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Land use change, especially in the form of deforestation, is the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, after the burning of fossil fuels. [4] [5] Greenhouse gases are emitted from deforestation during the burning of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon.
Deforestation is defined as the conversion of forest to other land uses (regardless of whether it is human-induced). [14] Deforestation and forest area net change are not the same: the latter is the sum of all forest losses (deforestation) and all forest gains (forest expansion) in a given period. Net change, therefore, can be positive or ...
In 2024, deforestation in Colombia's Amazon region has increased by 40% during the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to a report. [152] This rise in deforestation is occurring amidst the influence of a strong El Niño weather phenomenon, causing dry and hot conditions that have led to droughts and fires throughout ...
Amazon deforestation jumped by 69% in 2008 compared to 2007's twelve months, according to official government data. [ 57 ] However, a 30 January 2009 New York Times article stated, "By one estimate, for every acre of rainforest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics."
In other words, what do people lose out on with the removal of a given habitat? A country may increase its food supply by converting forest land to row-crop agriculture, but the value of the same land may be much larger when it can supply natural resources or services such as clean water, timber, ecotourism, or flood regulation and drought control.
Free-range animal production, particularly beef production, has also caused tropical deforestation because it requires land for grazing. [34] The livestock sector is also the primary driver of deforestation in the Amazon, with around 80% of all deforested land being used for cattle farming.
Deforestation in the Maranhão state, Brazil, in July 2016. The Amazon rainforest, spanning an area of 3,000,000 km 2 (1,200,000 sq mi), is the world's largest rainforest. It encompasses the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest on the planet, representing over half of all rainforests.
Even despite a moratorium on new logging contracts imposed in 2010, the rate of deforestation continued to increase to an estimated 840,000 hectares in 2012, surpassing deforestation in Brazil. [19] Deforestation in Indonesia peaked in 2016, and thereafter declined, falling by about 30% (comparing 2009–2016 with 2017–2019). [20]