2. INTRODUCTION WHAT IS DEFORESTATION? Deforestation is the loss or continual degradation of forest habit due to either natural or human related causes. Agriculture, urban sprawl, unsustainable forestry practices, mining, and petroleum exploration all contribute to human caused deforestation. Natural deforestation can be linked to tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, glaciation and desertification. (experiencefestival.com)
3. INTERESTING FACTS -A typical four square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. -Originally, 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest existed worldwide. But as a result of deforestation, only 2.6 million square miles remain. -Every second, a slice of rainforest the size of a football field is mowed down. That's 86,400 football fields of rainforest per day, or over 31 million football fields of rainforest each year. -In the Brazilian Amazon 60-70% of deforestation results from cattle ranches while the rest mostly results from small-scale agriculture.
4. CAUSES OF FOREST DECLINE -Causes: -Infrastructure expansion -Transportation -Roads and Railroads -Markets -Sawmills -Settlements -Rural and urban -Public Service -Water lines -Gas lines -Sanitation -Electrical
5. CONTROLLING DEFORESTATION -Kyoto Protocol: a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at combating global warming. The UNFCCC is an treaty created to achieve a "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanisms, which provide financial incentives for avoided deforestation, could be implemented in a future Kyoto Protocol -Not part of the protocol right now -Forest Management -Laws -Reforestation
6. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS/PROBLEMS -The Atmosphere -CO2 emissions -The IPCC states that deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic (human-caused) carbon dioxide emissions -Hydrological -Trees and water extraction -Drier climate -Soil -Human destroyed -Soil runoff -Soil erosion
7. WORKS CITED Butler, Rhett A. "Deforestation in the Amazon." Mongabay.com 2007. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. "deforestation." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 18 November 2009 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deforestation Denman, Kenneth L., and Guy Brasseur. "Couplings Between Changes in the Climate System and Biogeochemistry." Climate Change 2007: Fourth AssesmentReport of the Ingovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 4thth ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 502-90. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. < http://www.nature.org/rainforests/explore/facts.html> Myers, Eric C. "Climate Change and Forestry: a REDD primer." The Katoomba Group's Ecosystem Marketplace 19 May 2008. Web. 16 Nov. 2009.
