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The world’s forests are in grave danger. Over half of the original forest cover has been destroyed, and things are set to deteriorate unless the current alarming rate of deforestation is checked. Every minute an estimated 26 hectares of forest is lost – that’s an area equivalent to 37 football pitches - and it is not difficult to see that if this continues we will be left with a planet devoid of woodland. This would be catastrophic: not only are forests home to some of the most important species on earth, but they also play a vital role in regulating the climate and making the planet habitable. Much of the earth was once covered by trees, but the majority of these were cleared long ago to make way for an ever expanding human population. This is particularly true in regions with a temperate climate such as Britain and other parts of Europe where agriculture took an early hold of the landscape, and has now reduced the great forests to tiny pockets strewn throughout the land. However, it is only in relatively recent times that the tropical forests have come under severe attack. On a global scale there was twice as much tropical forest at the turn of the 20th century as there is today, and only around 700 million of the original 1.5 billion hectares remain. The rate of deforestation in Africa is a
cause for extreme concern: around four million hectares of forest are destroyed each year,
to the extent that 45 per cent of its original forest cover has disappeared. The two most commonly cited causes of deforestation are shifting cultivation and commercial logging. In the past, indigenous peoples have farmed the rain forests, felling trees to allow cultivation of crops and grazing space for animals, and moving on when the soil becomes less fertile. This is no threat to the forests, provided that it is carried out sustainably, and used areas are left to regenerate for long periods before repeating the process. Problems arise when the land is not allowed sufficient time to recover, and intensive farming results in irreversible soil degradation. This is the present situation, due to the needs of the growing population - and some sources identify shifting cultivation as the cause of 70 per cent of the deforestation in Africa. As with shifting cultivation, if logging is carried out in a controlled way it can be implemented with only minor disturbance to the environment. It is when felling of trees begins to exceed tree production that logging becomes seriously detrimental. Before intensive mechanised logging took over from the use of handsaws, axes and animal power, it could be argued that the timber trade posed little threat to tropical rain forests, but the arrival of chainsaws, tractors, roads and railways had a much greater impact. Previously inaccessible areas have now become prime targets for commercial logging companies, and poor management has led to unprecedented losses. Other factors such as the felling of trees for charcoal, and clearance for mining and
the extraction of oil are considered less damaging than shifting cultivation and
commercial logging, but they nonetheless pose a threat to the existence of the tropical
rain forests. |
