Dr. RAJESH KUMAR SAHUM.V.SC

VETERINARY PUBLIC HEALTH

WEL COME TO ALL OF YOU

DEFORESTATION

DEFORESTATION

OUTLINE :-

• Meaning of deforestation

• Causes of deforestation

• Effects of deforestation

• Mitigation strategies

DEFORESTATION

• Deforestation is the destruction / clearing/ conversion of forested lands, usually forthe purposes of expanding agriculturalland, for timber harvesting & urban uses.

• It involves permanent end of forest coverto make that land available forresidential, commercial or industrialpurpose.

FOREST

• A forest is highly complex, constantly changing environment made up of living and non-living things.

• Trees are the biggest part ofthis complex community.

FOREST TYPES

1• BOREAL FOREST

(CONIFERS)

2

• TROPICAL FOREST ( mixed deciduous hard woods)

3

• TEMPERATE FOREST ( Conifers and Hard woods)

World distribution of forest

Characteristics of Earth’s Forests

ForestType

Where?Area(km2) Rainfall Soil

NPP

gC/km2/yr

Biodiv-ersity

Boreal

Temperate

TropicalRainforest

High NLatitudes(50-60 °N)

Mid-Latitude(30° - 50°)

LowLatitude(0 - 30°)

12 M

12 M

17 M

Low20-50 cm/yr

Moderate50 to 100cm/yr

High2 to 10

m/yr

Immature, butabundant minerals yet to be released

Rich, fertile,abundantnutrientreserves

Poor, highlyleached. Mostnutrientsrecycles

300 M

500 M

1000 M

Low

High

Moderate

CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION

1. Fire

2. Commercial agriculture

3. Cattle ranching

4. Palm oil production

5. Subsistence farming

6. Logging for timber

7. Mining

8. Infrastructure building

( Urbanization )

9. Charcoal production

10. Firewood collection

FIRE

• Fire is often used to clearforested land, as it is cheaperthan employing labourers andbringing in machinery toremove the trees andvegetation.

• The Vegetation is cleared andleft to dry then the area is seton fire.

• Burning is also employed bylarge companies to clear areasof forest to make way foragriculture, mining or other.

FIRE Continue….

SLASH / BURN agriculture

• Slash-and-burn is anagricultural technique thatinvolves the cutting andburning of plantsin forests or wood lands tocreate fields.

• Tribal groups in the india andalso in the districts ofBangladesh refer to slash andburn agriculture as "Jhum" or"Jhoom cultivation

Commercial agriculture

• commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of deforestation.

• When farmers donot grow crops or raise animal for their own good but to sell it in the market and earn money is called commercial agriculture. The farmers sell the crops and goods earned from animals in the market place and buy their livings with that income earned.

Commercial agriculture

• In Brazil rain forests isconverted into

1- pasture for cattleranching ( for beef )

2- soyabeans ( used asraw materials in manyfood products )

Cattle ranching

• During the 1990s, the portion of the globe coveredby forests shrank by an estimated 94 000 squarekilometres a year, an area roughly the size ofPortugal.

• Most of the land that was cleared and burned wasconverted to growing crops and grazing livestock .

• Latin America, in particular, most of thedeforested land ended up as pasture used to raisecattle in extensive grazing systems.

Cattle ranching

Cattle ranching

Cattle ranching

• In Brazil, cattle ranches occupy somewhere around 8.4 million hectares ,(averaging 24,000 hectares each, with some as large as 560,000 hectares.

• Costa Rica( Central america) averaged an annual loss of 3.9% of its forests, largely due to the vast expansion of cattle ranching.

• By 1983, about 83% of Costa Rica forests had been felled ,mostly for beef production

Palm oil production

• Palm oil is an edible plant oil which has become a common ingredient in many consumer products.

• Today, around 50 percent of the goods we use every day contain palm oil, from processed foods to candles, grooming products and “biofuels”.

Palm oil production

• Since oil palms need a rainforest climateconsistently high humidity and temperaturesand a lot of land, plantations are oftenestablished at the expense of rainforests.

Palm oil production

• About 90% of the palmoil of world has beenproduced by Indonesiaand Malaysia.

• As the demand for palmoil increasing it isestimated that around2032 the all the rainforest of Indonesiawould be degraded.

Subsistence farming

• It’s the type of farming in which most of the products is consumed by the farmer and his family leaving nothing or little for market.

• A third to two-fifths of tropical deforestation is caused by subsistence activities on a local level by people who simply use the rainforest's resources for their survival.

• subsistence farming accounts for 46 percent of the total deforestation in the world.

Subsistence farming

Logging for timber

• According to the report ofWWF in Dec 97International timber tradingis the main cause ofdeforestation.

• 500,000 Ha forest degradedeach week.

• Half of the world's 233 mostimportant sites for plantdiversity are threatened bycommercial logging;

Logging for timber• In the past harvesting woods

were not particularly

damaging to the ecosystem

because there were relatively

few people.

• In areas with large human

populations the number of

people collecting wood from

a rainforest.

