essay on forest depletion

Environmental Degradation: Challenges and Strategies for Mitigation pp 371–392 Cite as

Deforestation and Forests Degradation Impacts on Livelihood Security and Climate Change: Indian Initiatives Towards Its Mitigation

• Subhashree Patra 12 ,
• Amit Kumar 13 &
• Purabi Saikia 12  
• First Online: 28 April 2022

636 Accesses

Part of the book series: Water Science and Technology Library ((WSTL,volume 104))

Deforestation and forest degradation are impairing the amplitude of forests to produce various ecosystem products and services, livelihood security, and its contribution towards mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Indian forests support the sustenance needs of ~300 millions of tribal people and forest dwelling rural populations. India is experiencing an increased pace of deforestation and destruction of forest resources leading to overall forest degradation in the past few decades. Around 40% of the Indian forests are degraded and over-exploited, 70% have lost the natural regeneration potential, and 55% are prone to fire. India is one of the parties to all the potentially notable world’s agreements and conventions encompassing forests and their degradation prevention. India has committed to accomplish restoration of 21 Mha of damaged, degraded, and deforested lands by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge. The forestry sector constitutes an important part of India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and can be achieved through several ongoing programmes such as the National Mission for a Green India, National Afforestation Programme, compensatory afforestation, and plantations to increase the area under forest in the country. India’s forestry sector is committed to establish a supplementary forest cover as a terrestrial carbon sink of 2.5–3.0 billion tonnes of CO 2 equivalent under the Paris Agreement by 2030. Besides, investment in natural ecosystems, through reduction in carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and reducing GHGs emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, and other forest related activities (REDD+) related strategies, contribute significantly to a reduction in GHGs emissions and improvement of carbon storage capacity of natural forests. It also helps in generating alternative income sources for the rural, tribal, and forest-dependent communities that will give essential financial inducements to avoid deforestation and to provide supplementary livelihood advantages from the protection and restoration of forest ecosystems. This chapter will particularly focus on the tropical forest, as it is currently experiencing the highest rates of deforestation and over-exploitation.

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Patra, S., Kumar, A., Saikia, P. (2022). Deforestation and Forests Degradation Impacts on Livelihood Security and Climate Change: Indian Initiatives Towards Its Mitigation. In: Singh, V.P., Yadav, S., Yadav, K.K., Yadava, R.N. (eds) Environmental Degradation: Challenges and Strategies for Mitigation. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 104. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95542-7_18

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• ENVIRONMENT

Why deforestation matters—and what we can do to stop it

Large scale destruction of trees—deforestation—affects ecosystems, climate, and even increases risk for zoonotic diseases spreading to humans.

As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change , preserve wildlife, and support more than eight billion people , trees inevitably hold a major part of the answer. Yet the mass destruction of trees—deforestation—continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of standing trees for short-term gain of fuel, and materials for manufacturing and construction.

We need trees for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale and the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that human activities emit. As those gases enter the atmosphere, global warming increases, a trend scientists now prefer to call climate change.

There is also the imminent danger of disease caused by deforestation. An estimated 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases come from animals, and a major cause of viruses’ jump from wildlife to humans is habitat loss, often through deforestation.

But we can still save our forests. Aggressive efforts to rewild and reforest are already showing success. Tropical tree cover alone can provide 23 percent of the climate mitigation needed to meet goals set in the Paris Agreement in 2015, according to one estimate .

Causes of deforestation

Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Since 1990, the world has lost more than 420 million hectares or about a billion acres of forest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations —mainly in Africa and South America. About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise . The organization Amazon Conservation reports that destruction rose by 21 percent in 2020 , a loss the size of Israel.

Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account for more than half of all deforestation . Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest. In Malaysia and Indonesia, forests are cut down to make way for producing palm oil , which can be found in everything from shampoo to saltine crackers. In the Amazon, cattle ranching and farms—particularly soy plantations—are key culprits .

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Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also fell countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally , also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl as land is developed for homes.

Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees.

Why it matters

There are some 250 million people who live in forest and savannah areas and depend on them for subsistence and income—many of them among the world’s rural poor.

Eighty percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests , and deforestation threatens species including the orangutan , Sumatran tiger , and many species of birds. Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and retains heat at night. That disruption leads to more extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.

With wild habitats destroyed and human life ever expanding, the line between animal and human areas blurs, opening the door to zoonotic diseases . In 2014, for example, the Ebola virus killed over 11,000 people in West Africa after fruit bats transmitted the disease to a toddler who was playing near trees where bats were roosting.

( How deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans .)

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What is the ozone layer, and why does it matter?

Will the COP26 global deforestation pledge save forests?

Climbing into the secret world of an ancient Bornean rainforest

Some scientists believe there could be as many as 1.7 million currently “undiscovered” viruses in mammals and birds, of which up to 827,000 could have the ability to infect people, according to a 2018 study .

Deforestation’s effects reach far beyond the people and animals where trees are cut. The South American rainforest, for example, influences regional and perhaps even global water cycles, and it's key to the water supply in Brazilian cities and neighboring countries. The Amazon actually helps furnish water to some of the soy farmers and beef ranchers who are clearing the forest. The loss of clean water and biodiversity from all forests could have many other effects we can’t foresee, touching even your morning cup of coffee .

In terms of climate change, cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. If tropical deforestation were a country, according to the World Resources Institute , it would rank third in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions, behind China and the U.S.

What can be done

The numbers are grim, but many conservationists see reasons for hope . A movement is under way to preserve existing forest ecosystems and restore lost tree cover by first reforesting (replanting trees) and ultimately rewilding (a more comprehensive mission to restore entire ecosystems).

( Which nation could be the first to be rewilded ?)

Organizations and activists are working to fight illegal mining and logging—National Geographic Explorer Topher White, for example, has come up with a way to use recycled cell phones to monitor for chainsaws . In Tanzania, the residents of Kokota have planted more than 2 million trees on their small island over a decade, aiming to repair previous damage. And in Brazil, conservationists are rallying in the face of ominous signals that the government may roll back forest protections.

( Which tree planting projects should you support ?)

Stopping deforestation before it reaches a critical point will play a key role in avoiding the next zoonotic pandemic. A November 2022 study showed that when bats struggle to find suitable habitat, they travel closer to human communities where diseases are more likely to spillover. Inversely, when bats’ native habitats were left intact, they stayed away from humans. This research is the first to show how we can predict and avoid spillovers through monitoring and maintaining wildlife habitats.

For consumers, it makes sense to examine the products and meats you buy, looking for sustainably produced sources when you can. Nonprofit groups such as the Forest Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance certify products they consider sustainable, while the World Wildlife Fund has a palm oil scorecard for consumer brands.

Related Topics

• DEFORESTATION
• ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION
• RAIN FORESTS

Forests are reeling from climate change—but the future isn’t lost

They planted a forest at the edge of the desert. From there it got complicated.

Why forests are our best chance for survival in a warming world

This is the world’s most expensive cow

Why this once isolated tribe took up cell phones and social media

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Home > Books > Forest Degradation Around the World

Deforestation in India: Consequences and Sustainable Solutions

Submitted: 05 October 2018 Reviewed: 12 March 2019 Published: 04 October 2019

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.85804

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Deforestation is one of the most pressing environmental issues that the world is facing currently. It is the conversion of forested land to non-forested land by humans. Deforestation occurs when a land dominated by naturally occurring trees is converted to provide certain services in response to the human demand. The indiscriminate felling of trees has resulted in a reduction of 3.16% in the global forest cover from 1990 to 2015. Although India has seen an increment in the total forest cover of ca. 1%, still there are certain regions in the country that have sought a decrease in the forest cover. The main reasons attributed to the reduction in forest cover are shifting cultivation, rotational felling, other biotic pressures, diversion of forest lands for developmental activities, etc. Continuous illicit cutting of trees has impacted the microclimatic conditions, hydrological cycle, soil quality, biodiversity, etc. of the country, thereby making the country more vulnerable for any uneventful happening. Sustainable forest management practices, alternatives for shifting cultivation, promotion of plantation outside the forest and the usage of certified forest products, etc. are some of the measures that can be adopted to curb the rate of deforestation.

• deforestation
• forest cover
• sustainable solutions

Author Information

Rima kumari.

• Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, India

Ayan Banerjee

Rahul kumar.

• Department of Land Resource Management, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, India

Purabi Saikia *

Mohammed latif khan.

• Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, India

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Background

Forest is a conditional renewable resource which can be regenerated but needs a certain period of time to maintain its sustainable functioning. In India, the forest resources have been found to be depleting at a pace which is much high [ 1 ]. Rapid industrialization, urbanization and over-exploitation have resulted not only in decline but also in permanent loss of forest cover to an alarming rate [ 2 ]. The major driver behind all these factors is the uncontrolled population growth of humans which leads to the dramatic increase in the demand for wood and forest products. The over-exploitation of forest resources has taken place beyond the sustained yields to fulfil the needs of humans, thus bringing a change in the net forest cover [ 2 , 3 ]. With the current rate of population explosion, the world population could be expected to increase from 7.6 billion to about 10 billion in the next 30 to 35 years [ 4 ]. The growing demand for food can be expected to rise by 50% in the given period, and it is a matter of serious concern. Rational utilization and proper management of the forest resources are the most viable ways to prevent mass destruction of forests and large-scale species extinction. It is necessary to find the links between the growing demands and meeting the demands in a sustainable manner. The scope of future studies must focus on the solution to establish this link by incorporating the principles of forestry, restoration ecology and natural resource economics.

Deforestation occurs when a land initially dominated by naturally occurring tree species is converted to provide certain services in response to the human demand. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has defined deforestation as the conversion of forest to another land use or the long-term reduction of tree canopy cover below the 10% threshold . Forest areas around the world are majorly cleared for agriculture, logging, mining and large-scale developmental projects. The Food and Agricultural Organization [ 5 ] coordinated the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) which reported a 3.16% decline in the global forest cover from 1990 to 2015, and the total forest cover stands at about 30.6% in the present time compared to 31.6% in 1990. The rate at which the forest cover is declining poses a direct threat in the near future if not checked. With an estimated annual loss of 18.7 million acres, it is evident that future demands on forest resources would certainly lead to immense competition among nations [ 6 ]. Recently, in 2016, a study from the Maryland University reported that 73.4 million acres of the global tree cover were lost. Such a destruction of this essential and self-sustaining resource puts the implementation of the principle of sustainable development as mentioned in the Brundtland Report and Sustainable Development Goals of the 1992 of Rio Earth Summit in the state of question. And, it is an urgency to conserve the forests of which a vital part is already lost.

The value of forest is simple to understand but sometimes tough to quantify. The various values of the forest have been shown in Figure 1 . Forest has a major contribution on the global economy and supports livelihood of the majority of rural populations in the world [ 7 ]. The direct uses of forest are most easy to quantify as it is directly related to economic returns. The indirect use and option value although play a major role in defining the valuation of the forest resources are seldom quantified and are being intangible in nature [ 8 ]. There is also a no-use value of the forest resources which considers leaving the current forest intact as a heritage for the future generation and for satisfaction and happiness of the current population. But, these eco-centric views alone cannot suffice the support for a change in policy and land use pattern. There are some other important values of forests that are difficult to quantify. One of the major roles that forests play is that it acts as a major carbon sink [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Plants utilize carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis and store it in the form of carbohydrates, and these carbohydrates reach the soil as dead organic matter and contribute to soil carbon sink. When forests are cleared, less CO 2 is absorbed by plants, and atmospheric CO 2 concentration increases with the passage of time due to unavailable sink. Also, there is a marked reduction in soil organic carbon with the loss of vegetation cover, thereby affecting the productivity of the ecosystem. Productivity is believed to be an indicator of carbon assimilation capacity, and hence the more productive the forests are, the more carbon it stores [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. The tropical forests are among the most productive as well as the most threatened ecosystem in present time with the maximum rate of deforestation. Thus, it is imperative to control the rate of deforestation in order to avoid the adversities associated with it.

Different values of forests ecosystems

2. Impacts of deforestation

The value and functions of forests are immense and diverse. Similarly, the impacts of deforestation are global and commune the whole forest community. One of the major constraints in understanding the true impact of desertification on forests is the inadequacy and imprecise form of data.

2.1 Impacts on global climate

The effect of large-scale deforestation is global, but it is necessary to assess its impacts on microclimate, regional climate and global climate to form a holistic understanding of mechanism [ 15 ]. The association of deforestation with the increased CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere and changes in the mass balances and surface energy can result in climate change at the local and global level [ 16 ]. The change in land use pattern especially the clearing of forest cover affects both hydrometeorological and global CO 2 concentrations leading to more warming as CO 2 readily absorbs infrared radiation [ 17 ]. Clearing tree cover and vegetation leads to increase in albedo of the region as bare soil reflects more solar radiation than vegetation, which again is a factor for altering regional radiation flux [ 15 , 18 ]. One of the noticeable changes in regional climates occurs when the cloud formation shifts to higher elevations from lowland plains as a result of deforestation in the later area [ 19 ]. In a global scale, deforestation leads to warmer and drier weather due to the synergistic effect of reduced evapotranspiration, increased albedo and CO 2 concentration that triggers desertification, loss in biodiversity and melting of polar ice caps, ultimately leading to food insecurity. All these effects are successors of extremes in climate variation that are produced by the large-scale reduction in forest cover [ 20 ]. The estimated quantity of CO 2 added to the atmosphere due to deforestation in the tropics is roughly two billion tonnes [ 21 ]. It is interesting to note that the CO 2 emissions due to clearing of forest will almost be equivalent to 25% of what is added to the atmosphere due to anthropogenic emissions [ 22 ]. The shift in climate is somehow correlated to reducing forest cover. Further researches can clearly define the mechanisms and pathways by which these shifts are progressing and how they can be mitigated.

2.2 Impact on hydrology and soil quality

The global water cycle depends on the amount and distribution of precipitation for which one of the influencing factors is evapotranspiration [ 23 ]. There is a direct effect on drinking water on the basis of quality and quantity, fisheries and aquatic habitats, occurrence of flood and drought, life of dams on account of increase siltation and agriculture due to poor quality irrigation and crop yield [ 24 , 25 ]. It must be recognized that the protective role of forests is operative and has a major impact on urban water resources [ 26 ]. Forests play an important role in maintaining the watersheds [ 27 ]. The degraded or degrading watersheds can be recovered by forestation, but once the forest or vegetation cover is lost, the watershed becomes vulnerable to erosion. This erosion leads to siltation in the downstream areas and consequently reduces the depth of river bed increasing the chances of flood. There are two main effects of deforestation that increase the chances of flooding. One is by reducing the tree fountain effect, i.e. interception and moisture uptake by the trees would cease after deforestation reducing the moisture holding capacity of soil that leads to greater runoff and erosion. And other is by the process of soil compaction and poor soil structure that will lead to reduced organic matter content of soil devoid of vegetation cover [ 28 ]. There are severe long-term effects on soil as a cause of deforestation. During slash-and-burn or shifting cultivation, an area of forests clears and exposes the bare soil to weather extremes of high solar insolation and heavy rainfall [ 29 ]. In the absence of the forest cover and organic matter, soil could not accommodate heavy precipitation, and the fertile layers of soil used to be easily washed away ultimately reduces the long-term productivity. The effect on soil is dependent on the interrelation and synergistic effect of evapotranspiration and infiltration that are directly altered due to loss in vegetation cover [ 23 ].

