What's Threatening Forests?

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Saadia Iqbal, You Think!, The World Bank,   "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 6) Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Chapter 6. Verbatim.

Although trees are a renewable resource that can replenish themselves, they are being cut down faster than they can grow back. There are many factors behind this problem, for example:

•• Clearing forested land to grow crops: for many poor people, it is a tricky situation. They cut down trees to meet their short-term needs, but in the long run, they lose their forests, and therefore their livelihoods, as a result of deforestation. Economic incentives often convince forest owners to sell their land, cut down forests, and grow export items such as coffee and soybeans. However, the once-forested land is often poor in nutrients unless it is managed very carefully, so farmers are only able to use it for a few years before they must move to a different area of the forest and clear it for farming. Sometimes the abandoned area is used to raise livestock, but it takes 2.4 hectares of pastureland in the tropics to feed just one cow. That’s the size of six football pitches! You can see that raising livestock in tropical rainforests is not very sustainable! 

•• Cutting down trees for wood: people need wood for many reasons including for fuel, building homes and making furniture. When individuals or timber companies cut down trees in an irresponsible way, the process can harm the surrounding areas and wildlife. Illegal logging is also a big problem. 

•• Other threats to forests include mining, settlements and infrastructure development. Climate change may increase the impacts of pests and diseases. Climate change is also predicted to result in more extreme climatic events in many places, such as through floods and droughts, which will harm forest plant and animal populations and could cause more wildfires. Also, changes in rainfall and temperature will force species to migrate – which may not be possible if there is no suitable habitat for them or if they are slowmoving (or, in the case of a tree, can’t move at all). Climate change also alters the phenology of many species (the timing of biological events such as flowering and fruiting).