Forests Sacrificed to Short-Term and Unsustainable Profits
We understand better than ever the importance of forests and forest-dwelling populations in the fight against climate change. In fact, hundreds of millions of hectares of forest have disappeared in recent decades. Forests are an important part of stabilizing soil ecosystems, wetlands, wildlife biodiversity, plant diversity, and are among the primary sources of carbon dioxide absorption. Approximately one-third of the Earth’s surface is covered by forests, which provide abundant materials, services, beauty, and natural resources, sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people.
FAO data from 2020 shows that over 30 years from 1990 to 2020, the world’s forest area decreased by approximately 178 million hectares (an area roughly the size of Libya). The rate of deforestation has slowed in the past decade, but its distribution has become severely regional and concentrated in specific geographic areas. According to FAO statistics, while 7.8 million hectares of forest disappeared annually in the 1990s, this figure has decreased in the recently completed decade—approximately 4.7 million hectares per year.
However, the rate of deforestation in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa has accelerated significantly. While in Europe and large parts of Asia, forest conservation planning has become more stringent. Yet these statistics still show that even though deforestation rates have decreased over the past thirty years, since 1990, approximately 420 million hectares of forest have been lost due to land-use conversion to other purposes.
The global pandemic expansion demonstrated how essential forest protection is, even in less-discussed cases such as the blurring of boundaries between wildlife and human life. Most terrestrial biodiversity lives in forests. Forests contain 60,000 different tree species, 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species, and 68% of terrestrial mammal species.
Research shows that fragmentation and degradation of forest density, as well as the removal of old-growth trees, accelerate forest destruction and severely affect its effectiveness in preserving soil moisture, underground water resources, and serving as habitat for wildlife. On the other hand, thin and fragmented forests are both more quickly polluted and more quickly consumed by fire.
According to FAO statistics, 34.8 million forest patches globally, ranging from 1 to 680 million hectares, are needed to reconnect fragmented forests that require immediate extensive restoration.
The assessment of the state of global forest resources published by FAO in 2020 showed that despite the reduced rate of deforestation in the past decade, approximately 10 million hectares are lost annually due to conversion to agriculture and other forms of forest exploitation.
In the sphere of land-use activities, agriculture over the past decade has become the primary source of greenhouse gas pollution, surpassing deforestation. This issue has raised greater concerns through a study conducted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and published in Global Change Biology. This topic reveals further the emerging process of ensuring food security and combining it with the need for more agricultural land, and the impact of deepening and intensifying climate change in connection with deforestation for agriculture. Official statistics are not available regarding how many forest fires are intentionally caused by human factors and what percentage are carried out solely with the purpose of seizing forest land and converting its use. However, perhaps attention to this example could help clarify the situation somewhat. In Italy, over the past two decades, strict enforcement of laws prohibiting any disruption or seizure of forest lands affected by fires for up to a century has been able to contribute significantly to forest restoration and has greatly reduced the history and number of organized fires by waste mafia in southern Italy.
The connection between forest conservation and management in agriculture is so important that, for example, in climate negotiations during COP21 in Paris, which focused on forest-conservation-focused management programs, researchers emphasized that representatives of agricultural improvement and development projects should not be overlooked in policymaking and planning.
The expansion of agricultural land for producing food we need or animals in our food chain clearly explains that research, investment, and major projects are often serving the purpose of obtaining more space for cultivated land. A reality that obscures the assessment of agriculture’s impact and water and land provision for it, even at the cost of destroying natural resources, and has ignored the indirect responsibility of large-scale industrial agriculture. In this way, statistics clearly show that deforestation for agricultural purposes has occurred more than logging and other raw material extraction.
Recent victories in forest conservation to stop and control climate change impacts are easily threatened by attempts to meet the world’s growing appetite, particularly for meat. This is in addition to the importance of the fact that livestock raising itself is among the most important factors in producing greenhouse gases: FAO research data shows a 13% increase since 1990. World meat production increased by approximately 70% between 1990 and 2012; while milk and egg production increased by 39% and 93% respectively.
The causes of deforestation are numerous. In South America and Africa, where developing countries are dynamic but with high poverty and inequality rates, statistics show that governments prefer to cut down trees to provide space for profitable activities in the short term. In fact, there are a range of social, political, and economic issues that cause these regions of the world to cause extensive damage to forests. In practice, one of the main reasons for deforestation in these countries is deforestation promoted by farmers. In developing countries, it is estimated on average that agricultural commerce is responsible for 40% of deforestation. Road construction and infrastructure development, or deforestation for livelihood-related activities, such as using forest wood as an inexpensive energy source, can also be harmful when combined with the entry of human life into forest areas.
Some countries, particularly India, oppose discussion about agriculture’s impacts at UN climate sessions because they fear reduced agricultural production.
Economic inequality and climate injustice must also be credited with a role in deforestation. Rural unemployment and poverty in forest-dwelling areas and the loss of agriculture, on the one hand, and the lack of sustainable planning for the use of sustainable technologies in managing water and soil resources for agriculture on one side of the chain, as well as mismanagement of food waste and its storage and distribution methods at the end of the production chain, are also important issues that have received very little attention. In fact, it can be said that deforestation and acquisition of more land and control of more water resources have replaced the management of cultivated land and control of the agricultural production and distribution process. A shortcut and cheaper route for governments, but extremely harmful and costly for the health of the planet and its inhabitants.
Source: Hrana
