DEFORESTATION
Arranged by :
Keely VIctoria Chang
Keiko Elisha Wijaya
Keya Hazel
M. Nabiel Ardiansyah
SMP PELITA BANGSA
Year 2022 - 2023
Content
Cover
1
Content
2
Background
3
Definition
3
Causes
Agriculture Activities
3
Urbanisation
3,4
Logging
3
Mining
4
Climate Change
4
Soil Erosion
5
Floods
5
Desertification
5
Climate Change
5,6
Effect
Solution
Reforestation
6
Conservation of Forests
6
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
6
Source Secondhand and Sustainable Furniture Instead of Buying New
7
Reduce Consumption of Meat and Dairy
7
Prevention
The EU Green Law
7
Brazil National Environment Policy
8
References
9,10
BACKGROUND
Weisse, Deputy Director of
Global Forest Watch, and Goldman
Senior GIS Research manager
stated that in 2021 the tropics lost
11.1 million hectares of tree,
according to the new data from
University of Maryland. There are
approximately around 3.75 million
hectares of loss that occurred in the
tropical primary rainforest in 2021
resulting in 2.5 Gt of carbon
dioxide emissions. The graph by
the UN FAO beside shows the
annual deforestation from 2015.
They estimated 10 million ha were cut down each year.
This paper is written to enlighten readers about how deforestation affects the world
around us and to understand the causes in order to prevent and help decrease deforestation to
preserve this earth. Deforestation is destructive therefore this report is written to spread
awareness.
DEFINITION
According to Stuart Pimm, a professor of conservation ecology, deforestation is the
clearing of forests intentionally by humans. This course of action can also be called forest
degradation or forest clearance. It is basically the conversion of forest lands to non-forest
lands due to human uses.
CAUSES
Agriculture Activities
One of the big reasons for deforestation is due to agriculture activities. The demand
for food keeps on increasing throughout the year due to the growing population. Over 40% of
all forests are cleared in order to meet these demands for food and agriculture ( Ratrey ). It is
also the reason for 80 percent of deforestation ( FAO ). A journal called Science which
analyses various studies of deforestation estimated that there are between 6.4 million and 8.8
million hectares of tropical forests lost due to land for agriculture annually.
Urbanisation
Since the population on earth keeps on increasing, humans need more space and land.
For example, when people from rural areas move to cities, they tend to use more resources
since the incomes there are generally higher. Cities also often expand into forested areas in
order to keep up with the growing population causing more forests to be cleared. About 5
percent of deforestation is caused by urbanisation ( FAO ). Gourmelon stated that areas
covered by urban zones are projected to expand by more than 1.2 million square kilometres
between the year 2000 and 2030.
Logging
Another reason for deforestation is logging. It is not just any logging but illegal
logging. Illegal logging is surprisingly quite common. For instance, in some countries such as
Bolivia and Indonesia, the estimated illegally logged production may exceed 80% (2018).
Illegal logging is done around the world mainly due to a lack of quality of being coherent
around forest ownership, poor forest governance and greed for easy gain ( Benjamin,
Alexandra and team ). It is also caused by forest economics. Extraction of oil from palm trees
is one of the few examples along with harvesting and collecting timber in order to make
products such as paper, pencil, furniture, etc. As stated before, illegal logging is done due to
greed for easy gain since cheaper products are sold in black markets and they could use it for
illegal charcoal and timber trade and therefore produce profits.
Mining
Mining near rainforests can result in deforestation. There are lots of precious metals
such as gold, copper, diamonds, etc that can be found in rainforests around the world hence
why people mine near forests. Mel Lintern, a geochemist even found grains of precious
metals on the leaves of trees such as eucalyptus. Extracting these metals would also be
damaging the environment around them which are the rainforests especially when it is done
continuously or on a large scale.
Take for example the Amazon forest. Most mining there revolves around gold
deposits. The golds are found in the riverbanks and are actively mined by both large scale and
small scale operators. They rely on hydraulic mining techniques which blast away and clear
floodplain forests in the process. Expanding the mining extraction sites will also result in
direct deforestation since they will require more land. Forests will also be cleared for the on
site processing facilities and the roads to access the mining site. A study of the Brazilian
Amazon showed that mining causes up to 70 km of forest cleared from mining leases (9).
