Trees are one of our friendliest allies. Whether they're combating climate change, preventing soil erosion, or simply providing you with a fun place to climb, trees make life on Earth healthier and cleaner. Indeed, trees limit water pollution, provide habitats for countless organisms, and even supply food. They don't just recycle oxygen; they keep the world turning.
Are you sick of trees yet? Don't worry; this blog isn't going to be a tirade about why we can't let the big, mean logging industries chop down Great Uncle George's 200-year-old oak tree, evicting two squirrels and a woodpecker. While trees truly are incredibly beneficial in all of the ways listed above, they also have some other extremely important uses. The high demands of wood for fuel and construction make forests quite a hot commodity. However, before going any further, we should understand exactly what deforestation is and what causes it.
Deforestation is the clearing of the earth's forests in order to harvest lumber and make the land available for other uses. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, about 18 million acres of forest are removed each year; that's about the size of Panama! For a different perspective, that's comparable to losing roughly 36 football fields of trees every single minute. If either of those statistics are particularly alarming, you should be at least partially relieved to hear that about 30% of the earth's land mass is still covered by our big green friends.
This photograph is compliments of the Texas State Aquarium.
Although there seem to be plenty of trees remaining, what is causing this mass destruction? Obviously logging industries play a major role in deforestation, but did you know that much of the world's timber is harvested illegally? From cutting trees to selling them as product, national laws regulate the entire process of harvesting wood, but many logging companies violate these restrictions across the world. One of the largest threats of illegal logging is chopping down more than is permitted by law, and this certainly contributes to the growing problem of deforestation.
Congress passed amendments in 2008 on a century-old law called the Lacey Act, which sought to ban illegal trafficking in wildlife. Now, the law is designed to include timber production, functioning to eliminate illegally sourced wood from the US market. While the law functions to enforce regulations and promote sustainable forest management, the war against illegal logging is far from over, and its impact continues to complicate the issue of deforestation.
This image is courtesy of Mark Godsell-Fletcher.
However, the high demands of wood for fuel and material are not the sole factor influencing man-caused deforestation. In light of the ever increasing world population, more and more forests are being cleared to make land available for a multitude of purposes. Urbanization is a direct cause of deforestation, as providing land for housing construction projects is an important demand in the world today. Additionally, agricultural demands are among the largest for clearing forests, as more farm space is required to raise the cattle that provide people with essential resources such as beef and dairy products.
However, before we begin shaking our heads in disapproval of how agricultural and logging industries exploit our trees, we should understand that the biggest cause of deforestation is actually forest fires. Millions of acres of woods are consumed by fire each year across the planet, totaling the amount lost to agriculture and logging put together! While some of these fires have natural causes, a shocking estimate of roughly 90% of wildfires in the US are actually caused by humans.
This picture is provided by Alexander Lesnyanskiy.
Whether it's leaving a campfire unattended, carelessly tossing away a cigarette, or burning garbage in a giant bonfire, humans are responsible for the destruction of countless trees. That kind of destruction isn't the type you'll read about in the newspaper when some corporate logging industry is facing a lawsuit for over-cutting; that's the kind of destruction that can be caused by people like you and me. Although I don't claim responsibility for ever starting a forest fire, we should keep this issue in perspective. The largest cause of deforestation lies directly among us, the people.
This image is compliments of David Cvet.
While deforestation is an alarming issue that demands immediate action from the world's leaders, policy-makers, and law enforcers, the issue is also greatly community-based. Our trees are essential to life on Earth, and creating a sustainable future for the next generation involves addressing the problem of deforestation at every level.
