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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 ...
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.
As a result, the net loss of forest area is less than the rate of deforestation; and it, too, is decreasing: from 7.8 million hectares (19 million acres) per year in the 1990s to 4.7 million hectares (12 million acres) per year during 2010–2020. [36]
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has skyrocketed to a 12-year high in 2020. Government data released on Monday (November 30) showed more than 11,000 square kilometers have been wiped ...
Deforestation causes many threats to wildlife as it not only causes habitat destruction for the many animals that survive in forests, as more than 80% of the world's species live in forests but also leads to further climate change. [8] Deforestation is a main concern in the tropical forests of the world.
Deforestation in Brazil is a major issue; the country once had the highest rate of deforestation in the world. By far the most deforestation comes from cattle ranchers that clear rainforest (sometimes illegally, sometimes legally), so as to make room for sowing grass and giving their cattle the ability to graze on this location.
[12] Chelonia mydas on a Hawaiian coral reef. Although the endangered species is protected, habitat loss from human development is a major reason for the loss of green turtle nesting beaches. Wetlands and marine areas have endured high levels of habitat destruction. More than 50% of wetlands in the U.S. have been destroyed in just the last 200 ...
Deforestation by humans began taking place already in the Bronze Age but reached its peak under British colonial rule, particularly the 16th and 17th century Plantations, that saw mass scale deforestation to create agricultural lands, and to supplement the need for timber for shipbuilding for Britain's early phase of empire building. [92]