Is Deforestation An Environmental Issue

[Imelda Matchett]

Deforestationis the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through deliberate, natural, or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest.

The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for Indigenous people.

Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons. The most common reason is agriculture, with 80% of deforestation resulting from extensive cattle ranching, and logging for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since people began converting from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing. However, after the onset of the modern era, it became an epidemic.

One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat. 70% of land animals and plant species live in forests. Not only does deforestation threaten species known to us, but also those unknown.

The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature. Deforestation results in a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for many inhabitants.

In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as valuable carbon sinks. Deforested areas lose that ability and release more carbon.

One of the most important forests for regulating water cycles across the planet is the Amazon rainforest. Its millions of trees work together to release moisture into the air, creating atmospheric "rivers" that regulate Earth's weather patterns.

Without forests, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle. The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions.

As large amounts of forests are cleared away, allowing exposed land to deteriorate and the habitats of innumerable species to be destroyed, the Indigenous communities who live there and depend on the forest to sustain their way of life are also under threat.

The loss of forests has an immediate and direct effect on their lifestyle. Many Indigenous communities depend on what the forest has to offer for food, medicine, building materials, and cultural resources. Because many of these communities are located in remote areas in dense forests, the loss of these resources poses many challenges to their health and wellbeing.

Often, frontline communities have little say in how their local environment is altered by governments and corporations. At the same time, these communities face the most immediate and threatening impacts of environmental degradation and climate change.

The governments of nations with rainforests within their borders often attempt to evict Indigenous tribes before the deforestation begins. This undermines the sovereignty of these Indigenous groups, especially when governments fail to seek their consultation and consent before starting any projects.

Amazonia - The area around the River Amazon in South America, principally in Brazil, but also extending into Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. The region comprises approximately one third of the world's remaining tropical rainforest.2

Amazonia Legal (Legal Amazon) - An area of 5.2 million km, constituting all of the Brazilian Amazon. The Brazilian government created the Amazonia Legal designation in 1953 as a way to plan and promote the social and economic development of states in the Amazon region, which historically share the same economic, political, and social challenges.3

Land Surface Albedo - The ratio of the solar radiation reflected from Earth's surface to the solar radiation incident upon it, which is critical to the regulation of Earth's surface energy budget. In essence, land surface albedo is a measurement of the "whiteness" or reflectivity of the surface of the land.

Slash-and-burn - Relating to or denoting a method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown, typically used as a method for clearing forest land for farming,9 also called fire-fallow cultivation.

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world as well as the largest river basin, spanning 670 million hectares16 across 9 South American countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.17 The Amazon contains more species of plants and animals than anywhere else on the planet, and is believed to be the home of 10% of all species on Earth.18 Of the many plant species in the Amazon, 75% are unique to the Amazon. There are 3,000 different species of fish, which is the largest number of freshwater fish species in the world.19 Additionally, the Amazon rainforest is home to 34 million people who depend on its resources.20

One factor that influences Amazonian deforestation, as well as its other contributing factors, is government involvement. This takes the form of legislation, or lack thereof, that directly protects the forest, but also includes the policies surrounding logging permits, the process of designating protected lands, and the rules around businesses involved in the Amazon rainforest. These policies include penalties, fines, warnings, and seizures of equipment, or lack thereof, when legislation is violated. As the Amazon rainforest includes territory of 9 different countries, multiple governments are involved in its protection. However, the most influential government by far is the Brazilian government as 64% of the Amazon falls within its borders.26 27

Deforestation caused by cattle ranching is supported by an international demand for cattle-related products, including leather, meat, dairy, and cosmetics, which flow into companies in multiple industries worth billions of dollars.35 Deforestation through cattle-ranching is further driven by low costs for inputs, such as breeding bulls or cows, fencing, artificial feed, medicine, and labor, as well as ease of transportation and inexpensive land.36 At the onset of these deforestation problems, the government of Brazil had incentives for many years to increase land usage and ownership through cattle and clearing land.37

Roads and other related infrastructure have a huge impact on deforestation by increasing accessibility to the forest. After extensive research into all roads and transportation routes (including those that were illegal or unofficial), one study found that nearly 95% of all deforestation occurred within either 5.5 km of roads or 1 km of rivers, as both facilitate much more access to the rainforest.38 Additionally, the study found that protected areas near roads and rivers had much lower deforestation (10.9%) than did unprotected areas near roads and rivers (43.6%).39

There are about 150 dams in the Amazon region, with hundreds more planned.44 Dams contribute to deforestation by replacing large swaths of forest with reservoirs of water. One example is the Belo Monte Dam, which is the fourth largest hydroelectric project on Earth. Its reservoir was filled in 2015, taking out 260 square miles of lowland and forest.45 Other examples of dams in the Amazon include the Balbina, Tucuru, and Samuel dams. The area of forest lost to reservoir creation was 1,200 square miles at Balbina, 744 square miles at Tucuru, and 168 square miles at Samuel.46 Perhaps most notable, however, is the Tucuru Dam, which is located in the northeastern Brazilian Amazon and is the largest dam ever built in a tropical rainforest.47 Its reservoir displaced 40,000 people and flooded 2,875 square kilometers of forest.48

Flooding forests for reservoirs is not the only way dams contribute to deforestation. In addition, dams displace populations (Belo Monte has displaced 20,000 indigenous people since it was built in 2015),49 attract more people to the dam location with related jobs, and expose areas along the many roads that are built to each dam. All of these effects lead to more deforestation via increased land development and increased access for various groups engaged in deforestation.50 Many projects associated with these dams, like that of creating waterways for soy transportation, contribute to deforestation as well.51

Around the world, agriculture accounts for about 27% of all forest loss, and Amazonia is no exception.52 Oftentimes, farmers will use slash-and-burn techniques to clear land for growing or harvesting commodities like soy, palm oil, gold, sugarcane, and beef, which depletes the forest cover and increases the risk of fire. In 2003, one of the worst years for deforestation in the Amazon, it was discovered that more than 20% of the forest in Mato Grosso (a Brazilian state) was converted to cropland.53 Much of this specific cause is powered by global markets and economic conditions.54 Generally, specific deforestation rates tend to rise and fall in concert with the price of soybeans, beef, timber, and other crops in the region.55

The elimination of tree cover is the main reason for species disturbance. Not only do the trees of the Amazon rainforest provide a home for many species, but the canopy of the rainforest also regulates temperature which is critical for numerous other species. Without the regulation these tree canopies provide, the environment becomes more like a savannah with much less vegetation, a highly variant temperature from day to night, and much lower humidity levels. This change also results in high winds and exposure to direct sunlight, solar radiation, and, at times, heavy precipitation, all of which could prove fatal to many species.

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