Submitted by Jennifer Cooper from Australia on July 19, 2004
Jerome Cranston, a former forester who is now a GIS Specialist in Alberta, Canada, talks about global deforestation.
Questions and Answers
Question #1.
Deforestation is a global issue, affecting many animal species. Just how serious is it and what consequences can be expected?
Answer:
Deforestation is an extremely serious issue: half the world's forests have been lost since the neolithic revolution. Forests are important regulators of carbon in the atmosphere; they contain almost as much carbon as the global atmosphere does. So, when forests are cleared, not only is that carbon "sink" lost, but also the stored carbon is returned to the atmosphere.
Also, it is important to distinguish between deforestation and reforestation. Deforestation is the permanent conversion of forests to pasture, farmland, or urban landscape. Reforestation is more temporary, and occurs when forests are logged and then “reforested” to provide a long-term wood supply. Forests that are cleared and successfully replanted affect wildlife and carbon levels very differently than those forests that are cleared for other uses.
For example, when mature forests are logged for lumber, the carbon stored in the forests remains in the lumber (and not in the atmosphere) for as long as it exists in houses, furniture, or whatever else it was used for. Also, that mature forest is then converted to a young forest, which through photosynthesis becomes a “container” for atmospheric carbon.
It is also important to note that many forests are cleared and replanted with a mix of native species, while others are replanted with only a single, fast-growing species (a mix of native species is required here in Alberta and in British Columbia, Canada, for example). When complex natural forests are replaced with single-species, monoculture forests, such as palm oil plantations in the tropics, they make poor habitat for native wildlife.
Question #2.
Why do people clear forests?
Answer:
In developing countries, forests are cleared for human settlement (including conversion to pasture and farmland) and for fuel. About 80% of the logged wood is used for fuel, and the other 20% is used for wood products. In developed countries, the situation is reversed. Forests are cleared mainly to obtain wood products; about 80% of logged wood is used for lumber, and only 20% is used as fuel.
Question #3.
How (with what tools and techniques) do people clear forests?
Answer:
Forests logged for wood are generally cleared using machines: chainsaws, skidders, and grapple yarders. Forests that are cleared for settlement or agriculture are usually burned.
Question #4.
Who is responsible?
Answer:
This is a difficult question to answer. Anyone who buys forest products—like lumber, toilet paper, tires, food made with palm oil, etc.—shares in the responsibility for the way the forests are managed. Anyone who buys a hamburger made from beef raised on rangeland converted from forests also shares in the responsibility for that deforestation.
The issue of responsibility for forests that are destroyed to create room for human settlement is much more complex. A peasant struggling to feed his family may face a simple choice between starvation and clearing forest for "slash-and-burn" agriculture. In that case, the responsibility lies more with those that determine social policy in developing countries, such as governments and international agencies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Question #5.
How does this affect the animals in these forests?
Answer:
In temperate forests, which have evolved in response to large-scale natural disturbances such as wildfire, there are typically fewer species with larger ranges, while in tropical forests there tend to be more species with smaller habitat sizes. Animals in temperate forests disperse in response to fire, so logging followed by successful reforestation does not generally result in significant population losses. In tropical forests, where wildlife is typically found in smaller ranges and ecological niches, forest clearing is much more likely to result in extinctions in these regions.
Another characteristic of tropical forests is that those ecosystems are so effective at recycling nutrients that a greater portion of decomposing plants and animals are used before they can be absorbed into the soil. This results in the paradox of extremely lush forests growing on very poor soils. Therefore, deforestation in tropical forests is much more likely to result in soil erosion, which makes reforestation much more difficult.
Question #6.
What can we do to prevent deforestation and its effect on many endangered species?
Answer:
- Boycott products produced from tropical wood unless it is certified by ecological standards committees such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Committee)
- Do not buy beef raised on rangeland converted from forests
- Work to increase awareness of deforestation issues, particularly the connection between first-world consumerism and third-world deforestation.
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