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Yes, the deforestation of the Earth is now irreversible. (Causes that Make…
Yes, the deforestation of the Earth is now irreversible.
Causes that Make Deforestation Irreversible
Urban centers (specifically their consumption of resources) are the primary reason for deforestation (A. 1)
Rural migrants flock to cities and adopt common urban lifestyles and now believe consuming a large amount of resources is fine
Increase in incomes and diets that include more food that is made in a factory and food that is made from animals
Tom Prugh (senior researcher in "Can a City Be Sustainable" Expert Opinion (A. 1)
Major reason for the cause is idea of urban consumption is growing
Massive emission crisis is becoming a reality due to cities
Increasing sustainability efforts in local areas is only a short-term solution for the problem
Urban causes make land driving clearance for things such as livestock grazing and fodder more common (happens commonly in USA and other countries that use product for export)
More urbanized centers mean 2.7 to 4.9 million hectares of cropland more each year
Cities grow by 1.4 million inhabitants each week, urban land area growing twice as fast as the populations
Urbanization responsible for 3.3 million hectares of land lost that is prime each year (eats up farmland that already exists)
Europeans no longer use farmland for vegetables, but instead for chicken, pork, and beef
Cities increase in size into farmland areas and natural habitat of animals and plants (forests)
"The impact of urban expansion can, in principle, be attenuated by focusing on proven methods of shaping urban form to emphasize compact development and higher densities."
Farmers using methods to protect their crops
Shelter belts (protects crops from the wind) (A.4)
Trees in a line are put down at right angles into the direction of the wind that is previaling
Takes in some energy of the wind as the air pushes out its energy
Agriculture knowledge (A. 5)
Forest is natural habitat of plants and animals in lowlands of Northwestern Europe
Europe uses extensive agriculture and most of forests that grew over time are no longer present
Causes chopping and clearing of British forest, early farmers cleared an area of gorund to grow crops
After a couple of years, soil now deprived of its nutrients, weeds now growing out of control, and crop supply no longer at high rate, farming moves away and starts in another area, and clearing process starts over
5000 years ago saw a strange elm decline that could have resulted in agriculture technique change and output of pollen decreasing
Farmers from Europe used axes with blades made of flint, found that could chop down hundreds of trees before the blade needed to be sharpened again. A.6: settlers though chopping down forests improved land
Forced to take drastic measures by chopping down trees (don't understand they need them in long-run) and land rendered useless (A.9)
Colonists' Role (A.6)
Cleared large area in North America for room for their farming techniques
Exhausted supply of timber for fuel and construction
Forests began vanishing in 17th century, process sped up in 19th century
Destruction continues due to citizens extracting minerals and chopping down the timber to make room for farmland and now rain forests are now exposed to wind and disease and the stripped plant will not recover if nobody replaces the cleared trees (A.8)
Factors that Worsen the Situation (A.9)
Growing population in the world (8 billion in 2028, growth sparks in countries that experience extreme poverty)
People need to survive, so they extract nutrients and cause permanent harm to the land and the soil
Debt: poor countries owe lots of money to rich countries and need to keep up with their loan payments
Amplifyting mechanisms, acceleration of change,and attenuating mechanisms, dampen human impact on natural environment (A.18)
Family farm (plant seeds and harvest crops to feed themselves) A.9
Allowed long fallow periods where no crops would grow and would calm back after soil was regenerated, but increased poverty led to fields not getting a chance to get nutrients back
Lack of skill, increasing population, no time for regeneration (soil exhaustion and abandoned farms)
Commercial cropping: take best soil and give poorer people the less fertile soil, clear forest themselves, pay with government's money
Too much water is extracted from the ground
Need wood for livelihood, 80 percent of all their fuel, collect wood and change habitat and degrade forest
Only option is to clear forest to grow crops, shifting cultivating, slash and burn agriculture, forestland left to recover but now too many people and too much poverty, soil is now useless (A.13)
Commercial agriculture major cause, such as oil-palm plantations (A.13)
Cattle Ranching A.9
Used to lean toward dry forest and savanna which were easily manageable
Occupy in large part of forest and clear land, buy up land cleared from agriculture industry
Land increased from 9.6 to 33 million acres since 1950s in Central America
Logging A.10
14.8 million acres logged in 1 year in tropics (equal to size of West Virginia)
Increase in logging in SE Asia and C. and S. America, Africa stayed at constant rate
Wiping out all trees (clear-cutting) is rare
Prime trees often cut down (mahogany, 2-3 per acre)
