 The Baiji is a mammal much like a dolphin.

Does it
sound familiar? It doesn’t, right? That is because
Baijis are considered functionally extinct. Same
goes for the Western Black Rhinoceros, Miss
Waldron’s Red Colobus and the Caspian Tiger. How
about the climate, have you noticed anything
different? It seems that there are so many changes
with the climate: Increased humidity, weather
unpredictability, and extreme temperature
changes. And what’s with the news recently?
Excessive flooding, landslides, and soil erosion are
occurring more frequently nowadays.
 These events that are currently happening in our
world are truly alarming. But what could’ve caused
these? The answer is deforestation.
 According to Wikipedia, deforestation is
“…the conversion of forested areas to
non-forest land”. These converted lands
are then used for commercial purposes
like cattle-raising, real estate, and farming
to name a few. Also, deforestation is
considered as the result of excessive
removal of trees without reforestation,
which then results in declines in habitat
and biodiversity, wood for fuel and
industrial use, and quality of life.
 Prehistory
 Pre-industrial History
 Agriculture
 Cattle Raising
 Dams and Megaprojects
 Fires
 Commercial Logging
 Shrimp Farming
 Mining
 Oil and Gas
 Plantations
 Deforestation for agricultural purposes
is probably the most common among
all causes of Deforestation.
 When used for this purpose, forests are
totally cleared away so that there will
be a grazing land for the cattle for six
to ten years. And since the cost of land
is cheaper in South America compared
to the United States, many companies
have chosen to set-up cattle business
in South America.
 A dam is a barrier that divides water. Its
purpose is to retain the water or redirect
the flow to other routes. Dams affect
many ecological aspects of a river. Rivers
depend on the constant disturbance of a
certain tolerance. Dams slow the river and
this disturbance may damage or destroy
this pattern of ecology. The water
contained by the dams can cause flooding
to the surrounding area, most of which
are forest areas. The trees affected by the
flooding eventually die.
 Many developing nations practice what
is called slash-and-burn agriculture.
This form of agriculture attempts to
take advantage of nutrients stored in
forest land to grow crops.
Unfortunately, the forest areas in these
countries are most often tropical
forests, and in tropical forests most of
the nutrients are stored in the planet
matter itself – and not in the ground.
 In Southeast Asia and Africa, commercial
logging is recognized as the primary
cause of deforestation. On a global scale,
commercial logging is responsible for
destroying around 5 million hectares of
land annually. Logging roads allows
people who do not own land to enter the
forest as in Africa wherein 75% of land
being cleared by peasant farmers was
land where logging has occurred before.
 Mangrove forest are characterized by low
tree diversity, almost all of them are
mangroves, with a low broken canopy.
They are found in silt-rich, saline habitats
worldwide, usually along river deltas,
estuaries and coastal areas. Mangrove
forests are ideal for shrimp farming
because of their location and perceived
low-cost value. The Environmental Justice
Foundation estimates that as much as
38% of global mangrove deforestation is
linked to shrimp farm development.
 Large-scale mining operations,
especially those using open-pit mining
techniques, can result in significant
deforestation through forest clearing
and the construction of roads which
open remote forest areas to transient
settlers, land speculators, and small-
scale miners.
 The construction of gas pipelines affects
the forests. This is the case in the
Lawachhara National Park in Bangladesh.
In a report, the environmental activist
Philip Gain describes how oil giant Unocal
is setting a gas pipeline through the
Lawachhara National Park, posing a major
threat on that unique patch of forest.
Previously, there were cases in
Magurchhara and Tengratila wherein gas
pipes caused explosions and fires as these
could surely be disastrous to the Park.
 Cash crop farming is also one of the culprits
of deforestation. In Third World countries, it is
considered a major part of the so-called
development and is causing a huge deal of
deforestation. The best pieces of forest land
are converted to cash crop plantations to
earn export income. Extensive areas of Brazil
and Thailand now provide feed for Europe's
cattle, much of it at the expense of the
rainforest. In Malaysia, over 3.5 million
hectares of forest have been cleared for
rubber and oil palm plantations. Worldwide,
between 1.2 and 5.5 million hectares of
forest are destroyed annually to grow and
cure tobacco.
 Biodiversity
 Water Cycle
 Soil Erosion
 Landslides
 Atmospheric Pollution
 According to the Haribon Foundation,
the Philippines have the world’s most
rapid and massive deforestation.
Commercial logging and mining have
caused so much destruction in the
Philippine forests.
 During the 1900’s, an estimated 21
million hectares of forest cover is in the
Philippines, roughly 70% of our total land
area. Fast forward to 1988, less than a
century later, the country’s natural forests
have dwindled down to 6 million hectares.
Then a decade later, the once lush cover
of green became a mere 800,000
hectares of forest land. Currently, the
deforestation rate in our country is 2% per
annum
1900s, 70% 1988, 23% 2010, 6%
 Farming
 Forest Management
 Reforestation
 Forest Plantations