Rainforest Destruction:
Understanding the Cross Cutting Issues InvolvedCauses of Rainforest Destruction
The number one cause of rainforest destruction is the conversion of land for large agricultural use. Secondary contributors include unsustainable mining, road building, and urban sprawl practices. In tropical areas, home to the majority of the world’s biodiversity, the conversion of land is often done for small-scale farming. Keep checking the pages for updates on these causes.
Logging
Commercial logging companies cut down mature trees that have been selected for their timber. The timber trade defends itself by saying that this method of ‘selective’ logging ensures that the forest regrows naturally and in time, is once again ready for their ‘safe’ logging practices (WWF). In most cases, this is untrue due to the nature of rainforests and of logging practices. Large areas of rainforest are destroyed in order to remove only a few logs. The heavy machinery used to penetrate the forests and build roads causes extensive damage; the soil is compacted by heavy machinery, decreasing the forest’s chance for regeneration. Commercial logging is considered by many to be the biggest single agent of tropical deforestation. Apart from its direct impact, logging plays a major role in deforestation through the building of roads which are subsequently used by landless farmers to gain access to rainforest areas. These displaced people then clear the forest by slashing and burning to grow enough food to keep them and their families alive, a practice which is called subsistence farming.
Most of the rainforest timber on the international market is exported to rich countries. There, it is sold for hundreds of times the price that is paid to the indigenous people whose forests have been plundered. The timber is used in the construction of doors, window frames, crates, coffins, furniture, plywood sheets, chopsticks, household utensils and other items.
Agriculture – Shifted Cultivators
‘Shifted cultivators’ is the term used for people who have moved into rainforest areas and established small-scale farming operations. These are the landless peasants who have followed roads into already damaged rainforest areas. The additional damage they are causing is extensive. Shifted cultivators are currently being blamed for 60% of tropical forest loss. The reason these people are referred to as ‘shifted’ cultivators is that most of them people have been forced off their own land. For example, in Guatemala, rainforest land was cleared for coffee and sugar plantations. The indigenous people had their land stolen by government and corporations. They became ‘shifted cultivators’, moving into rainforest areas of which they had no previous knowledge in order to sustain themselves and their families. Large-scale agriculture, logging, hydroelectric dams, mining, and industrial development are all responsible for the dispossession of poor farmers. In Brazil, approximately 42% of cultivated land is owned by a mere 1% of the population. Landless peasants make up half of Brazil’s population (WRM). After a time, these farmers encounter the same problems as the cash crop growers. The soil does not remain fertile for long. They are forced to move on, to shift again, going further into the rainforest and destroying more and more of it. It is evident that the shifted cultivators “have become the agents for destruction but not the cause.”
Agriculture – Cash Crops and Cattle Ranching
Undisturbed and logged rainforest areas are being totally cleared to provide land for food crops, tree plantations or for grazing cattle. Much of this produce is exported to rich industrialised countries and in many cases, crops are grown for export while the local populace goes hungry. Due to the delicate nature of rainforest soil and the destructive nature of present day agricultural practices, the productivity of cash crops grown on rainforest soils declines rapidly after a few years.They are referred to as cash crops because the main reason for their planting is to make money quickly, with little concern about the environmental damage that they are causing. Modern machinery, fertilisers and pesticides are used to maximise profits. The land is farmed intensively. In many cases, cattle damage the land to such an extent that it is of no use to cattle ranchers any more, and they move on, destroying more and more rainforest. Not only have the forests been destroyed but the land is exploited, stripped of nutrients and left barren, sustaining no-one.
Fuelwood
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that ’1.5 billion of the 2 billion people worldwide who rely on fuelwood for cooking and heating are overcutting forests’. This problem is worst in drier regions of the tropics.
Large Dams
In India and South America, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests have been destroyed by the building of hydro-electric dams. It was the dominant view that new dams had to be built or otherwise these countries would suffer an energy crisis. However, a recent study by the World Bank in Brazil has shown that ‘sufficient generating capacity already exists to satisfy the expected rise in demand for power over the medium term, provided that the energy is used more efficiently’ (WRM).
Mining and Industry
Mining and industrial development lead to direct forest loss due to the clearing of land to establish projects. Indigenous people are displaced. Roads are constructed through previously inaccessible land, opening up the rainforest. Severe water, air and land pollution occurs from mining and industry.
Tourism
The creation of national parks has undoubtedly helped to protect rainforests. Yet, as national parks are open to the public, tourism is damaging some of these areas. Often, national parks are advertised to tourists before adequate management plans have been developed and implemented. Inadequate funding is allocated for preservation of forests by government departments. Governments see tourism as an easy way to make money, and therefore tourism is encouraged whilst strict management strategies are given far less government support. Clearing for roads and pollution of waterways are two of the major problems in this area.
