Deforestation - should we care?
A. Questions
· How does deforestation relate to larger issues, such as global warming?
· Which regions of the world undergo the most deforestation?
· How many trees are cut down every year?
· How does deforestation impact humans?
B. Background
· Plants are essential to every ecosystem on land, not only because they are sources of food, but because they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen gas. [However, since an ever-growing number of trees are cut down each day, less CO2 is absorbed, and thus more CO2 remains in the atmosphere to trap the sun’s heat. Therefore, deforestation prevents plants from absorbing carbon emissions and contributes to the problem of global warming.] (Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/)
· In a study released in September 2015 in Nature, a team of 38 scientists found that the planet is home to 3.04 trillion trees, blowing away the previously estimate of 400 billion. That means, the researchers say, that there are 422 trees for every person on Earth. However, the study also found that there are 46 percent fewer trees on Earth than there were before humans started the lengthy, but recently accelerating, process of deforestation. “We can now say that there’s less trees than at any point in human civilization,” says Thomas Crowther, a postdoctoral researcher at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies who is the lead author on the research. “Since the spread of human influence, we’ve reduced the number almost by half, which is an astronomical thing.”
Most trees are cut down for their timber, but other industries—such as farming and oil extraction—also contribute to deforestation.
A brief history on global warming:
i. The burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels has resulted in the release of carbon-based greenhouse gases. Coal was the substance that powered the world’s first factories and steam engines, but today, oil has become the dominant fossil fuel, powering our vehicles and our electric grid. Although many countries are actively reducing their carbon emissions, fossil fuels continue to be a vital component of the global economy, and oil is still the #1 major export of over 30 countries. (USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/06/global-warming-coastal-flooding-worsens-sea-levels-rise/677699002/)
ii. The Earth’s average global temperature has increased by 1.5ºC within the past century. This small change is enough to have devastating effects on Earth, in the form of acid rain, the melting of ice caps, the rising of sea levels, and flooding. (USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/06/global-warming-coastal-flooding-worsens-sea-levels-rise/677699002/)
iii. Deforestation only makes the problem of carbon emissions and rising temperatures worse, as there are fewer and fewer trees to absorb CO2 and release oxygen into the atmosphere.
C. Facts & Data
· On a Global Scale
i. Research from the Nature journal claims that humans cut down 15 billion trees every year (averaging nearly 500 trees every second) (Time.com, http://time.com/4019277/trees-humans-deforestation/)
ii. According to Scientific American, deforestation accounts for 15% of global carbon emissions
1. According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), cars and trucks account for a comparable 14% of global carbon emissions (Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/)
· The United States
i. The U.S. occupies 10% of the world’s forest land, but it produces 25% of the world’s timber (U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/brochures/docs/2000/ForestFactsMetric.pdf)
ii. Private forest owners mostly cut down trees for agriculture
iii. Although deforestation is prevalent in the United States, the U.S. is also combatting the problem by artificially planting trees
1. In the Eastern United States, 10.4% of all forest land (16.2 million hectares) consists of planted trees (U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/brochures/docs/2000/ForestFactsMetric.pdf)
· The Amazon Rainforest
i. The trees in the Amazon account for 20% of the world’s oxygen supply, and they currently absorb an average of 2.2 billion tons of CO2 annually (https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/articles/tropical-forests-in-our-daily-lives?id=daily_lives)
ii. However, 78 million acres of trees in the Amazon are cut down every year
iii. The main reason for clearing the Amazon Rainforest is to clear land for farmers and cattle ranchers (The Economist, https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2014/06/05/cutting-down-on-cutting-down)
1. Preserving the Amazon is not profitable for the common people living in South America, as, according to an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) report, “Conservation costs money, while profits from timber, charcoal, pasture and cropland drive people to cut down forests.” (Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/)
iv. The South American national governments are doing little to protect the Amazon Rainforest
1. In 2012, the Brazilian Congress even changed its deforestation laws by allowing an extra 112,000 square miles of the Amazon to be cut down (The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/01/brazil-amazon-protection-laws-invite-deforestation-ngo)
In 2004, the Amazon Rainforest lost 7 million acres’ worth of trees. This land area is almost the same size as the entire country of Belgium (The Economist, https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2014/06/05/cutting-down-on-cutting-down).
· Borneo
i. Over 90% of forest land in Borneo (an island that is split between 3 countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei) has been cleared
ii. The main purpose for forest clearing in Borneo is to create palm oil plantations (National Geographic, https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/150111-borneo-rainforest-environment-conservation-ngbooktalk/)
This picture from National Geographic gives us a perspective of the damage faced by forests in Borneo.
The World of Drugs - who knew they would be part of this problem as well:
i. Drug traffickers cut down 5-10% of protected forest land in Central America every year
1. These criminals clear land in order to build airplane landing strips, where they can sell narcotic drugs such as cocaine (Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/drug-traffickers-move-tropical-forests-fall-180949547/)
D. Conclusion
· Trees are cut down by the second, and the loss of forest habitats threatens animal life, especially in biodiverse regions such as the Amazon and Bornean Rainforests. However, we humans are likely to suffer dire consequences from deforestation too, through the decrease in our oxygen supply and the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) claims that “Any realistic plan to reduce global warming pollution sufficiently—and in time—to avoid dangerous consequences must rely in part on preserving tropical forests.”
E. Bibliography
· http://time.com/4019277/trees-humans-deforestation/
· https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/01/brazil-amazon-protection-laws-invite-deforestation-ngo
· https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2014/06/05/cutting-down-on-cutting-down
· https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/
· https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/articles/tropical-forests-in-our-daily-lives?id=daily_lives
· https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/brochures/docs/2000/ForestFactsMetric.pdf
· https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/drug-traffickers-move-tropical-forests-fall-180949547/
