deforestation

Ecologa

2022

We explain what deforestation is, its causes and consequences. Also, how to avoid it and its relationship with desertification.

Deforestation is mainly due to human action.

What is deforestation?

Deforestation is the destruction or depletion of the forest area (natural forests), usually due to human action through the felling or burning of trees, with the objective to gain industrial inputs (such as industry wood and paper mill, among others) or arable land for agricultural work.

Although deforestation is a process caused mainly by human activities, it is sometimes possible that deforestation woods suffer similar damage due to natural accidentssuch as forest fires during drought or volcanic activity.

Be that as it may, deforestation is one of the most serious threats currently looming over the forest stands of the planet. It jeopardizes the home of millions of species and has a tremendous impact on the deterioration of soils and in carbon fixation (a process directly related to the photosynthesis made by plants).

Consequently, numerous initiatives worldwide attempt to raise awareness of the population regarding the urgency of tightening the laws protection of large forest reserves, as well as investing resources in the recovery of forests on a global scale.

Types of deforestation according to their causes

Deforestation is a unique phenomenon, which can be classified according to its causes into two types:

  • Natural deforestation. It is due to the effects of natural accidents and events of the earth's dynamics, so they cannot be anticipated or stopped once they have started. This type of deforestation occurs, for example, when there are large storms with lightning, tornadoes, Volcanic eruptions or forest fires, which can destroy a forest in a very short time. Another cause of natural deforestation is tree pests and diseases, caused by insects (such as beetles and aphids) that are capable of producing massive “natural felling” of trees.
  • Human deforestation. It is the direct or indirect result of human activities and they are, therefore, responsibility our. They represent the main cause of deforestation and, unlike the natural phenomena, can be avoided. Among the main causes of human deforestation are:
    • Expansion of the urban area. The cities they grow as their population increases and new space is required to build housing and road works. Forests are the first to pay the price.
    • Indiscriminate logging for agricultural purposes. The increase in the world population brings with it the need to produce more and more food, so that more and more arable areas are required. To do this, entire sections of forest are usually cut down and turned into farms or fields for grazing.
    • Large-scale wood and paper operations. The wood, pulp and paper industries, among other tree derivatives, feed off consuming huge annual sections of major forests. Although sometimes you are Business They also invest in reforestation programs, the rate of logging is always much higher than the rate of planting new trees.
    • Poor forest laws and negligent states. Ultimately, the responsibility to protect these natural treasures rests with the state in whose territories forests occur, but many of them lack the incentive to protect them, especially when it means losing money.

Consequences of deforestation

The survival of species like the quetzal depends on the conservation of their habitat.

The consequences of large-scale deforestation are neither few nor easy to remedy. Among the main ones are:

  • waste of biodiversity. The jungles and forests are some of the ecosystems the most fruitful on the planet, harbor thousands or millions of forms of life of all kinds (a high percentage of which has not even been discovered by mankind). All of this is put at risk if we destroy your habitat.
  • Carbon increase in atmosphere Y global warming. Forests fulfill a thermoregulatory function of the planet since they absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) used to perform the photosynthesis, a process that allows the fixation of carbon and the release of oxygen (O2) into the atmosphere. When deforesting, the levels of carbon dioxide increase, which accumulates in the atmosphere. This alteration in the cycle of this gas results in an increase in the temperature world, since CO2 is the main gas of greenhouse effect.
  • Destruction of soils. Solar radiation, wind and rain (all erosive factors) are attenuated to a significant extent by the presence of forests, which act as a defense of the I usually. Without them, the elements impact directly on the ground, causing changes in relief Y erosions.
  • Impoverishment of air. Forests also release significant amounts of water steam into the atmosphere, which helps to keep soils moist and contributes to the hydrological cycle. The decrease in this contribution produces drier airs.
  • Desertification One of the most terrible phenomena associated with large-scale deforestation is desertification, that is, the appearance of new deserts or expansion of existing deserts.

Deforestation and desertification

Desertification occurs as a consequence of the impoverishment of the soils, the drying of the atmosphere and the higher incidence of solar radiation.

It is capable of converting a fertile land into an arid one in a short time, making difficult even the sowing tasks for which, often, the forest that inhabited it was cut down by human hands.

How to avoid deforestation?

The fight against deforestation does not have a simple solution. Ideally, it would have to be the product of the sustained effort of the States and the Non-governmental organizations (such as Community Forestry International, WWF, Greenpeace and others).

It should also be the responsibility of the industries themselves to log in a responsible manner, that is, at a rhythm that allows reforestation and satisfies the strictly necessary needs of the demand.

On the other hand, there is the idea of ​​alternating the felled forests, allowing enough time for the plant life to recover minimally. Training activities can also be encouraged. recycling of pulp, through the collection of waste paper and wood.

The consumers and companies can also play a very important role in preventing deforestation. First, it is essential to achieve a process of awareness and sensitization through educational campaigns, so that consumers identify the trouble and they worry about buying ecological products, coming from deforestation-free companies for their manufacture.

Then, depending on consumers' choices and their pressure towards these products, many companies would choose new strategies and alternatives to produce free from deforestation.

Another strategy is the use of paper, plastic and products recycled wood, as well as the adoption of responsible consumption. This will result in less dependence on trees and, therefore, a reduction in deforestation.

At the same time, laws Stronger standards that encourage all of the above would have to be a priority in most countries.

Reforestation

Reforestation is the effort to plant new forests or grow existing ones. It can be done through its protection or through the spreading of seeds, as well as the individual planting of the citizens.

Many of these initiatives have paid off enormously in the early years of the 21st century and the amount of forest is considered to have grown in 22 of the 50 countries with the largest forest reserves on the planet.

Deforestation in Mexico

In Mexico, 3.2 million hectares have been lost between 2001 and 2017.

In the Mexican territory there are 138 million hectares of forest vegetation, especially lush in the southern regions, where they meet the Central American jungle. Of all this, 3.2 million hectares have been lost between 2001 and 2017, 6% of the forest territory, which constitutes bad news for the ecology of the region.

Studies of the FAO estimate that 34% of the fauna of said forests is endemic, that is, that it cannot make life anywhere else on the planet. This means that 12% of the fauna will disappear completely in the next few years if nothing is done to prevent it.

This is a problem that Mexico shares with other countries of Latin America, like Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.

Deforestation in the Amazon

The Amazon rainforest suffered massive deforestation with the 2019 fires.

The Amazon Rainforest is one of the largest forest extensions in the world. One in ten lives in it species known for the humanity, which constitutes it as the largest reserve of biodiversity planetary. Furthermore, it is one of the planetary "lungs" as it fixes huge amounts of carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere.

However, the Amazonian nations (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela) exploit this resource in different ways, to supply land to the farming, the cattle raising and mining, or resources to wood industries.

The issue of Amazon deforestation, whose effects on the weather They are already making themselves felt, they jumped into view when thousands of hectares of forest burned during August 2019, mainly in the territories of Brazil and Bolivia.

This sparked international concern and outrage. However, the activities of exploitation in the region they have been denounced by activists for years or decades environmentalists and by spokesmen for the ancestral communities that still live far from civilization, in the bowels of the Amazon.

!-- GDPR -->