Deforestation directly increases erosion and siltation rates. There is an increased risk of flooding in Yangtze River basin in China and the major river basins in East Asia and the Amazonian basin [ 23 , 30 ]. The slopes and terrains are more vulnerable to such situations. There are formations of shallow gullies which may be accounted for the concentrated flow of runoff that prevails due to long-term erosion. Cultivation and ploughing along the slopes cause rapid erosion in the areas with less vegetation cover [ 31 ]. In the Loess Plateau, the slopes of steepness greater than 15° showed shallow gully erosion as a result of cultivation activities [ 32 ]. The availability of dead vegetation can reduce the surface runoff from the early season rain and check soil erosion [ 33 ]. It is necessary to sustain the forest and vegetation cover to maintain the soil productivity and water quality of both the surface and underground sources.

2.3 Impact on biological diversity

Forests are very rich in biodiversity and store a vast gene pool, and the majority of species occur in the tropical forests. It consists of two-thirds of all known species and 65% of 10,000 species that are recognized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [ 34 ]. The biodiversity could be regarded as an important asset that is necessary to conserve for future utilization. The World Health Organization states that the traditional people, almost 80% of them, rely on the local biodiversity for traditional medicines. A loss in the biodiversity may directly affect their health care and well-being [ 35 ]. Another most noticeable impact of deforestation is the increasing human-wildlife conflict. The decreasing forest cover is limiting the habitats of many species due to which is forcing them to intrude with human welfare [ 36 ]. There are increasing instances of invasion and animal killing. The northern margin of West Bengal, India, forms a significant portion of the Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot. The area has observed heavy fragmentation in the last decade, and as a result, there was a huge loss in the agricultural crop and both human and elephant life due to conflicts. There are reports of mortality of 20 elephants and 50 persons annually from this area [ 37 ]. It is also estimated that if deforestation in the Himalayas continue at the current rate, the dense forest cover (>40% canopy cover) will be restricted to 10% of land area in the Indian Himalayas by 2100. This may lead to a significant loss of 366 endemic plants and 35 endemic vertebrates [ 38 ]. The loss in biodiversity is of global concern irrespective of regional and local importance. Conserving the forest and an increase in forest cover certainly find a positive correlation with the increase and sustenance of biodiversity. Conversion of forest land to agricultural fields and other land use could be a threat to major loss in biological diversity in the near future.

2.4 Impact on economic and social welfare

Forests contribute to the world economy in terms of timber production and other forest produces. There are different contributions of forest as a means of direct employment in forestry services and other value-added contributions as recreation and aesthetics. The loss of tropical forest cover annually may account for about 45 billion US dollars [ 39 ]. The destruction of forest eliminates the sources of economic gain directly obtained and also eliminates the potential gain from the resources that the forest sustains as biodiversity, soil and water. Also, the destruction of forest increases the negative externalities in the form of increasing CO 2 concentration, risk of flood and human-wildlife conflict [ 40 ]. The proximity of settlements to protected areas further intensifies the chances of human-wildlife conflict (HWC). It is reported that settled households face high risk of HWC due to their close proximity of the Kanha National Park in Central India [ 41 ]. Deforestation has its social influence in the form of long-term effect. Development is a serious concern for indigenous community as it certainly leads to a change or shift of their culture and tradition. The cultural and religious aspects of the community are seldom preserved amid infrastructural advancement that leads to land and social conflict [ 42 ]. In a study of household survey from rural areas of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh state of India, it was found that the poorest of the local community gained about 30% of their living from forest produce which was claimed to be even higher than the returns from agriculture. Also, forest provides an option as safety net during the period of crisis in rural areas [ 43 ]. Various ecological services provided by the forests have been lost due to deforestation which in turn has immediate effects on the local communities dependent on these services for their daily needs. The inclusive approach for the sustainable management of forest resource is a vital consideration that considers economy as a subset of the society which in itself is a subset of the environment. Such considerations can help sustaining the constantly declining forest cover and its long-term impacts.

3. Forest cover status in India

The forest cover was found to be increased by ca. 1% for the year 2017 which is 21.54% of the total geographic area when compared to that of forest cover status in 2015 which is a positive sign towards the constant efforts that are being put in to protect the forest ( Figure 2 ). This positive change in the forest cover is mainly attributed to the conservation and management practices that include afforestation activities, participation of local peoples for better protection measures in plantation areas and traditional forest areas, expansion of trees outside forest, etc. Also, with this increase in the forest cover, the country has procured 8th position among the top 10 countries reporting the greatest annual forest area gain. Although there has been an increase in the total forest cover in India, still there are certain regions within the country that has sought a reduction in the same ( Figure 3 ). The main reasons attributed for this reduction are shifting cultivation, rotational felling, other biotic pressures, diversion of forest lands for developmental activities, etc. [ 44 ]. A transition in the various forest cover classes has also occurred over the past. The present status of forest cover (%) of India belonging to various forest cover classes has been shown in Figure 4 . It has been found that there is a reduction in the moderately dense forest and an increment in the open forest depicting degradation of forest cover to some extent. Changes within the forest cover classes result in decrease in the production capacity, thereby leading to forest degradation [ 45 ]. Control and regular check of these activities can help in strengthening the conservatory efforts of forest protection. This is the necessity of the present time to conserve the forests in order to sustain the vital ecosystems and the major carbon sink to combat the effects of global climate change and ultimately maintain the environmental balance.

Forest cover status in India for the last 30 years (1987 to 2017).

MODIS-based land use/land cover map of India for the year (a) 2001 and (b) 2017.

Forest cover (%) of India for the year 2017 (Source: [ 44 ]).

4. Case studies of forest disturbances from different parts of India

Forests are an invaluable resource that is being subjected to so many threats. In order to protect our forests, it is very much necessary to understand the reasons behind their destruction. Differentiating the agents and causes of deforestation will enable in understanding the same [ 36 ]. Several disturbances within the forest directly or indirectly contribute in destruction of the forest. This can be interpreted from the results obtained while surveying in different forest patches in India.

4.1 Disturbances in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh is one of the states that has more than 75% forest cover and has the maximum very dense forest cover type [ 44 ]. The state is highly diverse in terms of climate as well as forest cover with tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and alpine forests having higher NDVI (≥7.0) [ 46 ]. However, the pressure on forest resources is consistently increasing with the rise in population, development activities, large number of wood-based industries and unsustainable land use practices resulting in their degradation [ 47 ]. This has also resulted in decrease in the forest cover of the state [ 44 ]. Several disturbances were being observed during the field survey in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh during 2007 to 2010. The major disturbances that were found include lopping, cut stumps, litter collection, soil removal, grazing, fire, NTFP collection and fuelwood collection ( Figure 5 ). Of these, fuelwood collection was found to be the most recurrent activity followed by grazing. Generally, fuelwood collection has not been considered as the major cause of deforestation but leads to the same in certain regions with reduced forest area such as in the Philippines, Thailand and parts of Central America [ 36 ]. Forest fire has also been observed as an occasional event in certain parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Fires are generally used as a tool in clearing the forest for shifting cultivation which is one of the major agricultural practices performed in the state. Fires when used responsibly act as a valuable tool in managing forest and agriculture, but when abused, it can lead to deforestation [ 48 , 49 ]. Other disturbances that can be an indicator of deforestation include NTFP collection and presence of cut stumps in certain forests. Forests of the state are highly diverse in endemic as well as nonendemic species, which need intensive monitoring and management to conserve the species-rich ecosystems from ever increasing anthropogenic pressure and changing climatic conditions [ 50 ].

Major disturbances in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

4.2 Disturbances in the forests of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is among one of the states of India which is endowed with rich and diverse forests and comprises the largest forest cover in the country [ 44 ]. This is mainly because of the efforts that the state has put in to conserve and harness this invaluable resource through innovative measures like community participation and decentralization (MP) [ 51 ]. Even after these continuous efforts, there are certain regions within the state where the occurrence of several types of disturbances in the forest has been found. The common disturbances that were being observed during the field survey (2017–2019) include fire, grazing, fuelwood collection, forage removal, litter collection, NTFP collection, lopping, thatch collection, root collection, soil removal, etc. ( Figure 6 ). Among all these fire has been found as the major recurrent type of disturbance in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. Other major disturbances were grazing followed by fuelwood collection. Since every type of deforestation is not intentional but some which are the results of amalgamation of anthropogenic and natural factors like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing can prevent the growth of young trees [ 52 ] and thus eventually degrade the quality and productivity of the forest.

Major disturbances in the forests of Madhya Pradesh.

4.3 Disturbances in the forests of Jharkhand

The name of the state ‘Jharkhand’ itself connotes ‘area of land covered with forests’ and has been exhibiting a unique relation with forests since time immemorial [ 53 ]. During the forest cover assessment [ 44 ], a net increase of 29 sq. km in the forest cover has been observed in the state which is mainly because of the plantation and conservation efforts within recorded forest areas. Although, there was an increment of 314 sq. km in the forest cover within the recorded forest areas, because of the felling of trees outside the forests area, its effect on forest cover has been offset. Also, several types of disturbances can be seen within the forest areas during the field survey (2016–2018), and the major disturbances were fuelwood collection, grazing, forage removal, lopping, cut stumps, thatch collection, root collection, soil removal, litter collection and NTFPs collection ( Figure 7 ). Most of these disturbances were occasional in nature. Although these disturbances are not that recurrent, a regular check is necessary in order to prevent the forests from degrading and in achieving a sustainable forest cover. The forest management strategies should focus on the increasing demands of different timber and non-timber forest produce to conserve the plant diversity of the natural forests of the state [ 54 ].

Major disturbances in the forests of Jharkhand.

5. Joint Forest Management in India: a case study

Forest management and protection by the local communities is an age-old practice in India which can be traced back to the protective nature of the Bishnoi Community of Rajasthan towards the local forest and animals as the black buck. The idea of community-based forest management emerged in an administrative level in the 1970s and 1980s. The declaration of the Government of India in June 1990 marked the establishment of Joint Forest Communities in different India states as per the National Forest Policy of 1988. The Earth Summit of 1992 provided with a clear objective of Sustainable Forest Management to which India responded in a positive way. From an increase in the forest cover, non-timber forest product (NTFP) to conservation of native flora and fauna, a whole new realm of forest management strategy by the collaboration of forest departments and local communities aided in decelerating the degradation of natural forest in India [ 55 ]. The Participatory Forest Management (PFM) is equivalent to an informal contract in which the local communities are allowed to consume a portion of harvest and NTFP if they protect and conserve it for 5–10 years. In India there is no legal authority of the local community on the forest resource where as in other countries as in Nepal the Community Forest User Groups (CFUG) are registered under their Forest Act, 1993 [ 56 ]. It is the positive effort of the local communities of India that the area under Joint Forest Management increased from 22,017,583 ha to 2,144,000 ha in March 2006 with 106,482 recognized Joint Forest Management committees countrywide [ 57 ].

6. Mitigation measures to curb deforestation

Deforestation is a major environmental challenge which has been persistent from the past, and the situation is more worsened at present. Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on the mitigative measures in order to prevent the distressing effects of deforestation in the near future. In order to alleviate the problem of deforestation, the strategies should be based on the underlying causes of the same. Also, the strategies for mitigating the problem of deforestation require its effective implementation that needs the recognition of the roles of national, state and municipal governments along with the pro-active role of the civil society and private society [ 36 ]. The continuous increase in the human population especially in the developing countries has resulted in enhanced pressure on the forests for human settlements and other land use practices. A reduction in the growth rate of human population plays a crucial role in reducing the practice of deforestation [ 36 ]. Alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture can be adopted as a strategy to mitigate the deforestation by boosting the agricultural and forestry productions for the shifting cultivators ([ 58 , 59 ]). The sustainable alternatives for slash-and-burn cultivation will assist the poor farmers in leading a better life without destroying additional forests [ 60 ]. Public policies and laws with greater security, accessibility to the minimal inputs required to maintain or enhance food production and an opportunity to the cultivators to market their products will aid in the sustainability of shifting cultivation systems [ 61 ].

Another strategy that can be applied to control the rate of deforestation is through the adoption of sustainable agroforestry, sustainable logging, agro-pastoral production systems, etc. [ 62 ]. The sustainable forest management practices can be promoted only if it is ecologically, economically and socially sustainable [ 36 ]. Agroforestry has been considered as one of the methods to curb deforestation which in turn aid in reduction of CO 2 emissions and mitigation of climate change effect [ 63 , 64 ]. The adoption of agroforestry practices has resulted in an increase in the income of agroforestry adopters as compared to that of non-agroforestry adopters and has also contributed towards improving soil fertility, reducing deforestation and conserving soil and water [ 65 ]. The provision of protected areas is one of the key steps towards an attempt to reduce deforestation which is generally motivated through biodiversity conservation [ 34 ]. Also, the global endeavours to reduce tropical deforestation are dependent heavily on the establishment of protected areas. It has been found that protection reduced deforestation as approximately 10% of the protected forests would have been deforested if they would have not been protected [ 66 ]. Tropical protected areas reduced deforestation which was liable for around one-tenth of total anthropogenic carbon emissions, thus playing a significant role in mitigating the effects of climate change and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services [ 67 ]. Similarly, a total loss of 15.4% in the unprotected mangrove cover was compensated by the 15.7% rise in the protected mangrove cover (protected by government as per Ramsar Convention) which resulted in a net increase of 13.3% in mangrove cover across India in the last 25 years [ 68 ]. Implementation of forest certification can be among one of the strategies to control deforestation around the world. Forest certification is a process through which the producers identify their products in the marketplace and receive greater market accessibility and higher prices for their products by fulfilling certain stringent sustainable forestry standards [ 69 ]. Certification has played an important role in protecting Penten forests from 1986 to 2007, and the certified forests experience 20 times less deforestation than non-certified areas [ 70 ]. Thus, certification of forest can play a major role in controlling deforestation since the timber certification was found to be negatively related with deforestation, i.e. the increase in the certification process has resulted in a declination in the deforestation rate [ 71 ].

