Deforestation

Causes and Consequences

The Rainforest Alliance has estimated that, globally, the main causes of tropical deforestation are the clearing of land for agriculture (64 percent), logging (18 percent), fuelwood collection (10 percent), and cattle ranching (8 percent). However, the amounts vary geographically and temporally. Fuelwood collection is particularly destructive in dry lands or high altitudes because of slow natural regeneration rates, while cattle ranching is estimated to cause up to 60 percent of the forestland clearance in Central and South America. The exact proportions of each cause of deforestation are also difficult to estimate because land might be used for multiple purposes. While forests might be cut for the logs, the land can then be used for agriculture or cattle ranching. According to Geist and Lambin, the underlying causes of deforestation include: the unequal access to land by the rural poor; the high debt of many developing countries; unsustainable farming practices, [Page 423]especially in tropical countries; unsustainable land tenureship rules that grant ownership of land to those who clear it; and the demand for cheap beef for the fast-food industry, which in Central and South America generates demand for both cattle ranching and soybean production to feed cattle in North America and Europe.

The consequences of deforestation are global and local, and include atmospheric pollution, release of carbon dioxide (CO2), climate change, disruption of the hydrological cycle, disappearance of wildlife, soil erosion, and landslides. Tropical forests store 25 percent of terrestrial carbon, and absorb 15 percent of the carbon emitted yearly. However, because of deforestation, mainly in the tropics, forests are estimated to release approximately 1.7 petagrams (Pg) of carbon per year (one Pg is 1,000 million metric tons). With a small amount of uptake (about 0.1 Pg of carbon) in temperate and boreal areas, deforestation releases around 1.6 Pg of carbon per year. This can be compared to the carbon released by burning fossil fuel, which is currently at about 7 Pg per year. While tropical deforestation is an important source of atmospheric CO2, the Kyoto Protocol only gives carbon credits for the CO2 that is sequestered by forest plantations, not for the CO2 that is retained by natural forests.

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