In light of Queens College’s focus on the Year of Brazil, I wanted to address an environmental issue that is prevalent within, but not limited to Brazil. BBC news recently covered a story on the increasing rate of deforestation in Brazil that is troubling environmentalists worldwide. Brazil has had a longstanding history with deforestation and much of it is being done illegally. From 2009 to 2012, the level of deforestation in Brazil was declining, but in 2013, the rate of deforestation went up by 28 percent. This sharp increase is still less deforestation that occurred in 2004, where 27,000 sq km versus 5,843 sq km of forest land in 2013 was removed.
Reform of the forest protection law in 2012 is believed to be the cause of the increase. Because 5 percent of Brazil’s GDP comes from agricultural activities, the farmers’ lobby fought for reduced protected areas in farms and amnesty for areas destroyed before 2008 and won. You can read more about Brazil’s economic activity in Leora’s blog here. The Brazilian government conceded to the farm lobbyists and passed a bill that passed reforms to the law which ultimately caused the downward sloping trajectory of deforestation, and now the government is scrambling to remedy the crisis. The reforms reduced the number of “protected areas” in farms and also allowed landowners to develop on certain forest-lands. Despite the increase, the Brazilian government is reluctant to blame policy changes. Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environment minister, pointed to the long-term decrease in deforestation over the past decade and said the overall trend was “positive.” The government’s goal, Teixeira told a news conference in Brasilia, “is to eliminate illegal deforestation in the Amazon.” (Reuters)
According to the World Resources Institute, forest loss contributes between 12 percent and 17 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and a large portion of the loss is caused by the destruction of rainforests in the Amazon. This is done to provide the economy with more farmland, timber, urbanization, and other commercial uses. Most of the food people in cities consume come from crops and livestock grown on farms that exist on deforested land. So this is not just a rural, Brazilian problem. It can be seen as an issue, fueled and perpetuated by the demand from urban areas all around the world.
Global Forest Loss
- The map shows forest change from 2000-12. Green areas are forested; red suffered forest loss; blue showed forest gain; pink experienced both loss and gain.
- The Earth lost 2.3m sq km of tree cover in 2000-12, because of logging, fire, disease or storms
- But the planet also gained 800,000 sq km of new forest, meaning a net loss of 1.5m sq km
- Brazil showed the best improvement of any country, cutting annual forest loss in half between 2003-04 and 2010-11
Deforestation poses several issues for people, plants and animals that rely upon Earth’s free ecosystem services:
1) Loss of Biodiversity: Forests serve as homes to several different species and with the removal of forest land, the flora and fauna of the ecosystem either die-off in the region or become extinct. The loss of biodiversity contributes to a loss of ecosystem health, which leaves the land and waters of the region vulnerable to natural disasters and contamination.
2) Water Cycle: Trees absorb much of the water in the earth’s atmosphere, and holds it within the ecosystem, and slowly releases some in gaseous form back into the air. With the loss of trees also comes the loss of water that is able to circulate within an ecosystem, therefore leaving arid land behind that is unsuitable for farming.
3) Soil Erosion: The process of clear-cutting trees and burning them removes forest land from the desired area. This exposes the land to the drying effect of the sun and wind, making the soil infertile. When crops can no longer grow on the land, it cannot hold onto the soil and therefore erosion occurs. Soil erosion can lead to increased vulnerability to floods and other natural disasters.
4) Quality of Life: For people who rely upon the healthy services of a forest ecosystem, or even arable land, mass deforestation puts them at risk for losing their livelihoods. Soil erosion can deposit sediments into clean drinking water systems making the water undrinkable. The loss of trees compromises the service provided by them that every living thing depends on: releasing oxygen and capturing carbon dioxide. Burning trees adds carbon dioxide to our atmosphere and removing trees lowers the number of trees available to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen. Deforestation perpetuates the effect of global warming in this way.
It is always important to remember that global issues and challenges are not relegated to the confines of a nation’s boundaries. Environmental degradation is one of the most difficult problems facing our society today due to issues of containment. The negative effects of deforestation spread from Brazil to Zimbabwe. Whether it is deforestation in the Amazon, or melting polar ice caps in the North Pole, everyone is hurt, because this is everybody’s earth.
