CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION

* Alteration of local and global climates through disruption of:

a) The carbon cycle. Forests act as a major carbon store because
carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken up rom the atmosphere .!hen orests
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 #reenhouse e$ect. %t
is estimated that deorestation contributes one&third o all CO2
releases caused by people.
b) The 'ater cycle. Trees dra' #round 'ater up throu#h their roots and
release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). %n (ma)onia o*er hal o
all the 'ater circulatin# throu#h the re#ion+s ecosystem remains 'ithin
the plants. !ith remo*al o part o the orest" the re#ion cannot hold as
much 'ater. The e$ect o this could be a drier climate.
* Soil erosion !ith the loss o a protecti*e co*er o *e#etation more
soil is lost.
* Silting of water courses, lakes and dams This occurs as a result o soil
erosion.
* Extinction of species 'hich depend on the orest or sur*i*al. Forests
contain more than hal o all species on our planet & as the habitat o
these species is destroyed" so the number o species declines (see
,n*iro Facts -.iodi*ersity-).
* Desertifcation The causes o deserti/cation are complex" but
deorestation is one o the contributin# actors (see ,n*iro Facts
-0eserti/cation-)
Logging and Deforestation
The small armer plays a bi# role" but it is modern industry that too
cuts do'n the trees. The lo##in# industry is ueled by the need or
disposable products. 11 million acres a year are cut or commercial and
property industries (,ntity 2ission 1). 3eter 4eller ound that
2c0onald5s needs 677 s8uare miles o trees to make the amount o
paper they need or a year5s supply o packa#in#" ,ntity 2ission ound
that .ritish Columbia manuactures 9" :77"777 pairs o chopsticks a
day" and the demand or uel 'ood is so hi#h that predictions say that
there 'ill be a shorta#e by the year 2777. ;o##in# does too ha*e its
repercussions. The lo##in# industry not only tries to accomplish all this
but it e*en indirectly helps the -shited culti*ators- and others to do
more dama#e. The roads that the lo##ers build to access the orests
and #enerate hydroelectric po'er create an easy 'ay or many people
to try to manipulate the orest resources. The amount o dama#e that
this adds to the orests can not be measured nor can that o the ille#al
lo##in#. <ome importers may e*en be buyin# ille#ally lo##ed 'ood and
not e*en ha*e kno'n it (-;o##in# is the 2ajor Cause o =lobal
0eorestation 5 >e' !!F ?eport- 2).
Cattle Grazing and Deforestation
(nother o the more de*astatin# orces behind deorestation is cattle
#ra)in#. !ith the international #ro'th o ast ood chains this seems to
be an e*ident actor in the clearin# o trees today. ;ar#e corporations
lookin# to buy bee or hambur#er and e*en pet ood seek cheap
prices and are /ndin# them 'ith the #ro'th o cattle #ra)in# (4eller @).
%n the (ma)on re#ion o <outh (merica alone there are 177"777 bee
ranchers (4eller @). (s the bur#er #iants o industriali)ed society are
makin# hi#h demands or more bee" more orests are bein# torn do'n.
<tatistics rom less than a decade a#o" 1A6A" indicate that 1:"777 km
s8uared o orests are used expressly or the purpose o cattle #ra)in#
(2yers @2). Once the trees are #one the land is oten o*er#ra)ed. %n
some places the #o*ernment 'ants this to happen. Cattle #ra)in# is
bi# pro/t that can5t be turned do'n.
Other Causes
.eyond the major causes o deorestation lie some supplementary
ones that too stack the odds a#ainst orests around the #lobe. (cid rain
and the buildin# o dams ha*e their share o harmul e$ects. The race
to produce cash crops such as ruit" spices" su#ar tobacco" soap"
rubber" paper" and cloth has #i*en cause to many to try to arm them
by usin# soil and other products that can be retrie*ed by destroyin#
the orests. ,*en those in industriali)ed countries may participate in
the destruction o orests in the @rd 'orld. The need or products in
industriali)ed countries dri*es production in other poorer" less
de*eloped countries. This production is at the cost o the trees and the
ser*ices that they pro*ide.
The Ee!ts
0eorestation presents multiple societal and en*ironmental problems.
The immediate and lon#&term conse8uences o #lobal deorestation are
almost certain to jeopardi)e lie on ,arth" as 'e kno' it. <ome o these
conse8uences include: loss o biodi*ersityB the destruction o orest&
based&societiesB and climatic disruption.
Flooding
Floodin# is a 8uite serious conse8uence o deorestation. Clearin# the
orest dramatically increases the surace run&o$ rom rainall" mainly
because a #reater proportion o the rain reaches the #round due to a
lack o *e#etation 'hich 'ould suck up the excess rainall. -Tropical
orests can recei*e as much rain in an hour as ;ondon 'ould expect in
a 'et month" and a sin#le storm has been measured as remo*in# 16:
tonnes o topsoil per hectare- (0udley 21). %n tropical re#ions 'here
the orests are dense" Coodin# is not as serious a problem because
there is *e#etation to absorb the rainall. %t is in areas 'here there is
little *e#etation that there is a problem. 4ence" to a*oid the disastrous
e$ects o Coodin#" tropical orests need to remain dense and lush.
