Anna+Lombardo's+Notes+on+Deforestation


 * __Notes on Deforestation:__ 

**//"Deforestation has already removed about half of the world’s forests, and in your lifetime threatens to eliminate most of the remaining tropical forests."// **

**// __Overall Question:__ //** How do we balance the environmental impact of deforestation, while considering the economic and social needs of mankind? 

//Causes and Effects of Deforestation// ** Putatunda, R. //Causes and effects of deforestation//. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-deforestation.html Causes: - Land used for urban and construction purposes - Land is cleared of trees in order to grow crops - To create grazing land - Trees are cut down for fuel (firewood, or turned into charcoal --> cooking and heating purposes in mostly developing countries)

Effects: - Erosion of soil - Disruption of water cycle - Loss of biodiversity - Flooding and droughts - Climate change

Modern-day plague. //National Geographic//, Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview.html
 * //Modern-Day Plague//

- Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale --> resulting in damage to the quality of the land ** - 30% of the world’s land area is still covered by forests, but large amounts are lost every year - A t the current rate of deforestation, t he world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years - Reasons to cut down trees: adfassd o To make money **-->** People's need to provide for their family adfassd o <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Logging ( cut countless trees each year, some even do it illegally) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Biggest factor of deforestation: agriculture (such as "slash and burn" agriculture) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o C ut as a result of growing urban sprawl - N ot all deforestation is intentional **-->** can be  <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">caused by a combination of human and natural factors, like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing - Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Most drastic = loss of habitat for millions of species (70% of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive all of addfassd the deforestation that destroys their homes) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Drives climate change (without trees, many former forest lands will quickly become barren deserts) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Trees play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming (Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases addfassd entering the atmosphere - and increased speed and severity of global warming) - Solutions to deforestation: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Quickest = simply to stop cutting down trees (very unlikely) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o A more workable solution = to carefully manage forest resources by eliminating clear-cutting to make sure that forest environments remain intact <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> adfacss <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">o To plant enough young trees to replace the older ones felled in any given forest - The number of new tree plantations is growing each year, but their total still equals a tiny fraction of the Earth’s forested land

Jay, P. (2008). The Beetle and the damage done. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">CBC News //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/science/beetle.htm
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//The Beetle and the Damage Done// **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

- Over the last 10 years, the burrowing beetle's population has exploded - It wipes out growths of the mature lodge pole pine trees which are very important to the province's lumber industry - In 2006, 9.2 million hectares of forest were in an advanced stage of attack from the mountain pine beetle - At the end of 2006, the outbreak area affected was estimated at 130,000 square kilometers --> close to the total area of england- Timber losses are estimated to be more than 435 million cubic meters - Damage done to the trees has the forestry industry in a race to get as much from the pine as it can before the trees die in the aftermath of the beetle attacks - Beetle's damage to the forests has even had an impact on the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (according to Natural Resources Canada) - The death of trees normally involved in capturing carbon, have instead released carbon into the atmosphere - “Canadian Forest Service scientist Werner Kurz estimates the beetle's devastation will release almost a billion megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by 2020.” à equivalent to about five years of emissions from Canada's transportation sector - In large numbers the beetle can take down the lodgepole pine from the inside - The spread of the beetle can be traced to two separate issues: <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Forest management <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Climate change

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Canada Sets Aside Its Boreal Forest as Giant Carbon Vault// **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Goldenberg, S. (2009). Canada sets aside its boreal forest as giant carbon vault. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Guardian // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/29/canada-boreal-forest-carbon-vault

- Canadian provincial governments and aboriginal leaders have set aside vast tracts of coniferous woods, wetlands, and peat - Scale of the forest conservation drive is somewhat of an anomaly for Canada - Gary Doer announced a $10m Canadian fund to protect a 10.8m acre expanse of boreal or evergreen forest - The Pimachiowin Aki World heritage project, which straddles the Manitoba-Ontario border, extends efforts by Canadian provincial leaders to protect the wide swaths of pristine forests in the north - Forests, with their rich mix of trees, wetlands, peat and tundra, were a far bigger carbon store than scientists had realized, soaking up 22% of the total carbon stored on the earth's land surface - "If you look across Canada one of [the boreal forest's] great values to us globally is its carbon storage value," said Steve Kallick, director of the Pew Environment Group's International Boreal Conservation Campaign. "There is so much carbon sequestered in it already that if it escaped it would pose a whole new, very grave threat." - "As the climate warms, the place is going to dry up. There will be a problem with insect infestation. There is going to be increased natural carbon release due to fire or wetlands drying up," said Sue Libenson, a spokeswoman for the International Boreal Conservation Campaign. - Canada's 1.3bn acres of boreal forest store the equivalent of 27 years' worth of current global greenhouse gas emissions - The destruction of those forests, scientists warn, would be like setting off a massive "carbon bomb" because of the sudden release of emissions - Ontario committed to protecting 55m acres, or about half of its forest, and Quebec committed to protecting 150m acres

=<span style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">//Global Warming Can Increase Forest Devastation// Global warming can increase crop damage and forest devastation. (2008). //Medindia//, Retrieved from http://www.medindia.net/news/Global-Warming-Can-Increase-Crop-Damage-And-Forest-Devastation-32969-1.htm = - Plant-eating insects might increase their assaults on the foliage because of warming temperatures round the globe - As temperatures continue to rise, the researchers believe the planet could see increasing crop damage and forest devastation. - "Our study convincingly shows that there is a link between temperature and insect feeding on leaves," said lead author Ellen Currano of Pennsylvania State University and the Smithsonian Institution. - Insects responded rapidly to a major change in climate during the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) - The current increase in temperature could have a profound impact on present ecosystems, and potentially to crops, if the pattern holds true in modern times

=Greenpeace names the names behind forest destruction= <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #333333; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">Greenpeace names the names behind forest destruction. (2007). //Greenpeace Canada//, Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/greenpeace-names-the-names-beh <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">- Action from the international marketplace is needed to protect one of the largest ancient forests left on earth <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">- More than 68% of the Boreal Forest under the management of the three logging companies has already been degraded or fragmented – an area totaling nearly 200,000 km2 or 315 times the size of City of Toronto <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">- The demands of the Logging Companies are to: <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Cease logging in all intact forest areas, caribou habitat, and mapped endangered forests immediately, and work with <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfasddsd governments and nongovernmental organizations to formally protect these areas <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Commit publicly to not pursue licensing and new logging activities in currently unallocated areas of the Boreal Forest <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">adfassd o Refrain from logging without the prior and informed consent of First Nations whose territories are affected.

- Some of the Main Causes of Deforestation Throughout the World:
 * Slash and Burn cultivation
 * Flooding
 * Logging

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