Deforestation the major cause of deforestation in africa is clearing forest for crop production. Deforestation from 196878 in 39 countries in africa, latin america, and asia is significantly related to the rate of population growth over the period and to wood fuels production and wood. Fragmentation is also a major deforestation process driven by various local agents. This blog is focusing on causes and effects of deforestation in zimbabwe. Deforestation causes can either be direct or indirect. Deforestation causes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Tropical deforestation is responsible for about 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to utilize the land or trees. Indeed some 31 countries do not even make the list because they have already removed most of their forests and even if that remain are seriously fragmented and degraded.
The most discussed causes of deforestation such as population, gross domestic product, external debt, government policies etc. A forest stand is a close community of trees sufficient in size, composition and location to distinguish it from other nearby communities. Forests in africa are believed to have been cleared 29 times faster than they were being planted in the early 1980s compared to 10. The main cause of deforestation in the east african country of ethiopia is a growing population and subsequent higher demand for agriculture, livestock production and fuel wood.
Deforestation also has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing negative feedback cycles contributing to global warming. Changes in worlds climate due to extreme alterations of average atmospheric temperatures are a leading cause of forest degradation. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. Deforestation has even been caused by extensive warthroughout history fire has often been used to deprive the enemy of necessary resources. Farmers often clear the land for cattle by using slash and burn techniques cutting down trees and burning them. The indirect causes are those factors which actually trigger deforestation. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons learned and the implications for international forest carbon policy 3 figure 5. The causes of deforestation in developing countries. A competitive global economy drives the need for money in economically challenged tropical countries.
The increase in global demand for commodities, such as palm oil and soybeans, are. At the national level, governments sell logging concessions to raise money for projects, to pay international debt, or. Concluding remarks there is a clear linkages between deforestation and worlds demands of fiber, food, and fuel understanding the underlying or indirect causes of deforestation is crucial to address redd and climate change most deforestation is driven. Illegal and destructive logging and mining practices are heavy hitters in deforestation and degradation of the sub saharan land. Trees and plants emit carbon in form of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Deforestation causes the carbon in the trees to go into the air again, and this causes more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. An increasing supplydemand for products such as palm oil and soybeans are driving producers to clear forests at an unnerving rate. An overview of studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s reveals a strong relationship between population growth and deforestation in central america, east and west africa, and south asia, but a much less clear association in amazonia south america and central africa. Deforestation in recent days has become the curse of our world that resulted in the. Natural causes as hurricanes, fires, parasites and floods. Deforestation is one of the major causes of enhanced green house effects. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, deforestation causes global warming.
Logging, including illegal logging, is a driver of deforestation. The spearmans rank correlation coefficients between two deforestation indicators and five. What is forest degradation and what are various causes of it. The conversion of forests into agricultural plantations is a major cause of deforestation. Investigation of deforestation in east africa on regional. Each year, millions of acres of forest around the world are destroyed or degraded by fire. However, most of the existing literature typically distinguishes between two levels of specific factors. If theyre not reforested, they inevitably end up as wastelands directly from soil erosion and desertification. Deforestation is a serious threat to our world despite it taking the backseat to more talked about issues. Evidence supports that africa is most likely to suffer the most the devastating impacts of natural calamities such as droughts and floods. Pdf the causes of deforestation in developing countries.
A major cause of deforestation is agriculture plantations. Causes of deforestation are the forces that motivate the agents to clear the forests. Deforestation deforestation regrowth undisturbed forest forest fragments figure 1. Analysis on the causes of deforestation and forest. Deforestation and forest degradation in the congo basin. The increase of mining on tropical forests is furthering damage due to the rising demand and high mineral prices. The dark areas are forest, the white is deforested areas, and the gray is regrowth. Deforestation in uganda and massive deforestation in mpigi district. Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to. Africa natural resources institute kampala, uganda, east africa tel. Deforestation facts and information national geographic. Pdf the perplex of deforestation in subsaharan africa. Distribution of the forest cover by forest type for the countries of the congo basin.
