FREE ESSAY ON DEFORESTATION

DEFORESTATION

Deforestation's Impact
PSC 391
May 1, 2000
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands.(WWF)
Currently, forests cover approximately one fifth of the world's land. Forests provide us
with many products we use in our everyday lives. They also provide for us in other ways
such from helping stop soil erosion to providing us with medical drugs, dyes and
fabrics.. Humanity depends on the survival of a healthy ecosystem and deforestation is
causing many social, economic and ecological problems.
Approximately 12 million hectares of forests are depleted each year. Ninety percent of
the clearing occurs in the tropical rainforests. At the current rate of clearing, all
tropical rainforests will be lost by the year 2050.(WWF)
There are many reasons that deforestation occurs. Commercial Logging, Ranching, and
farming are the main causes of deforestation. The UNFPA (United Nations Fund for
Population Activities) said in it's 1990 report that population growth may have been
responsible for as much as eighty percent of the forest land cleared between 1971 and
1986 to make room for agriculture, cattle ranching, houses, roads and industries
(Ramphal, 1992, p.55)
Commercial Logging is accounting for the elimination of about 20,000 square feet of
tropical forests per year. The increasing demand for fuel wood as populations expand is
another important factor leading to deforestation. In most developing areas, wood is the
primary source of fuel. In many of these areas, the demand for fuel wood is rising at
about the rate of population growth, and ahead of the destruction committed by loggers.
(Hardaway, 1994, p. 201). One third of the world's people depend on wood for fuel as a
significant energy source (Dudley).
Tropical forests cover about 10 per cent of the world's dry land surface, mostly located
in South America and Asia (Dudley 6). In the tropical forests of the world, deforestation
is occurring for agriculture and livestock pastures.
In the agricultural sector, the importance of export crops is a driving force behind
deforestation. ). It is estimated that in that period nearly sixty million hectares of
forest were converted to farmland and a similar amount of forest was put to
non-agricultural uses. This is equivalent to the mass of twelve hundred square meters of
forest added to the population (Ramphal, 1992, p. 57). Quite often, areas of forest were
cleared in such a way (ex.: slash and burn) that they will never grow back. After a
forest area has been converted to grazing lands or intensive farming, the soil will only
sustain it for a few years. Then the land is left lifeless.
Cattle ranching is another of the many reasons why trees are cut down recklessly in
tropical areas. Over the last two decades, beef production in Brazil has risen sharply
from 2.85 million metric tons in 1980 to 4.96 metric tons in 1996(FOA 1998). This rise in
production corresponds with dramatic increases in deforestation levels in Brazil. 
What do forests do for us? Forests are a precious link in the life systems of our planet.
They are a part of these vital ecosystem services without which earth would not have been
habitable by the human species in the first place and would certainly have become
inhabitable again. Forests have crucial roles in the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles
that nourish and sustain life on earth. They protect the watersheds that support farming
and influence climate and rainfall (Lindahl-Kiessling, 1994, p.167). They save the soil
from erosion and are home to thousands of species, and forest peoples whose lives depend
on them. They are also a source for industrial and medical purposes.
What are the effects of deforestation Forests are great natural repositories of carbon.
Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and store it, acting as carbon reservoirs. As such, they
are invaluable agents in keeping the level of carbon in the atmosphere stable. As forests
are destroyed worldwide, especially by burning, carbon dioxide is released into the air,
adding to the stock of greenhouse gases that are now warming our planet and changing its
climate. Carbon dioxide accounts for half of global warming, and fossil fuels account for
two-thirds of manmade carbon dioxide (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1970, p.134). The consumption
of energy from fossil fuels; coal, oil, and natural gas used for industrial, commercial,
residential, transportation and other purpose results in large emissions. Thus, the
energy sector accounts for nearly half of global warming, forty six percent.
Forestland is also the world's main storehouse of species, the plants, animals, birds,
and insects with which earth has been blessed. Tropical forests expand roughly between
ten degrees North and south of the equator. In a small portion of the earth lies nearly
half of earth's biological species, many endemic. The rapid rate of deforestation is
erasing our bio-diversity. One major factor that the forests carry is that they are the
home to over one half of the world's total species (Dudley). Currently we are discovering
20 new species of insects and 15 species of plants each day (Dudley 13).
Also the medical treatments, cures and vaccines will never be discovered if there are no
forests to discover them in.
Desertification is closely related with deforestation. When a forest is cut of burned
down, the trees, which once held the rich topsoil together and protected it's under the
canopy are gone. The soil becomes susceptible to high sunlight and heavy rainfall this
quickly damages the topsoil in tropical rainforest, causing them to loose soil nutrients
and also dries out the soil.
Our forests are invaluable resource to all. Not just for the wood, but as they maintain
life on earth. They are continuing to be destroyed at a rate that will not permit their
return when humanity realizes its errors. Our forests are perhaps the most threatened
aspect of earth as a result of population growth, and the one that we can least afford to
lose. 
Using the International Futures Software, I attempted to slow the effects of
deforestation by manipulating factor which I could control by making changes and
interpolating them into the working file and comparing them to the base file. I first
examined the world's forest without making any changes to the file(figure 1) Each of the
areas had a fairly consent land use without many fluxuations with the exception of Africa
which declined steadily. Next I decide to see how Forests would react as the Worlds
population grew. Figure 2 illistrates the the land use for Africa and Latin America after
a change in the population from 263.119 to 5000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1. Arizpe, Lourdes. Population and Environment. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 
2. Brown, Lester and Kane, Hal. Full House. New York: Norton and Co., 1994. 
3. De Blij, H.J. and Muller, Peter O. Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1994. 
4. Ehrlich, Paul and Ehrlich, Anne. Population Explosion. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1990. 
5. Ehrlich, Paul and Ehrlich, Anne. Population Resources Environment. San Francisco: Wilt
Freeman and Co., 1970. 
6. Hardaway, Robert. Population, Law, and Environment. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994. 
7. Lindahl-Kiessling, Kerstin. Population, Economy, Development and Environment. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1994. 
8. Lutz, Wolfgang. The Future Population of the World. London: Earthscan Publications
Ltd., 1994) 
9. Ramphal, Shridath. Our Country, The Planet. London: Lime Tree, 1992. 
10. Schlaepfer, Rudolph. Long Term Implications of Climate Change and Air Pollution on
Forest Ecosystems. Vienna: IUFRO, 1994. 
11. Stanford, Quentin H. Canadian Oxford World Atlas. Toronto: Oxford University Press,
1993. 
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1. Arizpe, Lourdes. Population and Environment. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. 
2. Brown, Lester and Kane, Hal. Full House. New York: Norton and Co., 1994. 
3. De Blij, H.J. and Muller, Peter O. Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1994. 
4. Ehrlich, Paul and Ehrlich, Anne. Population Explosion. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1990. 
5. Ehrlich, Paul and Ehrlich, Anne. Population Resources Environment. San Francisco: Wilt
Freeman and Co., 1970. 
6. Hardaway, Robert. Population, Law, and Environment. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994. 
7. Lindahl-Kiessling, Kerstin. Population, Economy, Development and Environment. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1994. 
8. Lutz, Wolfgang. The Future Population of the World. London: Earthscan Publications
Ltd., 1994) 
9. Ramphal, Shridath. Our Country, The Planet. London: Lime Tree, 1992. 
10. Schlaepfer, Rudolph. Long Term Implications of Climate Change and Air Pollution on
Forest Ecosystems. Vienna: IUFRO, 1994. 
11. Stanford, Quentin H. Canadian Oxford World Atlas. Toronto: Oxford University Press,
1993.