{"id":655,"date":"2021-03-10T16:30:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T16:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/?p=655"},"modified":"2022-07-01T15:00:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T15:00:43","slug":"deforestation-case-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/deforestation-case-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Deforestation: Case Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Deforestation<\/a> is putting our planet at risk, as the following case studies exemplify. It is responsible for at least 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and wipes out 137 species of plants, animals and insects every day<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. The deplorable practice degenerates soil, losing half of the world’s topsoil over the past 150 years.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Deforestation also leads to drought by reducing the amount of water in the atmosphere.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Since the 1950s, deforestation has accelerated significantly, particularly in the tropics.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This is primarily due to rapid population growth and a resultant increase in demand for food and resources.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Agriculture drives about 80 per cent of deforestation today, as land is cleared for livestock, growing animal feed or other crops.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The below deforestation case studies of Brazil\u2019s Amazon rainforest and the Congo Basin provide further insights into modern deforestation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Deforestation case study: Brazil<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest \u2013 the largest rainforest in the world \u2013 is within Brazil\u2019s national borders.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Any examination of deforestation case studies would be incomplete without considering tree felling in Brazil.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

History of deforestation in Brazil<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Humans first discovered the Amazon rainforest about 13,000 years ago. But, it was the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th century that spurred the conversion of the forest into farmland. Nevertheless, the sheer size of the Amazon meant that the rainforest remained largely intact until the early 20th century. It was in the latter half of the 20th century that things began to change.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\"Hoatzin\r\n
The Hoatzin bird is one of ten million species living in the Amazon rainforest. Deforestation impacts the delicate ecosystem within this tropical forest and can even lead to a species’ extinction.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Industrial activities and large-scale agriculture began to eat away the southern and eastern fringes of the Amazon, from the 1950s onwards.<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Deforestation in Brazil received a significant boost in 1964 when a military dictatorship took power and declared the jungle a security risk.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> By the 1970s, the government was running television ads encouraging land conversion, provoking millions to migrate north into the forest.<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Settlements replaced trees, and infrastructure began to develop. Wealthy tycoons subsequently bought the land for cattle ranches or vast fields of soy.<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By the turn of the 21st century, more than 75 per cent of deforestation in the Amazon was for cattle ranching. But, environmentalists and Indigenous groups drew international attention to the devastation caused and succeeded in curtailing it by 2004. Between 2004 and the early 2010s, annual forest cover loss in Brazil reduced by about 80 per cent. The decline is attributed to \u201cincreased law enforcement, satellite monitoring, pressure from environmentalists, private and public sector initiatives, new protected areas, and macroeconomic trends\u201d.<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Brazil\u2019s deforestation of the Amazon rainforest since 2010<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Unfortunately, however, efforts to curtail deforestation in Brazil\u2019s Amazon have stalled since 2012.<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Tree felling and land conversion have been trending upwards ever since. The economic incentive for chopping the rainforest down has overcome the environmental benefits of leaving it standing.<\/span>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Political movements and lax government legislation have leveraged this to their advantage. President Jair Bolsonaro won the 2018 election with a promise to open up the Amazon to business.<\/span>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Since his inauguration, the rate of deforestation has leapt by as much as 92 per cent.<\/span>18<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However, there is still hope for the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro\u2019s principal international ally was US President Trump. Now that environmentally-conscious Joe Biden has replaced him in the White House, international pressure regarding deforestation will increase heavily.<\/span>19<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Biden has made this clear with a promise of USD $20 billion to protect the Amazon.<\/span>20<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The impact of continued deforestation in Brazil<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For its three million plant and animal species and one million Indigenous inhabitants, it is imperative that Amazonian deforestation is massively and immediately reduced.<\/span>21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> As much as 17 per cent of the Amazon has been lost already.<\/span>22<\/sup><\/a><\/span> If this proportion increases to over 20 per cent, a tipping point will be reached.<\/span>23<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This will irreversibly break the water cycle, and at least half of the remaining forest will become savannah.<\/span>24<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Impact on climate change<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Losing the Amazon would also mean losing the fight against climate change. Despite the rampant deforestation in recent years, the remaining Amazon rainforest still absorbs between 5 to 10 per cent of all human CO2 emissions.<\/span>25<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Cutting trees down increases anthropogenic emissions. When felled, burned or left to rot, trees release sequestered carbon.<\/span>26<\/sup><\/a><\/span> A combination of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving existing forests is crucial to preventing dangerous levels of global warming.<\/span>27<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Deforestation case study: The Congo Basin<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Congo Basin is the second-largest rainforest in the world.<\/span>28<\/sup><\/a><\/span> It has been described as the \u2018second lungs\u2019 of the Earth because of how much carbon dioxide it absorbs and how much oxygen it produces.<\/span>29<\/sup><\/a><\/span> But, just as the world\u2019s first lungs \u2013 the Amazon \u2013 is being destroyed by humans, the Congo\u2019s rainforest is also suffering heavy casualties.<\/span>30<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

