Deforestation

Deforestation

1. Caused by the gradual increase in the amount of trees cut down compared to trees growing/replaced - when the maximum sustainable yield is exceeded

2. Consequences

   • Reduced Biodiversity
     • Food web destruction
     • Loss of synergistic relationships
     • 'Edge Effect'
   • Soil Erosion
     • Lack of tree roots decreases the integrity of the soil
     • Degrades farmland, fills reservoirs and causes river flooding
   • Reduced Rainfall
   • Increased Ground Albedo
     • Bare ground produces huge temperature fluctuations between day and night
   • Loss of Visual Amenity
   • Loss of recreation/ecotourism opportunities
   • Loss of Carbon Storage Reservoir
   • Effect on Indigenous People
     • Loss of valuable local knowledge
     • They base their whole lifestyle on the forest, they are lost without it

3. Reasons

   • Timber
     • Commercial Logging
       • Building Construction
       • Paper
       • Furniture
     • Subsistence Wood use
       • Building Construction
       • Fuel
   • Farmland
     • Cash Crop Commercial Agriculture
       • Beef and other livestock
       • Biofuels
       • Arable Crops
     • Subsistence Farming
   • Urban Expansion
   • Mineral Expansion
     • The mines can take up huge areas of land, although comparitivly this is not a large cause
     • Access roads to remote mines cause lots of deforestation
   • Roads
   • Reservoirs and HEP Stations
     • Can flood valuable areas of forest
     • Take up large areas with many access roads

4. There is criticism from MEDCs for the unsustainable exploitation LEDCs are currently carrying out. The hypocrisy of the situation is that they are developing in the same way, just two centuries apart