• Also like wise timber is also

used for furniture . So its

become a habit of people to

cut down the trees.

Mining

• Mining is the process of removal of minerals and metals from core of the earth underground.

• Which region of earth’s crust having the plenty of minerals that area is cleared if there is presence of dense forest.

• Gold mining is one of the main causes of deforestation in the Amazon.

Mining

Infrastructure building

Includes

1. Roads

2. Buildings

3. Urbanizations

These things are only due to over population.

Infrastructure building

• Forests need to be cleared to make way for roads like railways and high ways.

• For example in Canada, clearing forests foragricultural use, such as pasture or cropsaccounted for almost half (41%) of thedeforestation in 2010.

• The remainder was caused by resourcedevelopment and transportation (37%); urbanexpansion and recreation (12%), forestry (mainlyforest roads, 8%) and hydroelectric infrastructure(1%).

Infrastructure building

Charcoal production

• Production of charcoal has remarkably become a factor of deforestation in most parts of the Coast region of tanzenia.

• It contributes about 75% of the deforestation .

• Charcoal made from old-growth hardwood trees is the most valuable because it burns hotter and longer.

Charcoal production

Fire wood collection

• Demand for fuel destroys forests near villages and towns in many countries.

Effects of deforestation

Effects of deforestation

Effects of deforestation

Forested Deforested

IN WORLD VIEW

Deforestation in the Amazon

• The Amazon rainforests

have the highest rate of

deforestation

• It’s home to 60% of the

world’s remaining

tropical rainforest

• In these regions

deforestation is mostly

caused by cattle ranching

and agriculture

Chart From: http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

India forest area

Present Forest Cover Scenario in India

• India, being seventh largest country in area and secondmost populated country, posses a little amount offorest cover.

• The National Forest Policy in 1953 suggested for thenecessity of overall 33% forest cover for the country asa whole (25% in plains and 60% in hilly areas)

• In India the per capita average of forest land is only0.11 ha which is much lower than the world average of1.08 ha.

Present Scenario of Deforestation in India

• The data released by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in mid 1984 show that India lost 1.3 million hectares of forests every year between 1972-73 and 1980-81.

• The maximum deforestation has occurred in Madhya Pradesh, which lost nearly two million ha.

• Maharashtra over a million ha. Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir nearly a million ha.

• Deforestation has been disastrous in the western Himalayas where the forests below 2000 m have almost been removed.

• In 1950 Himachal Pradesh had 38.5% of its area under forests which has now gone down to 15%.

• In Jammu and Kashmir the actual forest cover is only 6% of the total area against the official record of 60 per cent

• TOTAL FOREST COVER IN INDIA IS 78.92 MILLION HECTARE WHICH IS 24.01 % OF TOTAL GEOGRAPHICAL AREA.

Mitigation

• The conventional solution aims to target andfix poverty which they consider to be thecause of deforestation.

• Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP) is one ofthe anticipated problem solutions by thegovernment.

• Sustained Yield Forestry is one of theprojected ways to minimize the output oftimber in its yearly harvest

Mitigation

• Reserve Strategies are also one of theseemingly impossible ways of treating theproblem. So it should be practiced.

• International Biodiversity Program is also oneof the seen probabilities by the government tofinish the problem of deforestation.

Mitigation

• Clear cutting of forests must be banned• cutting must be replaced by planting young

trees to replace the older ones that were cut.• curb the felling of trees, by employing a series of

rules and laws to govern it.• Re use paper and plastic bags to discourage

deforestation.• Be active and plant trees. It can be at your

homes, backyards or you can join anyorganization keen on stopping deforestation

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)

• REDD was first discussed in 2005 by the UNFCCC at its 11TH

SESSION of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP) at the request of Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea, on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations.

• Main aim is: Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action.

• *UNFCCC- UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

REDD+

• “reducing emissions from deforestation and forestdegradation in developing countries, and the roleof conservation, sustainable management of forests, andenhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries“

ITS ACTIVITIES

1. Reducing emissions from deforestation.

2. Reducing emissions from forest degradation

3. Conservation of forest carbon stocks.

4. Sustainable management of forests.

5. Enhancement of forest carbon stocks"

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAND FORESTS

• Government of India established a separate Department ofEnvironment in 1980 and elevated it to the Union Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests in 1985.

Some important legal instruments are

1. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

2. Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act,1974

3. forest Conservation Act, 1980

4. Air (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act,1981

5. Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

6. National Environnent Tribunal Act, 1995

7. National Environment Appellate Authority Act,1997.

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAND FORESTS

• As part of promotion of R&D, the Ministry has set up a network of autonomous andother institutions which carry out original work and also offer expert and specialistadvice in respective areas.

SOME OF IMPORTANT INSTITUTES• Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehra Dun• Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun• G.B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-

Katarmal, Almora, UP• Centres of Excellence in Environmental Education: Centre for Environment

Education Ahmedabad and CPR Foundation for Environment Education, Chennai.

• Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata• Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.• Forest Survey of India, Dehra Dun• Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems, University of

Delhi, Delhi• Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

THANK YOU ALL

THANK YOU ALL