Deforestation
Definition – deforestation is the chopping
down of trees and replacing it with
something else.
Cause of deforestation
Causes – There are three main causes.
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
Here we can see forest chopped down for
commercial farming
10%
0%
Subsistence Commercial
farming
farming
People who live in the
rainforest can make
money from…
Logging
How many trees have been chopped down
and how many are left?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
Growing
Growing
Leaving it
crops to sell
crops to eat
as a forest
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chop or burn?
Chopping down a forest with
an axe is hard work. It is easier
and quicker to burn the forest
down. But this produces lots of
greenhouse gases.
CO2
CO2
CO2
forest choped down
forest remaining
Deforestation
Answer the following questions.
1. Define deforestation in your own words.
2. What is the biggest cause of deforestation?
3. Wood is used for many things. List three things that people chop
down the wood for?
4. Imagine you want to clear the land. Would you chop down trees or
burn them down and explain your answer?
5. Chopping down the trees is bad for the environment. Give an
example of how this might be.
6. Suggest ways in which people who live in the main forests of the
world could be encouraged not to chop down the trees.
These trees are in a managed wood. That means that they have been
grown for the specific purpose of chopping down later for wood.