What Is Deforestation?

Deforestation is the removal or destruction of large areas of forest or rainforest.

Deforestation happens for many reasons, such as logging, agriculture, natural disasters, urbanization and mining.There are several ways to clear forest — burning and clear-cutting the land are two of the more common methods.

Although deforestation occurs worldwide, it's a particularly critical issue in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil. There, the tropical forests, and the species of plants and animals within them, are disappearing at an alarming rate.

The effects of deforestation are long lasting and devastating. Entire species of insects and animals have disappeared because of the destruction of their habitats. Deforestation can cause catastrophic flooding as well. And scientists see that deforestation has a significant effect on climate change, or global warming.

At-a-glance: Deforestation Facts and Figures

[sources: FAO and Conservation International]

For the most part, human activity is to blame for deforestation, though natural disasters do play a role. So let's take a look at how and why humans deforest areas.

Logging

Logging, or cutting down trees in a forest to harvest timber for wood, products or fuel, is a primary driver of deforestation. Logging affects the environment in several ways. Since trucks and large equipment need to get into the forest in order to access trees and transport timber, loggers must clear large areas for roadways. Most countries regulate logging, but illegal logging remains a problem.

Selective logging — where only the most valuable trees are felled — doesn't help matters, as one falling tree can bring down dozens of surrounding trees and thin the forest's protective canopy [source: Butler].

The forest canopy is important to the forest's ecosystem because it houses and protects plant, animal and insect populations. It also protects the forest floor, which slows down soil erosion.

Agriculture

Agriculture also drives deforestation. Farmers clear the land for crops or for cattle and often will clear acres of land using slash and burn techniques — cutting down trees and then burning them.

Migratory farmers clear a forest area and use it until the soil becomes too degraded for crops. Then they move on and clear a new patch of forest. The abandoned land, if left untouched, will eventually reforest, but it will take many, many years to return to its original state.

Damming

Hydroelectric dams are quite controversial because while they bring electricity to communities, they also contribute to deforestation. Damming opponents believe that the building of such structures not only has a negative environmental impact, but it also opens up the area to loggers and more roads [source: Colitt].

To build a hydroelectric dam, acres of land must be flooded, which causes decomposition and release of greenhouse gases. Local people can also be displaced by dam projects, causing further deforestation when these people resettle elsewhere.

Fires

Fires, both accidental and intended, destroy acres of forest very quickly. Areas affected by logging are more susceptible to fires due to the number of dried, dead trees.

Milder winters and extended warm seasons due to global warming also fuel fires. For example, certain species of beetle that usually die off each winter are now able to survive and continue feeding on trees. This feeding causes the trees to die and dry out, making them into kindling [source: Bentz & Klepzig].

Mining

Mining also results in deforestation. Digging a coal, diamond or gold mine requires the removal of all forest cover, not just for the mines but also for trucks and equipment. Between 2000 and 2019, mining destroyed 1260 square miles (3,264 square kilometers) of forest [source: Giljum et al.].

Palm Oil

Palm oil is found in many packaged foods and beauty products. But palm oil is another cause of deforestation. Demand for palm oil has led growers to clear tropical forests and replace them with a monoculture of palm oil plantations [source: WWF].

Urban Sprawl

As cities grow larger to accommodate more people, trees are cut down to make more room for houses and roads. This urban sprawl deforestation is occurring worldwide, now that 55 percent of the human population lives in cities [source: UN].

Scientists are finding more and more links between deforestation and global warming. The carbon footprint created by four years of deforestation is equal to the projected carbon footprint of every single air flight in the history of aviation up to the year 2025 [source: Kristof].

Let's break that down into simple logic: Trees absorb carbon dioxide. So, fewer trees means more carbon dioxide is loose in the air. More carbon dioxide means an increased greenhouse effect, which leads to global warming.

Biodiversity

Reduced biodiversity is another deforestation concern. Tropical rainforests, arguably the biggest victims of deforestation, cover only about 6 percent of the Earth's land surface [source: WWF].

However, within this 6 percent live almost half of all plant and animal species on Earth. Some of these species only live in small specific areas, which makes them especially vulnerable to extinction.

As the landscape changes, some plants and animals are simply unable to survive. Species from the tiniest flower to large orangutans are becoming endangered or even extinct. Biologists believe that the key to curing many diseases resides within the biology of these rare plants and animals, and preservation is crucial [source: Lindsey].

Soil Erosion

Soil erosion, while a natural process, accelerates with deforestation. Trees and plants act as a natural barrier to slow water as it runs off the land. Roots bind the soil and prevent it from washing away.

The absence of vegetation causes the topsoil to erode more quickly. It's difficult for plants to grow in the less nutritious soil that remains.

Rain and Flooding

Because trees release water vapor into the atmosphere, fewer trees means less rain, which disrupts the water table (or groundwater level). A lowered water table can be devastating for farmers who can't keep crops alive in such dry soil [source: USA Today].

On the other hand, deforestation can also cause flooding. Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods.

The 2008 cyclone in Myanmar proved this fact to catastrophic effect. Scientists believe that the removal of coastal mangrove forests over the past decade caused the cyclone to hit with much more force [source: FAO].

Indigenous Communities

Deforestation also affects Indigenous people, both physically and culturally. Because many Indigenous groups actually have no legal rights to the land on which they live, governments that want to use the forest for profit can actually "evict" them. As these populations leave the rainforest, they also leave their culture behind [source: Butler].

What Happened at Easter Island?

The most common theory is deforestation. The inhabitants of Easter Island depended on the giant palms that covered the island. They cut down trees for agricultural purposes, fuel and structures.

Eventually, the trees just ran out. Once the natural resources were gone, so were the people. When Dutch settlers arrived around 1700, they found a barren landscape.

The good news is that efforts to curb deforestation are working. The rate of global deforestation has slowed from 7.8 million hectares per year in 1990–2000 to 4.7 million hectares per year in 2010–2020 [source: FAO]. However, there's a lot more work to be done.

Here are a few of the organizations working to combat deforestation:

Reforestation Efforts

Can we really save the forests? Once the trees are gone, is it possible to restore the land? Most deforested areas, if left alone, will eventually regenerate to fertile landscape. We can certainly plant more trees — a process called reforestation.

In the meantime, new movements in forest protection have sprung up over the years. They include:

[source: Forests.org]