Deforestation 2012 quick facts

It is estimated that in 2012 deforestation should account for approximately 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As in previous years, most deforestation in 2012 took place in tropical rainforests.

The newest joint scientific work including Canadian and Dutch scientists says that the biggest cause of global deforestation is agriculture, which is responsible for approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation. The best example is Brazil where agriculture is actually the cause of almost all deforestation in Brazil, with 750,000 km² of forest being already gone, and 80% of previous forest being converted into grazing land for cattle.

The scientists estimate that global tropical deforestation will release 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2012.

The Amazon rainforest still produces the most worrying effects of deforestation. This is because Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, which plays key role in proper functioning of Earth's hydrological and climatological system.

The deforestation in Amazon isn't stopping because farmers continue to chop trees (slash and burn technique) in order to make room for their farms.

In the 2012, as well as throughout this last decade, two countries – Brazil and Indonesia were responsible for more than 50% of total greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation.

The 2012 study by the UK scientists from Leeds says that deforestation leads to serious decrease in rainfall. They have calculated that the destruction of tropical forests would reduce rainfall across the Amazon basin by 21% in the dry season by 2050.

Our rainforests are major carbon sinkers. The 2012 study from U.S. scientists at Boston University says that tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previously thought.

How to reduce global deforestation?

Reducing global deforestation is very important because of several different reasons. As many of you already know deforestation is big environmental issue in many tropical rainforests.

Tropical rainforests are not only areas of richest biodiversity on our planet but they also sink carbon from the atmosphere and therefore help reduce the global climate change impact.

The scientists have calculated that deforestation accounts for approximately 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions which is a significant percentage. Since most deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests world needs to reduce clearing of these forests in order to reduce total level of greenhouse gas emissions.

 Most tropical forests are located in developing countries and reducing poverty in these countries is definitely one of the best solutions to reduce global deforestation level. Why? Because the people that are involved in illegal logging are more interested in short-term profit than allowing the forest to remain.

Developed countries need to do lot more to protect tropical rainforests and one of the proposed solutions is that tropical countries get paid by developed countries if they retain or increase their tropical forests cover.

How much should tropical countries be paid for the retention of forests and what is the best mechanism to determine the total level of retention? The scientists believe that the solution lies in measuring the amount of carbon contained in natural forests. These measurements would be the perfect foundation for tropical countries to receive compensation from developed countries.

The protection of rainforests is also an important part of international climate talks, and for a new climate deal in which issues relating to the measurement of carbon in forests and soil are very high on the agenda.

Norway investing in rainforest protection

Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, and unlike some other rich countries Norway do not hesitate to give away huge amount of money to protect rainforests across the globe. In fact Norwas has come to an agreement with Guyana that will see the Scandinavian country invest $250m to preserve the rainforests of the Latin America nation.

This is one of the biggest rainforest protection agreements in history, and with any luck this Norway's example will show the rest of the developed world the example what can they do to stop the deforestation in developing countries. If you look at the current political statements it looks like all world leaders agree that we should protect tropical forests from deforestation but in most cases everything stays on words, luckily Norway has gone the step further, and showed that money is less important when health of our planet is at stake.

Norway is oil-rich country, and oil is one of the most polluting fuels that significantly contributes to climate change problem, so Norway is definitely doing the right thing to decrease the impact it has on global warming and climate change.

The terms of this agreement are as follows: Guyana needs to accelerate its efforts to limit deforestation based carbon emissions and protect its rainforest as an asset for the entire world. Norway will provide financial support of up to $250m over five years depending on Guyana administration's success in implementing limiting emissions and halting deforestation.

Delas like this one could do wonders for preservation of forests and rainforests worldwide because most rainforests and forests are located in third world countries. These poor people destroy forest to make rooms for farms or to sell wood to have means for survival. Big financial help would definitely stop deforestation in these countries, of course if it ends up in the right arms, and not in some dirty politician's pocket.

Why are forests and rainforests so important to humanity?

Forests and rainforests around the world are still disappearing at an alarming rate, and in general very little has been done to prevent deforestation in developing countries. World seems to be constantly forgetting how important forests and rainforests really are, and so rapid deforestation continues in many parts of the world.

Many people are not aware that forests play extremely important role in regulating climate, and because of their carbon-sinking ability they act as natural weapon against climate change. Currently, rainforests absorb around 20 percent of the total CO2 emissions every year, but sadly heavy deforestation is also releasing an extra 17 percent of CO2 emissions each year. Deforestation has really become large source of CO2 emissions, in fact it is the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions so it is really no wonder that many environmentalists describe deforestation as "one of the biggest threat to the global climate".

