2. DEFORESTATION
Introduction: Deforestation
Current Situation of our Rainforests
Causes of Deforestation
Short & Long Term Effects of
Deforestation
Short & Long Term Solutions
Conclusion
4. • Forests cover 31% of the land area on our
planet.
• They produce vital oxygen and provide homes
for people and wildlife.
• Many of the world’s most threatened and
endangered animals live in these forests.
• 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer,
including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional
medicine and shelter.
7. Colonists began establishing farms
within the forest via slash-and-burn
method
Construction began on the Trans-
Amazonian Highway, paving roads and
making it easier to transport timber
Total Area forest lost in the Amazon
rose by 160,000 sq km to 587,000 sq
km, of which 70% used for livestock
pasture
Use of satellite data has helped the
government slash deforestation by 80%
by allowing police to pinpoint illegal
activity in the forest
Satellite data reported a 28% increase
in deforestation to 5,843 sq km
compared to the previous year
1960s
1970s
1990-2000s
2005
2013
8. • While present figures are much better than before, deforestation continues
to threaten the world’s ecosystem.
• The razing of forests continues to be a major contributor to the emissions
that drive climate change
11. Countries resort to deforestation to cope
with the increasing demand for housing
brought about by the growing
population.
HOUSING TIMBER LOGGING
Logging, or simply cutting down trees
for timbre is one of the main causes of
deforestation.
Over the years, the uses of wood moved
from wood fuel to construction materials
such as shelters and furniture. Today,
almost every household has something
made out of wood,
12. To provide land for food crops such as palm
oil and for rearing cattle, undisturbed
rainforest areas end up being removed
Land for mining and industrial projects.
Building dams
AGRICULTUR
E
OTHER CAUSES
In India and South America, rainforests have been destroyed by the building of
hydroelectric dams • It was the dominant view that new dams had to be built or
otherwise these countries would suffer an energy crisis
15. SHORT TERM EFFECTS
SOIL EROSION
No trees anchoring the fertile soil.
Erosion is sweeping the land into rivers.
The agricultural plants replacing the forests are
unable to hold onto the soil.
Since 1960 a third of world’s arable land has been
lost. As fertile soil washes away producers move
on, clearing more forests.
DISRUPTED WATER CYCLES
Trees play a key role in the local water cycle.
Keep balance between the water on the land and
the water in the atmosphere.
Disrupted balance changes the precipitation and
river flow.
16. LONG TERM EFFECTS
REDUCED BIODIVERSITY
80 % species can be found in tropical rainforests.
Often unable to survive in the small fragments of
forested lend left behind.
Accessible to hunters and poachers, leading to
extinction
CLIMATE CHANGE
Forests help to mitigate carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gas emissions.
When cut, burned or otherwise removed they
become carbon source.
Tropical forests hold more than 210 gig tons of
carbon.
Deforestation represents 15% of greenhouse gas
emissions.
Rising temperatures, changed patterns of weather
and increase of extreme weather events
17. SOCIO ECONOMIC EFFECTS
DISRUPTION OF LIVELIHOODS
Deforestation greatly influences many lives.
In Southeast Asia deforestation contributed to
migration and social conflicts.
In Brazil the poor people are constantly pressured
to move from their villages often to remote soy
plantations where they have to work under
inhumane conditions.
Destroying sources of medicine.
Increasing food insecurity.
Flooding causing loss of many lives and homes
18. EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION ON TRIBAL
PEOPLE
• They are unable to carry out their traditional ways of life, and their homeland is often
destroyed.
• It can affect their food and water sources, nothing farming, deforestation is when trees are cut
down for things such as logging, and tribes live in the rain forests, they live like their
ancestors by hunting for their food.
• They do not have all the modern technology that we have. When the trees are cut down it will
destroy their homes and they will have no where else to go and they won’t be able to adapt to
the lives people live in the urban areas of their countries, they also would find it very hard to
get a job due to their history of living in tribes and rainforests.
• When indigenous people lose their rainforest refuge, they do not die out, in the physical sense,
nor can they just relocate, as some animals are able to do.
• They do lose their culture and their ways of life that have lasted for many generations.
