The problems of Earth: Deforestation

Deforestation is the massive destruction of trees. It is the clearing of forests by humans.

(Aerial image of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest cleared. Skynews 2017)

 

In 2010, scientists predicted that in 100 years’ time the rainforests would disappear completely if human being kept cutting down the trees. In 2020, scientists predict that by 2030 the Amazon rainforest will be a Savannah. The Amazon rainforest is the largest remaining block of humid tropical forest. We are in 2020. We only have 10 years left.

 

Rainforest ecosystems have a crucial role in the water cycle on Earth. Moreover, they hold a huge amount of biodiversity: 80% of the World’s animals and plants inhabit the forests and rainforests.

 

(Californian forest. Take Part.)

 

But… What are the main causes of deforestation?

 

The first one is agriculture and grazing. Farmers cut down the trees in order to gain more farmlands. Secondly, the wood/paper industry. Thirdly, humans remove trees for construction and mining. –Yes, your jewels could be part of the problem too. 

 

The truth is that humans are not the only cause for trees mass-loss. Fires also play a role. But usually, they are a key factor for the renewal of the forest itself. The forest is able to cope with the fires as long as their rate is natural, but this is a low rate. In the Mediterranean ecosystem, some seeds need fire to germinate. The forest will slowly grow back, getting rid of the "too-old" elements, allowing new organisms to flourish. Human-caused deforestation is, on the contrary, fatal for the ecosystem. Moreover, as deforestation goes on, the rainforests get drier and the fires become too frequent for the ecosystem to recover.

 

Numbers help to shed some light on the matter. Since the beginning of the 20th century, 10 million square km of forest have been lost. In the last 25 years, a forest area bigger the size of South Africa has been shrunk. Every year 15 billion trees are cut down.

 

(Tropical forests and deforestation in the early 21st century. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2020)

 

Many forests are cleared in order to make palm oil, soy and avocado (yes, your “super-foods”) plantations, beef grazing and wood products.

 

Growing the trees that produce palm oil, and other extensive plantations requires the leveling of native forest and the destruction of the ecosystem. According to a report published by Zion Market Research, the global palm oil market alone, was valued at 65.73 billion USD in 2015 and is expected to reach 92.84 billion USD in 2021. This is an example that reveals us that money is the ultimate cause of deforestation, sacrificing the long-term benefits of standing trees for short-term gain.

 

 

(Images from a video showing an orangutan fighting off an excavator. Truth theory.

You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7Nt_LnWhE&feature=emb_title)

 

Palm oil plantations are destroying Malaysia and Indonesia forests. Soy plantations and cattle ranching are expiring the Amazon and avocado plantations are already a concern in Mexico. The 50% of fertile land is now farmland.

 

 

(Borneo deforestation from 200 to 2018. NASA)

 

Logging operations, which are often illegal, also fell countless trees each year. Historically, cattle and sheep pastures have been the cause of deforestation in North America and Europe. In Spain, entire forest-lands were cleared in order to build vessels –which carried European colonizers towards eastern North America, where they deforested half of its area.

 

Deforestation effects are not only the habitat loss for the 80% of the World’s species, but also the loss of subsistence and income for 250 million people, it increments the incidence of global warming by adding carbon dioxide to the air and removing the ability to absorb the existing amount in the atmosphere. In the Indonesian island of Sumatra –which has one of the worst deforestation rates in the world– temperatures in logged areas have increased an average of 1.05ºC since 2000.

 

(Comparison between rainforests and grading lands climate regulation roles. World Resources Institute 2018)

 

Yet the effects of deforestation reach much farther: they have a crucial role in global water cycles, having a key role to the water supply of several countries, their cities, industry, farming and agriculture –and of course their wildlife. Have you heard about the serious problem of the lack of fresh water in the near future? Well, we are speeding up to reach it.

 

(Main components of the forest water cycle. M. Centritto et al. 2010)

 

 

What can you do to help?

