The Causes of Deforestation [contnued...]

In a previous post I tried to address some causes of deforestation. This is the continuation of this discussion. In addition, some of the major factors that increased deforestation in the past decades are change in market trends and corresponding demand in cash crops and forest products. This means when market demand in certain crops (for example cash crops) increase, price increase per given unit weight of cash crop and as a result the farmers increase production of cash crops. Since their agricultural method is traditional, the only way they increase yield per given season is by expanding the farm land. These farmers expand their farm land by clearing forest. The increase in price index in cash crops and timber exporting played a significant role by increasing forest clearing in different countries. For example, in developing countries the price- rise in subsistent crops per pound was cheaper than the price-rise in cash crop per pound when compared to the previous years. The higher price increment on cash crops motivated farmers to shift more of their farm lands from staple crops production to cash crops production to make use of the price-rise advantage of cash crops. In addition, due to the market trend and price index, farmers who usually contended with limited farm area for staple crops production wanted to produce more cash crops than ever before even though it isn’t their subsistent crop. Moreover they cleared forest and expanded their farm to benefit from the price index.

Furthermore, the construction of roads and highways led for clearing of forests and opened way for illegal timber producers to penetrate into dense forests and harvest forest in devastating manner.

On the road to Brazil: logging activities on Venao's illegal road 
Retrieved from http://www.fsc-watch.org/

In general causes of deforestation classified as:

1.      Agricultural expansion

Permanent cultivation for house hold and commercial purposes

Shifting cultivation cattle ranching,

Transmigration and resettling

2.      Wood extraction

Commercial timber trading, paper industry, illegal loggers

Fire wood, charcoal production

3.      Infrastructure extension

Transport (roads, railways),

Settlements

Public services (waterlines, electrical grids, etc)

4.      Other factors  

Forest fragmentation, soil quality and topography 

Biophysical drives (wildfire, hurricanes, flood, )

Social triggered events (wars, and conflicts    

Though the main causes of deforestation are those mentioned above, the driving forces underlying these are the most relevant to seek solution and tackle deforestation. For example, agricultural expansion is one of the major causes for deforestation. However, root causes for agricultural expansion are for example population density, market growth, migration, poverty, etc.

 What is the motivation of people when they unknowingly or deliberately clear forests?

Underlying factors that are feeding the above causes are:

§  Economic factors: market growth, comparative cost advantage, urbanization and industrialization, poverty

§  Demographic factors: Population density and distribution, migration

§  Technological factors: agro- technical changes, agricultural production factors,

§  Policy and institutional factors: corruption, economic policies,

§  Cultural factors: cultural values and beliefs

Can we change the current trend of our fast dying forest and protect our planet?  Yes we can. How?

I will come with some smart suggestions and solutions in my next post.

Works Cited.

Daniel, G. (2005). Deforestation in Cameroon: Immediate causes and consequences. Retrieved November 19, 2010 from the Environment Complete Database

Deas, G. (2005). The earth is crying out for its trees. New York Amsterdam News Retrieved November 19, 2010 from the Academic Search Complete Database.

                                   

Causes of Deforestation (continuned)

The main causes of deforestation are natural and man-made.

Natural incidents: Wild fire that can be caused by lightning or other human factors can destroy a lot of forest and every life in the forests in alarming speed. The damage is immeasurable and very difficult to replace, takes centuries to do so if not impossible. It costs billions of dollars to stop it and costs lives, it has complicated short term and long term costs.  Natural phenomena like tornados and volcanic eruptions cause similar damages to the natural forest and every life with in them.  Though it seems impossible to stop natural disasters, science has to find way to find solutions in the long term

 
Deforestation by wildfire

The second and major cause of deforestation is man-made.

Some of the reasons that lead people clear forest are:

Cutting down or burning forests to expand land for agriculture: Most of the people who live near the forests use the forests as the primary source of income. The number of these population highly concentrated in this regions are people who practice agrarian life style. They mostly live in very remote areas of different countries. In some countries they claim that the forest is their own property and assume that they can use it in the way they want to. In some causes it is very hard to communicate and create basic understanding between these groups of people so as to train and stop them to stop forest clearing. In addition, the forests location being in the remotest areas of the world and in developing countries that have so many socio-economic problems intensify the problem. The governments in these countries have no enough economic power to seek solutions for these and other similar problems. Furthermore, corruption and misuse of funds and budgets from international organizations end up with little outcome in this issue.

Using forests as basic source of income to live on: Cutting down forests to use as fuel and making charcoal and trading forest products as the basic means of income to live on. It is very common to see fire wood transported and traded in open market in towns by peasants from nearby villages. No one asks them how and where they brought this supply from. In most of my country it is common to see farmers leading their life mainly being dependent on the income that they get from the sale of firewood which is cut and traded by clearing forests.

Deforestation for fuel and means of income.

Clearing of forests for lumber production: lumber production clears a large number of trees at a time. Except very few certified lumber producers and traders only few run their business understanding and concerned about the effect of deforestation. Moreover, it very common to see forestry areas after massive lumber production left without substitute replenishing of trees in place. Most of the time governments do not invest the money from the sale of forestry by reforesting or replenishing the natural environment.

Lateral expansion of villages and cities: Expansion of cities and towns to forestry areas is another cause for deforestation. This is happening in every country where towns and cities expand laterally. Buildings and housing has to be designed to ensure maximum upward space utilization and stability. Whenever expansion is needed the forest cleared will not replenished as needed.

(To be continued …)
Work cited:

Acheson, J, et.al. (2008). Causes of deforestation: The Maine Case. Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Retrieved November 19,2010 fron Environment  Complete

López, R., & Galinato, G. (2005). Trade policies, economic growth, and the direct causes of deforestation. Land economics. Retrieved November 19,2010 from Environment Complete database.

Forests are living place for a range of wildlife. It is natural right for them to live and breed in their habitat. Is there any human that does have a sort of feeling when his/her home broken or damaged in anyway by somebody? We feel hurt and abused when we forced to leave our home by someone. How tragedy is to destroy living home of wildlife that is endowed to them by nature? We humans have moral to decide and do what is definitely right. However, when it comes to natural home of we neglect that they have right to maintain, stay and live in their home.

What are the Causes of Deforestation?

Deforestation is the removal of forest stands by cutting and burning to provide land for agricultural purposes, residential or industrial building sites, roads, etc., or by harvesting the trees for build-ing materials or fuel. Oxidation of organic matter releases CO2 to the atmosphere, and regional and global impacts may result countries. Developing countries that are located in the green belt of the globe mainly depend on agriculture. The economy and subsistence of the population in these countries are based on the fertility and area of arable land. The agriculture is traditional and the yield per acre is very little. Moreover it is seasonal and cannot feed the targeted family up to the next season. Due to lack of awareness of family planning and many socio-economic conditions, every adult contributes to population growth regardless of resource limitations.