• They lose their traditional beliefs and sustenance patterns that allowed them to live in
harmony within the rainforest for so many generations.
• Their great knowledge of the rainforest, how it works and awareness of medicinal plant
species is also lost.
21. SOLUTIONS
CORPORATIONS
Corporations can implement anti-deforestation
policies that require suppliers and other
stakeholders to operate in ways that do not harm
the environment.
Transparent accountability in terms of processes,
materials and energy consumption.
Corporations are huge consumers of paper.
Management can work towards a paper-free office
by shifting towards email and soft-copies, and also
encourage their employees to recycle.
22. SOLUTIONS
GOVERNMENTS
Reforestation - The cutting down of trees must be
countered by replacing old ones that were cut with
young ones. Trees are being planted every year,
but they still don’t match the number of trees that
we lost.
Governments have the resources to allow anti-
deforestation organisations to get their message
across and increase their sphere of influence. This
is a good way to indirectly solve deforestation.
Prioritising bills and acts that have the wellbeing
of the environment and it’s impact on the
population at their core.
23. SOLUTIONS
INDIVIDUALS
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – the more we follow this,
the more companies would adopt the same
principle. Affecting change on a small level.
Cattle grazing is one of the primary causes of
deforestation. Limit your consumption of fast food
meat and always choose to buy locally. Knowing
where your food comes from helps to combat
deforestation.
Spreading awareness – practicing environmentally
friendly living, talking to more people about it.
25. Overgrazing represents an environmental hazard whereby wildlife or
livestock excessively feeds on pasture. It is also the practice of grazing
livestock on vegetation before it has recovered from a former grazing
state, also known as intensive grazing.
Otherwise stated, overgrazing takes place when vegetation or pasture
is repeatedly removed from land and it is not given enough time to
continue growing.
26. CAUSES:
1. LACK OF PROPER ANIMAL/WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
The lack of proper animal and wildlife feeding management on the available pasture
is the leading cause of overgrazing. From the definition, overgrazing arises as a result
of having too many animals grazing on a piece of land without proper control of the
grazing activity of the animals. The failure to rotate animals in harmony with pasture
growth is what constitutes overgrazing.
27. 2. DROUGHT OR DECLINE IN PRECIPITATION
Drought and the decline in precipitation in any area automatically mean that the
growth and survival of plants and vegetation is heavily impacted. The direct outcome
of this is stunted growth and drying out of plants/vegetation.
Accordingly, the risk of overgrazing is heightened in such areas subject to
insufficiency of forage. Examples include areas adjacent to deserts such as northern
China, Pakistan, India, Patagonia, the drier regions of southern and northern Africa,
and the prairies of Northern America.
28. 3. IMPROPER LANDUSE
Land use significantly determines the productive condition of the land and soil
fertility. Hence, improper land use such as logging activities, slash and burn farming
techniques, mining, excessive and unplanned urban sprawl, and land pollution lessen
the overall land available for pasture. All these activities greatly impact the
availability of plants and forage by destroying their underlying growth support
mechanisms. In most cases, these activities are characterized by increase in
unpalatable plants or weeds and decrease in plant humus that increases the potential
of overgrazing problem.
29. 4. OVERSTOCKING
Overstocking implies a situation where a piece of land is intensively stocked with
more animals that the site can support for a grazing season. In the majority of the
cases, animals are more than the average land available for grazing which leads to
repeated removal of plant/vegetation material without sufficient amount of time given
for the leaf/pasture mass to regrow. Put differently, farmers who overstock do not let
the average land replenish itself after a previous grazing season. Eventually,
overgrazing is experienced.
30. 5. POOR IRRIGATION
Incorrect irrigation techniques in arid and semi-arid regions cause accumulation of
salt in the soil. As an outcome, the availability of palatable plants is impacted because
of the alteration of soil’s mineral content composition. The build-up of salts in the soil
also leads to stunted growth, reducing the availability of forage. The few remaining
good pasture lands are hence heavily utilized, creating room for overgrazing. The
problem is further exuberated by the fact that poor irrigation practices are common in
poorer regions.
