Logging, also called deforestation, consists of removal of partial or total vegetation cover from a certain place. While some see this practice as a necessary action to meet the needs of human beings, others point to deforestation as one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. The removal of vegetation cover is related to several causes, such as urbanization, mining and expansion of agribusiness, and its impacts are numerous.
Read too: The relationship between environmental impacts and the emergence of diseases
Causes of deforestation
THE exploration of natural resources it has been happening since the dawn of humanity. However, as society has developed, this exploitation has intensified, putting at risk the balance of the planet and compromising the supply of future generations.
The question of logging took large proportions from the Industrial Revolution. The introduction of new technologies (which provided the increase in industrial production) and consumption (which increased considerably) caused several temperate and tropical forests to be cleared in order to meet this new demand.
You industrialized countries presented, during this period, higher deforestation rates. Over the years, these rates began to fall in these countries and to increase in developing and underdeveloped countries.
Deforestation can be attributed to miscellaneousactivities, these being, for the most part, anthropic. The removal of vegetation cover is related, for example, with the agribusiness expansion; like animal, vegetable or mineral extraction; in need of explore raw material for activities in all sectors of the economy; with the urbanization referring to the increase of cities; and also with illegal activities that involve deliberate burning and even exploration of conservation areas for personal purposes, such as land speculation.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
The expansion of agribusiness it is considered one of the main causes of the increase in deforestation worldwide. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), only in Latin America, the expansion of commercial agriculture and livestock is responsible for approximately 70% of deforestation.
FAO data reveal that agricultural practice, through production on an industrial scale, and livestock, through the increase of extensive pastures, encourage deforestation in several countries around the world.
This issue has generated several controversies, as agribusiness is the flagship of the economy in several countries. Therefore, many justify deforestation as necessary to supply human needs, such as food production. However, according to the report The State of the World's Forests, 2016, released by FAO, points out that it is not necessary to clear forests to produce food. Instead of expanding agricultural areas by removing forests, it is necessary to intensify agricultural activity and social protection measures.
knowalso:The rupture of the Brumadinho dam: know the impacts generated
Consequences of deforestation
One of the main consequences of deforestation is global warming.
Just as the causes of deforestation are many, its consequences are proportional. Although many believe that it is a "necessary evil" for the maintenance of social well-being, especially with the issue of agriculture and cattle raising and extractivism, which are activities essential to the development of a country, the issue of deforestation has taken on unprecedented proportions, putting in risk the whole biological balance of planet Earth.
The main consequences are related to the environment and everything that concerns it. When deforesting, all biodiversity is compromised of the area. Fauna species lose their habitat and flora species can join the listinextinction threats and thus cause a huge environmental imbalance, harming even the primary activities, on which many families depend, and also the economy, such as hunting, agriculture and livestock.
The removal of vegetation cover also aggravates the issue of climate changes. In addition to the increase in pollutant gas emissions to the atmosphere, which has aggravated greenhouse effect it's the global warming, deforestation is also considered one of the factors responsible for climate change. The years are getting hotter, and the rise in the Earth's temperature has caused countless damage to ecosystems and also to human health.
Another issue directly linked to deforestation is related to changes caused in the soil as well as in water resources. Removing vegetation from a given area favors the process oferosionof the soil, as it is the vegetal cover that helps in the infiltration of rainwater. Therefore, without it, water flows over the ground, causing landslides and erosion. The removal of vegetation close to areas of water courses also causes landslides, which are deposited in rivers, causing the siltation.
All these questions convert to the well-being and quality of life of every living thing on the planet. We all depend on forests, whether for the oxygen production, or for the supply of raw material for the production of items essential to life. If we end up with this natural resource, obviously we are we who will directly suffer the consequences. And this has already been observed.
Several natural resources are running out, compromising future generations. The climate has undergone changes felt in all parts of the world. And precisely because of these issues, deforestation has been pointed out as one of the biggest challenges of our time.
Deforestation in the world
Deforestation in the world has decreased with the efforts of some countries to reforest their areas.
Deforestation is a global issue. According to data provided by the World Forest Observatory, the devastation of forests reached about 29.7 million hectares worldwide in 2016, an increase of almost 51% compared to 2015. The main contributors to this increase were the forest fires, like those that occur in Portugal and on California (USA), and also the expansion of agriculture, plant extraction and mining.
In 2018 alone, according to data from Global Forest Watch, the world lost about 12 million hectares of tropical forests, equivalent to almost 30 football fields per minute. The World Resources Institute (US environmental non-governmental organization) released data that also show the countries that most deforested primary forests (corresponding to vegetation in its original state and not the result of reforestation).
The list of countries that deforested the most is led by Brazil and followed by countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Colombia, Bolivia and Malaysia. Brazil and Indonesia together deforested approximately 46% of the world's tropical forests in 2018. This increase in deforestation is believed to have hampered efforts to contain global warming.
At the same time, some countries have reduced their deforestation rates. Between 2010 and 2015, the decrease in global deforestation was about 33 thousand net square kilometers, according to FAO. This is the result obtained between the devastation of areas and reforestation. Approximately 76 thousand square kilometers are lost annually, offset by 43 thousand square kilometers of reforestation.
Indonesia, for example, has been striving to preserve its primary forests, managing to reduce, from 2018 to the present day, around 40% of deforestation in these areas. Indonesia's Environment Minister claimed the country's effort to ensure compliance with national environmental policy laws, punishing and warning companies.
THE Norway, which deforested about 10 million m3 in its territory since 2014, it has reforested approximately 25 million m3. The attitude of reforesting contributed to the country offsetting around 60% of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Another example is the Germany, which deforested 58 thousand hectares of forests between 2002 and 2012, and reforested around 108 thousand hectares.
