Deforestation
Presented By Team Genius
Ariana Woodson, Heng Zhang,
Martina Gualtieri, Sandra Flores,
Sergio Alvarez, and Alex Bricout
What Is It?
• Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring
forests by logging & burning.
• occurs for many reasons:
– fuel or as a commodity,
– while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock,
– plantations of commodities, and settlements.
• In many countries, deforestation is an ongoing issue that is
causing extinction, changes to climatic conditions,
desertification, and displacement of indigenous people.
• Among countries with a per capita GDP of at least
US$4,600, net deforestation rates have ceased to increase.
Why This Problem?
• Natural resources are under increasing pressure, as
Terracivians try to balance economic production, resource
conservation, and sustainable development
• The dense forests of Terracivis have made it a significant
exporter of timber
• provide habitat for 1,600 species of birds, including 120
endemic species, a number of which are critically
endangered
• Industries: logging, mining and refining minerals, coal
extraction, textiles, fishing, ecotourism
IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS
• Multiple benefits to environment, people
and animals.
-Cool air temperature.
-Generation of oxygen.
-Sound barrier and reduce light reflection.
-Supply higher quality water with less impurity.
Control water level in floods.
-Minimization of noise pollution.
-Advances in medicine thanks to different herbs and plants.
-Place for education and research.
Causes of Deforestation
• corruption of government institutions
• the inequitable distribution of wealth and power
• population growth and overpopulation
• urbanization
• Globalization is often viewed as another root cause of deforestation
– cases in which the impacts of globalization have promoted localized forest
recovery.
• In 2000 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
found that "the role of population dynamics in a local setting may vary
from decisive to negligible," and that deforestation can result from "a
combination of population pressure and stagnating economic, social and
technological conditions."
Eviromental Problems
• Atmospheric
– Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.
– Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited
as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of
world greenhouse gas emissions. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change deforestation, mainly
in tropical areas, could account for up to one-third of total
anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.
• Hydrological
– Trees extract groundwater through their roots & release into
atmosphere
– When part of forest is removed trees don’t evaporate away this
water and climate becomes dry
– Deforestation reduces content of water in soil & groundwater as
well as atmospheric moisture
Cont.
• Deforestation reduces soil cohesion
•
•
•
•
•
– erosion, flooding & landslides ensue
Forests enhance the recharge of aquifers in some locales,
– forests are a major source of aquifer depletion on most locales.
Soil
Undisturbed forests have very low rate of soil loss,
– Approx. 2 metric tons per square kilometer (6 short tons per square mile).
generally increases rates of soil erosion
– increasing amount of runoff & reducing protection of soil from tree litter
– This can be an advantage in excessively leached tropical rain forest soils
Forestry operations themselves also increase erosion through the development
of roads and use of mechanized equipment
Economic Impact
• Damage to forests & other aspects of nature could
halve living standards for world's poor & reduce
global GDP by about 7% by 2050,
– a major report concluded at the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn.
• Historically utilization of forest products played
key role in human societies
• Today, developed countries continue to utilize
timber for building houses, and wood pulp for
paper
COUNTRIES WITH
DEFORESTATION
• NIGERIA.
-Worst deforestation rate.
-CONSEQUENCES: loss of natural systems, extinction of
animal species, soil loss and decrease in the number of
trees.
• BRAZIL.
-deforestation caused by constant logging (legal or illegal),
cattle ranching, etc.
-decrease in the availability of renewable resources (fruits,
vegetables…)
-destruction of local cultures
• CONGO.
-causes are building infrastructure, local subsistence activities
(mainly agriculture), in addition to commercial logging
and mining.
-loss of ecosystems, decrease in biodiversity, soil loss and
erosion, resources loss…
Congo
Nigeria
Brazil
Causes of
deforestation
in the Brazilian
Amazon, 20002005
Tropical deforestation rates from 20002005
Solutions
• Protect through organizations
– Greenpeace
– Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES)
• Sustainable logging
– Balance demands and preservation
– Plant 10 for every 1
– Reduce emissions
Solutions Cont.
• Controlled farming
– Manage compaction through confining to
narrow strips
• Reforestation
– Restock existing forest areas
– Peace Corps can get volunteers to replant
– Companies involved in reforestation
Bibliography
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
"A WORLD Imperiled: FORCES BEHIND FOREST LOSS." Mongabay.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jul 2010.
<http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0801.htm>.
"What is Cites?." Discover CITES. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wold Fauna and
Flora , n.d. Web. 27 Jul 2010. <http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.shtml>.
Butler, Rhett A. “Title of this page (see top of browser window for specific page).” Mongabay.com / A Place
Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests and the Perils They Face. 9 January 2006.
Butler, Rhetta. "Sustainable Logging and Improved Forest Management." Reduced-Impact Logging . Mongabay.com,
n.d. Web. 29 Jul 2010. <http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1011.htm>.
Mitchell , Deborah. "TURN DEFORESTATION INTO REFORESTATION ." How To Make A Difference On
Vacation. Charity Guide, 2007. Web. 26 Jul 2010. <http://charityguide.org/volunteer/vacation/deforestationreforestation.htm>.
Butler, Rhett A. “Title of this page (see top of browser window for specific page).” Mongabay.com / A Place
Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests and the Perils They Face. 9 January 2006.
Globe, Jakarta. "Sustainable logging to solve deforestation ." Chatham House, 24/04/2009. Web. 29 Jul
2010. <http://www.illegal-logging.info/item_single.php?it_id=3269&it=news>.
Johnson, Toni. "Deforestation and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions ." Council on Foreign Relations,
21/12/2009. Web. 26 Jul 2010.
<http://www.cfr.org/publication/14919/deforestation_and_greenhousegas_emissions.html#>.
Sheehan, Megan. "Reduced-Impact Logging." Climate Change: What We Do. Nature picture credits ,
04/2009. Web. 26 Jul 2010. <http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/strategies/art28057.html>.
Butler, Rhetta. "Deforestation charts and graphics. ." Deforestation Charts - General Overview. Mongabay.com, n.d.
Web. 30 Jul 2010. <http://www.mongabay.com/general_tables.htm>.
Kirby, Alex. "Britons urge tighter meat imports." BBC News (2004): 1. Web. 30 Jul 2010.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3527241.stm>.
Deforestation Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioTEO
OTlEi4
If the video doesn’t work, copy and paste this to your
URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioTEOOTlEi4