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Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction
This page discusses why deforestation is a problem and why trees are important.
We touch on how much forest has been lost and to which major causes of deforestation, then list the worst human-caused drivers of deforestation along with fairly simple ways we can counteract these problems. The solutions include alternative food choices, forestry and product buying strategies, ways to reduce junk mails, etc.
Then we have some resources including interactive maps of forests, deforestation, including downsizing and de-gazettement of once-protected areas.
In case anyone is interested, the final part of this page explores historical causes of deforestation in specific regions of the world, including islands where livestock were introduced and allowed to roam.
Why is Deforestation a Problem?
Why is Deforestation a Problem?
Everyone Deserves Clean Air
Everyone Deserves Clean Air
Trees are wonderful air-cleaning machines, but as you can see from this video we're currently producing so many emissions that our oceans and forests are no longer able to keep toxic gases in check. This means that emissions including CO2 are blanketing our planet year after year, causing 7 million premature deaths annually, as "almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits"
Biodiversity
Biodiversity
"Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat." - The Royal Society
"Scientists sound the alarm about the poor state of biodiversity. Across the globe, one million species are threatened with imminent extinction. ..."
"... Research shows that a diverse forest absorbs more carbon. Moreover, diverse nature forms a barrier against extreme weather such as storms, wildfires and landslides. Precisely for this goal, the UN, EU and scientists want to grant at least 30% of all ecosystems a protected status. ..."
"... If a species or ecosystem disappears, a chain reaction may follow. Other species may not be able to survive, or they may thrive and cause plagues. Consider, for example, mosquitoes, the oak processionary moth or the Japanese knotweed. Animals may also transfer diseases (such as COVID-19) to each other and humans, especially in situations of close proximity. Increased genetic biodiversity makes species less vulnerable. ..." - Wageningen University & Research
Forests Are Living Pumps for The Water Cycle
Forests Are Living Pumps for The Water Cycle
Ranking Deforestation Causes
Ranking Deforestation Causes
For this section we used the info from Union of Concerned Scientists: What's Driving Deforestation? and Other Deforestation Drivers to list the following topics from most problematic, to lesser but still drivers. Each section includes some more detail, as well as some practical thing we can all do to help.
The main cause overall is agriculture, though mining, new roads, fossil fuel extraction, coastal overtopping/sea-level-rise, disease, climate change, weather extremes, and fires also play large rolls in forest loss.
As you can see from the graph above, grazing livestock use the most land, crops (about 1/3rd of which we feed to livestock) is the next greatest. Urban sprawl gets a bad wrap for habitat destruction, but still plays relatively tiny part in forest lost.
Beef cattle
Beef cattle
"Of the four major deforestation drivers, beef has by far the largest impact. Converting forest to pasture for beef cattle, largely in Latin America, is responsible for destroying 2.71 million hectares of tropical forest each year—an area about the size of the state of Massachusetts—in just four countries. This is more than half of tropical deforestation in South America, and more than five times as much as any other commodity in the region." - UCSUSA: What's Driving Deforestation
At the moment, most livestock are raised on Concentrated Feedlots of CFAOs. 99% of US livestock are factory farm raised, primarily chickens, but around 70.4% of cattle. People are right to worry that factory farms cause significant harm to the planet, while using massive amounts of resources, but Harvard scientists have warned that cattle grazing requires even more space and time, which in turn increases greenhouse gas emissions.
For those who are worried about being sold beef from the Amazon region, it's important to understand that GHGs from the feeding and digestive systems of livestock create 84% of their lifetime emissions, while transport and processing only account for around 6%.
This is why focusing on what we eat is generally more important than where it came from.
Cattle-Free Alternatives
Cattle-Free Alternatives
For Farmers: Livestock-Free Farming & Other Opportunities this resource page explores alternative food production, energy farming, rewilding, carbon sequestration, and more.
The Video below demonstrates how cheap and simple ingredients like TVP can be for making your own meat alternatives.
