Deforestation

Key people

• Bruno ManserSwiss environmentalist (1954-missing since 2000)
• Hannah RitchieScottish data scientist

Timeline

• 7000 BCIn Europe there is little solid evidence before 7000 BC.
• 3000 BCStone axes were being made from about 3000 BC not just from flint, but from a wide variety of hard rocks from across Britain and North America as well.
• 1100From 1100 to 1500 AD, significant deforestation took place in Western Europe as a result of the expanding human population.
• 1950According to one study, in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the 1980s.
• 1970The project yielded deforestation maps for the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia for three periods in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Read

• DeforestationJ. Ives · 1988Book
• The dynamics of deforestation and economic growth in the Brazilian AmazonLykke E. Andersen · 2002Book
• Controlling tropical deforestationAlan Grainger · 2010Book
• Deforestation crisisRichard Spilsbury · 2008Book

Watch

• The Tragedy Of Deforestation | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC EarthBBC EarthVideo
• 10 lines on Deforestation in English | Deforestation essay in English | Essay on DeforestationLearningsVideo
• What is Deforestation?Earth CubsVideo

Listen

• deforestationMadeleine KimPodcast
• Stop Deforestation And Protect Our LandAshita TripathiPodcast
• Deforestation: The Death of MankindTree GangPodcast
• Et si la déforestation avait accéléré la propagation du COVID-19 ?Orus PaperPodcast

Voices to follow

• Hannah Ritchie@_HannahRitchie · XScottish data scientist

By the numbers

• 4.7CO₂ per person (t) — global, 2024 (World Bank)
• 31.1Forest area (% land) — global, 2023 (World Bank)

Debates

• Should economic development always take precedence over forest conservation?One view: Prioritizing economic development can lift communities out of poverty and provide essential resources, often requiring land use changes. · Another: Protecting forests is crucial for long-term ecological stability, climate regulation, and biodiversity, which are fundamental for sustainable development.Open question
• Are international regulations or local community efforts more effective in preventing deforestation?One view: International regulations and agreements can set global standards and provide funding, addressing large-scale drivers of deforestation. · Another: Local community involvement and indigenous land rights are often more effective, as they have direct stakes and traditional knowledge for forest management.Open question
• Is sustainable logging a viable solution to meet timber demands while preserving forests?One view: Sustainable logging practices can provide renewable resources and economic benefits without clear-cutting, promoting forest health through careful management. · Another: Even with sustainable practices, logging can disrupt ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and open forests to further degradation, making it less ideal than full preservation.Open question

Glossary

• DeforestationThe permanent removal of forests to make land available for other uses.
• ReforestationThe process of replanting trees in areas that have been deforested.
• AfforestationThe process of planting trees in an area where there was no forest previously.
• BiodiversityThe variety of life on Earth, including different species, ecosystems, and genetic variations.
• Carbon SinkA natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases.
• Sustainable ForestryManaging forests to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Threads 5

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Infectious Disease & Pandemics Health

  When we chop down forests, we drag people right up against animals like bats they'd never normally touch. In that new contact zone, viruses jump species and spark outbreaks. Diseases like Ebola and Nipah trace back to exactly that raw edge where the cleared forest meets us.

• Legal Systems Around the World Law

  Weirdly, 'forest' started out as a legal word, not a nature word: it meant land the king locked up so only he could hunt the deer. Regular people fought back over their right to use that land, and England even had a Charter of the Forest, a forgotten cousin of the famous Magna Carta. The word for trees was really a word about who's allowed in.

• Climate Zones and Weather Systems Geography

  The Amazon basically makes its own rain: trees breathe out moisture that drifts as 'flying rivers' and falls as tomorrow's downpour. Chop down too many trees and you switch off that moisture pump. Past a certain point, a rainforest can literally dry out the rainfall that keeps it a rainforest.

• Risk, Failure, and Resilience Business

  If you put out every tiny forest fire, dead wood keeps piling up until one spark becomes an unstoppable inferno. Companies do the same thing: a business that never lets anything small break is secretly stockpiling the fuel for one giant collapse. A few little failures along the way are what keep the big one from ever coming.

• Pandemics Science

  A lot of new diseases come from animals we normally never touch, deep in forests. When we bulldoze those forests and haul wild animals to crowded markets, we shove ourselves right up against germs we were never meant to meet. In a dark way, we manufacture our own pandemics by breaking down the barrier that kept us apart.