7. Role of Indian government in forest conservation

The Indian Forest Act, 1927: The act is an amalgamation of laws relating to forests, the transit of forest produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest produces. It defines the procedures for declaring an area of a reserved forest, a protected forest or a village forest by the state government. With the amendment in the Act in 2012, it also prohibited the fresh clearances in forests and setting fire in a reserved forest.

Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (with an amendment in 1988): The main purpose of the proposition of this act was to conserve the forests and to look into the matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. With the implementation of this act, a prior approval of the Central Government is required for any sort of diversion of forest areas for the non-forestry purposes.

[ 73 ]: The establishment of the National Forest Policy was also among one of the steps taken by the Government of India in order to ensure compensatory afforestation, essential environmental safeguards, sustainable utilization, maintenance, restoration and enhancement of forest areas.

Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: The wildlife protection act was enacted basically to protect wild animals, birds and plants and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto with a view to ensure the ecological and environmental security of the country.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006: The act was framed with the purpose to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded. These recognized rights of the forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers include the responsibilities and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance which in turn aid in strengthening the conservation regime of the forests while ensuring livelihood and food security of the forest dwellings scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.

Apart from these laws, the Government of India has also established Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, whose primary work is to gather and evaluate the country’s forest wealth through a nationwide survey to measure forest areas [ 74 ]. This in turn aids in determining the factors and drivers behind the loss or gain in forest cover of any particular region in India. Another council, i.e. the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), was established by the Government of India in 2009 as a National Advisory Council under the chairmanship of the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the monitoring, technical assistance and evaluation of compensatory afforestation activities. This was particularly meant to promote afforestation and regeneration activities as a way of compensating for forest land diverted to non-forest uses [ 75 ]. Certain scheme such as Integrated Forest Protection Scheme (IFPS) was being formulated by the government to save the forests from fire. The scheme was designed by combining the forest fire protection and management technique along with forest conservation. Various other missions and programmes such as the National Mission for a Green India (NMGI) and National Afforestation Programme (NAP) were also being launched by the Government of India where the main aim of NMGI was to improve the quality of five million hectares of degraded forests and to bring another five million hectares of non-forest areas under forest cover through social and farm forestry. On the other hand, the NAP was launched with the objective to develop the forest resources with people’s participation, with a focus on improving the livelihood of the forest-fringe communities, especially the poor [ 75 ].

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has been optimistic in strengthening the role of women in conservation of forest at local community levels since long. The National Forest Policy [ 73 ], for the first time, acknowledged the necessity of including woman members in forestry schemes. The Joint Forest Management Policy of 1990 mandated woman representatives not less than 40% in general body and 50% in executive body of the local forestry institutions like the JFM committee. Later in 2002, the Biodiversity Authority of India reframing the local biodiversity management committee structure mandated the reservation of one-third of its members as women. Thus, this understanding of the role of women in the local-level conservation measures and implementation of related rules has aided in improving the management of forest in rural regions of the country [ 76 ].

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Deforestation and forest degradation

• Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to forests worldwide .
• Over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s , and every second, more than one hectare of tropical forests is destroyed or drastically degraded.
• The degradation and loss of forests threatens the survival of many species, and reduces the ability of forests to provide essential services .
• Deforestation and forest degradation impact the lives of 1.6 billion people whose livelihoods depend on forests. One billion of them are among the world’s poorest.
• Nature-based Solutions such as forest landscape restoration (FLR) can reverse the effects of deforestation and degradation and regain the ecological, social, climatic and economic benefits of forests.

February 2021

What is the issue ? 

Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to forests worldwide. Deforestation occurs when forests are converted to non-forest uses, such as agriculture and road construction. Forest degradation occurs when forest ecosystems lose their capacity to provide important goods and services to people and nature.

Over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s, and every second, more than one hectare of tropical forests is destroyed or drastically degraded. This intense and devastating pressure on forests is not limited to the tropics – an estimated 3.7 million hectares of Europe’s forests are damaged by livestock, insects, diseases, forest fires, and other human-linked activities.

Deforestation in Myanmar

Why is it important ?

Biodiversity

Over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity can be found in forests - from pine trees in the boreal North to the rainforests in the tropics. The degradation and loss of forests threaten the survival of many species, and reduce the ability of forests to provide essential services such as clean air and water, healthy soils for agriculture, and climate regulation.

Sustainable livelihoods

Healthy forests support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people globally, one billion of whom are among the world’s poorest. Deforestation and forest degradation have real and tangible impacts on the lives of these vulnerable communities. For example, 52 per cent of all land used for food production is moderately or severely impacted by the erosion of healthy soil. This occurs when trees are removed from a landscape, leading to increased food insecurity.

Climate mitigation and adaptation

The world’s forests absorb 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) per year, one-third of the annual CO 2 released from burning fossil fuels. Forest destruction emits further carbon into the atmosphere, with 4.3–5.5 GtCO 2 eq/yr generated annually, largely from deforestation and forest degradation. Protecting and restoring this vast carbon sink is essential for mitigating climate change.

Forests also play a crucial role in climate change adaptation efforts. They act as a food safety net during climate shocks, reduce risks from disasters like coastal flooding, and help regulate water flows and microclimates. Improving the health of these forest ecosystems and introducing sustainable management practices increase the resilience of human and natural systems to the impacts of climate change.

What can be done?

Forest landscape restoration (FLR)

Nature-based Solutions such as forest landscape restoration can help countries reverse the effects of deforestation and degradation and regain the ecological, social, climatic and economic benefits of forests.

FLR brings people together to identify and implement the most appropriate restoration interventions in a landscape. It seeks to accommodate the needs of all land users and multiple land uses.

FLR is not just about planting trees – it can include multiple activities like agroforestry, erosion control and natural forest regeneration. FLR also addresses the underlying drivers of forest loss. For example, it provides farming communities living in and around forests with knowledge on sustainable agricultural methods that do not rely on destroying forests.

Countries and other land owners are committing to FLR through the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to restore 350 million hectares by 2030, launched by IUCN and Germany in 2011. The Bonn Challenge has so far generated pledges from governments and organisations to restore over 210 million hectares.

Learn more at  BonnChallenge.or

Assessing restoration opportunities With IUCN’s support, over 30 countries are applying the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) – a framework that assesses the extent of degraded and deforested landscapes in a country or area, and identifies the best strategies for restoring them. ROAM helps governments and decision makers use FLR interventions to meet multiple national priorities and international goals on climate, biodiversity and land degradation.

For example, a ROAM assessment in Malawi helped the government introduce sustainable agricultural systems to address food insecurity. In Colombia, FLR interventions have supported the rehabilitation of landscapes after decades of conflict.

More information:

IUCN’s Forest Programme iucn.org/forest forests

The Bonn Challenge BonnChallenge.org

Forest landscape restoration InfoFLR.org

Gichuki, L., et al. (2019) Reviving land and restoring landscapes . Gland, Switzerland: IUCN

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• Published: 16 January 2017

Economic Development and Forest Cover: Evidence from Satellite Data

• Jesús Crespo Cuaresma 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Olha Danylo 3 ,
• Steffen Fritz 3 ,
• Ian McCallum 3 ,
• Michael Obersteiner 3 ,
• Linda See 3 &
• Brian Walsh 3  

Scientific Reports volume  7 , Article number:  40678 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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• Environmental impact

Ongoing deforestation is a pressing, global environmental issue with direct impacts on climate change, carbon emissions, and biodiversity. There is an intuitive link between economic development and overexploitation of natural resources including forests, but this relationship has proven difficult to establish empirically due to both inadequate data and convoluting geo-climactic factors. In this analysis, we use satellite data on forest cover along national borders in order to study the determinants of deforestation differences across countries. Controlling for trans-border geo-climactic differences, we find that income per capita is the most robust determinant of differences in cross-border forest cover. We show that the marginal effect of per capita income growth on forest cover is strongest at the earliest stages of economic development, and weakens in more advanced economies, presenting some of the strongest evidence to date for the existence of at least half of an environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation.

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Nguyen Tien Hoang & Keiichiro Kanemoto

Deforestation reduces rainfall and agricultural revenues in the Brazilian Amazon

Argemiro Teixeira Leite-Filho, Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho, … Jan Börner

Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis

Mauro Bologna & Gerardo Aquino

Introduction

Substantial increases in human activities over the last century have resulted in forest decline, particularly in the tropical areas of the world. Forest decline manifests as both deforestation—that is, depletion of the tree crown cover to less than 10 percent—and degradation, or negative structural or functional changes that reduce forest quality (e.g. through over-exploitation, repeated fires, or disease) 1 , 2 . Some of the key research in this area has focused on the precise assessment of deforestation rates 3 , 4 , while another central challenge has been to understand the proximate and underlying drivers of deforestation 5 , 6 , 7 . Some of the causes put forth in the literature include increases in overall population 8 , 9 and specifically in urban areas 10 , 11 , agricultural practices such as shifting cultivation 12 , transport costs and government policies 13 , and agricultural trade 10 .

Empirical support for a hypothetical environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation has until now proven elusive, with studies finding evidence for and against its existence depending on the dataset, estimation method and sample used 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . The accounting and reporting errors that frequently plague forest statistics further convolute the results of these studies 18 . In this analysis, we use a satellite-based dataset of forest cover and the discontinuities created by national borders as a natural experiment to provide evidence on the relationship between economic development and forest cover 19 across national borders worldwide for the year 2005. Exploiting discontinuities at national borders is a useful instrument which has been often used in the social sciences to infer causal effects of socioeconomic variables on political and institutional outcomes. Such an approach has been used, for example, to measure the effect of institutions on economic development 20 or to assess the role of policy measures on sociopolitical outcomes 21 . The use of jurisdictional borders to infer the causal effect of policies is not without criticism 22 . In our setting, lack of comparability of the two sides of the border due to differences in terrain may invalidate inference concerning the drivers of forest cover variation across countries. In addition, the fact that we aim at explaining forest cover around national borders with aggregate, country-wide measures of socioeconomic variables implies that our model assumes that these are also reasonable measures for the differences found in the border. In order to enhance the experimental nature of our design, we use a Homogeneous Response Units (HRU) layer 23 to ensure comparability of geo-climatic characteristics across countries. These sources allow us to construct a measure of relative forest cover for each pair of neighboring countries, using a buffer of 50 kilometers on both sides of each national border.

Our approach results in a dataset that allows us to identify country-specific socioeconomic determinants of differences in forest cover across countries while keeping environmental factors as constant as possible. Although we do not use data on forest cover change over time, the fact that we employ information on forest cover differences across pairs of countries which share HRUs implies that national borders can be treated as a natural experiment to measure the effect of economic development on forest cover depletion. We estimate regression models for the global sample covering all borders of the world for which data are available. Forest cover differences are assumed to depend on the relative income per capita of the countries on both sides of the border, their growth rate of income per capita, population growth, and rural population density 9 . We include in our specification the difference in squared income per capita levels in order to test for a U-shape relationship between the level of development of a country and forest cover at the border and also entertain threshold regressions in order to allow for nonlinearities in the deforestation Kuznets curve. Our results support the existence of a leveling out of the relationship between forest cover and income per capita with a turning point located at a per capita income level of roughly 5,500 PPP-adjusted 2005 international dollars. This turning point corresponds approximately to the per capita income of Guatemala. We perform a series of robustness checks to ensure that the results found are not driven by particular characteristics of our research design.

Measuring Forest cover Across National Borders

National borders play the role of a natural experiment in our assessment of the determinants of forest cover differences across countries of the world. Once differences in altitude, slope and soil composition between the two sides of a border are taken into account via HRUs, our identification strategy relies on the fact that differences in forest cover between the two countries on opposite sides of any border are determined by differences in socioeconomic and institutional characteristics between the two nations. We combine forest cover data 19 with HRUs, which are defined based on classifications of altitude (five classes: 0–300 m, 300–600 m, 600–1100 m, 1100–2500 m and more than 2500 m), slope (seven classes: 0–3°, 3–6°, 6–10°, 10–15°, 15–30°, 30–50° and more than 50°) and soil composition (five classes: sandy, loamy, clay, stony and peat). By concentrating our analysis on forest cover data corresponding to HRUs that cover neighbouring nations, we ensure that the observed variation across country pairs is not driven by differences in altitude, slope or soil composition. Figure 1 presents the forest cover estimates based on HRUs along a 50 km buffer on both sides of four selected borders: Brazil-Bolivia, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Laos-Thailand and Angola-Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to grasp the differences in forest cover existing across borders worldwide, Fig. 2 presents the ratio of forest cover for the HRU with the largest area on both sides of the border, which we label the Cross-Border Deforestation Index (CBDI). In order to ensure that the forest cover difference is not driven by small areas, the CBDI is obtained using the maximum area of HRU shared by bordering countries, requiring that a minimum of 500 km 2 of the HRU area is present on each side of the border and that at least one of the two sides of the border contains a minimum forest coverage of 20%. See the Methods section for more details on the remote sensing methods employed and a comparison to a similar analysis 24 .

Clockwise from top left: forest cover shown in detail along Bolivia-Brazil, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Angola-Democratic Republic of Congo, and Laos-Thailand-Vietnam borders. Map generated with ArcGIS (v.9.3.1) www.esri.com .

The index is calculated along all national borders for which data are available. Map generated with ArcGIS (v.9.3.1) www.esri.com .

In Fig. 2 , borders without color correspond to terrain where the forest cover is less than 20% (e.g. deserts), or where the conditions for computing the CBDI were not met (i.e. the cross-border maximal HRU area is too small). The map shows high values of the index in most continents. For example, strong differences in forest cover between Haiti and the Dominican Republic are picked up very clearly by the method. Large vegetation differentials are also observable between Belize and Guatemala, El Salvador and its neighboring countries, and Brazil and its southern neighbors. Similar differences are observed in Africa: for instance, between Sudan and Ethiopia and between Burundi and both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Asia, stark cross-border differences in forest cover are observable in particular between China and many of its neighboring nations.

The Empirical Determinants of Forest Cover: Is There a Deforestation Kuznets Curve?

We start with a simple econometric specification where forest cover in country i (FC i ) is assumed to be affected by its level of income per capita ( y i ), the growth rate of income per capita (Δ y i ), population growth ( n i ) and rural population density ( r i ) 9 . The relationship between income per capita and forest cover is expected to be U-shaped, since at earlier stages of development the demand for fuelwood is likely to increase with income, while this use of energy is of lesser importance at higher levels of development. Thus, we also include the square of (log) income per capita in our regression 9 . We assume further that forest cover depends on observable and unobservable geo-climatic variables, which are summarized in a vector z i and linked to the dependent variable by the parameter vector γ . The functional form of the modeling exercise is thus given by

where ε i the standard disturbance term, is assumed independent and homoscedastic.

Assuming that the data generation process for forest cover in the countries of our sample can be represented by equation (1), cross-border log-differences in forest cover (i.e., the log of our cross-border deforestation index, CBDI ) can be explained using differences in the explanatory variables in the specification above,

where ω i is the corresponding error term.