Click the Beef Alternatives button for more info about replacing beef products in your diet.
Soybeans
Soybeans
"Growing global demand for meat and dairy products has contributed to the doubling of soybean production in the last 20 years. Soy is primarily used to feed pork, poultry, and dairy cows, though significant amounts are also used to produce vegetable oil and biodiesel. Large soybean fields in the tropics, particularly in Latin America, are often planted on newly deforested land—or they may expand onto former pastureland, pushing cattle to the forest frontier. Every year around 480,000 hectares is deforested for soy in major soy-producing tropical countries." - UCSUSA: What's Driving Deforestation
"When we think of soybean products, the first things that come to mind may be health food staples like tofu, edamame or soy milk.
But in reality, a typical soybean is more likely to end up in a ham-and-cheese sandwich or a chicken nugget than a block of tofu. Only about 6% of soybeans grown worldwide are turned directly into food products for human consumption. The rest either enter the food chain indirectly as animal feed, or are used to make vegetable oil or non-food products such as biodiesel. 70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish." - https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/soybeans
Soy-Free Alternatives
Soy-Free Alternatives
Low-Soy Alternatives
Low-Soy Alternatives
The following foods use less (or zero) soy to produce, vs the amount used to feed livestock. The following are listed based according to which industries use the most soy to feed their livestock first.
For more info about soy used as feed and the consequent deforestation for farmed animals the following links touch on this issue.
Palm oil
Palm oil
"Palm oil is used in countless processed foods and personal care products, as well as biofuels and vegetable oil. Produced largely in Southeast Asia, palm oil packs a powerful climate punch, not only because of the amount of land deforested annually (270,000 hectares in three leading countries), but also because much of this area includes the carbon-rich soils known as peatlands. Peatlands contain up to 28 times as much carbon as the forests above them—carbon that's released to the atmosphere when peatlands are drained for oil palm plantations. As a result, palm oil contributes the most global warming emissions of any commodity besides beef." - UCSUSA: What's Driving Deforestation
Consumer Info
Consumer Info
Our World In Data: Palm Oil Versus The Alternatives This page includes graphs to help demonstrate how much more efficient palm is vs other sources of oil.
Benefits of Palm vs Other Oils
Benefits of Palm vs Other Oils
The palm industry seems to help reduce deforestation because it reduces the land requirements to produce edible oils, compared to other popular oil-producing plants.
While some companies are claiming to produce or buy sustainable palm, workers have reported serious health consequences from working with the pesticides used on palm plantations. Not to mention plantations often replace primary forest, peatlands, and other vital habitats. This is speeding the extinction of many species including fireflies and primates.
Consuming alternative oils might create increased demand for land elsewhere, so it worth considering that many humans consume an unhealthy amount of fat. Simply reducing our consumption of palm and other cooking oils, we can protect our health as well as our forests.
Palm in Animal Feed
Palm in Animal Feed
"Palm oil and its derivatives play a significant role in animal nutrition, and the opportunity to increase usage in this sector is large. Fats and oils are used as energy sources, to supply dietary essential fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids) that cannot be synthesized by the animal, to aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and to provide specific bio-active fatty acids. The amount of fat or oil that can be used in animal diets varies depending on the species and its digestive physiology. ..."
...
"Worldwide animal production is increasing rapidly. As standards of living increase, more animal products are being consumed in the diet, including meat, milk and eggs. Livestock consume approximately 33% of global cereal grain production, and the animal nutrition industry consumes between 8 and 10 million tonnes of fats and oils per annum. This use will increase significantly in the next 15 years as more animal products are consumed. In addition, there is greater focus on finding ways to replace cereal energy in animal nutrition as cereals are increasingly being diverted to human foods or biofuel production. Fat/oil levels in feed are generally lower than the levels that can be utilized by the animal based on its digestive and metabolic processes. ..."
- https://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/applications-of-palm-oil-in-animal-nutrition
How to Avoid Greasy Foods
How to Avoid Greasy Foods
According to Healthline "There are multiple ways to reduce or avoid the intake of greasy foods. These include not only healthier cooking methods but also lifestyle choices."
Use Healthier Cooking Methods
Use Healthier Cooking Methods
"Greasy foods are often fried, which means that they’re cooked in a lot of oil. Methods that don’t use as much oil include:
Oven frying. This involves baking at a very high temperature (450°F or 232°C), which allows foods to get crispy using little or no oil. This technique works particularly well with potatoes as an alternative to french fries.
Air frying. Air-frying machines circulate hot air around food, making it crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. It uses 70–80% less oil than traditional frying methods, meaning that your food won’t get greasy.
Steaming. This method uses the steam from hot water and requires no oil. It’s a great alternative when cooking foods like dumplings, fish, and vegetables.
Grilling. You don’t need too much oil for grilling. This technique is especially useful for meats and vegetables.
If you don’t want to forego frying entirely, be sure to use a skimmer to let the grease drip off and store the food on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat."
Replace Greasy Foods with Healthier Options
Replace Greasy Foods with Healthier Options
With minimal effort, you can replace fried foods with whole, nutritious options. Here are a few alternatives to common greasy foods:
Burgers. Instead of heading to the fast food joint, try making your own burgers at home with vegan patties, lettuce, and whole grain buns.
Fries. Oven-baked potatoes are a great alternative to french fries. To vary it up, use other root vegetables like sweet potatoes, parsnips, and carrots.
Pizza. Instead of buying deep-dish varieties, try making Italian thin-crust pizza at home. You can use store-bought or homemade dough with healthy tomatoes, vegetables, and plant-based meats. Use cheese lightly to minimize the grease (or better, yet, use plant-based cheese!).
Potato chips. When you get a craving for salty fare, try crispy baked kale, lightly salted green beans, or wedges of baked tortillas or pita with hummus or edamame. You can also drain, rinse, and dry a can of beans, season them, then toast them up in the oven till they are crunchy.
Fish and chips. Fish (both farmed and captured) has been found to be quite toxic, particularly because their fats contain pesticides and other chemicals fed to them or sprayed on them by the aquaculture industry, but you can find vegan alternatives that have less chemicals and less fat. Battered and fried are the least healthy, but they are easy to bake in the oven.
Chinese takeout. Many Chinese takeaway dishes are greasy and fried. Instead of your regular options, try veggie-heavy stir-fries, steamed dumplings, and soups.
Fried chicken. Chicken can easily be baked or grilled instead of fried. (Plant-based chicken is easier, safer, and faster to cook, but can be done with the same techniques as meat.)
Doughnuts. If you’re wanting something sweet, try a smoothie, dried fruit, whole grain muffin with fruit or nuts, baked apple chips, vegan yogurt/pudding, or a piece of fruit.
Wood products
Wood products
"Perhaps the most iconic symbol of forest destruction, wood production has been shown to cause around 380,000 hectares of deforestation annually in key countries, though the actual number is likely higher. Wood products can be divided into two categories. Pulp is made from tree fibers and used to produce paper and related products. It drives deforestation primarily in Indonesia, where forests are cut down for plantations of fast-growing tree species. Timber, used for construction or high-end products like furniture, is most clearly linked to forest degradation, in which valuable tree species are harvested and the rest remain. Degraded forests are more likely to be targeted for conversion to other land uses." - UCSUSA: What's Driving Deforestation
Reduce Toilet Paper Use
Reduce Toilet Paper Use
Install a bidet or bidet attachment to reduce toilet paper use.
Cut old cotton T-shirts into squares to replace single use paper towels or wet wipes. This keeps textiles out of landfills longer, saves a lot of money, as well as other resources like water. Data indicates that washing towels, rags, etc. uses less money than growing trees or processing them into paper products.
Warning!: Do NOT flush rags nor even "flushable wipes" as they will block the plumbing.