SE Asia has most trees cut per acre, smaller trees damaged if large tree is uprooted
Illegal logging prevalent (10 billion in lost revenue)
Mining
Consuming natural woodlands for smleting
Explosive devices destroy forests locally
New roads open up to colonization and cattle ranches (Trans-Amazonian highway)
Secondary roads create easier access, land buying encouraged
People don't care about local people they are hurting and destroying, and gain access by bribery and corruption (A.13)
Hydroelectric Dams A.19
Acres of land flooded
Decomposition happens rapidly and greenhouse gases can easily be released into the atmosphere, local people forced to leave homes
Palm Oil
Rising prices make it highly craved, Indonesia and Malaysia sees many acres of trees chopped down in order to get valuable resource, needed as biofuel
Reasons Why We Will Suffer When the Deforestation is Complete and All Forests Disappear
Tropical Rain Forest Benefits (A.11)
Responsibility for taking in 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year (equal to 600 million cars that produce harmful emissions) (A. 1)
Protected gorillas, apes, and orangutans, as all endangered
Help us understand current state of rain forest, as their survival equals the rain forest's survival
500 million people use rain forest for food, fuel, and other resources
Wild corn: 5 out of 7 widespread corn viruses resisted, rosy periwinkle plant and African cherry from rain forest used to treat prostate cancer
Vampire bats can help reduce blood clots, and skin secretions from poison dart frog can be used as effective painkiller
Global source of medicinal drugs, food, and building materials
Regulate rainfall and maintain global weather patterns
Prevent soil from literally going into ocean
Store tons of carbon, remove carbon dioxide in air, which then produces oxygen and rainfall
Replanted forest absorb large amounts of CO2 and sequester carbon (A.12)
Endangered rain forest species continue to grow, 900 threatened bird species, about 50,00 tree species and all could be eventually threatened (A.13)
Land needed to find other resources, need to preserve the area, value is wonderful, wide variety of plants and animals, can teach organisms and the environmental functions (A.16)
Climate Change Problems in Temperate Forests (A.4)
Climate said to become windier if forests are cleared, which puts area at greater risk for soil erosion
Area said to experience increase in fog and dust if forests are cleared
Trees trap much of water droplets and dust particles inside its area until they fall to the forest floor and do not affect anything
Area said to be fresh on downwind side of forest, removing forest causes major fog and dust
Can cause forest to experience different ground and air temperatures
Getting rid of forest does not allow still layer to form, which makes dew and frost very rare in cleared area
No heat release makes terrain feel warmer, as now frosts will occur earlier in season and hard freezes will be more common
Forests provide a nice shade for group and area is normally a bit cooler than surroundings, getting rid of them will cause summer days to have more heat and humidity
Dust storms more prevalent
Clouds usually appear above forests giving a large amount of precipitation, but if forests disappear, clouds will no longer form as area becomes drier and air moves horizontally with moisture and clouds following it
No evaporation equals more rain reaching bottom of terrain, and no transpiration will mean little to no soil water making it back into the air
Habitat Loss will Increase (A.7)
Nearly all of world's grasslands turned into field for farming and agriculture
Most of ecosystems of earth have been altered by human action on the planet, even the oceans through pollution and overfishing
What Deforestation will Do to Habitats
Will cause an increased risk of greenhouse gasses getting into atmosphere of Earth
Habitat loss more dangerous because destroying forests has led to increased hunting
Wind able to penetrate portions of forests and effect of them leads to forests drying out
Trees cut down due to lack of nutrients
Forests ants can't find food
Birds leave ecosystem because they can't find food
Never ending cycle of animals leaving careated
We will lose an entire paradise forever (A.8)
By year 2045: tropical rain forests will no be present, unless under watchful protection of the government or the ones that are there cannot support a thriving ecosystem
Rain forest land will alter to desert, with the soil being washed away
Farms will disappear and be replaced by cities and towns, and farming will devastate the land so much that farmers will now go to cities to find work because land is rendered useless
More than 50 percent of species of animals and plants that live on terrain may no longer be in existence
Effects of Logging (A.10)
Hurts streams and rivers, change path where they drain naturally (major cause of soil erosion)
Farmers and ranchers move back in to clear land for other uses, act as highways into forests people could not enter before
Government attempts to issue grant, but hard to manage illegal logging business
Rain forests susceptible to burning
More spacing increasing burning risk, normal forests are resistant to fire
Began intentionally to clear land for new crops or plantation
Solve land ownership problems (revenge)
Sumatran Tiger only has 650 remaining due to fire
