forests are essential to not increase the pace of climate change further - so long as these forests are not destroyed later (by future logging, forest fires, etc.).
However, to prevent dangerous human induced climate change, we need to address the main cause - the burning of fossil fuels and the release of industrial greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Sources: Wikipedia, Greenpeace

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