Buy Second-Hand Wood or Paper Products
Buy Second-Hand Wood or Paper Products
Buy second hand furniture (antique and vintage are usually better quality than modern products), or buy from certified sources.
Browse second-hand shops for note books and similar supplies, support second-hand bookshops as often as possible instead of buying new.
Combat Junk Mail
Combat Junk Mail
Fight off junk mail. Be careful to avoid mailing lists except for things you genuinely care about, and ask companies you don't want to hear from to stop dumping their junk on you. Apps like PaperKarma, can help, some countries have a national junk mail exclusion list that you can register with (though you may have to pay a small processing fee and/or reapply every few years). If these don't work, try calling or writing to the company using the contact info on the junk mail. The term "cease and desist" can improve your chances of success.
Reclaimed & Sustainably Grown Wood
Make and/or buy products made from reclaimed wood.
If you have to buy new products, search for the SFC-Certified label from the Forest Stewardship Council.
Forest Managers should make sure to sign up with a certification program such as the Forest Stewardship Council for training and annual audits that will ensure the proper protection of forests.
The Daisugi method can produce more wood, which is stronger, straighter, and more flexible wood than can be harvested from simply chopping trees to the ground.
Burn Less Wood
Burn Less Wood
If you cook with firewood, then reduce the amount of wood you need by using a warming basket or fireless cooker to heat food and water. These can reduce firewood use by as much as 80% in places like Africa where wood is a primary cooking fuel.
Coca/Chocolate
Coca/Chocolate
"In Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, growing coca for the production of cocaine has contributed to forest destruction in both the Amazon and the Chocó, forests on the northwestern coast of South America. While there is some legal cultivation of coca in each of these countries, much of it is illegal. Therefore, coca is unlikely to accompany development and roads. To evade detection and eradication, small patches of coca are grown in relatively remote areas. Because of coca's illicit nature, farmers seeking to avoid detection often have to switch locations and clear new land–thereby abandoning arable land and increasing the disturbance footprint of coca agriculture. In Colombia, coca is estimated to have caused 290,000 hectares of deforestation between 2001 and 2014, an area about half the size of Delaware." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
It may also help people cut back on chocolate if they understand that many popular brands of chocolate contain extremely high levels of cadmium and lead. Experts caution people to ensure that chocolate is eaten in moderation to avoid serious health consequences including birth defects and lung cancer.
Chocolate-Free Solutions
Chocolate-Free Solutions
The items in this section are not currently listed by impact, but alphabetically.
Buy or make alternative treats:
Cakes can be flavored with fruits, vegetables like carrots, spices like vanilla or cinnamon.
Carob This can replaces chocolate, but tastes a little different. Unlike chocolate, carob doesn't have caffeine or dangerous heavy metals.
Fruit - Fresh, dried, fruit leather, pies, and candies.
Vegan Custard or Flan (these are basically the same thing, plus agar agar to firm if you want flan). Bird's custard mix is vegan, and just requires some sugar and plant-based milk. Cocoa, or other flavors/colours can be added. Cardamom is an untraditional, but delicious spice to try!
Low-Cocoa Solutions
Low-Cocoa Solutions
As a former chocolate addict, these following steps helped me till I could feel satisfied with the solutions above.
If you do use chocolate, remember that dark chocolate has the highest cocoa content, while white or "milk" chocolate require less coca beans to produce.
Go for partially chocolate foods like vanilla cake with some chocolate chips or chocolate icing, instead of entirely chocolate.
If you like chocolate bars, try to scale back to half a chocolate bar, or better yet, just a square or two at a time, instead of the whole bar in one day.
When you buy coca products, search for and support sustainable companies. A small, but growing number of companies are offering certified organic, and fair-trade chocolate. Not only does this support better business practices, but the higher price can help remind you to consume the chocolate more slowly, to help it last longer.
Coffee
Coffee
"The United States is a huge importer of coffee, consuming more than any other country. Brazil is the world’s leading producer of coffee beans, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, and Colombia.
