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Deforestation: World
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Deforestation is causing a depletion, not only in forest, but in the species that reside in them. This is one of the most brutal side effects of deforestation. Madagascar is a prime example of how deforestation increases the loss of bio-diversity. Approximately 5% of all the world's species reside in Madagascar. The same is true in Columbia where its forests account for 10% of the word's biodiversity. If these forests are lost then a large part of the world's species would be endangered of becoming extinct.
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Data from Oil World indicates that the deforestation law has not affected soy production in Paraguay, the world's fourth largest soybean exporter. Production has actually increased in spite of the law. In the 2004-05 season, production was 3.9 million tons, up from 3.5 million tons in the 2003-04 season. For the 2005-06 season, production is likely to be 4.2 million tons.
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The two main causes of deforestation worldwide are industrial logging and land clearing for agricultural and fuelwood purposes. Globally, 6 million hectares of tropical forests are logged annually. Most deforestation in temperate and boreal forests is due to industrial logging. The World Resources Institute has identified logging as the predominant threat to the future of the world's frontier forests.
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None of the above proposals for dealing with deforestation addresses the fundamental issue of population pressures upon the land. Recent statistics published by The World Resources Institute show that Africa has the fastest growing population, with an annual growth rate of approximately 3 percent, nearly twice the average world growth rate of 1.7 percent.5 The total fertility rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is about 6 children per woman over her lifetime. At the same time, the life expectancy has increased, while infant mortality has decreased. With the population in Sub-Saharan Africa expected to double in a little over 20 years, it is not surprising that more and more forests are being cleared.
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The deforestation of tropical rain forests is a threat to life worldwide. Deforestation may have profound effects on global climate and cause the extinction of thousands of species annually. Stopping deforestation in the tropics has become an international movement, seeking ways to stop the loss of rain forests.
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Tropical deforestation contributes as much as 90% of the current net release of biotic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This change may represent as much as 20% - 30% of the total carbon flux due to humans - i.e., rivaling the carbon release due to fossil fuel burning. Deforestation ... is an important potential source of carbon. But what if we allow forests to regenerate? As they grow, forests will store or sequester carbon, and so carbon sequestration has become part of the global warming debate. What is the current balance sheet – are the world’s forests a source or a sink for atmospheric CO2? This is uncertain for three main reasons. We are not sure how much forest is being burnt, vs the amount of regrowth. We don’t know enough about the fate of deforested land, ie, how much is reverting to secondary forest. We don’t know how forest disturbance is affecting soil and forest floor carbon stores. Still, there is good evidence that the regrowth of previously-deforested areas in Europe and North America during the 20th century has sequestered considerable amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.
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