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Humans have been cutting downforests for thousands of years, prac-tically since they invented agricul-ture. Although forests themselvescan be a source of many kinds

of foods and useful products, fundamentallyforests and agriculture are in conflict since,in many parts of the world, trees must becleared to grow crops or graze livestock.

Until recently, deforestation has only beena local or regional concern, but today we livein a globalized world in which the forests ofCentral and South America, Southeast Asia,and Africa are connected economically toconsumers around the world. Growing globaldemand for agricultural commodities has ledto increased tropical deforestation, which notonly affects biodiversity and the livelihoodof forest peoples but also contributes toglobal warming. rees contain enormous amounts of car-bonabout 50 percent of their total weight.When trees are cut down, much of that carbonis released into the atmosphere as heat-trappingcarbon dioxide. Because the amount of carbon

stored in an acre of tropical rain forest isso high, tropical deforestation today causesabout 15 percent of global warming pollu-tion worldwide.

Satellite imagery (accessible through pro-grams like Google Earth) allows us to see thisforest clearing as never before. Tese pictures,when carefully compared and analyzed, showus where and when forests are disappearing,making it possible to understand and addressthe factors driving tropical deforestation.

The Principal Agents of TropicalDeforestation

For many years, tropical deforestation wasattributed to expanding populations of sub-sistence farmers cutting down forestland forsmall-scale agriculture and firewood. How-ever, many recent scientific studies show thatlarge, commercial agriculture and timberenterprises are now the leading drivers oftropical deforestation.

CattleGrowing cattle to produce food for humansrequires large amounts of land to generate rela-tively small amounts of food. Indeed, cattlepastures make up 70 percent of global agricul-tural land yet only provide about 6 to 11 percentof humanitys food.

Brazil is the largest beef exporter in theworld, and a fourth of Brazils beef productioncomes from the Amazon on land that was oncepart of the tropical forest. Brazilian cattle

Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation

and forest degradation in Asia, Africa, and Latin

America averaged over the period 19902005.

Croplands includes soy in Latin America and

oil palm in Asia. Most timber harvesting in Asia

is included in Industrial Harvest. Units are

billions of tons of carbon per year.

Source: Houghton 2010.

Sources of Carbon Emissions fromDeforestation and Degradationin Tropical Regions

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

-100Asia Africa Latin Americ

Shifting CultivationFuelwood Harvest

Pasture

Industrial HarvestCroplands

Afforestation

D R I V E R S O F D E F O R E S T A T I O N

What Is Driving Deforestation Today?

iStockphoto.com/SamuelClarke

Shutterstock.com/Sima

RhettButler/mo

ngabay.com

iStockphoto.com/JosephLuoman

RhettButler/mongabay.com

FACT SHEE T

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ranches have been expanding north-ward in the Amazon because the landis cheaper there. With the clearing offorest increasing the value of the landfive- to ten-fold, cattle ranching in theAmazon can be profitable even thoughproductivity (pounds of meat per acreof land per year) is often very low.

In July 2009, due to mountingpressure from environmental and socialnon-governmental organizations inBrazil, the countrys major slaughter-houses and distributors announcedthey would refuse to buy cattle fromany ranch that expanded its pasture atthe expense of the forest. It is too soonto tell what difference this moratoriumwill have on deforestation rates, but asimilar moratorium on soy expansionin the Amazon has proven successful.

Another way to reduce future pastureexpansion is to increase the productiv-ity of cattle per acre through improve-ments such as higher stocking rates,rotational grazing, and breeds betteradapted to tropical conditions.

Timber and PaperTe global market for wood and woodproducts creates pressure on tropicalcountries to clear their forests to pro-duce timber and pulp (which is used

to make paper). Tis demand has in-creased logging of tropical forests andis a major driver of deforestation. Ifthe demand for furniture, paper, build-ing materials, and other wood productscontinues to increase, tropical forestswill likely remain at risk for logging. Wood products are connected toother drivers of deforestation becausetimber sales can provide the money

that is used to develop a new agricul-tural business or timber plantation.Furthermore, logging roads provideaccess to previously unreachable areasfor clearing. Currently, tropical logging producesonly a small portion of the worldswood and paper products. However, itis likely that greater production in thefuture will come from developing trop-ical countries, since costs are lower indeveloping nations and tropical climates