Mangrove forests severely threatened (A.17)
only 85k square miles, Thailand lost half of them, Philippines lost a quarter
Rendered helpless due to oil spills as pores are clogged and no gases are allowed to be exchanged
Increased flooding and roots now submerged
Demand for shrimp has caused mangrove forests to perish, as the industry is profitable and mangroves are labeled as uselses swamps
Other Major Effects (A.19)
Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which means the less trees means more carbon dioxide is running rapid in the air, which increases greenhouse effect and global warming
Reduced biodiversity: small species have to populate specific areas, some plants and animals can't survive elsewhere, curing many diseases lie deep in rain forest, and preservation is crucial
Soil erosion: trees and plants act as natural barrier to slow water, roots can cause the soil not to wash away, less trees means topsoil can erode quickly, and plants cannot prosper in this now depleted soil
Can also cause flooding: impact of waves and winds is stronger
Easter Island: people dependent on giant palm trees, but after they were cut down, people disappeared and left a barren landscape
Countries/Areas That Either Participate or Suffer in the Deforestation Movement
Brazil (A.1)
Deforestation on rise in early 2000s
Excuse was using land for pasture and soybean croplands due to the market demand internationally (most notably China)
Economic growth provoked richer diets in meat products, meaning soy imports on rise to feed the pork and poultry in area
Philippines
Rain forest destruction triggered mudslides and landslides in the country (A.8)
Lost half of rain forests in 25 years (A.13)
Highest deforestation rate in 2005-2015 (13,390 square miles) (Followed by Indonesia, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea) A.9
Carjas: world's largest mining area (iron ore mines wiping out area size of England and Wales) (A.13)
Most primary forests in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Haiti are lost not replaceable (A.13)
Half of Ivory Coast completely logged
Major damage caused to rain forests of Amazon, West Africa, and Papua New Guinea due to oil companies possessing a lease
Mexico and Panama (A.14)
Forest remains of Central America have great variety of species and of highest ecological and economic importance in region, even irreplaceable forests are being wiped out
Dramatic rate in 150 years, road building major cause as they are no longer isolated, more settling and cattle ranching
Roads built for access to oil and logging as well as military and to increase development
Pan-American highway: single inter-continental route connecting two Americas, 16k building project of roads, missing link is Darien gap: dense rain forest, threat allowed Kuna Indians to take control of land
Settlers arrive after road building, clear forest to grow food such as maize, beans, and rice, much soil is shallow with low growing potential
Settlers move onto new areas, degraded land has terrible soil, sold to cattle ranchers, plantation agriculture major threat (bananas and coffee plantations)
Indonesia (A.15)
Ancient forests being wiped out at scary rate, 37 million acres logged and 12-24 million acres destroyed by fire, second in rate only to Brazil
Timber very important in economy, 2nd largest export, 1980 sought to reduce export of logs so more timber-processing could take place in country , raw log exporting outlawed in 1985
Fire major threat: 6 million acres burned with 70 million people affecetd by haze, land set on fire to make room for oil-palm and timber industry
Other causes include transmigration and subsistence farmers using slash and burn agriculture
Many orangutans and primates have died due to drought conditions in 1998
Prime Areas (A.18)
Latin America
High rainfall, biologically diverse, fragile and poor sites, road construction, slash-and-burn agriculture, cattle ranching, policies facilitating land transfer, private ranches, movement of poor people
European settlers wanted exotic timber, rubber extraction had limited impact on forest cultivating, cattle ranching significant factor
Southeast Asia
One third cleared before WWII
Seasonal high rainfall, poor upland soils, transmigration, land occupied by people who use agriculture, private and state run logging, swidden agriculture, large transmigration projects, corrupt, no forestry law, insecure land ownership
West and Central Africa
Diminishing rainfall, large tracts of scrubs, hunter-gatherers, timber major cause of deforestation, facilitated by companies from East and SE Asia, traditional shifting cultivation, poor law enforcement, constant migration, rapid population growth
Alternative Ways to Stop Deforestation That Have Proved to Be Ineffective
Reducing consumption of resources (A.1)
Increase economic efficiency at delivering human-well being per every unit of research input
Dietary share could be sharply reduced by food waste being wiped up and incentives for lower meat consumption
Cities having a say in determining farming policies that are expansive, less impacts of producing meat by shifting from intensive farming, fossil fuel-based livestock to more diverse, coupled systems that emulate structure & functions of ecosystems
Increasing in producing agriculture connected with belief that forests create safe place for wildlife (A. 3)