Coffee can be grown as part of system that includes other tree species ("shade-grown coffee"), and can provide habitat for significant levels of biodiversity. For this and other reasons, such as carbon sequestration, many conservationists have promoted shade-grown coffee. In some places, such as El Salvador and Ethiopia, shade-grown coffee has helped to protect tropical forests by making them more valuable. However, more intensive cultivation systems known as “sun-grown” have consistently higher yields than shade-grown coffee but lose the carbon and biodiversity benefits of shade-grown systems. In Vietnam, a country where forests are expanding overall, coffee bean expansion is contributing to forest loss in some areas." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Solutions
Solutions
Water is the healthiest thing you can drink, and requires the least water vs dairy, juice, or other drinks.
Tea Look for loose leaf and use a tea strainer. Or better yet! Try foraging for or growing your own tea ingredients. This can include leaves like mint, flowers including lavender, rose hips, or even berries.
Carob
Mushroom Teas
Note: Tea can be composted, but many companies use plastic tea bags, so it's important to use a knife, finger, or scissors to empty the contents into the compost, then throw away the plastic bag into your trash since they can't be recycled either. Better yet, don't support companies that produce these and try to buy compostable packaging or "loose leaf" only!
If using a coffee pot, you can run water through a second time for "second run coffee" which is much weaker. My housemates won't drink it, but I often mix some second-run with some full-strength coffee to make the batch last longer, since I don't need to be wired all day.
Using a French press eliminates the need for paper filters during the brewing process, but will not affect the deforestation associated with coffee production.
Corn/Maize
Corn/Maize
"Corn has a variety of uses; it serves as the main ingredient in staple foods in Mexico and as a feedstock for ethanol fuel in the United States. On the global market, however, corn is most often traded for use in animal feed.
Brazil is the #3 corn-producing country and the second largest exporter in the world. In the past decade or so, about 60 percent of Brazil’s corn production increase occurred in Mato Grosso, the Amazon frontier state. Because most producers in this region double-crop soybeans and corn, links between soy and past deforestation involve corn as well. In Brazil, corn and other crops are also responsible for displacing pastures for livestock, pushing pastureland into the Amazon. Furthermore, about 30 percent of Brazil’s corn crop originates in the Cerrado, a savanna rich in both biodiversity and carbon. At least 40 percent of the Cerrado’s natural vegetation has been converted to agriculture thus far, and the region enjoys fewer protections than the nearby Amazon." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Rubber
Rubber
"Natural rubber is formed by processing latex harvested from rubber trees. Most rubber is turned into tires, but it's also used for a variety of other products, such as tubing, shoes, and insulators. While rubber is grown in tropical regions around the world, as of 2013, around 92% of the world’s rubber was grown in Asia.
For years, rubber has been cultivated in Southeast Asia as part of agroforestry systems, in which small farmers combined many different crops, such as rubber, fruit trees, food crops, medicinal plants, and building materials. While these agroforests contain less carbon and biodiversity than primary forests, more than 50% of birds and plant life have been shown to survive in agroforests. However, agroforestry systems are increasingly being replaced by industrial plantations.
In some of the most desirable lands, rubber cultivation has been replaced by more lucrative oil palm plantations. But with the development of new strains of rubber that can grow in climates unsuitable for oil palm, rubber plantings in mainland Asia proliferated. Between 2005 and 2010 more than 250,000 hectares of natural vegetation with tree cover was converted to rubber in mainland Asia.
Together three countries—the United States, China, and India—consume about 60% of the world’s natural latex rubber. Thus US consumers are intricately linked to deforestation due to rubber. After hitting a peak price in 2011, a recent downturn has led to a slowing of rubber expansion. But if the market turns around, rubber could once again be a threat to forests in Southeast Asia."
