Deforestation. The word is rather self-explanatory - it’s essentially the cutting down of trees. But what many people don’t realise is that the impacts of deforestation go far beyond just that of the tree that’s being cut down. Despite their ecological significance, we are losing our rainforests at an alarming rate. It is estimated that up to 400,000 square metres of rainforest are lost every minute! In fact, we could lose most of our major rainforests within the next 100 years. To understand why we’re losing such vast amounts of rainforest, we need to trace the problem back to its roots…
There are many different reasons why people cut down trees, but the main causes can be grouped into 3 categories: development, agriculture and raw materials. Let’s start with development. With a rapidly growing population, we need more space to build houses and infrastructure to support an increasing demand. This land unfortunately comes at the expense of natural habitats such as rainforests. Additionally, roads often cut through rainforests, which requires land to be cleared to enable construction. Not only does this improve transportation, it also increases accessibility to the deeper parts of the rainforests which encourages even more deforestation for further development.
With the demand for food higher than ever, the leading driver of deforestation is agriculture, which accounts for around 80% of all deforestation. A growing population also means a growing demand for food which we are already struggling to meet today. Of particular concern is the increased demand for meat and animal products. Cattle ranching, for example, requires huge amounts of land to be cleared for grazing as well as growing crops such as soy to feed the cattle. It is estimated that such practices are responsible for up to 60% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. Another culprit responsible for deforestation is palm oil. This substance is found in most everyday products, from soaps to cosmetics and even foods like chocolate! This high versatility makes palm oil an incredibly valuable crop, and as a result, large areas of forest are cleared and replaced with oil palm trees. In total, palm oil plantations take up around 300,000 square kilometres of land - that’s the size of the Philippines!
Finally, in many areas of the world, deforestation is also driven by the extraction of raw materials. This can take the form of logging to obtain wood to be used in furniture or to be made into paper, or mines to reach minerals stored beneath the forest. And in extremely poor areas where people don’t have access to electricity, wood is the main source of fuel, leading to even more trees being cut down for firewood. Not only does wood release harmful particles into the air when burnt, the practice is also unsustainable if the trees aren’t replanted.
But if rainforests are so important, why are we cutting down so much of it? Sadly, it’s just more profitable to convert an area of rainforest into something such as a plantation than to simply leave it as a natural habitat. There’s also the fact that there are other more pressing issues such as food shortages and overpopulation that need to be prioritised, even if that means cutting down our forests. But with climate change threatening our planet, the need to reduce deforestation is becoming more important by the day.
So, how extensive is the damage caused by deforestation? Find out in our next article.
Credits:
Image - Euronews
Information - National Geographic, Greenpeace, WWF, Our World in Data, NCBI
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