With this construction, CBDI computations are based on HRUs, thus ensuring comparability across countries in terms of altitude, slope and soil composition. This implies that the variables in z can be considered identical for each one of the pairs and thus play no role in the model based on bilateral cross-border forest cover. Both the CBDI value and all explanatory variables not measured in differences of growth rates are evaluated in 2005. We use 2005 as a base year to avoid the potential distortions in GDP and GDP growth data that may have been caused by the global financial crisis. The growth rate differences for income and population refer to the period 2000–2005. Income per capita is measured in PPP-adjusted 2005 international dollars and rural density is measured as total rural population in thousands divided by area 25 .

The first column of Table 1 presents the results of the ordinary least squares estimation of our regression model for the full sample. The results indicate that the covariates usually proposed as factors affecting deforestation have a very limited explanatory power. Rather, differences in cross-border forest cover in the global sample appear to be mostly driven by income per capita differences. Indeed, there is evidence for the existence of a U-shaped relationship between income per capita and forest cover. The U-shaped relationship is robust to including continent dummies (cf. column (2) in Table 1 ) and institutional quality variables as further controls in the model. The coefficients corresponding to differences in the rule of law and corruption indices 26 are not individually significant (cf. columns 3 and 4) in Table 1 ). The inclusion of these variables in our model does not change the conclusions concerning the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation, at least in terms of a decreasing effect of income per capita on forest cover as economic development levels increase.

In columns (5) and (6) of Table 1 , we enlarge our model by including two variables related to the importance of agriculture as a production sector within each country. The first of these variables measures cross-country differences in agricultural land as a percentage of total land, while the second codifies disparities in agricultural raw material exports as a percentage of merchandising exports. The inclusion of either variable does not affect the empirical evidence concerning the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation. Further, although almost 20% of the sample used in the baseline model is missing in this regression due to the lack of availability of data on agricultural exports, we conclude from this exercise that agricultural exports appear to be significantly related to deforestation processes. Keeping other determinants of deforestation constant, an increase of one percent in agricultural exports over total merchandising exports tends to be associated to an average decrease in forest cover of 0.3 percent, a result that is in line with other empirical results available in the literature 10 , 27 .

In order to account for the particular characteristics of border regions, we also perform a regression which includes a variable that accounts for infrastructure around the border. In the spirit of the CBDI, we create a variable that measures road density (log) differences on both sides of national borders and include it in our regressions. This variable is computed using the proportion of grid cells identified as road on each side of the border for the year 2005 and constructing the ratio across neighbouring countries. The estimation results for the model including this indicator as an additional regressor are presented in column (7) of Table 1 . The relationship found between income levels and vegetation cover is not affected by the inclusion of this covariate and the effect of border infrastructure appears insignificant once income per capita is controlled for in the regression.

The estimates of our baseline model with continent dummies imply that the income level corresponding to minimum forest cover is roughly at a per capita income level of 5,500 int.$, which in our sample corresponds approximately to the per capita income of Guatemala. Parameter estimates indicate that the income difference between the Democratic Republic of Congo (the country in our sample with lowest income per capita) and Guatemala (the turning point in the estimated environmental Kuznets curve) accounts for approximately a 25% decrease in forest cover. On the other hand, the highest income countries in our sample are predicted to have approximately 10% more forest cover on average and ceteris paribus than do countries near the turning point of the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation. The estimate of our transition threshold is in line with previous results in the literature, particularly estimates based exclusively on comparisons of the significance of forest cover changes 28 .

The fitted environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation, which is implied from the parameter estimates for the baseline model, is depicted in Fig. 3 . The parameter estimates for income differences and the difference of squared income obtained from equation (2) correspond to the coefficients of the quadratic relationship between GDP per capita and vegetation cover in ref. 1 and are used to construct the curve. The dispersion of our estimated parameters, combined with the range of observed income values, implies that there is only weak evidence concerning the upward-sloping effect of income on forest cover (i.e. the reforestation part of the environmental Kuznets curve). The heterogeneity within the sample of high income countries included in the analysis may explain the lack of robust evidence for reforestation in this part of the distribution of GDP per capita levels. In addition, contemporary forest policy in emerging markets and highly developed economies has been shaped by the trade-off between reforestation and conservation of biodiversity 29 , 30 . Ecological sustainability arguments have often led to policies in the developed world that aim at the conservation of existing forest stocks instead of the expansion of forest cover 30 .

Estimated relationship between income per capita and forest cover.

We perform an additional robustness check by estimating models with a piecewise-linear link between income and forest cover, instead of a quadratic one. This class of models allows for more flexibility in terms of accounting for the asymmetric influence of each country’s level of development on the overall relationship between income and deforestation. We estimate the income threshold that triggers the change in the slope of the deforestation Kuznets curve using the method put forward in Hansen 31 . This exercise results in a threshold estimate of roughly 9200 international dollars, which corresponds to the 64 th percentile of our income per capita sample. The estimate of the slope of the relationship between income and forest cover for countries whose income per capita is below the threshold is −0.038 with a standard deviation of 0.02. The estimate for the rest of the sample is −0.026 with a standard deviation of 0.024.

The threshold model thus supports an environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation that lacks a reverting trend for richer economies. To the contrary, the estimation results indicate that the deforestation effect of economic development disappears (but does not revert) as the income level increases. This result is consistent with a similar study that presented evidence of environmental Kuznets curves whose reversal is not significant for other measures of air and water pollution 32 .

We also estimate alternative models using instrumental variables in order to account for potential bilateral causation between forest cover differences and income per capita. We use data on differences in mortality rates of colonial settlers across neighbouring countries as an instrument for income per capita differentials 33 and obtain estimates of the model parameters using two-stage least squares. Although these models are based on a much smaller sample than that used in the specifications presented in Table 1 (81 observations), the estimates confirm the results presented above (see Supplementary Material ). In order to account for potential multicolinearity, we also estimated our specifications using ridge regression methods instead of ordinary least squares. The ridge regression results reinforce the evidence for the existence of a concave relationship between forest cover and income, but weaken the evidence for a negative effect of agricultural exports (see Supplementary Material ).

In order to assess the robustness of our results to our definition of the CBDI, we re-estimate our baseline model using two other versions of the index. In particular, we redefine the CBDI based on more stringent conditions concerning the size of the common HRU across the borders used to compute the index. While our baseline CBDI nominally required a minimum of 500 km 2 of forested areas on each side of the border, we compute two new indices (CBDI 1000 and CBDI 2500 ) based on alternative minimal HRU area requirements of 1000 and 2500 km 2 , respectively. Results of the estimation of the basic model with continent dummies for each of the new indices are presented in Table 2 , together with the original estimates for the CBDI based on minimal HRU border coverage of 500 km 2 . The estimates for the alternative measures of cross-border deforestation confirm the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation and arrive at similar estimates of the income level corresponding to the turning point in the curve. The use of alternative CBDI definitions therefore does not appear to affect our conclusions regarding the lack of significance of the other determinants in the model. The descriptive statistics for the variables used in the empirical models presented in Tables 1 and 2 are shown in Table 3 .

Conclusions

We make use of the spatial discontinuity provided by national borders in order to assess the socioeconomic determinants of forest cover (and thus deforestation) differences across countries. We combine satellite data on forest cover around national borders with a homogeneous response unit layer that allows us to compare zones of similar geo-climatic characteristics that span national borders. On the basis of this analysis, keeping factors related to climate and terrain differences constant, we observe that countries with a higher GDP per capita tend to have significantly lower forest cover within the group of low-income economies. This phenomenon is not present when we consider the countries with higher levels of income. Thus, our empirical findings provide strong evidence for the existence of at least half of an environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation, which appears to be the most robust factor explaining differences in forest cover across countries once geo-climatic factors are adequately controlled for. This result is also in line with recent evidence based on studies of particular world regions 34 .

Given the fact that economic development is captured through GDP per capita in our analysis, further research is required to understand the particular mechanisms that generate the robust causal relationship between income and forest cover elucidated in this analysis. Because of the high cross-country correlation between GDP per capita and other socioeconomic variables, the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation may be driven, among other factors, by changes in the yields of non-forested land 10 as well as by access to credit, which in turn affects the liquidity constraints faced by forest owners in developing economies 35 . The role of agricultural trade as a driver of deforestation, which has also been highlighted in the recent empirical literature 10 , 27 and which is also found to be a potentially important determinant of forest cover differences across countries in our study, deserves further scrutiny.

Methods and Technical Appendix

Homogeneous response units (hru).

In order to ensure consistency in environmental conditions for the terrain across national borders, the Homogenous Response Units (HRU) layer was used 23 . HRUs are defined based on classifications of altitude (five classes: 0–300 m, 300–600 m, 600–1100 m, 1100–2500 m and more than 2500 m), slope (seven classes: 0–3°, 3–6°, 6–10°, 10–15°, 15–30°, 30–50° and more than 50°) and soil composition (five classes: sandy, loamy, clay, stony and peat).

HRU zone-specific altitude, slope or soil class values which have been assigned to 5 minute spatial resolution pixels represent the spatially most frequent class value (not average) taken from the input data. In total, 150 unique combinations of altitude, slope and soil class resulted from the HRU delineation process globally. Each delineated HRU zone is indexed by a numerical code assembled from a code of the altitude, slope and soil at the first, second and third position in the string, respectively. The HRU is a 5 arc minute spatial resolution grid. The full HRU dataset along with metadata is available for download at http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.775369 .

Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF)

Data on forest cover percent were obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. The Terra MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) product is a sub-pixel-level representation of surface forest cover estimates globally 36 . Designed to continuously represent Earth’s terrestrial surface as a proportion of basic vegetation traits, it provides a gradation of percent tree cover. The VCF product is generated yearly and produced using monthly composites of Terra MODIS 250 and 500 meters Land Surface Reflectance data, including all seven bands, and Land Surface Temperature. The VCF products are validated to stage-1, which means that their product accuracy was estimated through an assessment of the accuracy using training data and from limited in situ field validation datasets. The MODIS continuous fields of forest cover algorithm is described in Hansen et al . 19 , 36 .

The output of the algorithm is the percent canopy cover per 500-m MODIS pixel. Here percent canopy refers to the amount of skylight obstructed by tree canopies equal to or greater than 5 m in height and is different than percent crown cover (crown cover = canopy cover + within crown skylight). Using a buffer of 50 km on both sides of each national border, we obtain a measure of relative vegetation continuous field for each pair of neighbouring countries. Although the use of 50 km as a buffer may be considered a limitation of the analysis, the high correlation between estimates of vegetation cover differentials based on buffers of 25 km and 50 km across national borders indicates that this particular choice does not appear to drive the results presented. We assume that the high correlation would also hold true at the HRU level for the 25 km buffer size aalthough we did not condition the regression on HRUs, since they represent more homogenous areas in terms of environmental conditions. Data used in this study were obtained from www.landcover.org , collection 4, version 3, 500 m for the year 2005. The VCF dataset used in this study was compared and found to be highly correlated (>0.9) for the year 2005 with the figures provided by Hansen et al . 24 , which are derived from 30 m Landsat data. The 2005 forest cover map was based on tree cover in 2000 and forest loss for years 2000–2005 24 . A sample of about 600,000 random points in border regions (291,903 points are in the tropics – between −23.5 and 23.5 latitude) was created for the correlation analysis. Buffer zones were created for the random points at 250 m. Both forest datasets were resampled to 50 m using mean forest cover in order to compute the correlation.

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How to cite this article : Crespo Cuaresma, J. et al . Economic Development and Forest Cover: Evidence from Satellite Data. Sci. Rep. 7 , 40678; doi: 10.1038/srep40678 (2017).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to two anonymous reviewers, Ester Blanco, Bill Butz, Stephan Klasen, James R. Vreeland, Konstantin Wacker and the participants in research seminars at the University of Innsbruck, at the University of Göttingen, at Masaryk University in Brno and at the Vienna University of Economics and Business for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. Research assistance by Franziska Albrecht is gratefully acknowledged. The REDD-PAC ( http://www.redd-pac.org/ ) project supported this study. We also acknowledge funding through the EU project “Strengthening Independent Monitoring of GHG Emissions from Land Activities for Publishing, Comparing and Reconciling Estimates”, funded by European Commission DG CLIMA N° CLIMA.A.2/ETU/2014/0008.

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International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, Laxenburg, A-2361, Austria

Jesús Crespo Cuaresma, Olha Danylo, Steffen Fritz, Ian McCallum, Michael Obersteiner, Linda See & Brian Walsh

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J.C.C. led the analysis as first and corresponding author. O.D. supported the analysis. S.F. and L.S. undertook the GIS and data extraction work based on the cross boder and HRU areas and derived the CBDI. J.C.C., S.F., I.M., M.O., L.S. and B.W. wrote the main manuscript text and prepared all figures. All authors contributed to and reviewed the manuscript.

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Crespo Cuaresma, J., Danylo, O., Fritz, S. et al. Economic Development and Forest Cover: Evidence from Satellite Data. Sci Rep 7 , 40678 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40678

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Indian forests: depletion and conservation of indian forests.

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Depletion and Conservation of Indian Forests!

Over the years, the area under forest cover has decreased steadily, as forests have been cleared for agriculture, industry, housing, and other development activities like the construction of roads, railways, and hydroelectric plants.

Since the beginning of civilization, as seen from the Indus Valley Civilization, people have been clearing land for agriculture to meet the food needs of the ever-growing population. Most forest communities follow a method of slash and burn or shifting cultivation, known as Jhum in the Indian subcontinent is more common in the hilly regions.

Due to the increase in population, people are compelled to cultivate on the same plot of land more frequently as there is very little forest area available. Forests are also being converted to permanent settlements. Thus, forests cannot regenerate, and, in some cases, forest areas have become wasteland within a few years due to frequent cultivation.

For example, after independence India lost forest area in the following manner 4696 million hectares forest land to non-forestry purposes, 0.07 million hectares to illegal encroachment, 4.37 million hectares to cultivation, 0.518 million hectares to river valley projects, 0.141 million hectares to industries and townships, and 0.061 million hectares to transmission lines and roads.

To conserve forest areas, the government launched Joint forest management and Social forestry schemes, with some success. But other conservation measures have to be taken to save the forests from further depletion and degeneration. Governments and communities should take steps to plant trees on a large scale. The community should be consulted and trees that will meet their requirements should be planted.

People living in the rural and forestry areas should be sensitized to the damage done to their surroundings by the felling of trees. They should be encouraged to cut branches, twigs and leaves of the trees for their daily requirements. Horticulture as an alternative source of income should be encouraged.