Distribution of the causes of deforestation and forest degradation in different regions of the planet. Closed markets, the cattle complex, and environmental change in northcentral namibia, 18901990, in journal of southern african studies 351 2009. However, the recent studies conducted by africa natural resources institute indicate that forest cover loss has now increased to an estimated 200,000 hectares annually. These changes in climate cause extended droughts and extremely dry or cold periods which create undesirable environmental conditions for tree covers to thrive. Deforestation is not the only cause of desertification. Introduction understanding drivers of deforestation and degradation is fundamental for the development of policies and measures content from. The changes in area of forest by region and subregion are shown in table 1. More deforestation, combined with widespread degradation of these savannas, translates to three to six times the loss of carbon as compared to previous estimates, edward mitchard and his. The most important cause of deforestation in tropical africa is the expansion of subsistence agriculture and the. The causes of deforestation in developing countries allen. Degraded soil diminishes food production and leads to soil erosion, which in turn contributes to desertification.
Sep 05, 2018 deforestation rates in southern africa s woodlands are five times higher than prior estimates, according to recent research published in early august. Deforestation, the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses, is considered to be a contributing factor to global climate change. Growing populations need more agricultural land or better farming practices to support them. Much scholarly work trying to answer this question either points to a single dominant factor most often population pressures or human encroachment through shifting. This blog will address all those issues in order to increase citizens awareness over deforestation. More monitoring of the deforestation in east africa are emergent. As of 2008, africa is suffering deforestation at twice the world rate, according to the united nations environment programme. The term does not include the removal of industrial forests such as plantations of gums or pines. Corruption at the government institutions, wealth and power due to harvesting of the riches of the forest, population growth and urbanization are some of the common. Deforestation is happening in southern africa much faster. Sub saharan african people do not have the means or funds for better way of farming. A recent study by the food and agriculture organization fao reported that during the decade from 1980 to 1990, the worlds tropical forests were reduced by an average of 15. Deforestation occurred at faster rates in nations with predominantly dry forests. Penny environmental and developmental consultantpractitioner, cape town, south africa keywords.
The context and causes for african deforestation become clearer through an analysis of new, nationallevel data on forest cover change for ssa countries for the 20002005 period. The obvious causes of desertification and deforestation consist of major ecosystem changes, such as land conversion for various purposes, over dependence on natural resources and several forms of unsustainable land use. The firstlevel or direct causes are grouped into two classes, i. Harvesting, forest fires, and insect infestations do not count as deforestation because the affected areas will eventually grow back. The history of deforestation in africa dates back a few thousands of years, that is, to the time when man started to be engaged in agricultural activity, cattle herding, and metal production. In addition, between 2000 and 2010, the world lost about 3. Causes and efforts to control soil erosion in africa. Central african institute of statistics and social and economic studies. Typically, deforestation is clearing a lot of trees without the intention of establishing future growth. Deforestation is directly being caused by activities such as illegal logging, agricultural development, mining and infrastructure projects but there. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation. At the national level, governments sell logging concessions to raise money for projects, to pay international debt, or to develop industry.
Direct causes people have been deforesting the earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. It has also been noted that desertification can have far reaching physical and socioeconomic impacts. The history of deforestation in africa dates back a few thousands of years, that is. Causes of deforestation farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account for more than half of all deforestation. The national determinants of deforestation in subsaharan. The rate of forest loss from both deforestation and natural causes is slowing, but remains alarmingly high 2 and of worldwide concerns. Land tenure and increasing population are also a major cause of deforestation. The recent dynamic in ssa varies from dry to wet biomes. Brazil drc indonesia cameroon administered by the government designated for use by communities and indigenous peoples owned by communities. Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to fourfifths of their preagricultural area. Unsustainable management of forests in ghana from 19002010. Urban sprawl is one of the most difficult deforestation related issues to solve. The destruction of the forests is occurring due to various reasons, one of the main reasons being the shortterm economic benefits. We exclude local deforestation agents from our modeling but concentrate on the underlying causes, which we believe are most important in scenario making and as policy instruments.
