Lessons 5 & 6: Human Causes of Climate Change Deforestation Deforestation is the cutting down and clearing away of trees. Deforestation used to be something that few people apart from environmentalists talked about, but in the last 20 years or so it has received increasing attention from governments and the media, and is now considered to be one of the world’s most serious environmental problems. Deforestation leads to the extinction of many species of forest animals and the erosion of soil after trees have been removed, but the consequence of deforestation that we hear most about is its contribution to global warming. Trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Earth’s atmosphere, so less trees means higher levels of CO2, which contributes to the atmosphere becoming warmer. Many scientists estimate that about 20% of global warming is due to deforestation. Deforestation is taking place mostly in developing countries in tropical regions of South and Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Perhaps the most well-known case is the decreasing size of the huge Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil. Many people around the world say these developing countries should do more to protect their forests – although the developing countries could point out that most of the world’s developed countries destroyed most of their own forests many centuries ago. In some cases deforestation is caused by poor people who want to use the wood for fuel or to clear a small amount of land in order to grow food for their families. In many cases, however, it happens because there are large profits to be made – for example from selling the wood, or from growing crops (such as soybeans) or raising animals (such as cattle, for beef) on the land after the trees have gone. Produce from deforested land is often exported, so there is often a link between what people choose to buy in their local shops and what happens to forests in countries thousands of miles away. TASK 10:
Lessons 5 & 6: Human Causes of Climate Change Deforestation Deforestation is the cutting down and clearing away of trees. Deforestation used to be something that few people apart from environmentalists talked about, but in the last 20 years or so it has received increasing attention from governments and the media, and is now considered to be one of the world’s most serious environmental problems. Deforestation leads to the extinction of many species of forest animals and the erosion of soil after trees have been removed, but the consequence of deforestation that we hear most about is its contribution to global warming. Trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Earth’s atmosphere, so less trees means higher levels of CO2, which contributes to the atmosphere becoming warmer. Many scientists estimate that about 20% of global warming is due to deforestation. Deforestation is taking place mostly in developing countries in tropical regions of South and Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Perhaps the most well-known case is the decreasing size of the huge Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil. Many people around the world say these developing countries should do more to protect their forests – although the developing countries could point out that most of the world’s developed countries destroyed most of their own forests many centuries ago. In some cases deforestation is caused by poor people who want to use the wood for fuel or to clear a small amount of land in order to grow food for their families. In many cases, however, it happens because there are large profits to be made – for example from selling the wood, or from growing crops (such as soybeans) or raising animals (such as cattle, for beef) on the land after the trees have gone. Produce from deforested land is often exported, so there is often a link between what people choose to buy in their local shops and what happens to forests in countries thousands of miles away. TASK 10: