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Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. [1] Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. [2]
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, [ 1 ][ 2 ] and climate change affects the health of forests. [ 3 ] 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 ...
Forest degradation is a process in which the biological wealth of a forest area is permanently diminished by some factor or by a combination of factors. "This does not involve a reduction of the forest area, but rather a quality decrease in its condition." The forest is still there, but with fewer trees, or less species of trees, plants or ...
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. The Amazon region includes the territories of ...
Deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing environmental issue. Deforestation [1] creates agricultural or pastoral land but can also result in desertification, water resource degradation, biodiversity erosion and habitat loss, and soil loss. It has been noticed that Madagascar has lost 80 or 90% of its "original" or "pre-human" forest cover, but ...
Deforestation in the United States was affected by many factors. One such factor was the effect, whether positive or negative, that the logging industry has on forests in the country. Logging in the United States is a hotly debated topic as groups who either support or oppose logging argue over its benefits and negative effects.
Deforestation in Brazil. Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the world and in 2005 still had the largest area of forest removed annually. [1] Since 1970, over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2001, the Amazon was approximately 5,400,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 sq mi ...
Deforestation by continent. In decades since 1990, South America and Africa have shown the greatest loss of forest area, with global net loss in the 2010s still about 60% of the 1990s value. [1] Rates and causes of deforestation vary from region to region around the world. In 2009, two-thirds of the world's forests were located in just 10 ...