Basic concepts of deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation 2. Trade policies, economic growth, and the direct causes of deforestation. Lack of viable land use policy and corresponding law also aggravated the. Causes, effects, and implications pdf examining the proximate and underlying causes of tropical deforestation. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. Concluding remarks there is a clear linkages between deforestation and worlds demands of fiber, food, and fuel understanding the underlying or indirect causes of deforestation is crucial to address redd and climate change most deforestation is driven from outside forestry sector e. Deforestation can be defined as the largescale removal of trees from forests or other lands for the facilitation of human activities. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops.
Major causes of deforestation and forest degradation in malaysia box 3. Logging has played an important role in regional economy. The direct causes of deforestation within the drc are well understood and have been identified consistently by many sources. Based on environment statistics, more than half of the trees in this world are gone due to human activity nayak,2008, this action has been direct.
Trade policies, economic growth, and the direct causes of deforestation article pdf available in land economics 812 may 2005 with 327 reads how we measure reads. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons learned and the implications for international forest carbon policy 4 have customarily occupied, putting them in a situation of defacto illegality. Agriculture is estimated to be the direct driver for around 80% of deforestation worldwide. While the secondary data source involved the search into published and unpublished materials relevant to the subject matter. Following an overview houghton, three units highlight the causes and impact on deforestation in southeast asia turner and snaddon, nepal chaudhary, and. Causes of deforestation slashandburn agriculture is one of the most destructive forms of agriculture that results in largescale deforestation. This section looks at a deforestation definition, causes of deforestation, effects of deforestation, solutions to deforestation and deforestation facts. Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and.
Direct causes people have been deforesting the earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Direct drivers of deforestation in indonesia are thus spatially and temporally dynamic, suggesting the need for forest conservation policy responses tailored at the subnational level, and new methods for monitoring the causes of deforestation over time. Causes of deforestation are the forces that motivate the agents to clear the forests. Deforestation is a worldwide phenomenon driven by various causes in different parts. Environmental effects of deforestation from below soil erosion and flooding. Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and their potential impacts on the.
On the other hand, population growth, increased price of forest products, climate change, and lack of awareness on forest management were indirectly positively correlated with deforestation in the area. Article pdf available in land economics 812 may 2005 with 340 reads. The single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion to. Deforestation has even been caused by extensive warthroughout history fire has often been used to deprive the enemy of necessary resources. The dominant forces in south america are cattle ranching and soy crops. It is well known that deforestation is a big problem in the world today, with hundreds and even thousands of vulnerable forest being cut down both for tinder and to make way for arable farmland for cows and other livestock. It focuses primarily on tropical deforestation because of its greater pace and strong social and environmental implications. Deforestation in the democratic republic of the congo. Pdf trade policies, economic growth, and the direct causes of. Agriculture is the direct driver for worldwide deforestation. In this model, we used the deforestation data for the 19872017 period obtained from a previous study as dependent variables and the potential causes of. Pdf trade policies, economic growth, and the direct. According to fao, deforestation is the conversion of.
Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. A competitive global economy drives the need for money in economically challenged tropical countries. Tropical forests are home to half the earths species, and their trees are an immense standing reservoir of carbon.
Deforestation and forest degradation in the congo basin. Deforestation will have increasingly serious consequences for biodiversity, humans, and climate. Deforestation and climate change congressional research service summary efforts to mitigate climate change have focused on reducing carbon dioxide co 2 emissions into the atmosphere. Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation forest carbon.
The latest deforestation news is included at the foot of the page. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons. Sincere gratitude to all those who gave their time to help in various. Fires are a part of nature but degraded forests are particularly vulnerable. Deforestation is an important factor in global climate change. Livelihood economic activities causing deforestation in. These are just a few of the causes and effects of deforestation. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to utilize the land or trees. Amongst these direct causes of deforestation, agricultural commodities have become by far the most important, their profile varying in each forest region. Agricultural productivity and deforestation in brazil. Causes and impacts of deforestation and forest degradation. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood.
