week 13 - social issue, deforestation

Deforestation - areas that used to be forested are converted for other uses such as logging or agricultural ground. 

Leading reasons for deforestation:
 *Expanding of agricultural land
 *Dams and other development projects
 *Fires
 *Logging
 *Mining
 *Economic reasons
 *Inadequate management
 *Weak institutions
 *Reluctance to engage in purposeful industry policy

Whats affected:
 *Recycling of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen
 *Act as a filter
 *Affects the environmental balance
 *Whipping out homes and habitats of many animals
 *Lack of vegetation
 *Soil erosion

We need to balance corporate and human needs against the environmental needs of these forests. If we continue at the rate we are going at the moment all the worlds rain forests could be destroyed in the next 100 years. 12 million hectares are being cleared annually or 20 football fields every minute.