Taller IV – 2018

Prof. Eduardo H. Ayala

St. Karina B. Ramirez

Deforestation
It is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. An
estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest, which is roughly the size of the
country of Panama, are lost each year, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).

Location

Deforestation occurs around the world, though tropical rainforests are particularly
targeted. NASA predicts that if current deforestation levels proceed, the world's rainforests
may be completely in as little as 100 years. Countries with significant deforestation include
Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa, and
parts of Eastern Europe, according to GRID-Arendal, a United Nations Environment Program
collaborating center. The country with the most deforestation is Indonesia. Since the last
century, Indonesia has lost at least 15.79 million hectares of forest land, according to a study
by US University of Maryland and the World Resource Institute.
Though deforestation has increased rapidly in the past 50 years, it has been practiced
throughout history. For example, 90 percent of continental United States’ indigenous forest has
been removed since 1600. The World Resources Institute estimates that most of the world’s
remaining indigenous forest is located in Canada, Alaska, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon
basin.

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Causes

There are many causes of deforestation. The WWF reports that half of the trees illegally
removed from forests are used as fuel. Some other common reasons are:
 To make more land available for housing and urbanization
 To harvest timber to create commercial items such as paper, furniture and homes.
 To create ingredients that are highly prized consumer items, such as the oil from palm
trees.
 To create room for cattle ranching

Common methods of deforestation are burning trees and clear cutting. These tactics leave the
land completely barren and are controversial practices.
Clear cutting is when large swaths of land are cut down all at once. A forestry expert quoted by
the Natural Resources Defense Council describes clear cutting as "an ecological trauma that has
no precedent in nature except for a major volcanic eruption."
 Taller IV – 2018
Prof. Eduardo H. Ayala
St. Karina B. Ramirez
Burning can be done quickly, in vast swaths of land, or more slowly with the slash-and-burn
technique. Slash and burn agriculture entails cutting down a patch of trees, burning them and
growing crops on the land. The ash from the burned trees provides some nourishment for the
plants and the land is weed-free from the burning. When the soil becomes less nourishing and
weeds begin to reappear over years of use, the farmers move on to a new patch of land and
begin the process again.

Deforestation and climate change

Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate change.

According to Michael Daley, associate professor of environmental science at Lasell College in
Newton, Massachusetts, the No. 1 problem caused by deforestation is the impact on the global
carbon cycle. Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation are called greenhouse
gases. If greenhouse gases are in large enough quantity, they can force climate change,
according to Daley. While oxygen (O2) is the second most abundant gas in our atmosphere, it
does not absorb thermal infrared radiation, as greenhouse gases do. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is
the most prevalent greenhouse gas. In 2012, CO2accounted for about 82 percent of all U.S.
greenhouse gas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Trees can help,
though. 300 billion tons of carbon, 40 times the annual greenhouse gas emissions from fossil
fuels, is stored in trees, according to Greenpeace.
The deforestation of trees not only lessens the amount of carbon stored, it also releases carbon
dioxide into the air. This is because when trees die, they release the stored carbon. According
to the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment, deforestation releases nearly a billion tons of
carbon into the atmosphere per year, though the numbers are not as high as the ones recorded
in the previous decade. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic (human-caused)
source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent. (Van
Der Werf, G. R. et al., 2009)

Carbon isn't the only greenhouse gas that is affected by deforestation. Water vapor is also
considered a greenhouse gas. "The impact of deforestation on the exchange of water vapor and
carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the terrestrial land surface is the biggest concern
with regard to the climate system," said Daley. Changes in their atmospheric concentration will
have a direct effect on climate.
Deforestation has decreased global vapor flows from land by 4 percent, according to a study
published by the National Academy of Sciences. Even this slight change in vapor flows can
disrupt natural weather patterns and change current climate models.

Other effects of deforestation

Forests are complex ecosystems that affect almost every species on the planet. When they are
degraded, it can set off a devastating chain of events both locally and around the world.
Loss of species: Seventy percent of the world’s plants and animals live in forests and are losing
their habitats to deforestation, according to National Geographic. Loss of habitat can lead
to species extinction. It also has negative consequences for medicinal research and local
populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine.
Water cycle: Trees are important to the water cycle. They absorb rain fall and produce water
vapor that is released into the atmosphere. Trees also lessen the pollution in water, according
 Taller IV – 2018
Prof. Eduardo H. Ayala
St. Karina B. Ramirez
to the North Carolina State University, by stopping polluted runoff. In the Amazon, more than
half the water in the ecosystem is held within the plants, according to the National Geographic
Society.
Soil erosion: Tree roots anchor the soil. Without trees, the soil is free to wash or blow away,
which can lead to vegetation growth problems. The WWF states that scientists estimate that a
third of the world’s arable land has been lost to deforestation since 1960. After a clear cutting,
cash crops like coffee, soy and palm oil are planted. Planting these types of trees can cause
further soil erosion because their roots cannot hold onto the soil. "The situation in Haiti
compared to the Dominican Republic is a great example of the important role forests play in
the water cycle," Daley said. Both countries share the same island, but Haiti has much less
forest cover than the Dominican Republic. As a result, Haiti has endured more extreme soil
erosion, flooding and landslide issues.
Life quality: Soil erosion can also lead to silt entering the lakes, streams and other water
sources. This can decrease local water quality and contribute to poor health in populations in
the area.

Counteracting deforestation

Many believe that to counter deforestation, people simply need to plant more trees. Though a
massive replanting effort would help to alleviate the problems deforestation caused, it would
not solve them all.

Reforestation would facilitate:

 Restoring the ecosystem services provided by forests including carbon storage, water
cycling and wildlife habitat
 Reducing the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
 Rebuilding wildlife hábitats

Reforestation won't completely fix the damage, though. For example, Daley points out that
forests cannot sequester all of the carbon dioxide humans are emitting to the atmosphere
through the burning of fossil fuels and a reduction in fossil fuel emissions. It is still necessary to
avoid buildup in the atmosphere. Reforestation will not help with extinction due to
deforestation, either. "Unfortunately, we have already diminished the population of many
species to such an extreme that they might not recover, even with a massive reforestation
effort," Daley told Live Science.

In addition to reforestation, some other tactics are being taken to counteract or slow
deforestation. Some of them include shifting the human population to a plant-based diet. This
would lower the need for land to be cleared for raising livestock.
Global Forest Watch has also initiated a project to counteract deforestation through awareness.
The organization uses satellite technology, open data and crowdsourcing to detect and alert
others of deforestation. Their online community is also encouraged to share their personal
experiences and the negative effects of deforestation.

Additional reporting by Jessie Szalay, Live Science Contributor