All this, collectively, would halt the depletion of forest cover. In order to conserve the forest cover, the concerned governments have initiated number of socially relevant, environmentally friendly activities to develop a variety of forests like, Agroforestry, Social forestry, Farm forestry, Community forestry, Extension forestry etc. Farmers in India grow agricultural crops, rear animals, plants and certain trees on their land, often on the boundary area.

Agroforestry is defined by some as a dynamic, ecologically-based natural farm management system that, along with agriculture and the integration of trees on farms, has many environmental benefits. Agroforestry reduces the farmers’ dependency on forests even as it provides them economic benefits.

It results in more diverse, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. It focuses on meeting the economic, environmental, and domestic needs of people on their private lands. For hundreds of years, farmers have nurtured trees in their fields, pasturelands, and around their homes.

Social forestry also aims at raising plantations by the common man so as to meet the growing demand for timber, fuel wood, fodder etc., thereby reducing the pressure on the traditional forest area. This concept of village forests to meet the needs of the rural people is not new. It has existed through the centuries all over the country but it is now given a new character.

Farm Forestry is of two types may be considered under Social forestry programmes. The two types are both commercial and non-commercial farm forestry. In commercial farm forestry, individual farmers are being encouraged to plant trees on their own farmland to meet the domestic needs of the family. In many areas this tradition of growing trees on the farmland already exists.

Non-commercial farm forestry is the main thrust of most of the social forestry projects in the country today. It is not always necessary that the farmer grows trees for fuel wood, but very often they are interested in growing trees without any economic motive. They may want it to provide shade for the agricultural crops as wind shelters; soil conservation or to use wasteland.

Another scheme taken up under the social forestry programme is, community forestry, which is the raising of trees on community land and not on private land as in farm forestry. All these programmes aim to provide for the entire community and not for any individual.

The government has the responsibility of providing seedlings, fertilizer but the community has to take responsibility of protecting the trees. Some communities manage the plantations sensibly and in a sustainable manner so that the village continues to benefit.

Planting of trees on the sides of roads, canals and railways, along with planting on wastelands is known as ‘Extension’ Forestry, increasing the boundaries of forests. Under this project there has been creation of wood lots in the village common lands, government wastelands and panchayat lands. Schemes for afforesting degraded government forests that are close to villages are being carried out all over the country.

Related Articles:

• Social Forestry: Farm, Community, Extension and Agroforestry
• Depletion of Forests: 11 Main Reasons for the Depletion of Forests

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Home » ENVIRONMENT » ENVIRONMENT DEGRADATION AND ISSUES » Deforestation And Forest Degradation

Deforestation And Forest Degradation

DEFORESTATION

Indiscriminate felling of trees as a result of urbanization, industrialization, mining operations, and use of wood for domestic and other purposes have caused heavy depletion of forests. This is called deforestation. Deforestation results in conversion of forest land to non-forest use .

Causes of Deforestation

• Agriculture: As per UNFCCC, agriculture is the direct cause of deforestation. Subsistence farming, commercial agriculture, shifting cultivation and industrial logging all cause deforestation.
• Developmental Projects like hydroelectric projects , reservoirs etc. require immense deforestation.
• Raw Material requirements
• Overgrazing by cattle
• Other causes like mining, overpopulation and urbanization , floods, forest fires due to climate change etc.

Impacts of Deforestation

Environmental Impacts:

• Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect as it causes carbon stores held in soil to be released.
• Deforestation affects wind flows, water vapor flows and absorption of solar energy thus clearly influencing local and global climate.
• The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer transpire this water, resulting in a much drier climate.

Deforestation causes:

• Increase in the rate of soil erosion. This can further lead to flooding in rivers and makes the soil susceptible to landslides.
• Removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity.
• Deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.

Economic Impacts:

• A short-term economic gain made by conversion of forest to agriculture, or overexploitation of wood products, typically leads to a loss of long-term income and long-term biological productivity.

Conservation Measures

• The protection and conservation of forest resources are not only desirable but are also necessary for the economic development of a nation and the maintenance of environmental and ecological balance from local through regional to global levels. Integrated Conservation Research (ICR), an ecological group of the U.S.A., has launched massive programs of forest conservation in collaboration with UNESCO’s MAN AND BIOSPHERE (MAB) program.
• Classification of forests according to functional aspects into protected forests, reserved forests, village forests, etc.
• Expansion in the forest cover by planting trees in order to ameliorate the physical and climatic conditions for the welfare of the people,
• Provision for ensuring progressive increasing supplies of fodder for animals and timber for agricultural implements and firewood to local inhabitants nearer to the forests,
• Opposition to the reckless extension of agricultural land at the cost of forest land,
• Extension of the forested area by the massive plan of tree plantation on a large-scale at war-footing so as to bring 33 percent of the country’s geographical area under forest etc.
• An important measure of effective conservation of natural forest is to adapt the scientific and judicious method of cutting of trees by following a selective approach. Only mature and desired trees should be cut and unwanted trees of low economic value should be avoided.
• To cover more and more wasteland and already deforested land with forests through vigorous planning of afforestation. Forests should not be replaced by commercially important fruit orchards.
• For example, the cultivation of apples in many parts of the Himalayas in general and Himachal Pradesh (India) in particular has done great damage to the original stands of natural forests. Apple cultivation causes deforestation in two ways viz.
• Apple cultivation requires clearance of land from vegetal cover and
• a Huge quantity of wood is required for the packing of apples every year.

The Integrated Conservation Research, a U.S. ecological research group, has suggested elaborate programs for the betterment of forests. These programs include –

• agroforestry,
• ethnobotany, and
• natural history-oriented tourism.  

Remedial Measures

• Intensive development schemes for afforestation should be adopted. High yielding varieties should be planted in suitable areas.
• The latest techniques of seasoning and preservation are necessary to avoid wastage.
• Proper arrangements to save forests from fires and plant diseases can go a long way to solve several problems.
• A thorough inventory of forest resources is necessary to make an accurate assessment of our forest resources and make plans for their proper use.
• Shifting cultivation should be discouraged and tribals depending on this type of cultivation should be provided with alternative sources of livelihood.
• People associated with forest protection should be properly trained.

Government initiatives

• Survey and inventorisation of floral and faunal resources are carried out by Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI ). The Forest Survey of India assesses the forest cover to develop an accurate database for planning and monitoring purposes.
• Biological Diversity Act 2002 has been enacted and Biological Diversity Rules 2004 have been notified, which aim at the conservation of biological resources of the country and regulation of access to these resources to ensure equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their use.
• Industries to obtain “ Consent for Establishment” as well as “Consent to Operate” under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 from the concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) prior to carrying out operations.
• Environmental Impact Assessment of developmental projects and preparation of Environmental Management Plan as per the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment notification of September 2006.
• Adoption of cleaner technologies and the use of improved fuel quality.
• Regular monitoring of industrial units for environmental compliance.
• In acknowledging this factor, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India issued policy guidelines for the involvement of village communities and voluntary agencies in the regeneration of degraded forest lands on June 1, 1990, under the JFM (joint forest management) program. Joint Forest Management is a process in which protection and management of forests are jointly undertaken by the Forest Department and the local communities.
• Sacred groves comprise patches of forests or natural vegetation – from a few trees to forests of several acres – that are usually dedicated to local folk deities or tree spirits (Vanadevatais ). These spaces are protected by local communities because of their religious beliefs and traditional rituals that run through several generations.
• The National Mission for a Green India for enhancing quality of forest cover and improving ecosystem services from 4.9 million hectares (MHA) of predominantly forest lands, including 1.5 MHA of moderately dense forest cover, 3 MHA of open forest cover, 0.4 MHA of degraded grasslands .
• Eco-restoration/afforestation to increase forest cover and ecosystem services from 1.8 m ha forest/non-forest lands, including scrublands, shifting cultivation areas, abandoned mining areas, ravine lands, mangroves, and sea-buckthorn areas.
• Enhancing tree cover in 0.2 MHA Urban and Peri-Urban areas (including institutional lands).

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Essay on Deforestation

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Introduction:

Deforestation is the process of clearing trees and forest for other uses. Deforestation usually occurs due to city expansion. As habitats increase in cities, there is a need to create more space the for homes, organizations, and factories. This, however, has a damning effect on our environment.

Effect of Deforestation on the Environment:

Deforestation means fewer trees and more land. This has a serious adverse effect on our environment. On one hand, deforestation makes some animals homeless. Animals that survive in the forest might go extinct with less forest. On the other hand, deforestation is also the biggest cause of climate change around the world.

Preventing Deforestation:

Reducing or preventing deforestation is easier said than done. This is because trees are cut down because there is a pressing need to do so. Thus, to prevent deforestation we must try to reduce that need by making smarter choices in paper usage, city planning, migration, etc.

Conclusion:

The essence of plant life in the forest is unquestionable. To ensure a greener environment we must all join the efforts in reducing deforestation.

Deforestation is definitely one of the most troubling of all problems which has plagued our environment. It is important more than ever to take care of the green cover or else it can jeopardize the existence of life on Earth. It is owing to the presence of green trees that we get the oxygen needed to breathe in.

However, because of excessive exploitation by humans, it has been seen that the trees are being cut down mercilessly. This act of cleaning the green cover is known as deforestation.

Educate people:

The best way to handle the problem of deforestation is by making sure that we educate the masses regarding the importance of green cover. When people understand as to how deforestation is leading to grave consequences, they will get the incentive to plant trees rather than uproot them.

Protect the Environment:

As we have continued to exploit the environment in a way that it is hard to get things back to normal, it is now important to immediately start protecting the environment. A lot of natural calamities are occurring these days because the ecosystem balance has been disturbed. Deforestation alone is responsible for a major amount of problems.

So, you need to understand as to how you can come up with ways to excite people about planting more trees and doing their bit for the sake of the environment. Think of your children and grand children. If we continue with our aggressive deforestation campaigns, they are not likely to have a healthy environment for survival. Is that what we really want?

Deforestation can be defined as the removal of trees and clearing of forests for the personal and commercial benefits of human beings. Deforestation has emerged as one of the biggest man-made disasters recently. Every year, more and more trees and vegetation are being erased just to fulfill the various needs of the human race.

Deforestation happens for many reasons. The growing population is one of them. Rising human population needs more area for residential purpose. For this, forests are either burned down or cut to make space for constructing homes and apartments.

Deforestation is also done for commercial purposes. This includes setting up of factories, industries, and towers, etc. The enormous requirements of feeding the human race also create a burden on the land. As a result, clearing land for agricultural purposes leads to deforestation.

Deforestation impacts our earth in several ways. Trees are natural air purifiers. They absorb the carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Deforestation results in uncontrolled air pollution. When there are fewer trees, there is lesser absorption of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

Deforestation also disturbs the water cycle. Forests absorb the groundwater and release the water vapors to form clouds, which in turn cause rains. Roots of trees hold the soil intact and prevent floods. But when there are no trees, different kinds of natural calamities are bound to happen.

With deforestation, chances of floods, drought, global warming, and disturbed weather cycle all come into the play. Not only that, the disappearance of forests means the extinction of wild animals and plants, which are highly important parts of our ecosystem.

In order to curb these disasters, we must plant more trees. Restoration of existing vegetation is equally essential. Population control is another indirect method to save trees and forest areas.

Deforestation is the process of cutting down of trees and forests completely or partially for different reasons like manufacturing different products with various parts of the tree as raw material, to build structures and other buildings, etc. Deforestation in recent days has become the curse of our world that resulted in the destruction of nature and the environment.

Cause and Drawbacks:

Deforestation is mainly done for making better living assets for humans and this one side thought is the biggest drawback of this issue. Instead of doing only the cutting part humans should practice forestation along with deforestation. Whenever a tree or a forest is cut, another one should be planted at the same place or on other lands to promote the forestation.

Deforestation is the main cause for many natural deficiencies and the destruction of many animal, plant and bird species. If the practice of cutting down trees continues, then eventually even the world may get destructed along with the extinction of the human race.

It’s not like trees shouldn’t be used for any kind of production and urbanization or industrialization shouldn’t be done for the development, but the main factor is to compensate for every minus done. Through this, there will be a balancing between the reduction and plantation which will help, to an extent, in the rectification of problems faced by the world due to deforestation.

Deforestation has also affected the atmospheric air combination. The carbon content in the atmosphere has considerably increased over years due to many human activities like uncontrolled fuel combustion.

Forest has played a massive function of inhaling the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and exhaling oxygen during the daytime while they prepare food for themselves. This process is the reason for maintaining a balanced oxygen and carbon level in the atmosphere and that makes the life of us humans to breathe free.

Population growth is undeniably the major factor behind the increased deforestation level. The increased demand for more assets for better living has increased the need for deforestation as well. In such cases forestation should also be made as a follow-up process.

Controlling the overuse of assets can also help in reducing the deforestation rate. If humans start to use products that use a tree as raw material reasonably then it will help in avoiding deforestation as well. Deforestation not only is a life-threatening scenario for many animals and birds, but also the whole human species.

Deforestation refers to the elimination of plants and trees from a region. Deforestation also includes the clearing of jungles and plants from the region due to the numerous commercial motives.

Different Causes of Deforestation:

The below are the different causes of deforestation:

1. Overgrazing:

Overgrazing in jungles finishes recently renewed development. It makes the soil additional compact and invulnerable. The fertility of the soil also reduces owing to the devastation of organic substance. Overgrazing also results in the desertification and the soil erosion. Deforestation results in decreasing the overall soil’s productivity.

2. Shifting Cultivation:

Numerous agriculturalists destroy the jungle for farming and commercial motives and once productiveness of soil is shattered owing to recurrent harvesting, a fresh forest region is devastated. Hence, farmers must be recommended to utilize a similar area for agriculture and use some upgraded farming techniques and stop the deforestation.

3. Fuel Wood:

The maximum amount of forest is destroyed for the fuel wood. Around 86% of the fuel wood is utilized in rural regions in comparison to the 14% in urban parts and hence lead to more deforestation.

4. Forest Fires:

Recurrent fires in the forest regions are one of the major reasons of deforestation. Few incidents of fires are minor whereas the maximum of them are huge.

The industries related to the plywood and timber is mostly accountable for the deforestation. In fact, the huge demand for wooden things has resulted in the quick reduction of the forest.

6. Industry Establishment:

At times the industrial unit is constructed after deforestation. It means for a small achievement of few people, all other people have to bear a permanent loss. In this procedure, wild animals, valuable plant, and unusual birds get devastated. In fact, it adversely affects the quality of the environment.

7. Violation of Forest:

One more reason of deforestation is a violation by tribal on the land of forest for cultivation and other motives. Even though such type of land has a virtuous support for agriculture creation but still it creates environmental threats.

8. Forest Diseases:

Numerous diseases are instigated by rusts, parasitic fungi, nematodes and viruses that result in demise and deterioration of jungle. Fresh saplings are devastated owing to the occurrence of nematodes. Numerous diseases like blister rust, heart rot, and phloem necrosis, oak will, and Dutch elm, etc. destroy the jungle in large quantities.