Sugarcane
Sugarcane
"The majority of the world’s sugar comes from sugarcane. Sugarcane has a long and storied history of being linked with deforestation in South America and in the Caribbean. Brazil is currently the largest producer of sugarcane in the world, producing about twice as much as its closest competitor, India. Because most cars in Brazil can run on either gasoline or biofuels, a large portion of the country’s sugarcane goes into the production of ethanol. In the 2014/2015 crop year, a slightly larger portion of the sugarcane harvest was used to make biofuel than food sugar.
Since at least the mid-1990s, sugarcane expansion, primarily in Brazil, has occurred without direct links to deforestation. Instead, sugarcane has expanded mostly into pasture and other crop areas. However, sugarcane may still have an important indirect role in deforestation by contributing to the overall increase in crop area and the possible expansion of pasture in the Amazon and the Cerrado." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Solutions
Solutions
Using less sugar in recipes - Many of us consume too much, and too much sugar can actually change the way our pallets work. This is why some elderly people can't taste how much sugar they've used while everyone else finds their cooking unbearably sweet. I've made icing with only half the recommended sugar with zero noticeable difference to the flavor or texture.
Replace sugar cane sugar with alternatives like maple syrup or coconut sugar. Both of these require trees, which can help support wildlife, but different countries have different trees and plants that have been traditionally used for sugar including the Gator Skin tree in North America.
Replace Sugar with Dates or Date Syrup Once you have extracted the liquid from the dates that you will turn into your delicious date syrup you will be left with the remaining pulp. This byproduct of making dates syrup will not have the sweetness that you associate with dates as they will have given up their natural sugar.
However, what you are left with can and should be saved for use in smoothies. You can also add a bit of the date syrup back in to the pulp to create a sort of jam that won’t be quite as sweet, but will still have a good amount of fiber and nutrients.
Replace ingredients with fruit. Apple sauce is a popular vegan egg alternative, but because it is very sweet, you can subtract some sugar to attain the same level of sweetness. Berries, bananas, jams, and fruit syrups like date syrup can add flavor as well as sugar.
Carrots and other sugary roots like beets and sweet potatoes can make delicious treats. Carrot cake was used during WWII while sugar was heavily rationed, and in India gajar ka halwa (carrot pudding) requires only a little sugar.
Mining
Mining
"Metals, minerals, and other resources such as gold, oil, coal, iron ore, and bauxite are extracted from the ground in many tropical regions all over the world. These resources are used to power and build homes, for medical applications, in electronics, for jewelry and myriad other uses contributing to modern life. In South America, only around 0.2% of the deforestation that occurred between 1990 and 2005 (around 115,000 hectares) was directly linked to mining.
However, while mining is not a leading cause of deforestation over large regions, it can have dramatic impacts in specific places. In Madre de Dios, a Peruvian Amazon region, gold mining has been estimated to have caused more than 6,000 hectares of forest loss per year since 2008. In this region, gold mining is a larger contributor to deforestation than ranching, agriculture, and logging combined. In Guyana between 2000 and 2009, 60% of deforestation was linked to mining. In the Congo Basin, mining is a huge part of many countries’ economies. Nearly a quarter of GDP of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is derived from mining.
Mining is done both by large, commercial-scale operations and by small-scale artisanal miners, who lack expensive equipment and generally operate as individuals or small groups. Often artisanal miners are among the poorest and most marginalized people in society, and they use chemicals that have major health impacts. Best-practice mining would include a rehabilitation plan for the land after use, but these small operators have neither the training nor the resources for rehabilitation.
Mining is also linked to road building, hunting, new settlements, unsustainable use of forest resources, fire, and forest fragmentation. Many forests are still at risk from mining: in particular, Latin America and the Congo Basin are likely to undergo growth, putting local people, ecosystems, and species at risk." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Solutions: Reduce > Reuse > Recycle
Solutions: Reduce > Reuse > Recycle
Don't buy things you don't need.
Buy what you need second hand or refurbished, if possible.
