Deforestation

Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 2.2.6

Why Is Deforestation Happening So Quickly?

Deforestation describes trees being cut down and not replaced in forests. Deforestation is happening so quickly because of:

In 1950, the world's population was 2.5 billion people.
In 2019, the world's population was 7.7 billion people.
Cutting down trees in forests clears space for new housing and new towns.
Also, as the global population grows, we need even more metal, wood, and other resources to produce goods and services for these people. Sometimes, deforestation happens to clear space for mines or happens in logging (cutting down trees for their wood).

The world's growing population needs more energy.
To try to stop climate change, there is a push to use more renewable sources of energy (like solar, wind or hydroelectric power).
Ironically, deforestation can happen to create space for developments to create renewable energy.
Wind farms need space for the turbines to spin.
Hydroelectric power plants need dams of water instead of forests. Forests are usually flooded to allow hydroelectric power plants to function.
Solar panel farms need areas that are not sheltered from sunlight.

Mining metals (and other minerals) is vital to produce goods that we want and need today for different services.
Steel (made from iron ore) is common in construction.
Electric vehicles are meant to be better than petrol vehicles for the planet. However, the batteries needed for EVs are created using lithium, which is mined from the ground.

The timber created by cutting down trees can be sold at a profit.
As well as the trees themselves being cut down and sold, to transport the timber from the rainforest to the cities, even more trees have to be cut down for the loggers to create roads.

As the global population rises, more food needs to be produced.
Forests can be cut down to grow crops in fields.
If farmers grow cattle, then their cows need a place to graze and farmers will cut down trees to create grazing land for their livestock.
Subsistence farming describes farmers growing their own crops to eat and survive.