9. Landslide:

The landslide lead to the deforestation in the mountains is a question of worry. It happened largely in the regions where growing actions are proceeding for the previous few years. The building of highways and railways mainly in hilly lands as well as the structure of large irrigation plans have resulted in enough deforestation and speeded the natural procedure of denudation.

Worldwide Solution for the Deforestation:

The jungle is an essential natural reserve for any nation and deforestation slow down a nation’s growth. To encounter the necessities of the growing population, simple resources might be attained only with the help of afforestation. It is actually the arrangement of implanting plants for food and food growth. Moreover, the nurseries have a significant part in increasing the coverage of the forest area.

Deforestation is the cutting down of trees. It is basically changing the use of land to a different purpose other than the planting of trees.

There are many reasons which have led to large levels of deforestation all over the world. One of the major causes is ever growing population of the world. With the growth in population, the need for more land to live has been rising. This has further led to cutting down of trees. Also, with modernisation, there has been a substantial increase in the requirement of land for setting up of industries. This has again contributed to deforestation.

Mining is another activity of humans which has led to large-scale deforestation in many areas. The need to build road and rail network in order to increase connectivity to the mines has led to cutting down of trees. This has altered the climatic conditions in these areas.

Deforestation has had a huge impact on the environment. Lack of trees has led to less release of water vapour in the air. This has, in turn, led to the alteration of rainfall patterns in different regions. India is a country which is dependent on monsoon rains for agriculture. Frequent droughts and floods caused due to deforestation have affected the lives of many in different parts of the country.

Moreover, trees absorb the carbon-dioxide from the air and help to purify it. Without trees around us, the presence of harmful gases in the air has been rising. This has also led to global warming which is again a major environmental concern. Also, the ever-rising pollution level, especially in many cities in India is due to vast deforestation only.

Additionally, trees bind the soil around them and prevent soil erosion. Deforestation has led to the soil being washed away with winds and rain, making the land unfit for agriculture. Also, trees and forests are the homes to different species of wildlife. With shrinking forests, several of the wildlife has become extinct as they were not able to cope with the changing conditions. Also, there have been increased man and wildlife conflicts in recent times as the animals are forced to venture in the cities in search of food. All these are severe effects of deforestation and need urgent attention by all.

The Perfect Example:

New Delhi is the capital of India. There was once a time when Delhi was a beautiful city. But with modernisation, increase in population, deforestation and mining in the nearby Aravalli hills, Delhi has been reduced to a gas chamber. Such is the impact the Delhi has become one of the most polluted cities in the world. What better example can be there to understand what deforestation has led us to?

There are many ways in which we can reduce deforestation. We must protect our forests. Moreover, we must mark adequate land for our farming needs. There are some laws already in place which prohibit people from unnecessary felling of trees. What needs to be done is the proper execution of the rules so that everyone abides by it. Also, stricter punishments need to be in place for violators so as to deter other people from disobeying the laws. Alternatively, people need to ensure that for every tree felled, equal numbers of trees are planted so that the balance of nature can be maintained. Summarily, it has to be a collective duty of all and just the governments alone, if we really need to reduce deforestation.

It is true that we all need space to live. With the ever-growing population and urbanisation, there has been more than ever need to cut trees and make space. However, we must realise that it is not possible for us to live without having trees around us. Trees bring so many benefits such as giving us oxygen, utilising the harmful carbon dioxide and so many products we need in our daily lives. Without trees around us, there would be no life on the earth. We should all do the needful to protect trees and reduce deforestation.

Deforestation is also known as clearing or clearance of trees. It can be said to mean removal of strands of trees or forests and the conversion of such area of land to a use that is totally non-forest in nature. Some deforestation examples are the converting of areas of forest to urban, ranches or farms use. The area of land that undergoes the most deforestation is the tropical rainforests. It is important to note that forests cover more than 31 percent in total land area of the surface of the earth.

There are a lot of different reasons why deforestation occurs: some tree are being cut down for building or as fuel (timber or coal), while areas of land are to be used as plantation and also as pasture to feed livestock. When trees are removed with properly replacing them, there can as a result be aridity, loss of biodiversity and even habitat damage. We have also had cases of deforestation used in times of war to starve the enemy.

Causes of Deforestation:

It has been discovered that the major and primary deforestation cause is agriculture. Studies have shown that about 48 percent of all deforestation is as a result of subsistence farming and 32 percent of deforestation is as a result of commercial agriculture. Also, it was discovered that logging accounts for about 14% of the total deforestation and 5% is from the removal for fuel wood.

There has been no form of agreement from experts on if industrial form of logging is a very important contributing factor to deforestation globally. Some experts have argued that the clearing of forests is something poor people do more as a result of them not having other alternatives. Other experts are of the belief that the poor seldom clear forests because they do not have the resources needed to do that. A study has also revealed that increase in population as a result of fertility rates that are very high are not a major driver of deforestation and they only influenced less than 8% of the cases of deforestation.

The Environmental Effects of Deforestation:

Deforestation has a lot of negative effects on our planet and environment.

A few of the areas where it negatively affects our environment are discussed below:

i. Atmospheric Effect:

Global warming has deforestation as one of its major contributing factors and deforestation is also a key cause of greenhouse effect. About 20% of all the emission of greenhouse gases is as a result of tropical deforestation. The land in an area that is deforested heats up quicker and it gets to a temperature that is higher than normal, causing a change in solar energy absorption, flow of water vapours and even wind flows and all of these affects the local climate of the area and also the global climate.

Also, the burning of plants in the forest in order to carry out clearing of land, incineration cause a huge amount of carbon dioxide release which is a major and important contributor to the global warming.

ii. Hydrological Effect:

Various researches have shown that deforestation greatly affects water cycle. Groundwater is extracted by trees through the help of their roots; the water extracted is then released into the surrounding atmosphere. If we remove a part of the forest, there will not be transpiration of water like it should be and this result in the climate being a lot drier. The water content of the soil is heavily reduced by deforestation and also atmospheric moisture as well as groundwater. There is a reduced level of water intake that the trees can extract as a result of the dry soil. Soil cohesion is also reduced by deforestation and this can result in landslides, flooding and erosion.

iii. Effect on Soil:

As a direct result of the plant litter on the surface, there is a minimal and reduced erosion rate in forests largely undisturbed. Deforestation increases the erosion rate as a result of the subsequent decrease in the quantity of cover of litter available. The litter cover actually serves as a protection for the soil from all varieties of surface runoff. When mechanized equipments and machineries are used in forestry operations, there can be a resulting erosion increase as a result of the development of roads in the forests.

iv. Effect on Biodiversity:

There is a biodiversity decline due to deforestation. Deforestation can lead to the death and extinction of a lot of species of animals and plants. The habitat of various animals are taken away as a result of deforestation.

The total coverage of forests on the earth’s landmass is 30 percent and the fact the people are destroying them is worrying. Research reveals that majority of the tropical forests on earth are being destroyed. We are almost at half the forest landmass in destruction. How would earth look life without forests? It will be a total disaster if deforestation is encouraged. Deforestation is a human act in which forests are permanently destroyed in order to create settlement area and use the trees for industries like paper manufacture, wood and construction. A lot of forests have been destroyed and the impact has been felt through climate change and extinction of animals due to destruction of the ecosystem. The impacts of deforestation are adverse and there is need to prevent and control it before it can get any worse.

Deforestation is mainly a human activity affected by many factors. Overpopulation contributed to deforestation because there is need to create a settlement area for the increasing number of people on earth and the need for urbanization for economic reasons. Recently, population has greatly risen in the world and people require shelter as a basic need. Forests are destroyed in order for people to find land to build a shelter and then trees are further cut to build those houses. Overpopulation is a major threat to the forest landmass and if not controlled, people will continue to occupy the forests until there is no more forest coverage on earth.

Another factor influencing deforestation is industrialization. Industries that use trees to manufacture their product e.g. paper and wood industries have caused major destruction of forests. The problem with industries is the large-scale need for trees which causes extensive deforestation. The use of timber in industries is a treat to forests all over the world. In as much as we need furniture, paper and homes, it is not worth the massive destruction of our forests.

Fires are also a cause of deforestation. During episodes of drought, fire spreads widely and burns down trees. The fire incidences could result from human activities like smoking or charcoal burning in the forests. Drought due to adverse weather changes in global warming is a natural disaster that claim the lives of people and living things.

Agricultural activities such as farming and livestock keeping also cause deforestation because of the land demand in those activities. Deforestation for farming purpose involves clearing all the vegetation on the required land and using it for and then burring the vegetation hence the name ‘slash and burn agriculture’. The ranches required for cattle keeping among other livestock require a large area that is clear from trees.

Impacts of Deforestation:

Deforestation has a great impact on the ecosystem in different ways. Climate change is influenced by deforestation because trees influence weather directly. Trees usually act to protect against strong winds and erosion but in its absence, natural disasters like floods and storms could be experienced. Also, tree are important in replenishing the air in the atmosphere. Trees have the ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen. Without trees, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be increased. Because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, it causes global warming.

Global warming is a serious environmental issue that causes adverse climatic changes and affects life on earth. Extreme weather conditions like storms, drought and floods. These weather conditions are not conducive for humans and other living things on earth. Natural disasters as a result of global warming are very destructive both to animate and inanimate objects in the environment.

Loss of species due to deforestation has negatively affected biodiversity. Biodiversity is a highly valued aspect of life on earth and its interruption is a loss. There is a loss of habitat for species to exist in as a result of deforestation and therefore species face extinction. Extinction of some rare species is a threat we are currently facing. Animals that live and depend on forest vegetation for food will also suffer and eventually die of hunger. Survival has been forced on animals of the jungle due to deforestation and that is why human wildlife conflict is being experienced.

The water cycle on earth is negatively affected by deforestation. The existence of water vapor in the atmosphere is maintained by trees. Absence of trees cause a reduced vapor retention in the atmosphere which result in adverse climate changes. Trees and other forest vegetation are important in preventing water pollution because they prevent the contaminated runoff into water sources like rivers, lakes and oceans. Without trees, pollution of water is more frequent and therefore the water will be unsafe for consumption by human and animals.

Solutions to Deforestation:

Based on the serious impact of deforestation, it is only safe if solutions are sought to end this problem. The ultimate solution is definitely restoration of the forest landmass on earth. The restoration can be done by encouraging the planting of trees, a process called reforestation. Although reforestation will not completely solve the impacts of deforestation, it will restore a habitat for the wild animals and slowly restore the ecosystem. Major impacts like concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere require another approach. Human activities that contribute to carbon dioxide gas emission to the atmosphere have to be reduced through strict policies for industries and finding alternative energy sources that do not produce greenhouse gases.

Another solution is public awareness. People have to be made aware that deforestation has negative effects so that they can reduce the act. Through awareness, people can also be taught on ways of reducing the population e.g., family planning. On World Environment Day, people are encouraged to participate in activities like tree planting in order to conserve environment and that is how the awareness takes place.

In conclusion, deforestation is a human activity that is destructive and should be discouraged. Environmental conservation is our responsibility because we have only one earth to live in.

Deforestation , Environment , Forests

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103 Deforestation Essay Topics & Paper Examples

Issues related to ecology require that you put more thought into essay writing than merely penning ideas that build up into a coherent argument.

Creating a good deforestation essay relies on achieving a superb structure that helps your audience apperceive your subject quicker and with a more sympathetic outlook.

Thus, recognizing the far-reaching effect of various events becomes an admirable attempt at drawing attention to possible future developments of a human impact environment. In this article you will learn the essentials of writing a deforestation essay, as well as 97 brilliant topic ideas for your paper.

📃 The Deforestation Essay Structure

🏆 remarkable deforestation topics & essay examples, ✍️ interesting deforestation essay topics, 🔖 good essay topics on deforestation, ❓ research question about deforestation.

Doing research is an essential aspect of pre-writing. It allows you to understand how you can best develop your central theme through the creation of a deforestation essay outline.

Writing a topic sentence for each of your planned paragraphs will help you gauge how much information you have for each sub-theme. In turn, doing so will demonstrate your coverage of the full issue.

Searching for appropriate and credible book and journal titles, as well as research papers and interviews with scientists, will allow you to form a comprehensive overview of a pollution issue.

Depending on your chosen problem, you may need to delve into a historical explanation of its creation, its development, and future implications. A sample outline may look like this:

• An introduction, where you give the audience a brief overview and present a deforestation essay thesis statement;
• A historical overview that helps you set the scene for your issue;
• An outline of the on-going process, depending on your chosen approach to the topic;
• A demonstration of its implications that relies on scientific studies and research predictions;
• A conclusion, where you tie together all your previous arguments into one, which acts as an answer to your thesis statement.

You may divide and increase the number of paragraphs in a manner that suits your particular approach, but the basic structure necessitates establishing the problem’s continuity.

For example, if you are writing about the process of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, you can approach it from an economic, sociopolitical, and even scientific viewpoint.

However, whichever you pick, you should always be ready to counterargument your readers’ thoughts, which is something you should keep in mind as you write.

A deforestation essay introduction and conclusion should mirror each other. In your first paragraph, you should present some possible inferences and interest the readers with a lack of specific answers, while the last one should leave no problem unaddressed. Initially, you should engage your readers; finally, they must be satisfied with the level of your conclusions.

If you still feel unsure how to start, you can look at examples of papers online. Deforestation topics are widely covered, and you can judge for yourself what structural approaches work and which ones are useless at effectively convincing the audience. Pay attention to the way these authors structure their issue and how they present its problem.

A title is another aspect of essay structure that writers often overlook. Compare “A Future with No Environment” to “Dustbowl: Who are the Losers of a Conservation Competition?”

Both titles serve a purpose, as the former hints at the conclusion of the paper, while the latter acts more as an introduction.

Understand what you want to achieve before writing out some deforestation essay titles and picking one that best suits your means.

Use IvyPanda to get more help on essay writing. Advice and tips for all kinds of students!

