Deforestation

• Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land for use such as:

Arabe Land Pasture

Urban Use

Logged area Wasteland

• Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest

cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced

biodiversity. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing

and is shaping climate and geography.

• Deforestation results from removal of trees without sufficient reforestation, and results in declines in habitat and biodiversity, wood for fuel and industrial use, and quality of life.

• From about the mid-1800s, the planet has experienced an unprecedented rate of

change of destruction of forests worldwide. Forests in Europe are adversely

affected by acid rain and very large areas of Siberia have been harvested since

the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the last two decades, Afghanistan has lost

over 70% of its forests throughout the country.

• However, it is in the world's great tropical rainforests where the destruction is most pronounced. These forests are being destroyed at a pace tracking the rapid pace of human population growth. Unless significant measures are taken on a world-wide basis to preserve them, by 2030 there will only be ten percent remaining with another ten percent in a degraded condition. 80 percent will have been lost and with them the irreversible loss of hundreds of thousands of species.