Deforestation

Deforestation

Introduction

Deforestation is the removal of trees and other plants from forest areas more quickly than they can be replanted or regenerated naturally. It is a problem because of the parts that the trees have to play in stabilising the climate, atmospheric composition and soil structure.

Reasons for Deforestation

There is a large variety of reasons for why people choose to clear forests:
· Agricultural purposes – Grazing cattle or planting crops. Poor farmers in developing countries chop down a small area of trees and burn them, which provide nutrients for the soil (know as the ‘Slash-and-Burn’ technique). This supply is quickly exhausted so the farmers move on to a fresh area, and the cycle starts again. This occurs on a much larger scale for intensive or modern agriculture e.g. large cattle pastures often replace rain forest to grow beef .
· Commercial logging – the cutting down of trees for sale as timber or pulp. In the developed world,...