Caused by the gradual increase in the amount of
trees cut down compared to trees growing/replaced - when
the maximum sustainable yield is exceeded
Consequences
Reduced Biodiversity
Food web destruction
Loss of synergistic relationships
'Edge Effect'
Soil Erosion
Lack of tree roots decreases the integrity of the soil
Degrades farmland, fills reservoirs and causes river flooding
Reduced Rainfall
Increased Ground Albedo
Bare ground produces huge temperature
fluctuations between day and night
Loss of Visual Amenity
Loss of recreation/ecotourism opportunities
Loss of Carbon Storage Reservoir
Effect on Indigenous People
Loss of valuable local knowledge
They base their whole lifestyle on the forest, they are lost without it
Reasons
Timber
Commercial Logging
Building Construction
Paper
Furniture
Subsistence Wood use
Building Construction
Fuel
Farmland
Cash Crop Commercial Agriculture
Beef and other livestock
Biofuels
Arable Crops
Subsistence Farming
Urban Expansion
Mineral Expansion
The mines can take up huge areas of land,
although comparitivly this is not a large cause
Access roads to remote mines cause lots of deforestation
Roads
Reservoirs and HEP Stations
Can flood valuable areas of forest
Take up large areas with many access roads
There is criticism from MEDCs for the unsustainable exploitation
LEDCs are currently carrying out. The hypocrisy of the situation is
that they are developing in the same way, just two centuries apart