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.