The main causes of deforestation are due to the expansion of arable land, the need for fuelwood for local populations chomitz et al. A metaanalysis of proximate and underlying causes of deforestation based on subnational case study evidence. In africa and sub tropical asia it accounts for around of deforestation and is of similar importance to subsistence agriculture. Local level causes of deforestation policy variables and trend structural factors macrolevel causes of deforestation source. No universal policy for controlling tropical deforestation. Deforestation has even been caused by extensive warthroughout history fire has often been used to deprive the enemy of necessary resources. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use.
Brazil drc indonesia cameroon administered by the government designated for use by communities and indigenous peoples owned by communities. It consists of a complex of social, political, economic. However, most of the existing literature typically distinguishes between two levels of specific factors. Since 1981, average annual rate of deforestation in ghana is estimated at 2. Environmental problems caused by deforestation of tropical. An analysis of a major cause of tropical deforestation in indonesia by charles e. Deforestation results in a decline in biodiversity and is known to have caused the extinction of many species. Tropical deforestation literature food and agriculture organization. Pdf economic causes of tropical deforestation a global. Tropical deforestation has environmental consequences at local, regional and global scales. The causes and consequences of tropical deforestation. Human activities as agricultural expansion, cattle breeding, timber extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam construction and infrastructure development. The increase of mining on tropical forests is furthering damage due to the rising demand and high mineral prices. Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest.
Just four commoditiesbeef, soy, palm oil, and wood productsdrive the majority of tropical deforestation. Sep 27, 2012 agriculture is the direct driver of roughly 80 percent of tropical deforestation, while logging is the biggest single driver of forest degradation, says a new report funded by the british and. This paper contributes to the literature on the macroscale economic determinants of the increase in global forest depletion, by performing a regression analysis based on a panel dataset for fifty tropical countries over an eighteenyear period. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, tropical deforestation is substantial and continuing, and releases large amounts of co 2, because of the carbon stored in the vegetation and released when tropical forests are cut down. One of the most important deforestation problems is that the loss of the arboreal carbon sink increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. According to the intergovernmental panel on climate change deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, could. Tropical deforestation nasas earth observatory article explains why deforestation happens, deforestation rates, the connection between deforestation and global processes, as well as what happens to land after deforestation. The single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion to cropland and pasture, mostly for subsistence, which is growing crops or raising livestock to meet daily needs. Socioeconomic factors and tropical deforestation nature. The changes in area of forest by region and subregion are shown in table 1. This process, known as deforestation, involves the cutting down, burning, and damaging of forests.
The clearing of tropical forests across the earth has been occuring on a large scale basis for many centuries. Pdf the paper investigates the complex system of causes affecting tropical deforestation at a worldwide level. Pdf can economic causes of tropical deforestation be. Most deforestation is driven from outside forestry sector e. Direct causes people have been deforesting the earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons learned and the implications for international forest carbon policy 3 figure 5. Causes of deforestation are the forces that motivate the agents to clear the forests. Corruption at the government institutions, wealth and power due to harvesting of the riches of the forest, population growth and urbanization are some of the common.
Causes of deforestation slashandburn agriculture is one of the most destructive forms of agriculture that results in largescale deforestation. This contributes to global warming, mass extinction and other ecological issues. Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Ghana introduction forest resources in ghana are being depleted at a faster rate compared to other developing tropical countries. Nevertheless, deforestation has been a widespread phenomenon in tropical africa, with an annual forest clearance of between 1. Find the right balance and the correct mix of factors most suitable for a particular region. Tropical rainforests, like those in the amazon, play a vital role in the water cycle by providing rain to the region. Loss of trees contributes to mass extinction about a dozen different species go extinct every day, and scientists predict that 30 to 50 percent of all species could be extinct by the middle of the 21st century. Tropical deforestation also affects the local climate of an area by reducing the evaporative cooling that takes place from both soil and plant life. Mining, infrastructure and urban expansion are important but less prominent. Finally, each reference was categorized by the cause or causes of deforestation cited, using a typology of 20 different causes see box. Agricultural technologies and tropical deforestation edited by a. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction.
A statistical analysis douglas southgate, rodrigo sierra, and lawrence brown. If the current rate of deforestation continues, the worlds rain forests will vanish within 100 yearscausing unknown effects on global climate and eliminating the. Lambin, eric iii landuse and landcover change lucc project iv. There is a clear correlation between deforestation and the prices of soybean. Culas, 2009 and the desire for countries to increase their foreign exchange earnings from trade in tropical timber and export crops barbier. Tropical deforestation as a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Typically, deforestation is clearing a lot of trees without the intention of establishing future growth. Mar 08, 2017 deforestation is an act of opening a land in the forest by cutting or burning trees, so that the land can be used for something else nonforest use, such as fields, farms, or building new urban area. Most often, multiple processes work simultaneously or sequentially to cause deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of trees without the intent of replacing them or reestablishing a stand of trees. The example of brazil box 1 illustrates the variety of factors leading to deforestation, which in the brazil case is mainly caused by largescale farming. The destruction of tropical rainforests deforestation. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. Tropical deforestation and climate change environmental. But the problem cannot be solved if the role of tropical deforestation is ignored.
Deforestation definition, causes, effects, and control. Causes, effects and control strategies 5 deforestation are maintained. Tropical deforestation and global warming union of. Although poverty is often cited as the underlying cause of tropical deforestation, analyses of multiple scientific studies. The causes attributed to deforestation are multivariate in nature, interrelated and differ at local, national as well as regional scale. Reducing tropical deforestation can significantly lower global warming emissions andtogether with efforts to reduce.
