DEFORESTATION

A bit more that more 1 acre of forest is cut down every second. Such destruction of forest has impacted climate- carbon contained in the trees is emitted from trees and the planet is slowly losing forests as carbon sinkholes.

China and United States are the major contributors to carbon emitting, followed by Indonesia and Brazil. The reason for Indonesia and Brazil being on the list is because 60% of the world’s deforestation occurs in Indonesia and Brazil. Brazil itself contributes to 48% to global deforestation, the Amazon forest being destroyed by 20% every year. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also list Sudan, Myanmar, Nigeria and Congo as major contributors to deforestation.

Conversion of forest land for large-scale agriculture use is attribute for a major part of deforestation in Asia and Latin America. Conversion of forest land for large-scale agriculture use is attribute for a major part of deforestation in Africa.

More than 80% of globe’s palm oil, which is uses as biofuel comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. However extensive research has revealed that with the life cycle of palm oil has proved that the clearing and burning of forests are grown contribute far more CO2 to the atmosphere than is ever absorbed.

It has been estimated that more than 40% of CO2 has been accumulated in the atmosphere from deforestation in past centuries. About 1/3^rd of forests are still ‘primary forests’ where human intervention has still not reached and impacted it. 1/3^rd of the forest are primarily used for production of wood and non-wood products.

An estimated 50%-60% of all species on Earth are found in forests and yet there are still may undiscovered species in forests. These rich reserves of biodiversity are being destroyed, shrinking the animal habitats. The cumulative impact of destruction across the planet is leading to what experts believe the Sixth Great Extinction, where species are going to be extinct in more rapidly than the natural rate.

Acting as a carbon sink and a habitat of the planet’s biodiversity are the only generally believed environmental benefits of forests. However forests also bring significantly more amount of rain. Forest also modulate the hydrological cycle by absorbing heavy rains, enhancing the seepage of water into the ground held firm by the roots and reducing surface run off.

Causes for deforestation are –

1.      Slash and Burn Technique for agriculture, which is practised mostly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Whereas large groups of people used to move from one forest to other, in recent years there has been a large inflow of poor migrants engaging in the practice, especially in the Brazilian Amazon and in the African Congo Basin. Almost 20% of the Amazon forest has already been destroyed.

2.      Poverty and population growth in poor countries results in extreme pressure on land and people to engage in deforestation activities in order to obtain land for basic purposes.

3.      An increased demand in the globalised marketplace for wood, palm oil, soybeans, sugarcane etc has resulted in people clearing more and more forest lands in order to produce largely on the land that is cleared.

4.      A lot of forest land is also cleared for development projects like dams, reservoirs, hydro electric projects, highways, roads, rails etc.

5.      Quarrying and mining operations also lead to deforestation.

6.      According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of deforestation; logging is responsible for 14% of deforestation and fuel wood removals make up 5% of deforestation.^[8]

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Consequences of Deforestation –

1.      Loss of trees disturbs the air, water and soil cycles. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When a part of the forest is removed, the groundwater is no longer evaporated, resulting in a much drier climate.

2.      It results in the loss of biodiversity and habitats and affects the quality of life.

3.      If forests are cleared, there are no trees to absorb the Carbon dioxide emitted which leads to an increase in Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect.

4.      Deforestation also affects soil cohesion. It can cause floods, landslides and soil erosion.

Solutions to Deforestation –

1.      Reforestation – Some nations are proceeding with national reforestation and afforestation programs, even in the absence of a global treaty. The leading country in tree plantation is China.

2.      There should be legislation in all the countries of the world to stop cutting trees.

3.      Creating and maintaining wildlife sanctuaries will also help in curbing the cutting down of trees.

4.      REDD – REDD stand for Reduce Emissions from tropical Deforestation forest Degradation. It involves providing financial compensation for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

5.      There should be prevention of expansion and development projects at the cost of the forest land.

A tree should be harvest only when its carbon intake reduces, which occurs over a numbers of years.

@Notes courtesy of Aparna, Shruti Gokhale, Dhanika and myself