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Definition: deforestation from Philip's Encyclopedia

Clearing away of forests and their ecosystems, usually on a large scale, by humans. It may be done to create open areas for farming or building, or for timber. There is an immediate danger that the vital topsoil will be eroded by wind (such as the dust bowl, USA) or, in hilly areas, by rain. Proposals to clear whole regions of the Amazonian rainforests, which play a key role in maintaining the oxygen balance of the Earth, could cause an environmental catastrophe.

Deforestation

From Encyclopedia of Crisis Management
Forests are generally defined by the amount of tree canopy cover; deforestation is removal of tree cover. Deforestation is the practice of removing tree cover and converting covered forested lands to nonforest uses, resulting in the permanent destruction of the forest. Deforestation accounted for an annual loss of 16 million hectares (39 million acres) of forest through the 1990s and dropped to 13 million hectares (32 million acres) annually in the first decade of the 21st century. The Southern Hemisphere accounts for the majority of forest loss, with South America (4 million hectares [8.9 million acres]) and Africa (3.4 million hectares [8.4 million acres]) accounting for a little over half of global forest canopy loss. Forest utilization in the less-developed countries is a result of rapid urbanization, population growth, and economic demands for forest products. European forests have continued to expand, while those in North and Central America have remained stable. Australia has…
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Full text Article Deforestation

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
An aerial photograph in 2009 reveals widespread...
Anthropogenic, or human-caused, deforestation is a major global social issue, especially in tropical latitudes. Despite many studies of the contemporary causes of deforestation, there is no general or universal theory of deforestation. Given how patterns of deforestation vary significantly over time…
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Deforestation
MAIN CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION Latin America policies facilitating land transfer to large, private ranches state policy of colonization, leading to inward migration by poor settlers road construction followed by slash-and-burn agriculture pasture-creation for cattle ranching West & Central Africa…
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Soil Degradation
SOIL DEGRADATION 1981–2003 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY has increased over the past 50 years, but the adverse environmental impacts of those changes have often not been included in commercial prices and so have been mostly tolerated or ignored. It is now clear that the pollution, soil degradation, and…
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Full text Article deforestation

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Destruction of forest for timber, fuel, charcoal burning, and clearing for agriculture and extractive industries, such as mining, without planting new trees to replace those lost (reforestation) or working on a cycle that allows the natural forest to regenerate. The rate of deforestation is of major…
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Full text Article Deforestation

From International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
Annual rates of afforestation...
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This article is a revision of the previous edition article by J.J.Metz, volume 3, pp 39-50, © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. Glossary Ecosys t em services Are the “products” that can be obtained from any given ecosystem. These services include provisioning services…
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Full text Article deforestation

From The Macquarie Dictionary
the permanent removal of forests or trees from a large area, usually for commercial purposes. The environmental damage that can be caused by deforestation is graphically illustrated by the social and economic collapse of the community on Easter Island in the Pacific. The island was originally…
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Full text Article deforestation

From Environmental History and Global Change: A Dictionary of Environmental History
One of the most basic and widespread of process caused by human activity from early in the Holocene onwards, affecting all continents except Antarctica. Today most people live in areas which were once forested. Deforestation is caused by a range of activities, notably agriculture but also logging, …
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Latin America is covered with significant tropical forests, which are some of the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. Subtropical and temperate forests are found in the northern and southernmost latitudes. South America alone contains more tropical forest area (598,245 hectares, most…
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Full text Article deforestation

From Penguin Dictionary of Biology
Permanent clear-felling of an area. Loss of some 170,000 km2 of rain forest occurs every year. Loss of transpiring leaf surfaces causes much more rain to pass through the ground water, with consequent leaching of chemicals and weathering of soil and rock as roots die; potential nutrients released by…
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Full text Article Tropical deforestation

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
The table shows the extent of forest in selected countries, 2005–10. Country Area (sq km/sq mi) Extent of forest cover 2005 (sq km/sq mi) Extent of forest cover 2010 (sq km/sq mi) Annual rate of change 2005–2010 (%) Bolivia 1,098,581/424,162 587,340/226,772 571,960/220,834 −0.53 Brazil…
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