Deforestation Flashcards
How are natural resources valued?
It’s difficult to answer. Many resources do not have a dollar amount attached to them, or cannot have a dollar value (sacred land, for example). Sometimes we don’t know enough about how something works, so don’t know the value lost if the resource is lost.
Other things can be valued, but are often overlooked. Trees in the Amazon sequester CO2 and provide significant amounts of rainfall through evapotransporation. People clearing trees and planting soy don’t consider what would happen if they lost these benefits. They are taken for granted.
What is TEEB?
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity.
A research initiative by the UN Environment Program. Nature has a $0 value. They are trying to put a dollar value on nature, which can allow governments and institutions address environmental problems. 45 billion annually could help save 5 trillion in ecosystem services.
What is deforestation?
Clearing of forest for agriculture, settlement, mining, infrastructure.
What is Closed Forest/woodland?
Minimum 20% crown cover
What is open forest/woodland?
5-20% crown cover
What is primary forest?
Forest unaltered by human activity
What is secondary forest?
forest resulting in human activity
How much forest cover was there pre-agriculture?
5 billion hectares
When did forest clearing begin in Europe?
Early as 1000B.C. from population pressure
When was most of Europe cleared of forest?
by 1500A.D.
How much forest cover is there in 2000?
3.9 billion hectares
Where has most forest been lost?
Temperate areas in Norther Hemisphere
Where is forest cover stable or increasing and where is it decreasing?
Stable in high latitudes and decreasing in tropical regions.
Which two countries had the highest deforestation rates 2000-2005?
Nigeria and Vietnam
What accounts for global deforestation?
Agriculture 64%
Logging 18%
Fuelwood 10%
Cattle ranches 8%
What are socio-economic factors underlying deforestation?
Poverty
Unequal land distribution
Low agricultural productivity
Rapid population growth
Tax incentives that offer loggers and ranchers or large-scale resettlement
International demand for timber or agricultural products, which generate income and countries use to repay debt
How much tropical forest is in Latin America?
10 million square km
What percentage of tropical deforestation is in Latin America?
About 50% and Brazil account for 70% of that
What are the causes of deforestation in Latin America?
Cattle Ranching
Agriculture expansion
Roads
Resettlement
Population Pressure
Outline Soy production in Latin America
Grown for livestock in Europe and China
Subsidized to clear stumps
Commercial - small farmers can’t afford machines, fertilizer, etc
Huge farms 1000s hectares
Has pushed cattle pasture further into rainforest
Roads needs to reach markets and coastal ports
Moratorium in 2006 - no more soy produced on Amazon farmland deforested after June 24 2006.
Explain land tenure in South America
Colonists can get land by clearing forests and putting cattle on it. Cattle are safe investment as crops can fail and drop in price. Land must be used to potential or it’s lost. Illegal logging common because no enforcement
What did Brazil commit to in 2005 regarding its deforestation?
To reduce it by 80% by 2020.
What are the pressures on deforestation in Africa?
Population
Fuel wood
Agriculture
Logging
Explain the state of affairs in Africa deforestation
2nd largest forest losses 4 million hectares per year.
On a small scale - 60% of new agricultural land in 80s and 90s was small scale and subsistence farming
90% of population fuel source is wood
Small scale timber harvesting and charcoal production
Large scale agriculture lacking because little infrastructure and weak governments
Explain farming practices in Africa
Often use slash and burn in dense vegetation, low nutrients, pest outbreaks. Causes soil erosion and maybe permanent deforestation. Often dependent on bushmeat, which puts species at risk, more so with more road construction through forest. Bushmeat linked to disease outbreaks
What pressures deforestation in South Asia?
population pressure
logging
agriculture
corruption
fodder collection
What pressures deforestation in India?
Commercial forest use policies inherited from Brits
Rapid industrialization and urbanization
Demand for milk,eggs, meat expected to grow with incomes
Livestock pressures forests as demand for fodder and grazing increases
What kind of crops pressure deforestation?
Rice, palm oil, rubber, coconut
What was forest cover in 1900 Philippines? 2000?
70% and then 17%
Likely contributes to flooding
What are consequences of deforestation?
Landslides
compaction
increase run off
soil erosion
laterisation: formation of hard, impermeable surface
Increase flooding or drought
Sediment flow in reservoirs
loss of habitat - fragmented forests which reduces migration and makes disease easier to spread.
loss of biodiversity
loss of carbon sequestration, evapotransporation
higher surface temperatures as soil being darker absorbs more heat than green leaves
What are forests hard to manage?
Far away from governments and the law
Illegal loggers use violence
Illegal logging may account for half of all timber supply
How has Brazil made progress in deforestation?
Implemented REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation)
Norway gave them 1 billion to compensate not clearing forest.
Deforestation decreased by 67%
Protected area now 1/2 of Amazon
Indigenous people have 20% control of Amazon
Logging laws enforced, jail time
Educated to increase productivity of soy, beef
Exposés of soy and beef industry
Social programs to lift 10 million out of poverty
What is International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA)?
Intergovernmental organization promoting diversification of trade of tropical timber using sustainable management
Members manage 80% of world’s tropical forests, and 90% of its trade
Law enforcement policies
Forest restoration
What is the Tropical Forestry Action Plan?
Largest initiative to focus on conservation and sustainable development
wants to restore, conserve, mange forests sustainably to benefit rural people, agriculture and economy
Poverty causes deforestation, must alleviate poverty
70 countries joined, but slow start and lacking funding