Deforestation is worst in Africa, Amazon, and Indonesia. For instance if current rates of deforestation are about to continue in Amazon in years to come, more than half of the Amazon rainforest will be lost in the next 25 years. The last thing world needs in fight against climate change is deforestation, what we really need is reforestation, and rich countries should really ensure funds for reforestation in poor countries.

Deforestation is taking heavy toll in Amazon rainforest. If current rates of deforestation continue in less than 25 years more than half of the Amazon rainforest will disappear.

Global climate deal looks to be couple of months away but still there are not enough talks about rainforests and forests protection. CO2 emissions that origin from deforestation are not negligent and should be really treated the same as industrial CO2 emissions. The solution for climate change is not only clean energy sector but also to stop deforestation and ensure funds for reforestation. Let me remind you that forests are not only nature's weapon against climate change, they also store water, regulate rainfall and not to mention how they provide a home to over half of the planet’s biodiversity.

By destroying rainforests and forests we are really heading towards one very bleak future - future in which humanity could pay extremely high price for not caring enough for our planet. The only question that remains to be answered is "how much of our abuse can our planet still take?"

Indonesian rainforest worths more than palm oil?

We already wrote about major deforestation problem in Indonesia, mostly because of pulp and paper production. In Indonesia, forests clearance is taking heavy toll to make room for palm oil production on deforested land. Palm oil has recently become an important feedstock for biodiesel production, and many people decide producing palm oil driven by high profits.

What people seem to be forgetting all the time is that profits can't be more important than the rainforest conservation, regardless of current palm oil price. Rainforests are areas of richest biodiversity on our planet, and they need to be preserved at any cost. They are not only home to vast number of different animals and plants, they also protect us from climate change by sinking large quantities of CO2, and without them climate would become totally unpredictable.

But sadly people in most cases use only their economic side of brain while ecological side of the brain remains somewhere in the corner, far away from the sight, driven in the dark by the almighty dollar. Money sadly still rules the world, and thinking anything else is still nothing but uthopia. But luckily latest study showed that it can be more profitable to keep Indonesian rainforest rather than having palm oil plantations because payments to reduce CO2 emissions from the forests could generate even bigger profits than palm oil production on deforested land.

Oscar Venter from the University of Queensland was the lead author of this study that tried to find out if protection of the forests is as profitable as palm oil production. What his team of scientists did was compare the earnings from palm oil production to amount of payments to reduce carbon emissions, so called "carbon credits". The team came to conclusion that if carbon credits could be sold for $10 per one tonne, conservation of the Indonesian rainforest would be more profitable than clearing land for oil palm plantations.

Deforested land is often used for palm oil plantations.

Tropical rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate but this still hasn't stopped deforestation in many corners of the world. People are not driven by ecological conscience but by high profits, and they make their decisions upon what is more profitable in given moment. Palm oil plantations are currently very profitable but as this latest study showed conservation can become even more profitable, and perhaps this will turn out to be crucial thing that would save our forests and rainforests.

If you look at the present carbon prices world doesn't stand the chance to fight against deforestation but investing billions of dollars into forest conservation that would help developing countries make a fair profits out of their forests could do the trick. Of course under the condition that this money doesn't end up in corrupted politicians' pockets instead coming people that need it the most. Forest funding idea to preserve our forests and rainforests has great potential but it could also very easily backfire. But on the other hand everything that has at least some chance of success in fight against deforestation is definitely worthy to give it a shot. Don't you think so?

Indonesian rainforest vulnerable to fire

Indonesian rainforest is the third largest rainforest in the world. Indonesia has major deforestation problem as after 1996 deforestation rate reach critical level with the rate of over 2 million ha per year. This is mostly because Indonesia is one of the top world's producers of pulp and paper, and this is major source of revenue for this highly populated country. And when you add into this whole scenario long history of corrupt political and economic system it is really no surprise that Indonesian rainforest is disappearing.

Rapid deforestation In Indonesia is very likely to result in more frequent fires in years to come.

The latest study found out that because of this excessive deforestation forests in Indonesia have become more drier, and therefore more vulnerable to fire, especially as global warming impact is likely to grow in years to come. The ones responsible are of course humans that are clearing more and more trees in order to make room for more farms as the population grows. The worst fires were in 1997 to 1998, causing smogs in cities hundreds of kilometres away. These fires are very likely to be much more frequent in years to come.

Deforestation is also the main reason why Indonesia is world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter with more than 85 % of its emissions resulting from excessive deforestation. More fires will of course mean more greenhouse gas emissions, and more impact to global warming which is something that Indonesia should really avoid. Indonesian government on the other hand shows no intent to stop this forest massacre, in fact it is doing the opposite as the latest government's announcement was that two-year moratorium on turning peatlands into oil palm and tree plantations has ended. This will cause even bigger deforestation which will of course lead to more fires.