Forests have great recreation activities for city dwellers
Labeled the lungs of the city
Europe's solution and results
England using Parliament and volunteer organizations working to make room for 12 community forests
Give people way to participate in new activities and use for field trips for English Schools
Scotland getting rid of old industrial sites and bringing new life to them by enacting forests
Forests considered sacred and are protected for a place for tourists to see and the precious environment for certain types of animals and plants (Point of View is so narrow for planet Earth, as literally the majority of the population thinks the opposite about deforestation)
UK saw 16 percent increase in areas of natural forests in 1990-2000 (one country is not going to make a difference in the braod scene)
US on upward spiral, forests area increased by 1 percent, as no more rapid deforestation is occurring (same as 1920s) (A 1 percent increase is not good, as more forests are being cut down at a large rate than this smaller 1 percent replanting rate)
All the world's forests: 9.4 decrease, 0.22 percent loss a year, 386k miles lost (showing overall that solution is not working)
Loss of forests not distributed evenly across Earth, as tropical forests are declining dramatically and coniferous and temperate forests are on the rise (tropical rain forests are more beneficial in the long-run, making the situation work)
Area outside tropics: 0.9 percent cleared, 2.6 percent increase in unforested areas
Temperate Forests (Focus is on the wrong type of forests)
6,600 square miles of new forest land in areas outside of tropics
Plantation forests: 12k square miles of new forest area, 1.2 percent increase to the plant earth (big during 1990s)
Not going anywhere, actually increasing, producing agriculture in efficient way is main cause (once needed to produce crops, but now need is dying, space for their forests is now available)
More popular with world people, considered highly sacred, and highly unlikely they will disappear
Trying to encourage idea of biodiversity
Keep the wide variety of animals and plants
Attract tourists for various activites
Conserving the Land
Once was enough to keep biodiversity, but as wild habitats are being overrun by human presence in world, plants that don't focus directly on human needs are rarely followed (A.7)
Major companies started to realize damage but too little, too late, as they are already destroyed and wildlife health is awful (A.13)
Can we stop destruction of rain forests? (A.8)
Almost impossible even if the utmost action was taken against the problem (clearly not a priority whatsoever in today's world)
Best idea: reduce rate and slowly solve the problem (don't have time to slowly solve a problem)
Everyone has role to play, including children and children's children
Need to think long-term and make it sustainable, have to use abundant resources in way that doesn't destroy our future (A.11)
Nutrients put back too quickly making soil too thin and poor to use, making deforestation even more deadly and destructive
Only poor forests will remain (will not vanish from earth, encourage sustainable means of forests to provide poor farmers a way to use different methods of farming safer to environment, economic development puts less pressure on forests (South Korea), preserve the rich forests first (A.16)
Attempting to Turn the Tide (A.12)
Statistics inaccurate by world government (Brazil claimed destruction in Amazon fell by 13 percent, but 9,653 square miles were captured by satellite compared to 6,095 claimed)
World disagrees on destruction slightly decreasing as reported by FAO
Thailand outlawed logging in 1988, Costa Rica set up 23 percent of country in national parks, Brazil's government passed rule where resources need to be sustained (this is not going to convince people to quit abusing the rain forests, too little is being done)
5 Solutions
Establish more reserves and parks to protect vital zones of rain forests with plants and animals inside them
Revitalize cleared zones and plant trees, so new forest aren't prone to chopping
Help people live in ways that does not damage the environment
Encourage huge business (timber) to operate in more sustainable ways
Make a difference yourself
Xingu Park: 11.5k square miles to help Menkragnoti Kayapo to develop successfully (manage borders against ranchers and timber industry)
Malaysia: 61.7k acres of logged rain forests suited to grow on degaded land (also in Uganda and Ecuador)
Universal Solutions (A. 19)
Bali Roadmap: guide countries who have joined the effort to lead to an agreement to lead the way in reducing emissions (not enough is done in this process in my opinion)
Conservation International: teaches farmers in countries how to use the land they already own to the fullest (farmers are going to do whatever it takes to survive if they live in poverty)
World Wildlife Fund: work together to preserve forests (not working, as companies still destroy the forests at staggering rates)
Sierra Club, Amazon Watch, Nature Conservancy
Eco-forestry (carefully selected trees cut down with commercial timber is still permitted) (still hurts environment in long-run)
Background Information on Deforestation
Definition of Deforestation (A.2)
The act of chopping down trees, whether the entire population or a portion of the population , in a zone known as forest.