However, most of the existing literature typically distinguishes between two levels of specific factors. The changes in area of forest by region and subregion are shown in table 1. It is a serious environmental concern since it can result in the loss of biodiversity, damage to natural habitats, disturbances in the water cycle, and soil erosion. Direct causes 87 indirect or underlying drivers 87 effects of deforestation and forest degradation 88. Indeed some 31 countries do not even make the list because they have already removed most of their forests and even if that remain are seriously fragmented and degraded. Deforestation causes can either be direct or indirect. Typically, deforestation is clearing a lot of trees without the intention of establishing future growth. At the national level, governments sell logging concessions to raise money for projects, to pay international debt, or to develop industry. The former can be regarded as the direct and latter as indirect cause of deforestation. If theyre not reforested, they inevitably end up as wastelands directly from soil erosion and desertification. Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography. The major causes of deforestation is rapid population growth, which leads to an increase in the demand for crop and grazing land, wood for fuel and construction 2. When this happens, farmers pack up and move on to the next section of the rainforest, leaving their farmland behind for. Causes, effects and control strategies 5 deforestation are maintained.
Addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. A piechart detailing the driving cause of the deforestation of tropical forests between the years 2000 and 2005 is provided below. Natural causes as hurricanes, fires, parasites and floods human activities as agricultural expansion, cattle breeding, timber extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam construction and infrastructure development. The causes and effects of deforestation deforestation is becoming more and more popular in many countries all over the world. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions.
Each year, fires burn millions of hectares of forest worldwide. Subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of deforestation. An analysis of a major cause of tropical deforestation in indonesia pdf tropical deforestation. Harvesting, forest fires, and insect infestations do not count as deforestation because the affected areas will eventually grow back. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the carbon that is stored in them as carbon dioxide. Conversion of forests for other land uses, including pulp, palm, and soy plantations, pastures, settlements, roads and infrastructure.
Carefully and systematically analysing and comprehensively addressing all direct and underlying drivers of. Soy ranks as the second largest agricultural driver of deforestation after cattle products. According to the united nations framework convention on climate change unfccc secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation. In turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops, an ironic twist when considered against the fact that 80% of deforestation comes from smallscale agriculture and cattle ranching. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they arent just meeting local or national needs. Understanding the causes of biodiversity loss and the policy assessment framework 5 6.
Deforestation and forest degradation directly threaten as many as 400 million people including 50 million forest indigenous people who depend on forests for. Marsfm working paper 5 2007 forestry department food and agriculture organization of the united nations manual on deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation using remote sensing and gis prepared by giri tejaswi rome, march 2007 strengthening monitoring, assessment and reporting on sustainable forest management in. Deforestation definition, causes, effects, and control. Insufficient political actions and governance failure as inadequate land. A project on deforestation projectee ivb shubham mashidkar shubham sangole mandar gadkari kirti chandrashekar rao sumant mahulkar under the guidance of prof. The most important direct causes of deforestation include logging, the conversion of forested lands for agriculture and cattleraising, urbanization, mining and oil. The soil only stays nutrient rich for so long, about two years11, after this time, the nutrients from the burned biomass are used up. The central thesis is that deforestation occurs because it is profitable to some individuals and groups.
Previous discussion on this paper regarding ecological impact showed contribution of fire as direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation. This, in turn, leads to greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Case studies on forest ecosystems and biodiversity loss 151 7. Deforestation is intricately tied to decisions on land use for agricultural production. Proximate or direct drivers of deforestation are human activities that directly affect the loss of forests and thus constitute proximate sources of change, that result from complex interactions of underlying forces in. Some of these efforts center on reducing co 2 emissions from deforestation, since.
In scientific literature, there is a common separation of proximatedirect or underlyingindirect causes. The biggest cause of forest loss accounting for around 70 per cent is agricultural deforestation, notably for beef, soy, palm oil and commercial timber. Study on understanding the causes of biodiversity loss and. Agriculture and charcoal production is the main economic activity which serves as a source of income, employment, and food for the majority.
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