Old tropical rainforests disappearing fast

Tropical rainforests are very important from many different points of view, first of all they produce somewhere between 20-30 % of the world's oxygen, they absorb carbon and help regulate climate, and they also contain 80 percent of the planet's terrestrial biodiversity. Long long time ago forests use to cover 20 million square kilometres, today 12 million were already cleared, and another five million have been selectively logged.

Latest satellite observations have shown that about 350,000 square kilometres of the original forested areas are growing back which is very small compared to size of cleared areas. The good news is that this number could increase in years to come because of large-scale migration of people from rural areas into cities in tropical areas. This would give new forests more areas to grow and could provide habitats for rich biodiversity that would otherwise be lost permanently.

Old, ancient tropical rainforests are disappearing fast

However in order for second-growth forests to provide shelter and habitats for different animal and plant species they have to be connected with old-growth forests so species can move to them. Of course old ancient forests are of the best quality, for instance they are not so fire prone like secondary forests because they are more humid.

Even though second-growth forests have potential to at least partially replace old growth forests it has to be said that main causes of deforestation such as logging, mining, industrial agriculture will also harm secondary forests. But of course the most important thing of all is to preserve old ancient rainforests because deforestation of irreplaceable old growth forests is happening faster than any time in history (Borneo, Indonesia, Amazon rainforest).

Congo rainforest - Big fund against deforestation

The Congo rainforest is the world's second largest tropical rainforest (it covers about 18 % of the planet's remaining tropical rainforest) with over 600 tree species. This vast area is the heart of Africa's biodiversity and home of the many different ecosystems. However this biodiversity heaven is threatened with commercial logging, land clearing for agriculture, and frequent civil wars.

Since the 1980's Africa has the highest deforestation rate of any other region in the world, and the Congo rainforest is not exception. Current levels of deforestation are really horrifying. Imagine yourself the size of one football field. You have? Now try to imagine the size of 25,000 of football fields because this is the average size of the Congo rainforest that is cut down every week. Loss of the trees also gives more impact to global warming since the forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Congo rainforest is the second largest rainforest on earth rich with biodiversity

In order to save Congo rainforest Britain and Norway will provide £108 million and they will also supply additional satellite imaging technology to monitor the area. Such large fund should be of great help to African governments and people that live here, and it should give them acceptable alternatives to commercial logging, clearing forests for agriculture and subsistence farming.

These sort of projects are exactly what the world needs if we want to reduce carbon emissions and fight global warming and climate change. However funds alone will not be enough, and these two countries will need to control effective spending of this money. Monitoring and control will be the keys for success, and this will be a really difficult task. This difficult task also awaits African governments and different institutions, and really the whole world must do everything to save our forests because we need our forests if we want to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change and global warming.

Can we rescue rainforests?

Tropical rainforests are important from many different reasons but deforestation is taking heavy toll on them and many rainforests have been cut down in past 50 years, mainly because agriculture and road infrastructure. Deforestation was responsible for destroy of many rainforest ecosystems, and only few fought it is possible restoring tropical rainforest ecosystems. But as the researches from the Boyce Thompson Institute showed even this impossible looking task can be done.

Carl Leopold and his partners in the Tropical Forestry Initiative began planting trees on worn-out pasture land in Costa Rica in 1992, and native species began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rainforests can one day be replaced with new rainforests. They used local rainforest trees, collecting seeds from native trees in the community so when a farmer would notice a tree producing seeds, Leopold and his wife would ride out on horses to find the tree before hungry monkeys beat them to it.

They planted mixture of local species, trimming away the pasture grasses until the trees could take care of themselves and this turn out with better results than the procedures used before by several companies that used to plant entire fields of a single type of tree. They have also decided tp plant fast-growing and sun-loving tree species, which after just five years formed a canopy of leaves, shading out the grasses underneath and this trees are averaging amazing growth of two meter per year.

Leopold said how the results are promising, but it may take hundreds of years till these rainforest fully flourish again. He admitted he was surprised and said: "We're getting an impressive growth of new forest species. After only ten years, plots that began with a few species are now lush forests of hundreds. Who knows what the next few decades - or centuries - might bring?".

Nobody knows, but there will be little benefits from such positive projects if deforestation continues destroying tropical rainforests. Human population is constantly growing and this factor doesn't help in mission to save rainforests, since more people need more food and more area to live in, and rainforests are often the ones that pay the price. But this project is good example that right action and hard work can give encouraging results. We still don't know whether we can rescue rainforests or not, but at least now we know how to try. So why not give it a try?

Can we rescue rainforests?