31. EFFECTS:
1. SOIL EROSION
The continued trampling of numerous animals in an average forage land will act to
accelerate the death of plants and vegetation cover. This is because the animals will
graze even on the slightest shoots of new growth. Without the plants or vegetation
cover, the soil is left bare and exposed to harsh weather such as heavy downpour and
high temperatures which disintegrates the rocks and carries the top soil away.
Animals also prefer gathering at specific areas, like next to water sources, and such
areas can get eroded.
32. 2. LAND DEGRADATION
The acts of compaction and erosion as a result of overgrazing can cause tremendous
land degradation. In drier areas, the experience is even worse as a large percentage of
pasture and land cover is destroyed, contributing to relentless progression of
desertification. In fact, in some areas overgrazing has led to complete desertification.
Overgrazing combined with overstocking has the most damaging outcomes to the
world’s natural environment.
33. 2. LAND DEGRADATION
The scarcity of water resources, water pollution, degeneration of coral reefs, and
eutrophication are all connected to overgrazing. The chief polluting elements include
farm chemicals and animal wastes. Intensive grazing disrupts the water cycle and
diminishes the replenishment capability of ground water resources as substantial
amounts of water is used for feed production. In the South China Sea, overgrazing is
linked with nitrogen and phosphorous contamination.
34. 3. LOSS OF VALUEABLE SPECIES
The natural composition of plant population and their regeneration capacity is
significantly affected by overgrazing. The original pasture crops are composed of high
quality pastures and herbs with great nutritional value. When animals intensively
graze on such pastures, even the root stocks which contain the reserve food or
regeneration capacity get ruined. Once ruined, some other more adaptable species
such as weeds and unpalatable plants take up their place. These secondary plant
species have less nutritional values and because they are highly adaptive, they
replace the native species thereby causing the loss of valuable plant species.
35. 5. FAMINE
As earlier stated, overgrazing is a primary contributor to desertification because it
converts arable or pasture land into unproductive piece land. The resultant soil is
thus not suited for growing food since it loses its essential nutrients. The loss of land
productivity directly results in the loss of food available for consumption. This
heightens food supply reduction and if population growth is still registered, it causes
starvation and economic challenges.
36. SOLUTIONS:
1. PROPER MANAGEMENT OF
ANIMALS
As much as overgrazing is associated with
the number of animals, it’s more about the
management of the animals. There are
several methods of grazing management to
choose from that can offer effective solutions
to overgrazing. Examples are rotational, cell,
and mob grazing. It is simply up to those in
charge of grazing to take appropriate
measures in ensuring that these
management practices are effectively
utilized.
Each grazing management technique is
tailored to meet different situation and if
well utilized, it can strongly assist in
restoring the plant-growth during the entire
year. Proper management of animals also
bears the potential of wholly enhancing
grazing land conditions via improved
pasture production and soil health.
37. 2. LAND MANAGEMENT
Land use management involves the proper assessment of various land uses
and the implications of human activities on land. Local and regional factors
such as aridity and rainfall patterns also have to be considered before any
land development or exploitation implementations are undertaken. Proper
urban planning and industry setup has to be in accordance with up to date
environmental policies on sustainable urbanization, industry construction,
and agricultural practices.
38. 2. LAND MANAGEMENT
This avoids the over-utilization of available arable land and green pastures
and enables easier control policies on overstocking. Use of soil conservation
measures and silvopastoralism, in conjunction with controlled livestock
restriction from sensitive areas and payment schemes for livestock-based
land use can also help cut down and reverse the effects of overgrazing.
Silvopasture (Latin, silva forest) is the practice of integrating trees, forage,
and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way.[1] It
utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct
forms of agroforestry.
39. 2. SUSTAINABLE PASTURE
PRACTICES
Sustainable pasture practices pertain
to grassland production in a well
managed and controlled manner. The
concept is simply based on grassland
management, animal management,
land management, and livestock
marketing. When grazing management
is combined with agroecology practices
and sustainable agriculture, it gives
rise the most suitable grassland-based
livestock production because it
encourages both animal and plant
productivity and good health. Some of
the novel and impressive sustainable
grazing models and management
systems that try to lessen or end
overgrazing include permaculture and
holistic livestock management.