are suitable for fast-growing trees.Compared with other regions, log-ging is a larger driver of deforestationin Southeast Asia. One reason is thehigh density of commercially valuablespecies there, making wholesale loggingmuch more profitable than in otherparts of the world. Indonesia is theleading example of how powerful tim-ber and pulp companies and illegal

logging have caused deforestation.In order to meet global demandfor wood and paper products, it willbe important to develop sustainablesolutions. o ensure that productiondoes not lead to further destructionof primary (i.e., old-growth) forests,wood products should come fromeither secondary forests (i.e., thosethat have regrown after agricultureor timber harvesting) or plantations,and the growth rate of demand should

be slowed through practices suchas increased recycling and reuse oftimber and pulp products.

Palm OilPalm oil production has more thandoubled in the last decade, and it nowdominates the global market for vege-table-based oil. Most palm oil is pro-duced on large industrial plantations,

Note that oil palmtrees take several

years to grow to

harvestable size, s

these data lag thr

four years behind

data for area plan

and even further

behind those for a

cleared for

plantations.

Source: FAO 2011.

The Rapid Growth in Area Harvested for Palm Oil, 19902007

NationalAreaHarvested

(millionhectares)

5

4

3

2

1

0RegionalAreaHarvested

(millionhectares)

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

2008

1990

1992

1994

19

9619

9820

0020

0220

0420

06

Indon

esia

Malay

sia

Thaila

nd

Philip

pines

SE Asia Total

1997

2000

2007

Wood can be used to produce timber or pulp, which is used to make paper

iStockphoto.com/AdamKorzekwa

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driving tropical deforestation in Indo-nesia and Malaysia. Te land area har-vested for palm oil in Southeast Asiahas tripled in just a decade. o a muchlesser extent, palm oil production alsooccurs in a few South Asian, SouthAmerican, and West African countriesbut as demand for palm oil grows,

deforestation could increase in theseregions as well. Tough palm oil plantations rep-resent a limited proportion of globaldeforestation in terms of area, they area disproportionately large source ofglobal warming emissions because theyare often established on land convertedfrom swamp forests. When these wet-lands are drained, their carbon-richpeat soils decay, releasing large amountsof both carbon dioxide and methane,

a potent heat-trapping gas. Tus theexpansion of plantations onto peatsoils is an important source of theemissions that cause global warming. Cultivated palm trees produce ahigh yield of oil per hectare and can begrown on land that is not suitable forother crops. Fortunately, it is possibleto reduce much of the emissions anddeforestation associated with existingpalm oil production and eliminatethem completely from future production

without much disruption to the globalpalm oil supply. Tis can be done byusing degraded landssuch as the manycleared areas that have been overgrownby cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica),an invasive speciesfor palm oilplantations rather than by clearing

new forest.

Diminishing Threats

Small-Scale FarmingTroughout the world there are about70 million people living in remotetropical forests and about 800 millionrural people living in or near tropicalforests and savannas. ropical forestsare important for the livelihoods ofmany communities and indigenouspeoples as a source of food, income,

fuel, medicine, and land for farmingwhich can lead to replacing forestswith small-scale agricultural fields. Historically, small farmers, partic-ularly shifting cultivators (sometimesreferred to as slash and burn farm-ers), have been seen as the chief agentsof deforestation in the tropics. How-

ever, recent data indicate that they donot cause the majority of deforestationglobally. Tis is particularly the casein those tropical areas with the mostdeforestation, where large commercialenterprises are the major drivers. Tesecommercial enterprises are linked tourban markets and global demandfor agricultural commodities, unlikesubsistence farmers.

Migration to cities and urbanpopulation growth, and subsequent

urban demand for agricultural products,has been shown to be related to in-creasing tropical deforestation aroundthe globe. Most subsistence farmersand small farmers living in rural areasare not strongly connected to inter-national agricultural markets. Whilesmall farming operations still play arole in deforestation in the Amazonand Southeast Asia, large-scale com-mercial enterprises are now the maindrivers of deforestation there.

