While people might think that most trees are cut down for timber or paper, Farming is the biggest killer of forests, particularly soybeans or cocoa beans. “Forests contain more than twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and process through their metabolism about 1/7 of the atmospheric carbon annually.”(M, Woodwell George) and Worldwide, an entire 40 football fields of tropical rainforests are cut down each minute. (M, Woodwell George) If this doesn’t slow down, I won’t be long before there are no forests left on earth. Trees are an essential part of the food chain because they provide habitat for millions of species of animals, and holds the soil together which stops desertification.(When there’s nothing holding the soil together, all the sand flies up and becomes a source of dust pollution)
Ivory coast cocoa farms
A major example of farming cutting down forests can be seen in the cocoa farms for chocolate in Ivory Coast. More than 80% of their rainforests have been cut down since 1960, and they will disappear in 2030 if this doesn’t stop. The cocoa farmers burn down the forest bit by bit to plant cocoa beans because they think that recently deforested land is the best place to plant their crops. (Ruth Maclean) Even though deforested soil has rich nutrients, and have been practiced throughout history by some countries, Swidden agriculture is very bad for the environment and is definitely unsustainable. On top of that, even though the rich nutrients are good for the crops, the cocoa beans will still struggle through the drier, hotter seasons without the shade of the trees.
Possible solutions
For some ideas, an E-mail was sent to Mr Thomas Kloepfer, an expert on sustainable farming to see if he had any possible solutions for the dwindling forests worldwide. He said that burning forests to produce land for crops is definitely an unsustainable way of farming. on top of habitat loss etc. Burning forests emit large amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere and causes global warming. A solution to this could be that one piece of land doesn’t necessarily have to only plant one crop, farmers should work on diversifying their fields and plant multiple crops. With that idea, the seven layers of the forest garden can be a great example. Ether to grow trees as a part of the farm, or to plant crops in the forests itself.
via email from Thomas Kloepfer
The seven layers of the forest garden are a part of a wider sustainable way of farming, called Permaculture. Permaculture is almost exactly what it sounds like, it mimics how an ecosystem functions and minimizes extra input of nutrients and water, making it self sustainable. Permaculture avoids artificial fertilizer(which causes eutrophication in surrounding bodies of water if used excessively), tilling of the soil(which releases carbon and causes global warming), and chemicals like herbicides and pesticides(which is not good for the health and wellbeing for farmers and the organisms around it). it allows one patch of land to be used permanently, meaning that it doesn’t require farmers to burn down forests bit by bit like the cocoa farms of Ivory coast and allow the crops to have lots of diversity and self replenishing over time.(video from youmatter.world)
Illegal timber
Although farming is the forest’s biggest killer, another major source of deforestation comes from illegal timber trading, where trees are cut down in areas that are protected. the EU (European union) is a major destination for illegal timber meaning that a lot of the timber that is imported there, was from illegal logging. the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) have put huge efforts and time into oppressing illegal logging. (Jo Blackman) they have found that since illegal logging grants a lot of extra income, it is often the result of corruption, and power imbalances. Although lot of countries that they have targeted, made some promising reforms, China is still the biggest consumer and importer of timber. A way that you can help is to not waste paper and be more careful with what you recycle. if everyone uses less paper, then there wont be as much demand for timber, therefore illegal logging wont be as profitable. (so less people would do illegal logging)
Deforestation affects the entire globe, and is very bad for the environment in many different ways, like global warming, habitat loss etc. the two major sources of deforestation is farming and illegal logging. instead of sing unsustainable farming techniques like burning down forests, we could use more sustainable ones like permaculture, and more enforced law about illegal logging can help slow deforestation.
Works cited:
“How Future-Proof the EU’s Efforts To Save The World’s Last Rainforests” globalwitness.org
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/how-future-proof-eus-efforts-save-worlds-last-rainforests/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4Kyq-Z2M-AIVEqqWCh1PHgFCEAAYASAAEgJaGvD_BwE Published on 11th May 2016
“Forests In A Warming World: A Time For New Policies” explore.proquest.com
https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/login?location=%2fsirsissuesresearcher%2fdocument%2f2267172963%3faccountid%3d4047 Published on Sept 1991
“West Africa’s Rainforests Are Being Lost To Cocoa Farms” Newsela.com
https://newsela.com/read/cocoa-chocolate-deforestation/id/35115/ Published on 20th sept 2017
youmatter.world “Permaculture Definition, Principles, And applications” youmatter.world
https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-permaculture-definition/ Last modified on 4th February 2019