Cli"ate Change
(lthou#h all conse8uences o deorestation are potentially serious"
perhaps the most serious conse8uence is that o climate chan#e due to
the loss o trees. ,arth has an atmosphere 'hich contains a *ariety o
#ases" all in a delicate balance" to ensure lie on ,arth. One o these
#ases in ,arth5s atmosphere is carbon dioxideB a #as 'hich helps
moderate heat loss to outer space. %nsulatin# #ases such as carbon
dioxide are called -#reenhouse #asses because their unction is much
like that o the #lass in a #reenhouse: they allo' solar heat into the
system" but discoura#e its escape- (=FF @). Other #reenhouse #ases
include methane" chloroCuorocarbons" nitrous oxide" and o)one. %
there are additional #reenhouse #ases" there 'ill be a #radual increase
in temperature on ,arth5s surace. This could lead to chan#es in
'eather patterns" sea le*els" and other cycles in nature that directly
a$ect lie on ,arth (=FF @).
The process o #reenhouse #as increase is 8uite simple. Carbon dioxide
le*els increase or a number o reasonsB but one o the main actors
contributin# to the increase o carbon le*els is decay o 'oody
material. The only 'ay to help moderate the le*els o carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere is throu#h plant lie. (li*e plants and trees absorb the
carbon dioxide rom decayin# plants and trees. !ith a decrease in
trees and plant lie (due to deorestation) it is much harder to
moderate these le*els. Dltimately" the amount o carbon 'ill increase
due to a lack o plant lie present to keep the carbon dioxide le*els in
check. This 'hole process leads to an -albedo e$ect 'hich reCects
more heat and li#ht back into the atmosphere than 'ould be the case
i the sun shone on #reen trees5- (0udley 2@). The bottom line is that
the increase in the carbon le*el and other #reenhouse #as le*els into
the atmosphere leads to an increase in temperature" and e*entually a
chan#e in climate and 'eather.
Why Deforestation Happens
Deforestation occurs in many ways. Most of the clearing is done for agricultural
purposes-grazing cattle, planting crops. Poor farmers chop down a small area (typically a
few acres) and burn the tree trunks-a process called lash and !urn agriculture. "ntensi#e,
or modern, agriculture occurs on a much larger scale, sometimes deforesting se#eral
s$uare miles at a time. %arge cattle pastures often replace rain forest to grow beef for the
world market.
&ommercial logging is another common form of deforestation, cutting trees for sale as
timber or pulp. %ogging can occur selecti#ely-where only the economically #aluable
species are cut-or by clearcutting, where all the trees are cut. &ommercial logging uses
hea#y machinery, such as bulldozers, road graders, and log skidders, to remo#e cut trees
and build roads, which is 'ust as damaging to a forest o#erall as the chainsaws are to the
indi#idual trees.
(he causes of deforestation are #ery comple). * competiti#e global economy dri#es the
need for money in economically challenged tropical countries. *t the national le#el,
go#ernments sell logging concessions to raise money for pro'ects, to pay international
debt, or to de#elop industry. +or e)ample, !razil had an international debt of ,-./ billion
in -//., on which it must make payments each year. (he logging companies seek to
har#est the forest and make profit from the sales of pulp and #aluable hardwoods such as
mahogany.
Deforestation is the con#ersion of forested areas to non-forest land use such as arable
land, urban use, logged area or wasteland. 0istorically, this meant con#ersion to
grassland or to its artificial counterpart, grainfields1 howe#er, the "ndustrial 2e#olution
added urbanization. 3enerally this remo#al or destruction of significant areas of forest
co#er has resulted in a degraded en#ironment with reduced biodi#ersity. "n de#eloping
countries, massi#e deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography
Deforestation results from remo#al of trees without sufficient reforestation1 howe#er,
e#en with reforestation, significant biodi#ersity loss may occur. (here are many causes,
ranging from slow forest degradation to sudden and catastrophic wildfires. Deforestation
can be the result of the deliberate remo#al of forest co#er for agriculture or urban
de#elopment, or it can be an unintentional conse$uence of uncontrolled grazing (which
can pre#ent the natural regeneration of young trees). (he combined effect of grazing and
fires can be a ma'or cause of deforestation in dry areas. "n addition to the direct effects
brought about by forest remo#al, indirect effects caused by edge effects and habitat
fragmentation can greatly magnify the effects of deforestation.
4hile tropical rainforest deforestation has attracted most attention, tropical dry forests
are being lost at a substantially higher rate, primarily as an outcome of slash-and-burn
techni$ues used by shifting culti#ators. 3enerally loss of biodi#ersity is highly correlated
with deforestation.
http:EEearthobser*atory.nasa.#o*E;ibraryE0eorestationE
http:EE'''.umich.eduEF#s2G:EsocietyEdeorestation.htm
www.botany.uwc.ac.za56n#facts5facts5deforestation.htm