Climate Change
According to NOAA, the increased risk of wildfires are caused by climate change
such as increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere. A study in 2016 found
that the number of large fires have doubled due to the enhanced drying of organic matters.
Another research in 2017 also found that warmer and drier conditions due to climate change
can lead to more active fire seasons.
It is known that by definition deforestation is the clearing of forests intentionally so,
how is climate change a cause ? Rick Perry, the US energy secretary stated that it is
indefensible that 100% of the global warming is caused by human activities. Science has also
agreed to this statement. An IPCC report revealed that human emissions and activities have
caused 100% percent of the warming since 1950.
EFFECT
Deforestation effect can be harmful for everyone, it even could cause fatal incidents.
Deforestation also can affect the economy of many areas and professions.
Soil Erosion
One of the most common effects of deforestation that can be felt by everyone is soil
erosion. Soil erosion happens when there are not enough roots to bind the soil. Erosive
processes impact the farming productivity, worsening the living standards on both individual
farmers and agricultural co-ops. Over time the eroded farmland loose soil fertility, degrade,
and become unsuitable for agricultural activities. According to FAO led Global Soil
Partnership, around 75 billion tonnes (Pg) of soil eroded every year from arable lands
worldwide, this leads to an estimation loss of US$400 billion per year.
Floods
Besides soil erosion, deforestation can also cause floods. Eroded soil that ends up in
rivers and streams can block the water flow. Water level will rise causing floods that damage
the surrounding. There are around 86 million people residing in areas identified as flooded
globally, this number representing a 24% increase in the number of population exposed to
floods (The Global Flood Database). Not only that it can cause floods, it can add up to the
pollution in streams and rivers, clogging the waterways which will cause a decline in fish and
other species inside the ecosystem.
Desertification
Desertification is the destruction of land that causes the area to be in a desert-like
condition, when the leafy canopy of trees is gone, sunlight falls directly onto the soil. Water
evaporates quickly from the soil, causing it to be dry and hard. The land becomes barren and
plants cannot grow. Desertification is due to 2 main causes, the ‘Climatic Variation’ and
‘Human Activities’. Climatic variation like climate change, drought, and moisture loss on a
global level can cause desertification. On the other hand, desertification due to human
activities is mostly caused by deforestation and removal of the natural vegetation cover.
According to Environment Go Japan around 370.3 million ha of land loss in Asia, 319.4
million ha of land loss in Africa, 99.4 million ha of land loss in Europe, 79.1 and 79.5 million
ha land loss in both South and North America, and 87.5 million ha of land loss in Australia.
Climate Change
Deforestation affects climate change. Trees contribute to making rain. Rainwater that
is taken in by roots of trees will be lost as water vapour during transpiration. Water vapour
condenses and falls as rain. Without the trees, transpiration won't be able to happen, that
means less rain will fall. The area becomes dry and warm.
The absence of trees also allows a larger amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the
atmosphere. Deforestation contributes 12–20%of global greenhouse gas (LSE). Trees absorb
more carbon dioxide than it releases, they are carbon sinks. Deforested areas will lose their
ability as carbon sinks, thus more carbon dioxide is released. Turning them from carbon sinks
into carbon sources.
SOLUTION
Reforestation
Reforestation is about the intention of restocking of existing or former forests that
have been cleared or you can say it as helping forests bring back to the area it's destroyed.
A paper published a couple of years ago showed that reforestation could reduce U.S.
annual carbon emissions from all sources by 10 to 15 percent ( Saatchi ). All around the
world reforestation is applied in order to restore forests. Russia, Canada, and the US being the
one who have contributed the most. So far, a government project by Eire was launched to
replant around 8000 hectares of forests a year between 2021 and 2030 in order to decrease
deforestation (FAO). Indonesia, which has one of the most deforestation rates in the world,
has planned to plant 20 million trees in the next 5 years as part of the AZ Forest Programme.
Besides decreasing deforestation, reforestation can also help restore and increase
habitat for millions of species. It reduces air pollution and helps increase the health and
quality of the environment.
Conservation of forests
Forest conservation is the practice of planting and maintaining forested areas for the
benefit and sustainability of future generations. The conservation of forest also stands & aims
at a quick shift in the composition of tree species and age distribution. Forest conservation
involves maintaining the natural resources inside a forest that are beneficial to both humans
and the environment in a good condition.
