Q: Describe the relation between forest area and deforestation ?
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the worlds most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter. But forests around the world are under threat from deforestation. Deforestation, clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or
stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-
cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. This impacts peoples livelihoods and threatens a wide range of plant and animal species. Some 46 -58 million square miles of forest are lost each yearequivalent to 36 football fields every minute. Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation. Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rainforests because these forests are home to much of the worlds biodiversity. For example, in the Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. Deforestation in this region is particularly rampant near more populated areas, roads and rivers, but even remote areas have been encroached upon when valuable mahogany, gold and oil are discovered. Deforestation can happen quickly, such as when a fire sweeps through the landscape or the forest is clear-cut to make way for an oil palm plantation. It can also happen gradually as a result of ongoing forest degradation as temperatures rise due to climate change caused by human activity. While deforestation appears to be on the decline in some countries, it remains disturbingly high in others and a grave threat to our worlds mo st valuable forests still remains. ILLEGAL LOGGING National laws regulate the production and trade of timber products at all stages, from harvesting to processing to sales. These laws can be violated in any number of ways, such as taking wood from protected areas, harvesting more than is permitted and harvesting protected species. Illegal logging occurs around the world, and in some places, illegal logging is more common than the legal variety. This destruction threatens some of the worlds most fam ous and valuable forests. FIRES Fires are a natural and beneficial element of many forest landscapes, but they are problematic when they occur in the wrong place, at the wrong frequency or at the wrong severity. Each year, millions of acres of forest around the world are destroyed or degraded by fire. The same amount is lost to logging and agriculture combined. Fire is often used as a way to clear land for other uses such as planting crops. These fires not only alter the structure and composition of forests, but they can open up forests to invasive species, threaten biological diversity, alter water cycles and soil fertility, and destroy the livelihoods of the people who live in and around the forests. INCREASED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS Forests help to mitigate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but they become carbon sources when they are cut, burned or otherwise removed. Tropical forests hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon, and deforestation
represents around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions. These greenhouse gas emissions contribute to rising temperatures, changes in patterns of weather and water and an increased frequency of extreme weather events. DISRUPTION OF WATER CYCLES Trees play a key role in the local water cycle by helping to keep a balance between the water on land and water in the atmosphere. But when deforestation or degradation occurs, that balance can be thrown off, resulting in changes in precipitation and river flow. INCREASED SOIL EROSION Without trees to anchor fertile soil, erosion can occur and sweep the land into rivers. The agricultural plants that often replace the trees cannot hold onto the soil. Many of these plantssuch as coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybean and wheat can actually exacerbate soil erosion.