• Food Chain Disruption
  Deforestation is also affecting the food web. It does so by altering the habitat of organisms. Species are declining due to habitat fragmentation, and one declining species has an effect on those that consume it and also on those species that it consumes.
• Niche Interruption
• Old growth forest has components that make up thousands of niches for different forest species
• Global Climate Change and Deforestation
  Forests act as carbon storehouses, as their trunks, roots, and branches absorb and store carbon dioxide. However, when they are cut down and destroyed or degraded, large amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. According to the World Wildlife Fund, it is believed that deforestation contributes to about 19 percent of the global emissions^[12]. With a warming trend, it is believed that species will generally migrate north, which will potentially introduce new problems with competition for habitat and space. The problem is intensified when we realize that in cutting down the forests, we are removing the habitat that more species will need to occupy. Habitat fragmentation caused by deforestation will also create problems for the migrating species; if there is too much risk in traveling between the fragments, the fate of the species population is put in to question.
  Climate change will affect every species differently, and pose a number of new threats to the conservation of biodiversity. However, specialist species are at greater risk, as they have a more difficult time adapting to changing conditions and newer environments. Their survival requirements are so specific that with the destruction of old-growth forests through deforestation and the general warming of the planet through climate change, many species are at an even greater risk of extinction. Species such as the Larch Mountain Salamander, which already inhabits small patches of isolated old-growth, will require migration to survive changing temperatures. However, with habitable sites already few and far between, this salamander is even greater danger of loss of resources and peril with climate change, as migration is almost impossible and needs are so specific.
• Global Solutions
  Some solutions are generalized to deforestation on a holistic scale, while others are much more localized to a specific region or ecosystem.
  Deforestation in tropical rainforests is a problem to which solutions have been discussed and tried for decades. The Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP) of 1985 was aimed at putting an economic value on tropical rainforests, making billions of dollars available to projects intended on saving the rainforest; however since the advent of the TFAP, deforestation of tropical rainforests has accelerated alarmingly as the plan neglected many of the consequences of deforestation, such as biodiversity loss, and actually promotes deforestation by putting a material value on the place itself. Since 1985, many grassroots organizations have formed to help reduce deforestation in tropical rainforests, and more knowledge has become available to make the effects of this practice better known.
  Greenpeace International has the Forests for Climate Proposal, a plan to help protect rainforests from the Congo to the Amazon in order to help counter-act global climate change, and protect indigenous peoples throughout the region. Since tropical deforestation is responsible for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is urgent that these areas be protected and destruction slowed. This program uses funding from a revolutionary international fund and would become part of the second phase of the Kyoto agreement on climate change for post-2012^[13].
• Local Solutions
  In the Pacific Northwest, a study recently came out that suggested that Pacific Northwest Forests have potential to increase carbon storage to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the future. However, this potential depends on how the forests are managed, and they suggest that the best way would be through reductions in timber harvest and/or increased rotation ages so that the forests stand longer^[14].
  In the early 1990’s, biodiversity and species protection were the reasons for shutting down federal forests of the Pacific Northwest to logging. The result of this in the timber industry was that the large diameter timber availability decreased, and the mills that had the technology to process the big trees closed.
• Essentially, there was a loss of economic incentive to grow big trees, and same-age plantations of smaller trees became most common^[15]
• Ironically, then, the closing of old growth forests to logging may have resulted in less biodiversity due to the bias toward younger age stands that was created. Further knowledge and research has brought around the idea that active management might be required to protect old growth stands from fire, insects, and disease. The forest industry is going to be necessary if active management (removing some trees) is needed.^[16

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• • GREAT SITE!!!  USE THIS...

• Some   Definitions

   
   
  • Deforestation:   The conversion of forest to another land use or the long-term reduction   of the tree canopy cover below a 10 percent threshold. Deforestation   implies the long-term or permanent loss of forest cover and its   transformation into another land use.
       