Deforestation and forest degradation in the congo basin cifor. Rapid deforestation is a major problem in east africa and seriously affects desertification and climate change in east africa. Some sources claim that deforestation has already wiped out roughly 90% of west africa s original forests. Land can turn dry and barren due to drought, shifts in the climate or aggressive agricultural or grazing practices. One of the major causes of deforestation in sub saharan africa today is clearing of the forests for agricultural uses. As the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, a layer forms in the atmosphere that traps sun radiation. Ghana was the leading producer of cocoa until 1985 when she was overtaken by ivory coast. Deforestation rerates in southern africa was greater than other areas of africa in the 1990s and are predicted to stay high. Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and their. This is particularly worrisome since, according to the uns food and agriculture organization, some 83% of subsaharan african people depend on the land for their livelihood, and food production in africa will have to increase almost 100. Human activities as agricultural expansion, cattle breeding, timber extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam construction and infrastructure development. Atmospheric for global warming deforestation is the major contributor.
These causes can further be classified into indirect and direct causes. Deforestation rates in southern africa s woodlands are five times higher than prior estimates, according to recent research published in early august. How poverty is contributing to deforestation across africa. Conversely the south america, africa and oceania had registered the net annual loss of forest area anon. Jun 17, 2016 deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. New wave of deforestation threatens africas climate resilience. Deforestation is a burning issue because it is increasing daily. Causes of deforestation agriculture the most important cause of deforestation in tropical africa is the expansion of subsistence agriculture and the extraction of trees for fuelwood allen and barnes 1985. Our model uses annual data spanning from 1990 to 2004. A conservation atlas of tropical forests in africa was published by sayer et al. Other reasons include low education and inactivity from the government, although the current government has taken some steps to tackle deforestation. Over half of todays deforestation occurs in latin america, where roughly 10% of the amazon has gone litvinoff 1990. Fire has also played a major role in the process of deforestation and in shaping african forests.
One of the main causes of deforestation in ghana is agriculture. In africa it is strongly linked to poverty, food security, hunger, migration and conflicts over limited water and grazing resources. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they arent just meeting local or national needs. Forest ownership distribution in selected tropical countries in 2008. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify and evaluate the spatial and. Addressing the causes of tropical deforestation lessons. There are several effects of deforestation on earths climate and nature.
This paper sought to evaluate the causes of deforestation in 27 subsaharan african ssa countries. Some of the proposed solutions include regulating the logging industry, developing forest protection schemes, and addressing human activities that promote deforestation. Causes and drawbacks essay 4 400 words 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. Basic concepts of deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation 2. Organizations such as farm africa are working with the federal and. This is mainly because people in the forefront of cutting down and burning trees do not know the aftermath effects of cutting down trees. Nevertheless, deforestation has been a widespread phenomenon in tropical africa, with an annual forest clearance of between 1.
Deforestation from 196878 in 39 countries in africa, latin america, and asia is significantly related to the rate of population growth over the period and to wood fuels production and wood exports in 1968. Fires are a natural and beneficial element of many forest landscapes, but they are problematic when they occur in the wrong place, at the wrong frequency or at the wrong severity. This is due to the fact that, at its base, urban sprawl is driven by overpopulation. While deforestation in other parts of the world is mainly caused by commercial logging or cattle ranching the leading causes in africa are associated with human activity.
There is a clear linkages between deforestation and worlds demands of fiber, food, and fuel understanding the underlying or indirect causes of deforestation is crucial to address redd and climate change most deforestation is driven from outside forestry sector e. Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of populations, as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record. There are many causes of tropical deforestation commercial logging, largescale agriculture e. Loss in species caused by tropical deforestation and their recovery through. The most discussed causes of deforestation such as population, gross domestic product. According to fao, deforestation is the conversion of. While there is general agreement that deforestation is a problem, there is has been consensus on its causes or on ways to develop a solution. Distribution of the forest cover of the countries of the congo basin. Causes, effects and control strategies 5 deforestation are maintained. In a global context, annual deforestation rates are relatively low in central africa, compared to other rainforests in southeast asia and south america.
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