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Some global facts – Rainforests and Deforestation
•Tropical rainforests cover only 6-7% of the Earth’s surface but contain over half of all the
plant and animal species in the world!
•1 in 4 people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods
•Deforestation accounts for 6-17% of
greenhouse gas emissions
•Forests cover 30% of the Earth’s land
•At current rates of loss all rainforests could be lost in just 100 years
•Agriculture is the main cause of deforestation
•On a global scale there was twice as
much tropical forest
at the start of the 20th century as there is today, with
only around 700 million of the original 1.5 billion hectares
remaining.
•Globally deforestation and desertification (caused by
human activities and climate change)
are causing major
human impacts and greatly decreasing land’s productivity
Some global facts – Causes
•Create land for agricultural use - food production, luxury crops, rangeland, crops for
animal feeds
•Clearance for living space – houses
to cities
•Timber harvesting – luxury timber, building materials and fuel wood
•
Mining – ‘strip’ mining for gems, metals, fossil fuels
•Wildfires – increasingly important as
a result of climate change
•
Climate change – sea level rise, droughts, floods, fires
•Conflicts and wars – destruction of forests and cropland
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Some global facts –Effects
•Loss of biodiversity – 70% of species live in forests
•Climate change – Deforestation accounts for 6-17%
of GHG
•Impacts on global warming – solar reflection, rainfall
and air
currents
•Soil erosion – tree roots hold soil, cutting leads to erosion
and loss of soil biodiversity
and fertility
•
Water cycle – disruption of water cycle and rainfall patterns,
erosion leads
to flooding,
silting and poor water quality
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