Deforestation and climate change

Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change. It comes in many forms: wildfire, agricultural clearcutting, livestock ranching, and logging for timber, among others. Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth and annually, 18.7 million acres of forest is lost. Mass deforestation continues to threaten tropical forests, their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. The main area of concern of deforestation is in tropical rainforests, since it is home to the majority of the biodiversity. Organizations such as World Wildlife Fund focus on the preservation of nature and the reduction of the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth. Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change. It comes in many forms: wildfire, agricultural clearcutting, livestock ranching, and logging for timber, among others. Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth and annually, 18.7 million acres of forest is lost. Mass deforestation continues to threaten tropical forests, their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. The main area of concern of deforestation is in tropical rainforests, since it is home to the majority of the biodiversity. Organizations such as World Wildlife Fund focus on the preservation of nature and the reduction of the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. It used to account for more than 20% of carbon dioxide emissions, but is currently around the 10% mark. By 2008, deforestation was 12% of total CO2, or 15% if peatlands are included. These proportions are likely to have fallen since given the continued rise of fossil fuel use. Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces, temperatures warmed roughly 1.53 °F (0.85 °C) between 1880 and 2012, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the Northern Hemisphere, 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years. A large contributing factor to deforestation is the lumber industry. The reason behind this is due to logging since it is so common due to frequent wood production uses in many people’s daily lives. A total of almost 4 million hectares (9.9×10^6 acres) of timber is harvested each year. In addition, the increasing demand for low costing timber products only supports to the lumber company to continue logging. The carbon emitted from the process of converting timber to wood products accounts for 15% of the carbon emissions in the environment. Deforestation is a main concern in tropical rainforest since it is home to millions of animals in the biodiversity. Not only does the lumber industry impact deforestation but also the environment due to deforestation drives on climate change. Urbanization is the process of clearing a large area of land to build more living space. As a result of expanding land for residential and urban purposes, there is a significant amount of forest loss. As the human population continue to increase throughout the years, the demand and needs for necessities also increase. This means that more land is needed to be cleared in order to build more homes, recreational uses, and agriculture. In addition, this also promotes the industrialization to grow and require more land to provide consumers with the food products demanded. Livestock ranching requires large portions of land to raise herds of animals and livestock crops for consumerism needs. Livestock ranching originated in Texas between 1820 and 1865 which were mainly driven by Mexican cowboys. Later, Texans drove the Mexicans out, while leaving the cattle behind. After the civil war, Texans begin rounding up the cattle and selling them around states such as California and New Orleans. According to Greenpeace, a non-governmental global environmental organization, the cattle industry is responsible for a significant amount of methane emission. This is because speculators burn huge areas of rainforest for pasture. Rhett Butler says over 60% of land that is deforested become pasture for animals such as cattle and cows. The number one largest cause of deforestation and acute degradation is agriculture. According to Wageningen University and Research Centre, more than 80% cause of deforestation is agriculture. A continued increase of demand for timber and agricultural products are only critical indirect drives. Forest are giving way to plantation for coffee, tea, palm oil, rice, rubber, and many other highly demanded products. These rising demands for certain products and global trade arrangements causes forest conversions, which ultimately leads to soil erosion. The top soil oftentimes erodes after forests are being cleared which leads to sedimentation increase in rivers and streams. Over time, agricultural land degrades and becomes almost useless causing producers to find new productive lands. A 2007 study conducted by the National Science Foundation found that biodiversity and genetic diversity are codependent—that diversity among species requires diversity within a species, and vice versa. 'If any one type is removed from the system, the cycle can break down, and the community becomes dominated by a single species.' Forests are nature’s atmospheric carbon sink; plants take in atmospheric carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and convert the carbon into sugars and plant materials through the process of photosynthesis. The carbon is stored within the trees, vegetation, and soil of the forests. Studies show that “intact forests,” in fact, do sequester carbon. Examples of large forests that have a significant impact on the balance of carbon include the Amazonian and the Central African rainforests. However, deforestation disrupts the processes of carbon sequestration and affects localized climates. Additionally, cutting down trees plays a role in a positive feedback loop centered around climate change on a much larger scale, as studies are finding.