Causes

Causes of Deforestation:

The reasons leading to deforestation can vary from one region to another. Some of the causes can be:

•         The increase in population, which leads to the increase in demand for food and land (McCarthy et al, 2011).

The increase in food demand will lead to an increase in the food supply, which can be achieved by deforestation for agricultural or animal farming purposes.

The increase in the land demand will lead to an increase in deforestation to use the land for expansion purposes, with the construction of the necessary infrastructure needed, and in the process of construction (such as furniture and material for construction), can increase even more the rates of deforestation.

• Recently, what a lot of people also talk about is the “clean energy” factors, which can be achieved in several ways, for example ethanol production with sugarcane in Brazil or palm oil in Southeast Asia. What seemed to be green turned out to be a driver to the deforestation rates in the country to rise in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia  (Rosenthal, 2007).

• According to McCarthy el at (2011), corruption is a factor that can be a factor to deforestation, which consists in a facilitation of access to the deforested areas, together with a lack of law enforcement (127) In Brazil, for example, with very extensive borders, the patrol of the area can be very hard to do. There are often blind spots and lack of proper control of the affected trade areas, which can lead to illegal trading systems.

• Economical reasons, since it is profitable to sell materials that are extracted from the forests (McCarthy et al, 2011). Woods are used in various processes of production from daily usage products, such as paper and furniture. Even money is made out of paper. On the image below we can see furniture, paper and materials that are originated from wood.  

From left to right: WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER; WWF-Canon / WWF-Switzerland/A. della Bella; WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER; WWF-Canon / Michel GUNTHER; WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER available at http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_forests/importance/ 

Chart from IBM Website available at http://www-304.ibm.com/support/operations/be/en/gogreen/?ca=be_gogreen&me=W&met=be_hp_mod2&cm_sp=CT011-_-IBM000-_-be_hpm4_myaccount

     
      From the chart of IBM Website above, it is possible to see alarming numbers. We use around 1 million tons of paper every day, and every kilogram of wood produces one kilogram of paper, giving us  4 million tons of wood everyday just to produce our everyday paper. 

•   The building of medium to large cattle ranches, which are related to food supplying (Fearnside, 2005). In the image below, we can see how from 2000 to 2005, 60% of the deforestation in the Amazon was caused by cattle ranches. Another big part of the deforestation is due to agriculture, and therefore we can see how providing food to the population has became a big driver of deforestation, situation that tends to increase as population numbers increase. 

•  Infrastructure, since the transportation routes increased as cars came along, demanding connections between remote villages and big cities (Fearnside, 2005). Many times, deforestation follows the road building leading to, many times, unclaimed territories and forest areas.

The following graph shows the amount of deforested area from 1990 to 2005. These numbers are very alarming and can be seen in the various parts in the world, indicating a global problem. 

Graphic by Robert Simmon, based on data provided by individual countries to the U.N. Foreign Agricultural Organization for the Global Forest Resources Assessment Report 2005.) Available at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php

Work Cited:

McCarthy, Stephen, and Luca Tacconi. "The Political Economy Of Tropical Deforestation: Assessing Models And Motives." Environmental Politics 20.1 (2011): 115-132. Environment Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

FEARNSIDE, PHILIP M. "Deforestation In Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates, And Consequences." Conservation Biology 19.3 (2005): 680-688. Environment Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

Rosenthal, E. (2007, January 31). Once a dream fuel, palm oil may be an eco-nightmare. New York Times Online. Accessed April 20, 2013.
Laurance, William F., Mark A. Cochrane, Scott Bergen, Philip M. Fearnside, Patricia Delamônica, Christopher Barber, Sammya D’Angelo, and Tito Fernandes. 1998. "The Future of the Brazilian Amazon."