Some of its effects include erosion of soil, speeding up the process of desertification and infect and contaminate waterways
It can also downgrade biodiversity by participating in habitat loss
Forest Area Alterations between 1990 and 2000 (A. 3)
Africa, Asia, Oceania, Central America, and South America saw a forest are a decrease
China, Europe, North America, and Caribbean saw a forest area increase
Russia and Canada experienced no change in forest area
North American Background of Forests (A.6)
USA: 33 percent of land inhabited by forests
Canada: 45 percent of land inhabited by forests
15 percent of world's forests found in North America
177,680 square miles of original forest disappeared by year 1850
297,670 square miles gone by 1910
1920 saw increase in forest area in North America
Large areas of forests of Canada cleared for farmland but much smaller scale in US
6 percent of original Canadian forest converted to farmland
Tropical Rain Forests (A.8)
50 years is all we have before they disappear
80k acres of rain forest a day, 30 million acres a year
Much warmer than temperate forests and contain more biodiversity (most diversity in any land habitat)
Secondary rain forests common (where trees are trying to be replanted)
Losses since 1990: Central America 18.9 percent, followed by South America with 6.7, Southeast Asia with 12.4, and Africa wit 9.9
148 million acres of tree plantation, single-species plantations not as effective as natural forests due to parasite prone (A.10)
50 million acres destroyed each year (area size of England, Wales, and Scotland combined) (A.13)
Characteristics of Rain forests (A.11)
Hardly changed for 10 of millions of years, contain more than 50 percent of all species of plants and animals, largest living gene pool
Two types: moist (away from Equator) and equatorial (closer)
2 percent of earth's surface, but support 50 percent of life, 50 millions species (some not even discovered)
210 species of tree per acre (temperate only has 6)
Die 100 times faster if man-made destruction occurs
Canopy: dense ceiling of leaves and branches that catches most sunlight and uses it as energy to produce food by photosynthesis, attract many animals, also includes overstory (100 feet), understory (juvenile trees), and forest floor (bottom layer)
3 Factors Leading to Variation: environment and land-use history of region, particular combination of causes triggering and driving land-use change, and the feedback structure (social and ecological responses to change) (A.18)
Deforestation Rates Are on the Rise (A.20)
Rain forest loss accelerated by 62 percent in span of 20 years according to university of Maryland, "just be a memory of the past soon"
Forest loss now increasing again in Brazil after 10 year decline, April 2015 satellite image shows forest cleared in one month quicker than the previous year
Lack of forest protection: leads to increase clearing of trees for farming and agriculture
Problem not only in tropics, September 2015: 3 million trees on Earth, 7 times that thought originally, lost 46 percent of forests since farming came into existence about 12,000 years ago
15 billion trees cut down or chopped down each year
Deforestation Basics A. 19
Definition: extraction (using clearing or chopping method) of large areas of either temperate or tropical rain forests) (usually in a large area)
Caused by agriculture techniques, mining, natural disasters, logging, etc.
Most common methods: burning and clear-cutting the land
Worldwide issue but must vital in Amazon rain forests of Brazil
360 square miles in just 1 month
Effect not easily correctable (species wiped out, flooding common occurrence, global warning stimulated)
Human activity will always be main cause, tropical rain forests give home to half of entire population of species