The example of conservation of forests can be found in Indonesia. The forestry sector
governance of Indonesia has been changed and reformed. Indonesia has created a law for
permanent forest and peatland moratorium and reduced the annual rate of deforestation over
the last 20 years.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Reducing, reusing, and recycling of materials such as wood and timber could help
decrease deforestation since it lowers the demand of logging. A ScienceDirect study on
recycled paper’s impact on forests specifies that using recycled paper or reducing the use
could help decrease the overall intensity of forest management needed to meet given demand
for paper.
These solutions could be easily done in our daily life. For example, print your paper
double sided when needed, take paperless notes is an example of reducing your uses of forest
materials. Looking for secondhand options before buying brand-new pencils and notebooks
or seeking out products made from recycled material whenever possible is the example of
reusing. Recycling could be done by making scrap paper out of used paper, etc.
Source secondhand and sustainable Furniture Instead of Buying New
Buying items and furniture made out of recycled materials or buying those which are
secondhand items will help decrease deforestation and reduce your overall carbon footprint.
Woods are the common material for furniture hence, buying new furniture needs new
material.
Another alternative is buying furniture which is sustainable. Sustainable furniture is a
type of furniture that uses materials which have a minimal negative impact on the
environment. These furniture are eco-friendly and can also reduce deforestation. The
materials that made up these furniture contain minimal chemicals that can pollute the
environment, and are long-lasting materials. This way, the furniture won’t end up in a landfill
within a short period of time and trees are not cleared out in order to make more.
Reduce Consumption of Meat and Dairy
Reducing your consumption of meat and dairy, specifically beef could help reduce
deforestation. According to a research in March 2021 published in the World Resources
Institute, two of the main products responsible for deforestation due to the amount of land
needed for the agriculture activities are beef and soy in which the soy is used as the animal
feed. Compared to crops like wheat and rice, the difference is very drastic. Beef requires 160
times more land. Therefore, reducing your consumption of meat and dairy will help lower the
demand for the production, decrease the land needed for the production, and in the process
help decrease deforestation.
PREVENTION
The EU Green Law
In 2022 the provisional political agreement just reached between the European
parliament and the EU Council. The agreement talked about EU regulation on
deforestation-free supply chains. The new agreed law will ensure that a set of key goods that
are placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation in the EU and
anywhere around the world. Even though the EU is the major economy and consumer of
these commodities, the EU council hopes this step will help to stop the significant share of
global deforestation and forest degradation, in turn it will also help reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions and biodiversity loss.
The new rules in the agreement include a strict due diligence for companies that place
their product in the EU market, or export from it like palm oil, cattle, soy, cocoa, coffee, beef,
furniture, etc. These products have been chosen based on the impact assessment identifying
them as the main driver of deforestation due to agricultural expansion. The EU Green Law sets a
strict regulation for operators or traders of each company, they have to prove their products
are both deforestation-free (produced on land that was not subject to deforestation after 31
December 2020) and legal.
Brazil National Environment Policy
Brazil is known for its Amazon rainforest and thousands of different biodiversity
living on it, but besides of the uniqueness it has, the deforestation issue is always a big
problem for the local government. In 2000 Amazon lost 1.8 million ha of land and kept
increasing until 2004, when it peaked at 2.8 Mha until it declined slowly to 0.46 Mha in
2012. This data shows the Brazilian government has taken a serious action to deal with the
deforestation issues that occur in their country. The Brazilian Government has a mix of
policies to manage forests that include the key elements of National Environment Policy and
the Forest Code, law enforcement, protected areas (that have also been supported by
intergovernmental fiscal transfers systems from state to municipal governments), forest
monitoring system, and payment for environmental services.
During the 2000s the empirical literature has found that the decrease in commodity
price resulted in a decrease of deforestation, the policies by the Brazilian Government with
law enforcement also playing a prominent role in providing a decrease of deforestation in
Amazon. Through their National Climate Change policy Brazil started to reduce the
deforestation rate in their country. In 2020 the land loss in the Amazon decreased to around
0,4 Mha and targeted to achieve zero illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
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