  • Primary   forest:   is a forest that has never been logged and has developed following   natural disturbances and under natural processes, regardless of its age.  
       
  • Secondary   forests:   are forests regenerating largely through natural processes after   significant human or natural disturbance, and which differ from primary   forests in forest composition and/or canopy structure.<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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  • Disturbed   forests:   Any forest type that has in its interior significant areas of   disturbance by people, including clearing, felling for wood extraction,   anthropogenic fires, road construction, etc.<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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  • Frontier   forests:    large, ecologically intact, and relatively undisturbed forests that   support the natural range of species and forest functions (WRI   definition).
       
  • Forest   plantation   is one established by planting or/and seeding in the process of   afforestation or reforestation. It consists of introduced species or, in   some cases, indigenous species.

• Importance of   Forests

   

  Forests provide important products   for human use and consumption, and they provide valuable ecosystem   services.  Let's look at each in turn.

   

  Forest Products

   
   
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    In   poor areas where wood is scarce, people, usually women, walk long   distances to gather wood for cooking.
     

     
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    Forests provide useful wood products.  Roundwood   (whole logs) can be processed into building materials, or made into   plywood products, furniture, etc.  Pulp is used not only for paper  and boxes, but for a wide   variety of products (including the “sponge” you used to wash your   dishes). 
     

     
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    Forests are the source of numerous non-wood products,   including bark, dyes, fibers, gums, incense, latexes,   oils, resins, shellac, tanning compounds & waxes.    Fruits, nuts and berries are harvested as food. Maple syrup is an  example of a unique non-wood product from the sap of the maple tree.

• Ecosystem Services

   
   
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    Forests influence climate. 
• The within-year fluctuations   in atmospheric CO2 in the temperate zone include a   spring-through-autumn decline due to plant photosynthesis during the   growing season, and an autumn-through-spring rise in CO2 as respiration   and decomposition exceed photosynthetic uptake.  At a more regional   scale, forests influence local climate and weather.  Rain forests   transport great quantities of water to the atmosphere via plant   transpiration. (Water is taken up by plant roots, bringing dissolved   minerals into plant tissues.  Plants exchange gases with the   atmosphere through openings in their leaves, and lose water in the same   way.  That water loss provides the plant with a means to transport   materials upwards, and so is beneficial, so long as water loss is not   excessive).  Much of that transpired water replenishes the clouds   and rain that maintain the rain forest.  If the forest is cut, much   more of that rain will become river water, flow to distant seas, and the   region will become permanently drier.  No rain forest can   regenerate if this occurs.  Forests maintain local climate and  strongly influence global fluxes of oxygen and carbon   dioxide.  Before green plants appeared, it is believed that there  was very little oxygen in the atmosphere.
• Forests protect the top soil and husband important   nutrients. 
• The annual flood   crest of the Amazon River has increased over recent years without any   concomitant increase in rainfall, presumably due to deforestation.    Damaging floods are one frequent consequence of   deforestation.
• A good example of medicinal use of   tropical rain forest plants is the success of the drugs vincristine and   vinblastine, developed over the past 20 years from a wild periwinkle   found in the forests of Madagasgar. These drugs dramatically improved   the effectiveness of treatments for leukemia and other forms of cancer,   Since fewer than 1% of tropical plants have been screened for possible   use to medical science, ongoing deforestation results in the permanent   loss to science of other species before their value can be   recognized.  The winged bean is a new food crop whose value has only   recently has been recognized.
• Forests harbor tremendous biological diversity, and have   the potential to provide us with new crop varieties and medicines.
• Carbon   Sequestration
• Recovery   time of a forest after clearing and a burn. Note that it is only   after 100+ years that forest become as they were before the   cut. Forest regrowth sequesters atmospheric carbon as plant   biomass.