60 per cent of the Congo Basin is located within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).<\/span>31<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The DRC is one of the world’s largest and poorest countries, though it has immense economic resources.<\/span>32<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Natural resources have fuelled an ongoing war that has affected all the neighbouring countries and claimed as many as six million lives.<\/span>33<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The resultant instability combined with corruption and poor governance have led to an ever-increasing rate of deforestation within the DRC\u2019s borders.<\/span>34<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Compared to the Amazon and Southeast Asia, deforestation in the Congo Basin has been low over the past few decades.<\/span>35<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Nevertheless, great swathes of primary forest have been lost. Between 2000 and 2014, an area of forest larger than Bangladesh was destroyed.<\/span>36<\/sup><\/a><\/span> From 2015 until 2019, 6.37 million hectares of tree cover was razed.<\/span>37<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In 2019 alone, 475,000 hectares of primary forest disappeared, placing the DRC second only to Brazil for total deforestation that year.<\/span>38<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Should the current rate of deforestation continue, all primary forest in the Congo Basin will be gone by the end of the century.<\/span>39<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Drivers of deforestation in the DRC\u2019s Congo Basin<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the past 20 years, the biggest drivers of deforestation in the DRC has been small-scale subsistence agriculture. Clearing trees for charcoal and fuelwood, urban expansion and mining have also contributed to deforestation. Industrial logging is the most common cause of forest degradation. It opens up deeper areas of the forest to commercial hunting. There has been at least a 60 per cent drop in the region\u2019s forest elephant populations over the past decade due to hunting and poaching.<\/span>40<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\"\"\r\n
There has been at least a 60 per cent drop in the Congo basins forest elephant populations over the past decade due to hunting and poaching.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Between 2000 and 2014, small-scale farming contributed to about 90 per cent of the DRC\u2019s deforestation. This trend has not changed in recent years. The majority of small-scale forest clearing is conducted with simple axes by people with no other livelihood options. The region\u2019s political instability and ongoing conflict are therefore inciting the unsustainable rate of deforestation within the Congo Basin.<\/span>41<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In future, however, industrial logging and land conversion to large-scale agriculture will pose the greatest threats to the Congo rainforest.<\/span>42<\/sup><\/a><\/span> There are fears that demand for palm oil, rubber and sugar production will promote a massive increase in deforestation.<\/span>43<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The DRC\u2019s population is also predicted to grow to almost 200 million people by 2050.<\/span>44<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This increase will threaten the remaining rainforest further, as they try to earn a living in a country deprived of opportunities.<\/span>45<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The impact of deforestation in the Congo Basin<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

80 million people<\/a> depend upon the Congo Basin for their existence. It provides food, charcoal, firewood, medicinal plants, and materials for building and other purposes. But, this rainforest also indirectly supports people across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. Like all forests, it is instrumental in regulating rainfall, which can affect precipitation hundreds of miles away. The Congo Basin is a primary source of rainfall for the Sahel region, doubling the amount of rainfall in the air that passes over it.<\/span>46<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The importance of the Congo Basin\u2019s ability to increase precipitation cannot be understated. Areas such as the Horn of Africa are becoming increasingly dry. Drought in Ethiopia and Somalia has put millions of people on emergency food and water rations in recent years. Destroying the DRC\u2019s rainforest would create the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.<\/span>47<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It would also be devastating for biodiversity. The Congo Basin shelters some 10,000 animal species and more than 600 tree species.<\/span>48<\/sup><\/a><\/span> They play a hugely important role in the forest, which has consequences for the entire planet. For instance, elephants, gorillas, and other large herbivores keep the density of small trees very low through predation.<\/span>49<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This results in a high density of tall trees in the Congo rainforest.<\/span>50<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Larger trees store more carbon and therefore help to prevent global warming by removing this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.<\/span>51<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Preserve our forests<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Preserving the Amazon and Congo Basin rainforests is vital for tackling climate change, as these deforestation case studies demonstrate. We must prioritise protecting and enhancing our existing trees if we are to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5\u00b0C, as recommended by the IPCC.<\/span>52<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deforestation is putting our planet at risk, as the following case studies exemplify. It is responsible for at least 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and wipes out 137 species of plants, animals and insects every day. The deplorable practice degenerates soil, losing half of the world’s topsoil over the past 150 years. 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