Map of Soybean Production by Country, 2006

Paraguay

Brazil

Uruguay

Bolivia

Argentina

UnitedStates

Canada

Nigeria

SouthAfrica

Indonesia

China

IndiaRussia

Ukraine

40

52

87

15

8Italy

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Million Metric Tons(Mmt)

The United States, Brazil,

and Argentina dominate global

production, with over 80 percent

of the worlds total.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme 2009

Philippe Rekacewicz, Paris.

Palm oil production has

more than doubled in the last

decade, and it now dominates

the market for vegetable-based

oil globally. Most palm oil is

produced by large industrial

plantations, driving tropical

deforestation in Indonesia

and Malaysia.

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Wood for FuelAlthough most of the developed worldnow gets the majority of its energy forcooking and heating from fossil fuelslike coal and petroleum, wood fuelsare still a major source of energy forpeople in developing countries, com-prising between 50 and 90 percent

of the fuel used.Firewood, while important as a

fuel, has much less of a role as a driverof deforestation. Much of the materialcollected is already dead, and collec-tion rates are often below regenerationrates. Small branches and shrubs, notlarge trees, are much easier to carryback for firewood. Furthermore, a sub-stantial amount of firewood comesfrom trees and shrubs that are not inforests, but rather in and beside fields

and pastures. However, in Africa theimportance of local actions like woodfuel collection in relation to land usechange is relatively higher becauselarge-scale industrial drivers are notyet a major presence in the region. Unlike firewood, charcoal usuallycomes from trunks or large limbs andrequires cutting trees. While charcoalmay not always be the primary driverof deforestation, it can contribute sig-nificantly to degradation and destruc-

tion of forests that have already beendisturbed, particularly close to urbanareas where charcoal is more com-monly used. More efficient and sustain-able methods are needed to preventcharcoal production from resultingin deforestation.

SoybeansOver the past two decades soybeancultivation in the Amazon by large,commercial farmers has undergone adramatic transformation. In just a fewyears, it grew to become one of themain causes of Amazon deforestation.

However, in an even shorter period,the strong response of civil society re-sulted in a voluntary moratorium onsoy expansion into forests, reducing itsrole as a driver of deforestation. Nowthat the Brazilian soybean moratoriumhas been in place for nearly five years,it is possible for scientists to evaluateits effectiveness, and the data showthat it has been remarkably successful.Soybean production continues to grow,but no longer at the expense of theplanets largest rain forest.

Currently, the United States andBrazil each produce just under a thirdof the worlds soybeans, with Argentinaadding an additional fifth. Tese threecountries make up 80 percent of worldproduction, and overwhelmingly dom-inate the world soybean trade. As de-mand grows, if soybean production isprevented from expanding into new

Amazon forestland in Brazil (and inBolivias Santa Cruz region, which

accounts for about 0.7 percent ofworld production), production is likelyto shift to non-forest areas of the UnitedStates, to Argentina, and elsewherein Brazil. China, which currently pro-duces only 7 percent of the worldssoybeans but is a major importer forits growing livestock industry, may

also produce more if Brazilian exportgrowth slows. Te success story of soy showshow a rapidly expanding agriculturalexport industry can continue growingwithout deforestation. Trough a com-bination of yield increases and use ofother lands, the need to clear forest-land can be eliminated. Te case isalso instructive because it shows howindustry can be influenced by societalpressure to commit to zero deforestation,

and to set up an effective technology-based system to enforce it. Whilethe moratorium is not yet permanent,with every year that it continues itreinforces the message that develop-ment without deforestation is possible,desirable, and even profitable.

Development without

Deforestation

With various commodities drivingdeforestation across the planet, and

a larger and increasingly connectedglobal market driving the demand, itis more important than ever that thesedrivers of deforestation be addressedwith global solutions. What is drivingdeforestation in one region could easilymove to another region if there is not achange in demand and/or productionpractices (such as making smarter landuse choices and improving agriculturalmethods). By reducing waste at allstages of production, distribution, andconsumption, agriculture and forestrycan truly meet human needs ratherthan simply consumer desires.

iStockphoto.com/Cory Johnson

This fact sheet is adapted from The Root of the Problem, a fully referenced, comprehensiveanalysis of the drivers behind tropical deforestation. To learn more about these drivers, and

to read the report, visit the UCS website at www.ucsusa.org/whatsdrivingdeforestation. July 2011 Union of Concerned Scientists

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