Recycle used items. Many places will pay you for metal scrap, but you may have to pay a small fee when recycling technology. It's especially important to recycle these items because they are very intensive to mine for, and there are many toxic chemicals in our electronics which pollute drinking water when dumped in landfills.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
"A high rate of development is predicted for coming decades, with more than 25 million kilometers of new roads expected by mid-century. Roads are highly correlated with deforestation; a recent study of the Brazilian Amazon found that 95% of deforestation was within either 5 km of a road or 1 km of a waterway.
In addition, hundreds of large dams are planned for environmentally sensitive ecosystems. Not only do dams turn large areas—which may include forests—into reservoirs, but their construction may bring new populations to forest areas, with no income after the dam project is completed.
The inaccessibility of forests is often what allows protected areas to remain relatively intact. As new enterprises fragment a landscape, subsequent development becomes easier, leading to habitat conversion and fragmentation, poaching, illegal activities and fires. This makes infrastructure as notable for the way it functions in a landscape as for the actual area of land deforested." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Rewilding Under Power Lines
Rewilding Under Power Lines
There are approximately 500,000 hectares of deforested land under powerlines, however this space can be used for rewilding, not with trees, but with wildflowers, or prairie and meadow strips.
Shifting Cultivation
Shifting Cultivation
"Shifting cultivation, or swidden agriculture, is the practice of intermittently clearing small areas of forest for subsistence agriculture, and allowing a period of fallow or regrowth of the natural forest. Shifting cultivation has long been a dominant agricultural practice in the tropical agricultural frontiers, and has been historically cited as a source of forest deforestation and degradation.
However, farmers have recently been transitioning to more permanent and intensive agriculture practices, in part due to government policies and market demand. This transition can have negative implications for forests. Shifting cultivation with long fallow periods can be carbon neutral, particularly when compared to more permanent and intensive monocropped tree plantations—but intensification to maximize short-term agricultural production has been associated with lower long-term agricultural and forest productivity. In regions where shifting agriculture is still practiced, trends toward shorter fallow periods have been identified, possibly signifying more forest degradation and less environmental benefit." - UCSUSA: Other Deforestation Drivers
Solutions
Solutions
Shade-Grown Crops Shade-grown coffee is becoming more popular as farmers realize they don't have to deforest an entire area to grow coffee plants
Food Forests These use a combination of productive trees and productive understory plants. These work best on a small-scale, but provide more consistent resources as the biodiversity of plants means different foods, medicines, and even lumber can be harvested year round with out resorting to deforestation.
Cover Cropping This ancient method of farming means that crops like clover can be planted intermingled with crops (like a living mulch that actively fixes nitrogen into the soil), as well as between harvests when the ground would otherwise be left fallow.
Indoor farming This requires a permanent building, greenhouse, etc. but it can reduce water use, space requirements (since plants can be raised vertically and seedlings kept on shelving), and even reduce or eliminate the need for insecticides which are a massive threat to our rainforests.
Tobacco & Cigarettes
Tobacco & Cigarettes
"Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million human lives, 600 million trees, 200 000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2." - WHO
Solutions
Solutions
If you smoke then quitting can help the planet, protect your own health, protect your loved ones from second hand smoke, and help save you money.
Tobacco taxes and higher prices have been found to be the most impactful way to help reduce smoking at the community and national levels.
Resources for Tracking Deforestation & Deforesters
Resources for Tracking Deforestation & Deforesters
Which Companies Are Driving Deforestation?
Which Companies Are Driving Deforestation?
Forest500: List of Companies Learn which 500 companies care causing the deforestation.
Interactive Maps of Deforestation
Interactive Maps of Deforestation
Global Forest Watch "offers the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests."
PADDDTacker "Protected Area Downgrading, Downsizing and Degazettement refers to legal changes that ease restrictions on the use of a protected area, shrink a protected area's boundaries or eliminate legal protections entirely."
