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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. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. [2]
The Kyoto Protocol article 3.3 thus requires mandatory LULUCF accounting for afforestation (no forest for last 50 years), reforestation (no forest on 31 December 1989) and deforestation, as well as (in the first commitment period) under article 3.4 voluntary accounting for cropland management, grazing land management, revegetation and forest ...
[4] [5] Greenhouse gases are emitted from deforestation during the burning of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. [5]
An important consideration regarding carbon sequestration is that forests can turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source if plant diversity, density or forest area decreases, as has been observed in different tropical forests [64] [65] [66] The typical tropical forest may become a carbon source by the 2060s. [67]
The deforestation of tropical forests for fruit production has a number of negative environmental impacts. First, it is leading to the loss of biodiversity. Tropical forests are home to a wide variety of plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. When forests are cleared, these species are often displaced or ...
The forest is a natural system that can supply different products and services. Forests supply water, mitigate climate change, provide habitats for wildlife including many pollinators which are essential for sustainable food production, provide timber and fuelwood, serve as a source of non-wood forest products including food and medicine, and contribute to rural livelihoods.
Forest cover in the Eastern United States reached its lowest point in roughly 1872 with about 48 percent compared to the amount of forest cover in 1620. The majority of deforestation took place prior to 1910 with the Forest Service reporting the minimum forestation as 721,000,000 acres (2,920,000 km 2) around 1920. [2]
The forest is still there, but with fewer trees, or fewer species of trees, plants or animals, or some of them affected by plagues. [1] This degradation makes the forest less valuable and may lead to deforestation. Forest degradation is a type of the more general issue of land degradation.