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Deforestation in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, 2009. 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.
Sicily is an oft-cited example of man-made deforestation, practiced since Roman times when the island was made into an agricultural region, [96] and continued to this day. Deforestation gradually modified the climate, leading to a decline in rainfall and the drying of rivers.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1977, deforestation is a major cause of desertification and in 1980 threatened 35% of the world's land surface and 20% of the world's population. From 2003-2019, carbon losses due to soil erosion from land degradation have increased in the Brazilian Amazon.
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 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.
Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, [11] [12] [13] neoliberal economic policies [14] [15] [16] and rapid economic growth, [17] overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation.
The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This is driven by a number of factors, alone or in combination, such as drought, climatic shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials.
Deforestation is the main land use change contributor to global warming, [62] Between 1750 and 2007, about one-third of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions were from changes in land use - primarily from the decline in forest area and the growth in agricultural land. [63] primarily deforestation.