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to utilize the land or trees. 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. Causes and pathways of tropical deforestation unfccc. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they arent just meeting local or national needs. What you can do tropical deforestation accounts for about 10 percent of the worlds heattrapping emissions equivalent to the annual tailpipe emissions of 600 million average u. Palmer cserge working paper economics department university college london and centre for social and economic research on the global environment university college london and university of east anglia acknowledgements.
Forest resource assessment 1990, survey of tropical forest cover and study of change processes. The tropical rainforests capture most attention but. The situation is somewhat different in the case of smallholders, whose main goal is to secure livelihoods and improve the economic situation of. There is a clear linkages between deforestation and worlds demands of fiber, food, and fuel. And reducing deforestation has other benefits beyond reducing global warming pollution. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons learned and the implications for international forest carbon policy. Tropical rainforests are home to more than half of all species on the planet.
The destruction of tropical rainforests deforestation source texts module 2. Deforestation causes can either be direct or indirect. The destruction of the forests is occurring due to various reasons, one of the main reasons being the shortterm economic benefits. If theyre not reforested, they inevitably end up as wastelands directly from soil erosion and desertification. The main causes of tropical deforestation are explained in this article. A metaanalysis of proximate and underlying causes of deforestation based on subnational casestudy evidence. Rates and causes of tropical deforestation presented by frederic achard with contributions from h. In this case, agriculture is the main immediate driver of deforestation, which is influenced by underlying factors, such as the expansion of. Tropical deforestation the environmental literacy council. Understanding the underlying or indirect causes of deforestation is crucial to address redd and climate change. 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. Many of the worlds oldgrowth forests are disappearing. The brazilian amazons deforestation resulted largely from conversion to farmland by landholders.
An analysis of a major cause of tropical deforestation in indonesia pdf tropical deforestation. The loss of tropical rainforest is more profound than merely destruction of beautiful areas. Many factors that are among the causes of deforestation are also part of the solution, e. Ending deforestation will not solve global warming by itself, of courseurgent action is needed to cut the other 90 percent of emissions. Request pdf the causes and consequences of tropical deforestation. This process, known as deforestation, involves the cutting down, burning, and. Tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on earth and about 80% of the worlds known biodiversity eminates from them. Mar 30, 2007 tropical forests are home to half the earths species, and their trees are an immense standing reservoir of carbon. Deforestation in recent days has become the curse of our world that resulted in the. Kaimowitz center for international forestry research cifor, san jose, costa rica cabi publishing in. This radiation gets converted to heat and causes global warming. Without a counterfactual, or estimation of what would have hap pened in the absence of the intervention, it is difficult to say conclusively. Deforestation is an act of opening a land in the forest by cutting or burning trees, so that the land can be used for something else nonforest use, such as.
As trees and plants are cleared away, the moist canopy of the tropical rainforest quickly diminishes. Deforestation, clearance, clearcutting or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land which is then converted to a nonforest use. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons. Causes, effects, and implications pdf examining the proximate and underlying causes of tropical deforestation. There are many causes of tropical deforestation commercial logging, largescale agriculture. Lessons from economic models arild angelsen david kaimowitz this article, which synthesizes the results of more than 140 economic models analyzing the causes of tropical deforestation, raises significant doubts about many conventional hypotheses in the debate about deforestation. Jul 27, 2008 ending deforestation will not solve global warming by itself, of courseurgent action is needed to cut the other 90 percent of emissions. Angelsen center for international forestry research cifor,bogor, indonesia and department of economics and social sciences agricultural university of norway as, norway and d. A piechart detailing the driving cause of the deforestation of tropical forests between the years 2000 and 2005 is provided below. Many of the worlds rainforests are being destroyed. The drivers of tropical deforestation can be summed up as complex socioeconomic processes that are impossible to isolate a single cause. Many species are so specialized to microhabitats within the forest that they can only be found in small areas. Causes and drawbacks essay 4 400 words deforestation is the process of cutting down of trees and forests completely or partially for different reasons like manufacturing different products with various parts of the tree as raw material, to build structures and other buildings, etc.
Harvesting, forest fires, and insect infestations do not count as deforestation because the affected areas will eventually grow back. Natural causes as hurricanes, fires, parasites and floods. Angelsen 1998 economic models of tropical deforestation. Deforestation will have increasingly serious consequences for biodiversity, humans, and climate. The concept of compensated reduction of tropical deforestation the idea that tropical countries might reduce national deforestation under an historical baseline and be allowed internationally tradable carbon offsets having demonstrated reductions emerged out the polemical debates surrounding. Learn reasons for deforestation and discover the consequences of this process in all. What if you learned that many of the other commonly cited causes of deforestation, such as cocoa, sugar, and coffee, are now only marginal parts of the global problem. Agricultural technologies and tropical deforestation. Tropical deforestation november 1998 he clearing of tropical forests across the earth has been occuring on a large scale basis for many centuries. Rarely is there a single direct cause for deforestation. In other words, deforestation leads directly to global warming, which is one of the most serious ecological issues facing modern humanity. Recent research suggests that about half of the precipitation that falls in a tropical rainforest is. Although tropical forests cover only about 7 percent of the earths dry land, they probably harbor about half of all species on earth. There are many causes of tropical deforestationcommercial logging, largescale agriculture.