It would be difficult to imagine life without the beauty and richness of forests.
If humankind does not act quickly, however, planet Earth and all living
creatures are in danger of losing forests forever. Deforestation has already
resulted in the loss of over 80 percent of the natural of the world. Currently,
the disappearance of forests worldwide constitutes a global problem affecting the
temperate forests of the Pacific Northwest area of the US and British Columbia, and
more urgently, the tropical forests of Central and South America, Africa, Southeast
Asia, and Australia.
Deforestation occurs for many reasons. In the temperate forests of the US and
Canada, wood is harvested mainly for construction and paper products. In tropical
Rainforests, one of the most common reasons for deforestation is agriculture.
Because the soil in many tropical forests are found in the vegetation (and not the soil), many
Farmers practice an agricultural method known as “slash and burn.” This method
consists of cutting down the trees of an area in the rainforest and burning them to
release their rich nutrients into the soil.
The method is sustainable only if the population density does not exceed four
People per square kilometer of land. When this is the case, each farm has enough
Land to let sections of it lie fallow for ten years or more, which is enough time for
The land to renew itself. In recent years, however, the population density has often reached three
Times the optimum load. This results in land being used more intensively with no chance to recover.
Under these conditions, slash-and-burn farming becomes only a temporary solution. Within two
or three years, the soil becomes depleted, and the farmer must repeat the slash-and- burn
elsewhere, leaving the used land severely depleted.
Deforestation causes changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. For example,