• .    Causes of   Deforestation

   

  Deforestation has many causes.    Population pressures, profits, and internal social and political forces   can all push up the rate of forest loss.  Access to markets,   requiring roads and capital, is an additional powerful force, recently   expanded due to the suite of changes referred to as globalization.    Poor countries with expanding populations, inequitable distribution of   wealth and power, and possibly corrupt governments are especially   vulnerable.

   
   
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    In   Indonesia, powerful families allied with government rulers control large   and highly valuable timber concessions.  These forests are being   rapidly liquidated, at enormous profit.
     

     
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    In   Brazil, many of the rural poor are moving to cities for work, and not   finding it.  Productive farmland is controlled by a wealthy elite   with a long history of land ownership, and so many of the rural poor are   landless.  By opening its frontier – the Amazon forest - to its   landless poor, Brazil seeks to provide a safety valve for what otherwise   might be an explosive political situation.
     

     
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    In   many areas, poor people have few options to make income, and forests   have few protectors, and so land is cleared for agriculture and valuable   timber is sold for profit.

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• • ******* This is what I was looking for !!!!  ********

• . More roads, higher agricultural  prices, lower wages, and a shortage of off-farm employment generally lead to more deforestation. How technical change, agricultural  input prices, household income levels, and tenure security affect deforestation—if at all—is unknown. The role of macroeconomic  factors such as population growth, poverty reduction, national income, economic growth, and foreign debt is also ambiguous.  This review, however, finds that policy reforms included in current economic liberalization and adjustment efforts may increase  the pressure on forests. Although the boom in deforestation modeling has yielded new insights, weak methodology and poor-quality  data make the results of many models questionable.

• reventing deforestation Therefore to control deforestation we should know the importance of maintaining a green cover in the country to prevent pollution and global warming. We have lots of benefits when we plant trees. The roots of the trees hold the soil very tightly which stops soil erosion. Trees attract rains. It checks the warming of the atmosphere. Some herbs have medical values which help in preparing of natural medicines for the well being. It protects the wildlife of the nature. Forests also balance the ecological balance of the world. Also, in today's world we can find that many people like the tribal prefer to live in forests rather than living in the cities and towns. This is because by living in the forests, they get natural things all around them. Forests also purify the air as well as provide oxygen and so it should be preserved. If the present trend of deforestation continues then there would be a time when no person on Earth would able to save the planet.

• In some places, there are huge incentives to convert or degrade forest.

  • In Cameroon, oil palm and intensive cocoa cultivation has a net present value of more than $1,400 a hectare.
  • In Brazil's cerrado, some conversions result in land values over $3,000 a hectare.
  • And India offers very high values for land devoted to coffee cultivation in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot.

  In other places, conversion results in low-value land

  • Mean land values are just $400 a hectare in the Atlantic forest of Bahia, Brazil.
  • Low-value land uses are also reported in Indonesia, Uganda and the Cameroonian forest frontier.

• Where conditions are amenable to crops such as soybeans, oil palm, or cocoa, and where old growth timber is still standing, deforesters are rewarded with thousands of dollars per hectare.

  On marginal lands, lands far from markets, or where agricultural technologies are unavailable, there may be little incentive beyond the ability to eke out a living at the going wage.

• Amazon and other regions at risk as Brazil's Senate poised to strip forest protections
• he Brazilian Senate is poised to pass measures that will strip the Amazon forest and other important ecosystems of hard won protections and open up vast amounts of the forest to agriculture and cattle ranching.
• The new version of the law, backed by powerful agribusiness interests, has been rushed through both the House and Senate with an alarming disregard for input from critical sectors.
• “You cannot argue that a law favors Brazil’s development and well-being when so many leading experts say otherwise. The entire process has defied common sense.”
• Under this worst-case scenario, more than 25 billion additional tons of CO2 would be added to the atmosphere, about four times the goal for global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol during 2008-12, and 13 times Brazil’s total emissions from 2007 alone
• Forest Code
• Following the Senate vote, the bill will go once more in front of the House before being sent to President Dilma Rousseff for final approval or veto.

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