• Deforestation Causes and Effects The challenge of deforestation has existed for centuries, leading to the loss of a huge percentage of forest cover across the world.
• Deforestation and Effective Ways to Prevent It The most effective way of solving the problem and preventing deforestation is through large-scale actions that would necessitate industries to comply with standards for deforestation minimization.
• Deforestation Problem Deforestation is the cutting down of trees for the purpose of converting the land to none forest use. Forests initially covered a quarter of the earth planet, but the encroachment of human activities leaving bare […]
• The Impact of Logging and Deforestations on an Ecosystem Finally, using the market to address the problem of deforestation and logging, the paper indicates the opportunities that can be assimilated to promote sound environmental practices that are equally sustainable while maximizing the returns to […]
• Human Impact to the Environment – Cuba Deforestation Issue One of the most significant aspects during the political eras in the nation that characterized the political development was the fluctuation in deforestation.
• Deforestation in Thailand The environmental value of the forests in Thailand is evident in the efforts the government and other stakeholders undertake to conserve the environment.
• Deforestation and Its Man-Made Causes The process of deforestation can be justified as a possibility to meet the needs of the population, including feeding or manufacturing.
• Deforestation in the Tropical Rainforests This study aims at analyzing the causes of deforestation in tropical rainforest, the impacts of the same and the methods of controlling deforestation.
• Deforestation: Biological Concepts The three biological concepts/processes essential to life relevant to the topic of deforestation include sensitivity or response to the environment, homeostasis, and adaptation. Homeostasis is essential to consider in the context of deforestation because forests […]
• Deforestation Effects and Solutions Excessive clearing of vegetation on the earth’s service results to an alteration of the equilibrium in gaseous volumes in the atmosphere, and the current levels of greenhouse gases are alarming, especially in the urban areas.
• Deforestation Causes in the Amazon The composition and appearance of the humid tropical forest of the Amazon amaze with the abundance of plant life forms, the exceptional richness of the species composition, and the density and complexity of the canopy.
• History of Deforestation Alternatively, they would cut vital elements of the tree in order to cause the upper part of the tree to fall off gradually. The birth of the naval store affected the pattern of deforestation in […]
• Amazonian Deforestation, Its Causes and Trends The huge destruction in the rainforest happens disregarding the fact that the Amazon is the source of life to thousands of species and is oftentimes referred to as the lungs of the planet.
• Linking the Global Economy to Deforestation This involves the removal of trees, the degradation of the forest’s aesthetic value, and the loss of productive land. From a global point of view, other countries will take an example and adopt a policy […]
• Deforestation of the Amazon: Amazon Fires The problem of deforestation is one of the most acute environmental problems on the planet, and its impact on the environment can hardly be overrated.
• Deforestation Processes, Areas and Species Affected The issue represents an important study topic in the fields of biology and ecology because the cutting down of forests has significantly changed landscapes on a global scale. Deforestation is the most prevalent in tropical […]
• The Deforestation Issue and Future Directions Sensitivity or response to the environment refers to the reaction of living beings to changes occurring due to deforestation, while homeostasis is the ability of an organism to function despite changes. In terms of the […]
• Deforestation Impact on Environment and Human On a larger scale, it is important to reduce the consumption of paper and engage in raising awareness of the issue to strengthen the actions for addressing it.
• Analysis of Tesco’s Deforestation Problem The focus of this paper is to explore the conflict involving global meat production and its link to deforestation and to evaluate Tesco’s response to the issue from a stakeholder management perspective.
• The Campaign Addressing the Issue of Deforestation Contrarily, the brown color is a symbol of death, and the brown stands for the adverse consequences of deforestation for the whole of humankind and the environment.
• What Should the Brazilian Government Do About Reducing Amazon’s Deforestation? Political developments in Brazil and the ineffectiveness of existing policy proposals to mitigate the effects of deforestation on the forest have largely contributed to the ecological destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
• Wolves and Deforestation: Thinking Like a Mountain For example, to the Deer, the echo makes it alert due to awaiting danger, whereas to the hunter the bawling is a warning of the awaiting dangers.
• Deforestation in South East Asia Introduction The wave of globalization has transformed the way human beings consume different materials and produce products that are marketed hundreds of miles away. The increasing demand for energy, food, bio-fuels, and tropical wood has affected the global environment. In southeast Asia, different forces and factors are currently driving the process of deforestation. The discussion […]
• Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon Forest Furthermore, the recent forest fire in the Amazon forest turned the world’s attention to how current Brazil’s government is handling the deforestation issue.
• Deforestation Crisis in Mexico This term refers to the intentional destruction of the forests through the logging process and the burning of the other remains of trees after the logs are gotten.
• Soybean and Deforestation in the United States Economists and planters collaborate to identify additional areas for soybean production, neglecting the threat of elimination of rainforests and the inability for researchers to find out new ways of cultivating this plant.
• Brazilian Amazonia: Biodiversity and Deforestation Secondly, the mayor persuaded the people to stop deforestation to save the Amazon. Additionally, deforestation leads to displacement of indigenous people living in the Amazonia.
• Over-Exploitation and Deforestation Effects With this goal in mind, the European powers were forced to look for wood supplies from different parts of the globe.
• Environment: Tropical Deforestation Causes in Indonesia As indicated, one of the major causes of the deforestation in the Indonesian Sumatra rainforest is the logging for timber trade.
• Central Africa Deforestation However, even though the rate of deforestation is relatively low in this part of Africa compared to other major forest regions in the planet, the trend poses serious threats to the well being of the […]
• Environmental Stewardship of Deforestation Environmental stewardship refers to the act of protecting and conserving the environment. According to Aldo Leopold, environmental stewardship is promoted through the improvement of the relationship between humans and the environment.
• Deforestation Issue in the Dominican Republic The difference is brought about by the actions the countries’ leaders and citizens took or failed to take to preserve the environment.
• Physical Domain, Deforestation and Trends In the political domain there is conflict in the effort to conserve the forests since some say the industrialization and urbanization have to take place first before conservation until Brazil provides jobs for people who […]
• The Effects of Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest
• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation
• Deforestation And Its Effects On The Climate, Wildlife, And Human Civili
• Technical Efficiency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest
• Land Reform Policies, the Sources of Violent Conflict, and Implications for Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
• Investigating the Impact of Agricultural Land Losses on Deforestation: Evidence From a Peri-urban Area in Canada
• What Deforestation Can Do To Our Environment
• Deforestation and Minimal Logging Advantages
• Why is Deforestation a Global Concern
• The Role of Tenure Security and Private Time Preference in Neotropical Deforestation
• Balancing Risks from Climate Policy Uncertainties: The Role of Options and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
• The Impact of Settlement Design on Tropical Deforestation Rates and Resulting Land Cover Patterns
• Exchange Rates, Soybean Supply Response, and Deforestation in South America
• What Are the Consequences of Deforestation?
• An Analysis of the Issue of Deforestation and Its Threat to Environment
• Deforestation And Global Climate Change
• Environmental Problems Of Deforestation And Environmental
• The Effect of Deforestation on the Climate and Environment
• Modeling Amazon Deforestation for Policy Purposes
• Foreign Transfers and Tropical Deforestation
• Creating Policies To Contain Unproductive Deforestation
• The Impact Of Deforestation On Bird Communication Biology
• The Negative Effects of Deforestation on the World
• The Devestating Effect of Deforestation and the Alternatives for Helping Our Planet
• Tragedy Of Deforestation In Brazil And Indonesia
• The Effects Of The Land Change Made By Tropical Deforestation
• How Deforestation Causes Global Warming And Negatively Impacts The Environment
• The Two Major Issues of Deforestation, Its Causes and Effects to the Environment
• Tropical Deforestation And Its Effect On Global Climate
• The Role of International Law Concerning Deforestation
• An Analysis of People’s Responsibilities for Rainforest Deforestation
• Effects Of Deforestation On The Philippines
• Global Warming, Deforestation, Nuclear Waste, And Pollution
• Transport, Economic Growth, and Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Causes And Effects Of Deforestation In Environmental Sciences
• Poverty and Tropical Deforestation by Smallholders in Forest Margin Areas: Evidence from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
• The Role of Government Spending on Deforestation and Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Land Use Change
• The Dangerous Global Issue of Deforestation and Its Impact on the Environment
• Urban Deforestation and Urban Development
• Modelling Land Use, Deforestation, and Policy Analysis
• What Are the Biggest Drivers of Tropical Deforestation?
• Why Tackling Deforestation Is So Important for Slowing Climate Change?
• How Deforestation Causes Global Warming and Negatively Impacts the Environment?
• How Does Deforestation Impact Birds?
• Can “Fragile States” Decide to Reduce Their Deforestation?
• Does Deforestation Increase Malaria Prevalence?
• Does Free Trade Increase Deforestation and the Effects of Regional Trade Agreements?
• Does Poverty Constrain Deforestation in Peru?
• How Does Deforestation Lead To Frequent Floods and Droughts?
• How Does Household Food Insecurity Experience Impact Deforestation in Cameroon?
• How Does Deforestation Impact Wildlife and Biodiversity?
• Who Initiated a Movement Against Deforestation?
• What Are the Reasons Behind Deforestation?
• How Does Deforestation Affect Living Things?
• What Has Driven Deforestation in Developing Countries Since the 2000s?
• Who Is Responsible for Deforestation?
• What Forest Is Most Affected by Deforestation?
• How Does Deforestation Affect the Plants?
• How Is Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest Affecting Biodiversity?
• What Systems Is Deforestation Affecting?
• How Has Deforestation Upset the Balance in Nature?
• How Forest Loss Is Leading to a Rise in Human Disease?
• Is Deforestation Necessary for Development?
• What Is the Cost of Deforestation?
• Does Deforestation Contribute to Food Insecurity?
• Why Deforestation Is the Main Cause of Environmental Degradation?
• Why Is Deforestation a Problem in Developing Countries?
• How Does Deforestation Lead To Famine?
• What Habitats Are Being Destroyed by Deforestation?
• Why Does Deforestation Affect Animals?
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Essay on Depletion of Natural Resources for Students and Children

500 words essay on depletion of natural resources.

Humans are using natural resources endlessly day by day. The population explosion is causing overexploitation of natural resources with little or no care to conserving them. To meet this massive population, depletion of natural resources is happening. However, we need to understand that natural resources are finite. Even renewable resources are not being given enough time to replenish. Thus, one can even wonder what the condition of non-renewable resources might be. Therefore, this depletion of natural resources is quite harmful to the earth and its inhabitants.

Impact of Depletion of Natural Resources

As we require minerals for almost everything from housing to business, they are being used up rapidly. There has been a major decline in these minerals like coal , copper and more. Soon, we will run out of them all if we do not conserve them properly.

Similarly, the oil reserves are also running out. We won’t be able to produce more oil and thus we won’t get any petroleum . There will be inflation in prices and many economies will crumble due to this lack of resources.

Similarly, forests are being cut down at an alarming rate. For instance, the recent decision to cut down the Aarey forest in Mumbai is a major example. However, the damage being done due to this deforestation is quite worrisome. This will only spike the carbon dioxide levels and alter the water cycle on earth. We will soon face frequent faces of floods and soil erosion through which even our biodiversity will decrease.

Most importantly, the way we are wasting water needs to be checked right away. As it is many countries are facing a water crisis and we know life without water is impossible. The farmers won’t get enough water for irrigation. It can also result in famine and many more deadly consequences. We must not waste these resources instead find ways to prevent this depletion.

Ways to Prevent Depletion of Natural Resource

There are many ways in which everyone can help in this prevention of natural resource depletion. Firstly, we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. You can do it by stop wasting electricity . Try to carpool with your neighbors or relative and take public transport instead.

Moreover, stop polluting water. As it is our freshwater bodies are running out of clean water. We must organize cleanliness drives to clean the water of these bodies. Do not let your tap run for a long time. The industries must be banned from dumping their toxic waste into the water. Furthermore, do not take long showers, instead use the buckets for a bath.

Most importantly, please plant more trees. Preserve our existing forests and do not let them be cut down. They are a very important natural resource needed for human survival. Use less paper to avoid cutting down trees. We can all come together and prevent this depletion of natural resources only if we realize the harmful consequences.

FAQs on Depletion of Natural Resources

Q.1 What is the impact of natural resource depletion?

A.1 Natural resource depletion means that we will soon find it hard to survive. The water cycle will be altered, carbon dioxide levels will increase, inflation will happen in oil prices, economies can also crumble following this depletion.

Q.2 How can we prevent natural resource depletion?

A.2 Everyone can do their bit to prevent this depletion. We must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels which are soon running out. Moreover, we must organize cleanliness drives to clear out water and make it safe. Other than that, instead of cutting down forests, plant more trees.

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The Global Depletion of Forests Essay Example

• Pages: 13 (3439 words)
• Published: May 23, 2017
• Type: Case Study

Deforestation results from the actions of man as well as those of the nature.

It could be further categorized on the objectives in which they were done as well. Though not much is thought when a tree is cut down only lately we understand how destructive it would be if this process to be continued. Although there are many organizations established for the management and protection of forests, they have not always been active for the purpose they were meant to be.While carrying out this study, I collected data on the statistics of deforestation, the main reasons for it, countries and regions that mostly produce or consume lumber, the projects which helped to lower the rates of deforestation and how they worked out and the difficulties that they encountered.

In this research, the interrelationships between the

above are elaborated as well. Background The depletion of forests, which is generally known as deforestation is discussed with the intention of finding solutions to it.The rate at which it is taking place is alarming and today it has become a global crisis. There are a number of reasons and ways that the forests are destroyed. In summary, it basically takes place with efforts to accomplish the needs and wants of man, though the nature is also another important contributing factor.

The latter is not as much destructive as the activities of man. The reasons for deforestation are many and are quite complex with an increase in the demand for lumber presenting on one hand and the poor socio-economic factors in the developing world contributing on the other hand.However, the poor recognition of the true value of forests and

the environmental services it endows with are the strongest factors attributed to the continuing man-made loss. Many international conferences realized the importance of minimizing the effects of deforestation. Many agencies such as UNEP, FAO, World Resources Institute (WRI) etc.

have conducted surveys to identify the extent and remedies to this problem. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations are working together to find solutions, but the support of the local communities is vital to achieve success in any of these programs.Forests of the world are being depleted The by-stands of old and large tree, a canopy of many layers, a composition of distinct species and a huge piling of organic matter are characterized as old growth forests and they have attributes which are positive. They contain a lot of carbon and a vast amount of genetic diversity, conserve and protect nutrients and soil, provide dwelling habitats for various species and finally they are a superb source of expensive, precious, valuable timber. Nearly a third of the Earth’s land extent is covered by forests which have an extent of approximately 3886 million ha.

 Read about  factors you should consider to understand the threat in your environment The deforestation rate is one of the most high of the Earth, at an average of 0. 8 per cent annually. Looking back from 30 years ago to the present, deforestation has been a process of continuation having a long history. Globally the total loss of forest cover during the late 20th century is nearly equal to 2. 4 percent of the total forest cover.

Tropical forests are

depleted at a rate of 1 percent per year. Also, during the ‘90s the net loss of the natural forests was about 16. 1 million ha annually and sadly, 15. 2 million ha of it happened in the topical sections of the globe. (“State of the …”, n. d.

World forest depletion has become a burning topic among many international and policy making organizations after realizing its interrelationship with the climatic change. 25 percent of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are a result of forest clearance. (Sabelli, n. d. )A considerable amount of the world forest covers had been cleared already when the Stockholm Conference took place.