O Brazil it had also shown a reduction in deforestation, between 2010 and 2011, to 20 thousand square kilometers devastated, 20 thousand less than the records of previous years. However, currently, the scenario has changed again. Deforestation rates are on the rise again, and this issue will be addressed in the next topic.
Deforestation in Brazil
As said, Brazil leads the world ranking of deforestation of primary forests, especially in biomes Amazon, thick and Atlantic forest. In 2017, the country devastated 45,000 km², demonstrating that the country increased its deforestation rates once again, which had fallen.
According to the Monitoring of Land Cover and Use of Brazil, released in 2018 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the country lost about 7.5% of its vegetation cover. The country's vegetation area was 4,017,505 km2 in 2000. This number dropped to 3,719,801 km2 in 2016.
This survey also shows that more than 62,000 km2 area of the country underwent changes between the years 2014 and 2016. The loss of vegetation accompanied the accelerated pace of expansion of agricultural areas (especially in states of North region, such as Rondônia, Amazonas and Pará) and pastures close to the Amazon biome.
The monitoring of deforestation in the country is officially carried out by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) and by some independent organizations, such as the Institute for Man and the Environment in the Amazon (Imazon).
readalso: Brazilian biomes: characteristics of each of them
→ Deforestation in the Amazon
The increase in deforestation in the Amazon has reached alarming proportions.
Deforestation in the Amazon has caused great grief around the world. THE region of greater biodiversityof the planet has suffered from the increase in deforestation and has worried representatives from several countries, as well as countless environmental organizations, considering that the Amazon is responsible for the environmental balance not only from Brazil but from all over the world.
According to studies published by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, in the United States, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the Brazilian Amazon lost 400,000 km² of its forests, an area larger than the territory of Germany, between 2000 and 2017.
Inpe released, in 2019, new data on the loss of vegetation cover in the biome. These data show that deforestation increased by 278% in the month of July compared to July of the previous year. During this period alone, approximately 2,254.9 km² of forests were devastated. The data are collected by Deforestation Detection in Real Time (Deter), which instantly monitors deforestation in the Amazon region.
The increase between 2018 and 2019 was 49.5%, compared to the period between 2017 and 2018. The devastation is related to the increase in areas destined to farming; with the interference in infrastructure, such as transportation; with the construction of hydroelectric plants; with the mining; and with the arson fires.
→ Deforestation in the Cerrado
The Cerrado, like the Amazon, has suffered from the intensification of deforestation. According to data released by Inpe in 2018, the biome lost about 6,657 km², 11% less than in 2016 and 33% less than registered in 2010.
The Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil, second only to the area occupied by the Amazon. Despite the reduction in the deforestation rate in recent years, it should be noted that the loss of vegetation in the biome has already reached 51%. This deforestation is associated with the advance of agribusiness. According to the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam), in 15 years, deforestation in the Cerrado was greater than that practiced in the Amazon.
→ Deforestation in the Atlantic Forest
Without a doubt, the biome Atlantic forest which is suffered most from the devastation in Brazil, and it is the only biome in the country that has specific legislation, a contradiction. According to SOS Mata Atlântica, this biome, which covered about 15% of the Brazilian territory, has only 1% of its original forest. Its deforestation has already reached 92%. It contains the largest number of endangered species.
Data presented by SOS Mata Atlântica indicate that the Biome deforestation fell about 9.8% between the years 2017 and 2018, compared to the period between 2016 and 2017. In 2018, approximately 113 km² were deforested. Some states have achieved zero deforestation (deforestation below 100 hectares), such as Ceará, Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Paraíba, Pernambuco and São Paulo. This demonstrates that governments have been striving to comply with laws that protect the areas encompassed by the biome.
However, according to the Atlas of Forest Remnants of the Atlantic Forest, some states still have high rates of deforestation in the biome, such as Minas Gerais, Paraná, Piauí, Bahia and Santa Catherine. The devastation in these areas is associated with activities such as charcoal production, soy planting and the pulp industry.
Lookalso: How to recover the Amazon?
How to contain deforestation
Containing deforestation seems obvious: just don't deforest. However, this is not such a simple question. We know that many countries put economic issues ahead of their environmental heritage. It is important to emphasize that, yes, agribusiness is fundamental for the development of an economy, as well as for the world's food supply. However, you have to look for a manner sustainable development, and this is currently one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
We are causing a collapseenvironmental through human activities, and deforestation is one of the issues that, as said, have numerous consequences. As stated by the FAO, there is no need to expand the areas dedicated to agricultural production, but there is a need for intensify production so that environmental laws are ensured.
According to the State of the World's Forests 2016 (Sofo), the public administration incentive Private initiatives that combine the receipt of credits when environmental standards are complied with is one of the ways to combat deforestation. Also according to Sofo, countries have improved their food security by maintaining their vegetation cover since 1990. This means that no need to deforest to produce the necessary amount of food.
See too: 10 attitudes that can save the planet
With regard to Brazil, Paulo Barreto, forestry engineer at Imazon, pointed out some necessary measures to curb deforestation. Check out some examples:
Inspection and control policies must be effective;
Collection of rural tax in order to avoid land speculation;
Expansion of the soy moratorium to the Cerrado. The soy moratorium is a sectorial agreement between soy producers and buyers who undertake not to buy soy produced in deforested areas;
Closing of the market for meat from illegal sources, that is, from devastated areas;
Subsidize credit only for those who comply with environmental laws, that is, those who deforest are not entitled to credit to produce;
Reforest.
by Rafaela Sousa
Graduated in Geography
