NATURE AND WILDLIFE

What is deforestation?

Deforestation is when humans remove or clear large areas of forest lands for non-forest use. These include clearing for farming purposes, ranching and urban use. In these cases, trees are never re-planted.

Since the industrial age, about half of world's original forests had been destroyed and millions of animals and living things have been endangered. Despite the improvements in education, information and general awareness of the importance of forests, deforestation has not reduced much, and there are still many more communities and individuals who still destroy forest lands for personal gains.


cutting down trees for farming purposesWhy do humans clear forest lands?
Picture Describes It.

Trees are cut down (deforestation) for many reasons including
forest pointTo be used, sold or exported as timber, wood or fuel (charcoal). This is called logging.
forest pointTo be used for farming purposes (grazing fields for farm livestock, or large scale farming activities)
forest pointTo make room for human settlement and urbanization (these include making space for shelter, industries and roads)
forest pointTo make room for mining.

In all the reasons above, the trees cut are usually very well developed trees that hves taken many years to mature. When they are cut, they break down many more younger tress as they fall to the ground, leaving that area heavily degraded.

Forest degradation is different from deforestation. Degradation is used to mean the destruction or reduction in quality of specific aspects of forests, example: a decrease in tree cover, changes in their structure or a reduction in the number of species that can be found there. If Acid rain destroys trees in a vast area, it can be called forest degradation.