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Deforestation
Forests supply the necessary material for hundreds of basic items we use everyday--items like food, fuel, medicines, and clothing. Forests are home to millions of people and provide a livelihood for millions more. In addition, researchers are learning how forests help maintain the planet's ecological balance, play a role in determining climate, and help conserve biological diversity. They also play an important role in maintaining our environment. Trees help limit water and wind erosion by holding the soil in place. They recycle vital nutrients back into the soil. And they absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
Forests are also important for what they provide for our very human societies. Fuelwood is the main source of energy in the homes of 40% of the world's population, or 2.5 billion people! And from wood we manufacture all sorts of important products, from paper to plywood. In the meantime, people have come to realize that non-wood forest products (food, medicines, clothing) are also very important. Three-quarters of the world's population depends on traditional medicines, many of which come from forest products.
Over fifteen years, between 1980 and 1995, the world lost about 180 million hectares of forest (a hectare is 10,000 square meters)-a total area bigger than South Africa and almost the size of Mexico. Starting off at about 3.63 billion hectares in 1980, the earth's forested area dropped to about 3.45 billion hectares by 1995. Now, forests cover only about 27 percent of the land surface of the earth.
To make matters worse, we are losing forested land at a faster rate than ever before-this is called the rate of loss, which refers to the area of forested land that disappears per year (or any other given time period). In the 1980-1985 period, forest was lost at the average rate of 11.4 million hectares a year. Now the rate of loss has almost doubled, to 18.5 million hectares a year-that's over half the total area of the United Kingdom every year!
Why are the world's forests rapidly being destroyed? Deforestation comes about when farmers clear land for agriculture. This happens when they need more land because the population has grown or the soil has become less fertile from intensive use. Governments clear forests for large resettlement schemes, for huge cattle ranches and agricultural plantations, and for building roads, towns, and hydroelectric reservoirs. Forests also become degraded from disease, pollution, lack of rainfall, and overuse (by tourists, miners, and lumber companies, for instance). Farmers often use burning as a way to clear the land-it is faster and easier than using a hoe or plough. These fires sometimes rage out of control, as they have recently in the Amazon region and Indonesia. Overall, 86 percent of tropical forest loss, and two-thirds of all forest loss, was the result of agricultural expansion.
Many organizations are working so that the growing demand for forest products can be met while our forests are at the same time safeguarded as a source of food and medicine, as sites of biological diversity, and for the essential role they play in maintaining the environment. This is called Sustainable Forest Management, which means using our forests in ways that will conserve them for future generations.
Comprehension Questions:
1. How do forests help to maintain our environment?
2. What are three products that the forest provides?
3. What are three causes of deforestation?
4. How do farmers often clear forests?
5. What is Sustainable Forest Management?
Next Printout: Getting to Know the Forest