Deforestation, Causes Vs Forest Services

Forest sector is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, the third largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions after energy supply and industrial activities. Forest emissions are comparable to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of the US or China.

Forests are important as they not only serve as a major carbon sink on Earth, but also provide habitats for preservation of biodiversity. Primarily, the forest is the living source of almost all species in the planet. Studies show that 25% of the human medicines are derived form nature. Forests are utilized in fuel-wood supply, for improving water retention in soil, soil conservation, soil enrichment, dust and pollution control, as desert wind breaker, for preventing soil erosions and desertification.

The services that nature renders cannot be totaled in any measurable ways, yet, all these blessings from nature have been taken for granted.

( Pic: The buttress roots of rainforest trees help to retain water, soil nutrients, prevent wind and soil erosion and desertification. UNCCD, K. MUldoon)

Forests are increasingly threatened from deforestation, fragmentation, climate change and other stressors that are linked to human activities.

FAO estimates that 10.4 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost. Approximately 8 000 tree species, or 9% of the total number of tree species worldwide, are currently under threat of extinction.

Deforestation in many tropical countries, results from clearing activities for subsistence cultivation, for pastureland and logging for timber. Deforestation also results from forest fires, snow disaster, mining, urbanization, infrastructure activities and dam constructions. Deforestation is viewed as a threat to environment.

(Deforestation at the Amazon is depleting forest at an alarming rate. Photo origin: Travelersdigest.com)

In China, during the unusual cold winter in Feb 2008, extreme winter due to climate change has caused extensive forest destruction. According to the Xinhua News Agency, a total of 17.3 million hectares of forests, about one-tenth of China's forest reserves, have been damaged by the excessive snow cover. Forest trees succumb to the weight of ice and snow. In the Nanling Nature Reserve, only 5% of the trees survived. It will take at least ten years for the destroyed forests to recover, meanwhile the destruction is expected to result in long-term biological and economic losses.


Snow-covered mountains in Guangdong Province in extreme winter 2008		Ice-covered trees in a destroyed forest reserve in Guangdong Province 2008

With a new found global demand for renewable biofuel generation in the global effort to mitigate climate change, demands for feedstock soared to record high by 2008. Environmentalist are concerned that feedstock producing countries ( predominantly Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia..) carry out unsustainable cultivation practices, destroying rainforests and peat-lands. In addition forest burning that emits excessive carbon dioxide greatly undermines the true incentive behind biofuel production.
Indonesia has long been known for its heavy-handed logging and plantation clearing. Rain forests fall fastest in Indonesia, in fact, than almost anywhere else on earth.

In Brazil, land clearing for commercial pastureland and speculative economic returns are the main reasons behind deforestation.

Economic growth promotes infrastructure development and increased mining, oil and gas and agriculture activities. All these need the clearing of large areas of the Amazon.

(Ref: Mongabay.com)

Continued deforestation brings devastating global impacts - air and water pollution, soil erosion, malaria epidemics, carbon dioxide emissions, threatening of the livelihood of the indigenous tribes who are the original inhabitants of the forests, extinction of plant, animal and microorganism species, and the inevitable loss of medicinal raw materials. With fewer rainforests to play their vital role in concerted climate stabilization, the threat of global warming will set an even faster pace on us.

But who are the culprits? Take a look at what the industrialized countries have done to their own forests. Since the Industrial Revolution, 90% of virgin forests in the industrialized countries have been cleared for forest products. With the depletion of their own natural forest resources, they look for new supply (wood, pulp, palm oil, food, animal skins, ecotourism, raw materials) from other parts of the Earth. As a result, supplier countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and other tropical countries with remaining rainforests are often target of reprimand. Despite the media scrutiny, at least, 60% of their territory is still covered by natural tropical forests.

At the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in 2005, it was agreed that capacity-building, technical assistance and financial support to facilitate actions by developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation are urgent needs. And that a range of potential policy approaches and positive incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation, including financing options, need to be explored. Reducing forest emissions can be achieved at relatively low cost compared with mitigation in other sectors. Since most of deforestation occurs in developing countries, financial packages designed to reduce deforestation simultaneously helps to reduce poverty, promote sustainable development and preserve other ecosystem services like biodiversity and regional rainfall patterns. The role of communities as environmental stewards is of particular importance too.

No one plan to save the rainforests will succeed unless it takes into account the people in the rainforest countries and how they will sustain their livelihood. Forests are home to 350 million people, and over 90% of those living on less than $1 per day depend to some extent on forests for their livelihoods. Fundamental strategy would be to identify and address the underlying socioeconomic and political issues driving deforestation. Simply banning the timber trade or establishing reserves will not work for the poverty stricken forest inhabitants.

In basic financial terms, as long as economic returns of letting forests stand idle are less than that of 'using the forest', deforestation is bound to occur.

References and related news:

Science.jrank.org: Soil Conservation
Forestry Research into Sustainable Research Management: Forestry.gov.uk
Botany.uwc.ac.za: Afforestation
In Poznan, France Pushes Initiative to Save Rainforests: Forests.org
Climate Change, Biodiversity and Land Degradation: UNCCD.int
Snow Havoc Leaves Destruction in Southern Forest: china.org.cn
Climate Change - Financing Global Forest - Eliasch Review