Historical Drivers of Deforestation
Historical Drivers of Deforestation
Africa
Africa
Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Church Forest Conservation Biodiversity "Over the past century, nearly all of the native forests in the South Gonder province have disappeared, cleared to make way for wheat fields and grazing land—agricultural endeavors that support the region’s rapidly growing population. ..."
"wandering livestock were damaging the delicate understory."
"Cattle wandering into the cool, shady forests trample tender young plants and damage the older trees."
Europe
Europe
Scotland
Scotland
Trees For Life: Deforestation "Early farmers arrived on the scene about 5,900 years ago. (Humans had been around much earlier, but we don’t know what impact they had.) These Neolithic farmers grazed cattle, goats and primitive sheep. They burned areas of heath and pinewoods to encourage fresh growth of heather for their stock. Burning plus grazing was bad news for trees. Woodland couldn’t recolonise denuded areas and went into further retreat. ..."
North America
North America
USA
USA
Hawaii
Restore Mauna Kea: Threats - Sheep & Goats "Sheep, goats, and cattle were introduced to the Island of Hawai‘i in the late-1700s by European explorers. Before this there were no grazing or browsing mammals anywhere in the islands. By 1825, feral cattle and sheep were found near the summit of Mauna Kea during the first recorded ascent by a westerner, botanist James Macrae. This period marks the beginning of large-scale destruction to the high-elevation dry forest by introduced browsing animals as their populations grew and they heavily browsed upon the nutrient rich māmane seedlings and trees. The leaves, limbs, and bark of māmane trees have no chemical (such as poison) or physical (such as thorns) defenses. Young seedlings and saplings are not tolerant to intensive browsing and may die as a result."
Oceana
Oceana
Australia
Australia
How Australia Became One of the Worst Deforesters in the World "Urban sprawl is a problem in the areas where it occurs but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of forest destruction just to produce livestock for pasture."
South America
South America
Brazil
Brazil
"Extensive cattle ranching is the number one culprit of deforestation in virtually every Amazon country, and it accounts for 80% of current deforestation (Nepstad et al. 2008). Alone, the deforestation caused by cattle ranching is responsible for the release of 340 million tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year, equivalent to 3.4% of current global emissions. Beyond forest conversion, cattle pastures increase the risk of fire and are a significant degrader of riparian and aquatic ecosystems, causing soil erosion, river siltation and contamination with organic matter. Trends indicate that livestock production is expanding in the Amazon.
Brazil has 88% of the Amazon herd, followed by Peru and Bolivia. While grazing densities vary among livestock production systems and countries, extensive, low productivity, systems with less than one animal unit per hectare of pasture are the dominant form of cattle ranching in the Amazon." - Panda: Unsustainable Cattle Ranching
Organizations & Groups
Organizations & Groups
Africa
Africa
Kenya
Kenya
Unterstützung von Warmhaltekorb-Präsentationen in Afrika "Förderung von Warmhaltekorb-Workshops und -Präsentationen zur Unterstützung der Verbreitung von Solarkochern und zur Minderung der Entwaldung in Kenia."
(translated to ->) Supporting Warming Basket Presentations in Africa "Promote warming basket workshops and presentations to support the spread of solar cookers and reduce deforestation in Kenya."
Uganda
Uganda
Oceana
Oceana
New Zealand
New Zealand
Palm Oil Detectives (f) Palm Oil Detectives (X) "An exciting non-profit news platform for creatives, scientists, concerned consumers and corporate corruption whistleblowers to #Boycott4Wildlife"
South America
South America
Amazon Watch "is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems."
Peru
Peru
Camino Verde "With over 400 native tree species planted to date, Camino Verde’s reforestation centers and tree nurseries form a one-of-a-kind Living Seed Bank of Amazonian biodiversity. Our database currently includes 663 plant species planted at our centers."
Grants
Grants
International
International
The LUSH Spring Prize "A £200,000+ prize fund and other support activities, to build capacity for those repairing the earth’s damaged systems and leaving the world lusher than they found it."
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