Causes

There are many causes of deforestation. The WWF reports that half of the trees illegally removed from
forests are used as fuel.
Some other common reasons are:
-To make more land available for housing and urbanization
-To harvest timber to create commercial items such as paper, furniture and homes
-To create ingredients that are highly prized consumer items, such as the oil from palm trees
-To create room for cattle ranching
Common methods of deforestation are burning trees and clear cutting. These tactics leave the land
completely barren and are controversial practices.
Clear cutting is when large swaths of land are cut down all at once. A forestry expert quoted by the
Natural Resources Defense Council describes clear cutting as "an ecological trauma that has no
precedent in nature except for a major volcanic eruption."
Burning can be done quickly, in vast swaths of land, or more slowly with the slash-and-burn technique.
Slash and burn agriculture entails cutting down a patch of trees, burning them and growing crops on
the land. The ash from the burned trees provides some nourishment for the plants and the land is
weed-free from the burning. When the soil becomes less nourishing and weeds begin to reappear over
years of use, the farmers move on to a new patch of land and begin the process again .

Environmental Effects of Deforestation

Loss of Habitat

One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant
species due to their loss of habitat; not only do we lose those known to us, but also those unknown,
potentially an even greater loss.
Seventy percent of Earths land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the
deforestation that destroys their homes.
The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates
the temperature, a necessity for many others. Its removal through deforestation would allow a more
drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for current
inhabitants.

Increased Greenhouse Gases

In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to
be released into the atmosphere. Presently, the tropical rainforests of South America are responsible
for 20% of Earths oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares a decade. If these rates
are not stopped and reversed, the consequences will become even more severe.

Water in the Atmosphere

The trees also help control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle.
With fewer trees left, due to deforestation, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil. In
turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops, an ironic twist when considered against the
fact that 80% of deforestation comes from small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching.

Soil Erosion and Flooding

Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. In addition to their previously
mentioned roles, trees also function to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to
sustain additional forest life.
Without them, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle.
The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then
more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions.
Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this
vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods.

Destruction of Homelands

As large amounts of forests are cleared away, allowing exposed earth to whither and die and the
habitats of innumerable species to be destroyed, the indigenous tribes who depend on them to sustain
their way of life are also irreparably damaged.
The loss of forests has an immediate and direct effect on their lifestyle that we in the modern world,
despite our own dependency on what the rainforest provides, will never know. The level of immediacy
is exponentially greater.
The governments of nations with rainforests in their borders also attempt to evict indigenous tribes,
and often succeed, before the actual clear-cutting begins. One of the pre-emptive effects of
deforestation.

The Solutions
Combating deforestation is a complex issue that requires a variety of approaches. Here are a few key
solutions that Greenpeace supports
1. Corporations & Markets
If corporations have the ability to destroy the world's intact forests, they also have the power to help
save them.
Companies can make an impact by introducing zero-deforestation policies that require suppliers to
produce commodities such as timber, beef, soy, palm oil and paper fiber in a way that has a minimal
impact on natural forests and the climate. Companies can also introduce paper procurement policies
that set ambitious targets to maximize use of post consumer recycled wood, pulp, paper and fiber in
their products and ensure that any virgin fiber used is certified by a rigorous third party certification
system such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Greenpeace investigates, exposes and confronts environmental abuse by corporations around the
world, and takes action with its supporters. Our campaigns have shifted the buying behavior of major
companies, creating immediate impacts in the market and on the ground.

Read More about what corporations like Kimberley-Clark, Kraft and Burger King have done in their
effort to minimize their contribution to deforestation

2. Sustainable consumer options

Even you as an individual can make a difference in saving forests by setting the best example . It is a
crucial part of the solution to ending worldwide deforestation. As a consumer, you have the power to
put pressure on companies that have bad environmental practices. By buying recycled or certified
wood products, only supporting brands with zero deforestation policies, and getting others to do the
same you send a message to companies to embrace zero deforestation policies.
3. Politics
In order to achieve zero deforestation by 2020 we need ambitious and science-based domestic and
international forest policies from our government.
We use U.S. laws like the Wilderness Act, Lacey Act and the Roadless Rule to protect U.S. forests and
stop illegal wood products from entering the U.S. marketplace.
We also support and use treaties like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) to help protect forests and the endangered plant and animal species that rely on forests for
habitats.
The international community must also urgently commit to mechanisms that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from deforestation in tropical forest developing nations. Forests for Climate is a landmark
proposal for an international funding mechanism to protect tropical forests. Developing countries with
tropical forests that choose to participate in Forests for Climate would make commitments to
protecting their forests and in exchange would have the opportunity to receive funding for capacitybuilding efforts and for national-level reductions in deforestation emissions. This would provide a
strong incentive for developing countries to continually improve their forest protection programs.