Although it is generally believed too much of logging as the main cause of forest depletion, the history of deforestation is closely linked to the transformation of forest land for other purposes and to the expansion of the demography as well. “State of the …”, n. d. ) Depending on the country, the reasons for deforestation are multiple.

Some factors promoting deforestation are the insecurity in land tenure and the fragile forest governance. (Sabelli, n. d. ) Furthermore, high dependence on wood for fuel, population pressure, demand for timber products and the conversion of forests into agricultural land can be categorized as factors which are underlying for deforestation in the Asia-Pacific region. (“State of the …”, n.

d. ) In Latin America, the tropical deforestation shows discrepancy over time and geographical space.In the Peruvian Amazon agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation. Government policies as in Brazil such as the colonization scheme, subsides on agriculture, construction of new roads, as said before; the insecure land tenure, logging for

commercial purposes, small and large scale agriculture, ranching cattle, poverty, population growth and finally, migration have contributed to deforestation.

(Sabelli, n. d. ) In Brazil, as in the state of Para, road constructions such as the Inter-Oceanic Highway has significantly contributed to deforestation where it rose from 0. per cent to 17.

3 percent from 1972 to 1985. In Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador individual miners and mining corporations have cleared vast areas of forest lands. (“State of the …”, n. d.

)Nevertheless, the poor recognition of the true value of the standing forests and the environmental services it endows with including the fortification of the biodiversity, maintenance of the water cycle and the carbon sequestration are the strongest factors attributed to the continuing loss of forests. (Sabelli, n. d. Harvesting too much of industrial wood, firewood and other minor forest products as well as too much grazing are major contributors for forest depletion. The population growth, poverty, market and macro-economic policies and the increased trade in forest-related products come as other underlying causes.

To illustrate this, illegal logging and high exploitation of fuel wood as well as overgrazing were related to the severe energy crisis that occurred in the mid-1990s in Georgia and Armenia.Commercial methods of logging are mostly destructive as well. In Western Africa it was concluded that approximately 2m3 of other trees which were standing were destroyed when obtaining logs of 1m3. Where species are selected and targeted in particular, non-targeted species also have a probability of being damaged. (“State of the …”, n. d.

) In addition to all these forests are also harmed by insect pests, fire, diseases and extreme climatic

conditions which are the natural factors. Pest proliferation causes damages to forests which are not possible to reverse.At present, uncontrolled wildfire has become a major concern as it has the capability of destroying the surface biomass of a forest nearly up to a 50 per cent and cause severe damage to the fauna as well. To open up new lands for agriculture and to do the hunting with ease the traditional tool, fire has been used for new forest lands when they are being opened up. Huge areas of forests all over the Earth caught fire in the years of 1997 and 1998, during the intense conditions of the El Nino drought. Extreme and severe weather conditions are the other forms of natural threat.

When the storms struckEurope in December 1990, extensive damages were caused to forests. (“State of the …”, n. d. ) Moreover, during the 1990s, instead of the shifting systems, two thirds of the deforested lands were converted to agricultural lands permanently. It took place in a large scale in Latin America and in Africa and it was predominated by agricultural enterprises of small scale.

Huge areas of lands have been cleared by commercial farmers for soybean exports in Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay, for banana cultivation in the Caribbean, Ecuador, Colombia and Central America, and for coffee plantations in Brazil.In Asia, it was moreover distributed equally among permanent small and large scale agricultural areas with shifting cultivation. (“State of the …”, n. d.

) Mangrove forests have been successfully strong in the intertidal zones of the tropical and subtropical coasts of the Asian, Australian, American and African continents. Activities like fresh water

diversion, over harvesting, pollution, sea level fluctuation; prolonged flooding, timber and charcoal industries as well as coastal developments and tourism threaten mangrove forests and destroy them too.What is the demand for lumber? The available data clearly indicates that there is a rise in the trade trends in wood and wood products. The net production of domestically processed forest products for exporting has gone up and likely, the trades between countries that are not developed have gone up as well. The estimates as shown by the FAO 2000 indicate that the total round wood production, when taken globally has been nearly 3335 million cubic meters during 1999.

Over 50 percent of this was fuel-wood.In overall, approximately 90 percent was produced and consumed in countries which are yet developing. In 1990, the industrial round wood production was around 1550 million cubic meters and it was almost totally occurred in developed countries. It is grossed to be nearly 80 percent of the production, globally.

Mainly industrial wood, fuel wood and wood fiber have a higher demand. (“State of the …”, n. d. ) The tropical timber species are used in furniture, flooring, decking, architectural wood works and sculpturing. The tropical plywood trade showed a stable market while the whole log exchange has decreased.

In the USA, the culture of wooden house building causes major purchasing of wood and the purchases continued to rise from 2001 – 2007, says the US Bureau of Economic Analysis Survey. The Japanese forestry agency shows that the demand for lumber in Japan has been decreasing from 2001 – 2007. (Villazon M, n. d. ) Most West African and Central African countries meet their requirements

of domestic energy which is above 80 per cent of fuel wood.

(“State of the …”, n. d. ) (“State of the environment and policy perspective”, n. d. ) What is the supply situation of lumber?In 2005, the industrial round wood production was 273 million m3 and the sawn wood production was 71 million m3.

In 2020, the estimated industrial round wood production will be 83 million m3. (“State of the world’s …”, n. d. ) Over the last 50 years the production of lumber per cubic meter of round wood used, increased by 39 per cent. The total production of lumber in Washington remained relatively constant from 1988 to 1996.

But still there are cyclic fluctuations in the demand for forest products. (Power, 2005) During the last 10 years, the annual cutting volume of timber resources was 10 – 12 million m3 in Latvia alone.The total value of the produced goods of the Latvian wood processing industry in 2010, reached one million. The world production of furniture in 2010 is estimated to be worth around US$ 376 billion while the annual trade in furniture for the past 3 years surpassed US$ 100 billion.

The strong demand and high export prices have perpetuated the preference for direct export of raw logs and low value-added timber products. The increased domestic log supply has led to the expansion of the secondary wood processing industries as well. Krumins, Smits, Dagis, and Dubrovskis, n. d.

)A large portion of the logs which were exported after processing were as plywood, veneer and sawn timber. In the year of 2009, 395 mills that produced furniture as well as furniture parts and

wood work, were registered in the STIDC; the agency that regulates principles related to industries that processed timber in Sarawak. A present study carried out by the International Timber Trade Organization (ITTO) mentions that about 26 percent of the furniture mills in Sarawak were actively producing.The trade of tropical lumber and wood products has powered the economic growth of many Asian countries in the South-East in the past three decades. Harvesting timber in a large scale began in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines in the 1960s.

It was primarily done to supply the markets in Korea and Japan. At present, among all the global wooden furniture exporters Malaysia is ranked 10. Sarawak having rich resources of high quality timber is among the world’s top suppliers of tropical semi-finished wood products.Following the tightening of regulations related to forestry and banning the exportation of logs by the government of Indonesia, Sarawak became the top rank supplier of plywood as well as tropical logs in the region of South-East Asia.

(Ngui, Agrawal, and Voon, n. d. ) Now even the Sarawak furniture manufacturers are facing a shortage of timber suppliers. (Krumins, Smits, Dagis, and Dubrovskis, n.

d. ) Which projects are in place to slow down the destruction of forests? In 1972, forests were recognized by the Stockholm conference as the most complex, largest and self-perpetuating of all ecosystems.It emphasized on the need for using forest policies and sound-land, due monitoring of which condition that the forests of the world are in, and the introduction of management planning of forests. It was advised that the countries must make the basic and applied research stronger for forest management

plans to be improved. As a result systems of forest governance are being rapidly evolved, along with the related responsibilities and rules of the governments, civilians, communities of indigenous people and the NGOs.

(“State of the …”, n. d. During the past 30 years the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) 1982, FAO 1995, FAO 2001b, UNEP 2001 and World Resources Institute (WRI) 1997 have carried out assessments of the changes in forest cover.The FAO studies showed the depletion of forests as due to the changes in the economical, demographical, technological and institutional factors. Therefore, these projects were aimed at formation of well-developed policies and institutional frameworks, creation of favorable economic conditions such as an acceptable capital income, control of the expenses for energy and fuel as well as the growth in population. “State of the world’s …”, n.

d. ) The Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP) was jointly launched by the UNDP, FAO, WRI and the World Bank. The TFAP consisted of four areas of priority for action; land-use forestry; energy and fuel-wood; tropical forest ecosystem conservation; and finally, institutions. It aimed to unite or to bring together the consumer and the producer countries of timber in the tropics by establishing the ITTO under the UNCTAD in 1983.The ITTO consists of committees which are primarily working on industries, reforestation and markets.

“State of the …”, n. d. ) Many international conferences also realized the importance of reforestation to minimize the climate change. The Kyoto Protocol specially recognized the importance of the land-use change for climatic improvement and thereby, created a mechanism for the promotion of industrialized countries facilitating reforestation projects in the developing countries to

make up for their greenhouse emissions.

This is named as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). (Sabelli, n. d. ) The Kyoto protocol might have a profound effect on the forest sector.The UNFCC and the other parties have met with an agreement on the modalities and rules of accounting for the sequestration of carbon by forests.

This might pave the path for the 1st world countries making their investments on projects of reforestation and afforestation in the underdeveloped countries, in return for the units that reduce the emission of carbon under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). (“State of the …”, n. d. ) Forest activities as an important climate mitigation strategy were again identified at the UN conference of the Parties 15th Session in Copenhagen.

At this conference projects that Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) were identified as important. (Sabelli, n. d. ) The CDM and the REDD had trilateral objectives namely; mitigation of climatic change; reduction of tropical deforestation; and alleviation of rural poverty.

They have created new market opportunities in the sphere of forest management and generated opportunities for poverty alleviation in the tropics. Here the new commodity traded is carbon. Carbon forestry offset projects presented the international community a novel means of forest conservation.Here the landowners and the governments would be able to earn revenue for maintaining and augmenting carbon-storage in their property by practices such as protecting the existing forest cover, minimizing deforestation, reforesting affected areas, augmenting tree cover and sustainable forest management. (Sabelli, n. d.

) In the long term basis, the local institutions are very important in managing the depletion of forests as they are resourced with knowledge and

experience in managing forestry, agriculture and animal husbandry. “State of the world’s …”, n. d. ) Having to face with inadequate human and financial resources, the governments of underdeveloped countries have become highly dependent on the local communities to obtain assistance to manage and protect forests which are owned by the state.

(“State of the …”, n. d. ) The joint participation of local communities in forest management, is presently a feature of significance of the national programs and policies regarding forests worldwide.Such schemes based on the local communities are being established benefiting them in their income levels and in the conservation of forests. In the eastern regions of Africa, schemes of agroforestry are being established in order to meet the two needs for tree products and agricultural production from small scaled holdings.

(“State of the …”, n. d. ) Deforestation is reduced by making economic activities available to local communities that supported forest conservations simultaneously.The promotion of forest products that are non-timber; such as extraction of rubber, collection of Brazil nuts, ecotourism, forest sustainable certification for forest management, organic or fair trade agricultural product cultivation.

E. g. shade - grown coffee are some of them. (Sabelli, n. d.

) In Europe, many countries are spending time and money to decrease the production of wood from the forests of nature, on other services for the environment, on enhancing the biological diversity, and on functions to protect them in a better way.In order to support the above mentioned efforts, the framework Pan-European Forest Certification (PEFC) provides a voluntary mechanism for the certification of forests. Fines and economic sanctions are imposed on legal or illegal logging to

put an end to deforestation. Enforcement systems and strengthened monitoring, transparent decision making, simple laws with severe punishments are elements of the fight against corruption and forest activities which are illegal. (“State of the …”, n. d.

)Legal requirements will have to be met to limit the forest clearance for the bio fuel demand as well. “State of the world’s …”, n. d. ) Projects are created to start reforestation and they are directed to protect environmental services such as water shades and to maintain biodiversity. Adjustments in water and land constrains are needed urgently towards promoting the supply of requirements of wood products and wood.

(“State of the world’s …”, n. d. ) Globally, there is a trend to greatly rely on plantations as the main source of industrial timber. The global plantation establishment has been led by Asia. Over 60 percent of all plantations of forests were located in Asia.

Investments in plantations in developing countries by the private sector and foreigners have significantly raised forest expansion schemes known as ‘out grower’. (“State of the …”, n. d. ) In agroforestry, a selected timber species is grown in association with annual crops or pasture. This can improve crop production, uphold nutrient cycling and soil fertility, and reduce pressure on the natural forests. (Sabelli, n.

d. ) The status of ‘protected area’ is given to nearly 12 per cent of the forests of Africa as forests are being re-designated as ‘protected zones’.In some Asian countries, there have been inadequate implementations, but bans in Sri Lanka and New Zealand have shifted to alternative sources from harvesting and have proved to be effective. In Nepal, rules were

implemented in 1974 for forest user groups to handle certain areas.

The groups of forest users manage, protect, use the area of the forest, share all the benefits among themselves and have the total rights to the income of the forests. Managing landscapes and integrating ecosystems which are broadly approached forms of forest management are evolving to be more accepted and practiced. (“State of the …”, n. . )During the past decade, the civil society has strongly promoted the ‘certification of forest management’ as it is an instrument which is market-based allowing consumers to identify wood products that have good environmental standards. The FSC, the EMS and the National Certification Schemes are the three main approaches in certification.

Here, those forests that are managed in a better way are certified and provided with an incentive of a market. To protect the national market and to overcome environmental problems, certain countries have currently introduced restrictions on imports as well.Forest industries are also continuing to adapt to changes in the unprocessed materials, increasing the supply of wood from plantations and of a much more variety in the range of the type of the plant. At present, a number of innovative methods have emerged to make maximum use of currently available supplies and the remaining timber as well as the waste.

Developments such as glued and laminated timber, enclosed veneer timber and wood fiber based products etc. are a few to illustrate this.

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School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

• College of the Environment
• University of Washington

SEFS Associate Professor, Laura Prugh, pens Guest Essay for New York Times

SEFS Associate Professor, Dr. Laura Prugh, writes that ditching daylight savings, as many are in favor of, would be a mistake.

Prugh writes, “It’s not just that our afternoons and evenings would be shrouded in more darkness, which often comes with higher crime, more vehicle collisions and fewer opportunities to enjoy the outdoors after work or school. There’s another problem with standard time, and it’s gone all but unnoticed until now. Last year, my research team showed that standard time leads to far more vehicles colliding with deer .” We aren’t just talking deer deaths. Human deaths and injuries as well as collision costs are also at stake. “The switch from daylight saving to standard time in autumn causes peak traffic volumes to shift from before sunset to after sunset, leading to a 16% spike in deer-vehicle collisions. By reducing traffic after dark, our model predicts that year-round daylight saving time would prevent 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2,054 human injuries, and US$1.19 billion in collision costs annually.”

Read the article in the New York Times