 

There is hope yet. We need to reduce the land-farm to increase the wildlife. In order to do so, we need to change our standard of living. The Earth cannot support a big amount of large meat eaters, if you analyze any food-web, you will realize that predators are always in low numbers. Otherwise, the ecosystem reaches its top capacity and collapses. Human beings are not designed to be a top predator but omnivorous –meaning that we shouldn't eat so much meat. The majority of the cleared forest area was with farm-land purposes, and the more meat we produce, the larger amount of farm-land we need. We also have to leave the monotypic extensive plantations and turn them into sustainable plantations that can be integrated in the ecosystem to increase biodiversity. Doing this, the soil becomes reacher and animals and other plants can live along the fields.

 

There are movements to preserve forest ecosystems and restore them: Costa Rica is a good example. After the 50s, this country suffered from deforestation for many years. They lost 60% of their forest cover due to agriculture, logging industry and population increment. In this case, the worst environmental impacts that Costa Rica had to cope with were land erosion, desertification, hydroelectric shortages, decrease of the water quality and decrease of wildlife. In 1996, Costa Rica banned cutting down mature forests and the government implanted monetary incentives for reforesting their land.

 

The results? Costa Rica’s deforestation rate went from 1.3% of their area per year in 1960 to 0% in 2005. Farmers proved that not cutting down the trees actually helped them save money. Since the birds living in those trees help them prevent pests. The forests and wildlife of the country are now vibrant. They offer an economical opportunity regarding tourism. In fact, ecotourism has increased the living standards of the people of poverty by 16%.

 

 

(Costa Rica rainforest adapted to ecotourism. Google images)

 

Other examples are the government of New Zealand, which in 2017 sought to plant more than 100 million trees per year within its borders and a project in India in which on a single day in 2017, citizens planted 66 million trees.

 

But we need to be cautious about that. In some Amazon rainforest areas, the replanting is done to replenish logging areas for future exploitation, using monotypic plantations of eucalyptus or fast-growing pines and other non-native species. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that there are approximately 1.3 million square km of such plantations on Earth. This is not a solution. It has to be done in an ecological way of restoration, with the reforested areas converted into protected land. Tourism must be managed in a reasonable way, otherwise it ends destroying the ecosystem equally.

 

Governmental decisions are fundamental. For customers, it is a duty to examine the products we buy, looking for sustainably produced sources and amounts.

 

(Moisture from the tree cover of the rainforest ecosystem. R. Whitcombre/YaleEnvironment360 ).

 

"Ten thousand years ago, as hunter-gatherers, we lived a sustainable life because it was the only option. All these years later, it is once again the only option." –David Attenborough. 

 

 

Maria Serra

 

 

SOURCES

Asdigian K. Deforestation in Costa Rica. ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=250d5560fb62483b92dbf94b8db4c689

Attenborough, D. (2019). Our Planet. Netflix.

 

Attenborough, D. (2020) A life on our planet. Netflix. 

 

Centritto M. et al. (2010) Above Ground Processes: Anticipating Climate Change Influences.  (Chapter 3 in book Forest Management and the Water Cycle). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226698604_Above_Ground_Processes_Anticipating_Climate_Change_Influences 

Derouin S. (2019) Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html

 

National Geographic. Deforestación. https://www.nationalgeographic.es/medio-ambiente/deforestacion

 

National Geographic. Deforestation explained. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/

Pearce F. (2018) Rivers in the Sky: How Deforestation Is Affecting Global Water Cycles. YaleEnvironment360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-deforestation-affecting-global-water-cycles-climate-change

 

Pimm S.L. (2020) Deforestation. Encyclopaedia Britammica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/science/deforestation

 

Wolosin M. & N. Harris N.  (2018). Tropical forests and climate change: the latest science. World Resources Institute. http://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/ending-tropical-deforestation-tropical-forests-climate-change.pdf