Deforestation and forest degradation (2024)

FAQs

What is the main cause of deforestation and forest degradation? ›

Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization.

Deforestation occurs when forests are converted to non-forest uses, such as agriculture and road construction. Forest degradation occurs when forest ecosystems lose their capacity to provide important goods and services to people and nature.

However, more than 75% of the Earth's surface has been modified and degraded by human activities such as deforestation. Destroying forests alters weather patterns, destroys habitats, and negatively affects rural communities, leading to food insecurity and causing irreversible damage to entire ecosystems.

The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for Indigenous people.

Globally, we deforest around ten million hectares of forest every year. That's an area the size of Portugal every year. Around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall, we lose around five million hectares each year. Nearly all — 95% — of this deforestation occurs in the tropics.

Agriculture accounts for 70-80% of tropical deforestation – the permanent conversion of forested land to another land use. It accounts for a smaller percentage when degradation – the temporary loss of forest prior to regrowth – is included.

Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rain forests because these forests are home to much of the world's biodiversity. In the Amazon alone, around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mainly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

Deforestation is likely to create a drier, hotter climate in the tropics. Tropical deforestation may also affect rainfall patterns far outside the tropics. Deforestation can also turn the tropics into a larger source of carbon emissions, which increases the greenhouse effect and global warming.

There are three ways to reverse these losses: afforestation, reforestation, and the natural regeneration of forest ecosystems. Afforestation refers to planting forests where there were none before, or where forests have been missing for a long time—50 years or more.

Deforestation, or the human-driven and natural loss of trees, affects everything from wildlife and ecosystems to weather patterns and the water cycle. And forests, which cover 30% of Earth's surface, are critically important to just about every aspect of life, especially in the face of climate change.

Who is responsible for deforestation? ›

1. Agriculture. Look no further than your dinner plate, because between 2000-2018, agriculture was associated with around 90% of global deforestation. While this can mostly be attributed to meat production (particularly beef), large-scale soy and palm oil plantations follow closely behind as causes for deforestation.

There are many disadvantages, it will affect the water cycle, it will destroy the flora and fauna, it will lead to an increase in carbon dioxide, thereby increasing global warming. Cutting trees destroys the habitat of animals and birds, causes floods and fires, limits the supply of wood or timber. Q.

In United States, the top 8 regions were responsible for 53% of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023. Alaska had the most tree cover loss at 6.30 Mha compared to an average of 939 kha.

When companies cut down forests, these communities lose resources to cultivate the food they need to survive, pushing them into food insecurity. Hundreds of millions of people rely on tropical forests for food, and the highest concentrations of food insecure populations live in regions with tropical forests.

If the current rate of deforestation continues, the world's rain forests will vanish within 100 years- causing unknown effects on global climate and eliminating the majority of plant and animal species on the planet. Deforestation occurs in many ways.

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. Deforestation is also a contributor to climate change and global warming.

Beef production is the top driver of deforestation in the world's tropical forests. The forest conversion it generates more than doubles that generated by the production of soy, palm oil, and wood products (the second, third, and fourth biggest drivers) combined.

Deforestation is the purposeful clearing of forested land. Throughout history and into modern times, forests have been razed to make space for agriculture and animal grazing, and to obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction.

Deforestation probably originated with the use of fire, and estimates are that 40%–50% of the Earth's original forest area has been lost. Some of the losses happened before settled agriculture began, approximately 10,000 years ago, but only in recent decades is there reliable information on rates of deforestation.