Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
[7] [6] This accounts for about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the largest driver of deforestation globally. [8] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported in 2006 that 70% of previously forested land in the Amazon, as well as 91% of land deforested since 1970, is now used for livestock pasture .
Deforestation in Central America is one of the environmental problems that is linked to the settlement of agrarian frontier areas by land-seeking farmers and commercial agrarians, who facilitated the conversion of forest land to pasture, more expansion of cash crop like coffee, banana, logging activities, pasture and fuelwoods among other urbanization activities. [2]
Satellite photograph of deforestation in Bolivia.Originally dry tropical forest, the land is being cleared for soybean cultivation. [5]Biodiversity hotspots are chiefly tropical regions that feature high concentrations of endemic species and, when all hotspots are combined, may contain over half of the world's terrestrial species. [6]
Deforestation in the tropics – given as the annual average between 2010 and 2014 – was responsible for 2.6 billion tonnes of CO 2 per year. That was 6.5% of global CO 2 emissions . Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and climate change affects the health of forests. [ 3 ]
Deforestation is an example of large-scale land use change. The deforestation of temperate regions since 1750 has had a major effect on land cover. [19] The reshaping of landscapes to serve human needs, such as the deforestation for farmland, can have long-term effects on earth systems and exacerbate the causes of climate change. [20]
A consequence of deforestation is typically large-scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Techniques for improved soil conservation include crop rotation, cover crops, conservation tillage and planted windbreaks, affect both erosion and fertility. When plants die, they decay and become part of the soil.
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.