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Deforestation in the United States was affected by many factors. One such factor was the effect, whether positive or negative, that the logging industry has on forests in the country. Logging in the United States is a hotly debated topic as groups who either support or oppose logging argue over its benefits and negative effects.
Deforestation in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, 2009. Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. [1] Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use.
Deforestation is an example of large-scale land use change. The deforestation of temperate regions since 1750 has had a major effect on land cover. [19] The reshaping of landscapes to serve human needs, such as the deforestation for farmland, can have long-term effects on earth systems and exacerbate the causes of climate change. [20]
There are also feedbacks and interactions among the proximate and underlying causes of deforestation that can amplify the process. Road construction has the largest feedback effect, because it interacts with—and leads to—the establishment of new settlements and more people, which causes a growth in wood (logging) and food markets. [19]
Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation by region, 2000–2010, from the Food and Agriculture Organization publication The State of the World's Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief [3] Deforestation is much worse than forest degradation, but it is clear and visible.
Lacanja burn shows deforestation. Human population growth results in changes in land use, which can cause natural habitats to become fragmented, altered, or destroyed. [5] Large mammals are often more vulnerable to extinction than smaller animals because they require larger home ranges and thus are more prone to suffer the effects of deforestation.
[10] [11] The relationship between deforestation and climate change is one of a positive (amplifying) climate feedback. [12] The more trees that are removed equals larger effects of climate change which, in turn, results in the loss of more trees. [13] Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth.
25-50% of the rainfall in the Amazon basin comes from the forest, and if deforestation reaches 30-40% most of the Amazon basin will enter a permanent dry climate. [14] In another article published by Nature, it points out that tropical deforestation can lead to large reductions in observed precipitation. [15]