Why does deforestation occur?
Answers
Deforestation can occur for several reasons: trees can be cut down to be used for building or sold as fuel (sometimes in the form of charcoal or timber), while cleared land can be used as pasture for livestock and plantation. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in habitat damage, biodiversity loss, and aridity. It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation has also been used in war to deprive the enemy of vital resources and cover for its forces. Modern examples of this were the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and by the United States military in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. As of 2005, net deforestation rates had ceased to increase in countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$4,600.[5][6] Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland.
Disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management, and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that lead to large-scale deforestation. In many countries, deforestation–both naturally occurring and human-induced–is an ongoing issue.[7] Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of populations, as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record.[8] More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical forests.[9]
Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometres (890,000 sq mi) of forests around the world were cut down.[10] As a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) remain of the original 16 million square kilometres (6 million square miles) of tropical rainforest that formerly covered the Earth.[10] An area the size of a football pitch is cleared from the Amazon rainforest every minute, with 136 million acres (55 million hectares) of rainforest cleared for animal agriculture overall.[11]
REASONS FOR DEFORESTATION
Need for timber for construction
Need for land for human settlement
Need for land for cultivation
Need for wood as a source of energy
> deforestation is cutting down of trees without replacing them
> deforestation is largely due to human activities
> humans cut trees to create room for settlement especially with the rising population
> rising population has created demand on food hence man clear forests to create land for cultivation
> construction of houses is yet another reason for continued deforestation