assignment topic human impacts on forests

This is how humans have impacted the world's forests

Good and bad news. Image:  REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

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Forests cover over 30% of the world’s land, but human activity is chipping away at the tree line.

At the outset of the 20th century, there was approximately 31 million square miles (50 million square km) of forest around the world. Today, that number has shrunk to less than 25 million square miles (40 million square km). Much of this decline can be attributed to expanding agricultural land use and increasing demand for wood and paper products.

The growth and decline of forest cover is hardly uniform. Deserts, farmland, and urban areas ebb and flow around the world, and while some countries are rapidly removing trees from their ecosystem, others are seeing increases in their forest cover.

Receding leaf line

Since 1990, global forested area has shrunk by 2 million square miles (3.1 million square km), with many of those losses occurring in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Amazon Rainforest, one of the most important carbon sinks on the planet, has faced intense pressure from human activity over the last few decades. Brazil’s expanding network of roads has been critical for economic development, but the landscape often pays the price as the country increases its GDP per capita.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Africa is grappling with deforestation.

West Africa, for example, has lost a shocking 90% of its forest cover over the last century – in a number of countries, all of the forest outside of protected areas has been logged, while illegal logging threatens parks and reserves.

If nothing is done, we may lose everything.

Forest renewal.

Images of slash-and-burn land clearing and denuded hillsides grab the headlines, however, there are a few places in the world where forests are expanding.

Europe, in particular, has seen widespread regeneration of forests over the past century.

China is another, perhaps surprising, place where there have been big increases in forested areas.

Each year, dust storms blowing in from the expanding Gobi Desert displace as much as 800 square miles (2,000 square km) of topsoil and damage crops adjacent to the expanding desert. In response, the government created the Three-North Shelterbelt Program , which they hope will halt desertification. Thousands of miles of newly-planted vegetation will act like a wall, containing the spread of the Gobi Desert.

The big picture

Activities that lead to deforestation differ from region to region, but they’re always economic in nature. Palm oil, logging, raising cattle, and even charcoal production are all ways people can pull themselves out of poverty in developing countries.

The good news is that as per capita incomes in developing countries continue to rise, pressure on forests should lessen.

This theory is best visualized by Kuznets Curve , which demonstrates a link between economic development and environmental degradation.

In regions with lax enforcement, corruption, and a large population of people living below the poverty line, deforestation could remain a problem until economic conditions improve. Thankfully, the five countries with the most forest cover – Russia, Brazil, Canada, U.S., and China – are on or are moving towards a more favorable side of the curve.

Another bright spot in this story is that governments are increasingly protecting habitat in the form of nature reserves and national parks. Since 1990, the amount of nationally protected land in the world has nearly doubled.

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Humans destroyed forests for thousands of years – we can become the first generation that achieves a world in which forests expand

Why has humanity destroyed such vast forests and how can we bring this to an end.

For thousands of years humans have destroyed forests. At the end of the last great ice age, an estimated 57% of the world’s habitable land was forested. 1 Since then, people in all regions of the world have burned and cut down forests. The chart shows this. The forested land area declined from 6 to 4 billion hectares. That means our ancestors destroyed one-third of the former forests – a forest area twice the size of the US was lost.

There are two big reasons why humans have destroyed forests and continue to do so – the need for land and the need for wood:

• We need wood for many purposes: as construction material for houses or ships, to turn it into paper, and – most importantly – as a source of energy. Burning wood is a major source of energy where there are trees but no modern energy sources available. Still today about half of extracted wood globally is used to produce energy, mostly for cooking and heating in poor households that lack alternatives. 2
• By far, the most important driver of the destruction of forests is agriculture. Humanity cuts down forests primarily to make space for fields to grow crops and pastures to raise livestock. We also cut down forests to make space for settlements or mining, but these are small in comparison to farming.

The land use for farming did not only come at the expense of the world’s forests, but also led to the huge decline of the world’s other wild spaces, the shrub- and grasslands. The chart shows this too.

In many countries forests continue to be destroyed. The series of charts shows this. In all of these countries the forest cover today is lower than three decades ago. 3

Most of the forests that are destroyed today are in the tropics, some of the most biodiverse regions on our planet. Why is this happening?

The following chart shows what is driving the ongoing destruction of the world’s largest tropical forest: the Amazon. The expansion of agricultural land to raise cattle is the most important driver, by far. 4

I wish this was more widely understood. Land use for agriculture is the main threat to the world's biodiversity. 5

Most of the destruction of tropical forests is due to consumers in the region, but about 12% of the deforestation in the tropics is driven by demand from high-income countries. Beef-eaters around the world are contributing to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. 6

This huge impact of meat consumption on deforestation is also visible in the first chart that showed the history over the last 10 millennia – 31% of the world’s habitable land is now grazing land for livestock. This is an extremely large part of the world; taken together it is as large as all of the Americas , from Alaska in the North down to Tierra del Fuego in the South.

Meat consumption is such a large driver of deforestation because it is a very inefficient way to produce food. The land use of meat production is much higher than plant-based foods. Reducing meat consumption is therefore a way to increase the agricultural output per land area. A shift away from the land-intensive production of meat, especially beef, would be a major way to make progress and end deforestation. One possible way to get there is to make clear how large the environmental impact of meat production is. Another – complementing – way is to produce meat substitutes that people prefer over beef.

The end of deforestation?

After thousands of years of deforestation is there any hope that it could be different?

In fact there are many countries that brought their history of deforestation to an end. Several even turned it around so that forests there are now expanding.

This reversal, from deforestation to reforestation, is called a Forest Transition . The chart shows the data for some of the countries that have achieved this. 7

As mentioned before, while it is the case that several countries have achieved this transition, it is also the case that consumers in these countries contribute to deforestation elsewhere.

Crucial for these turnarounds was technological progress that reduced the demand for fuelwood and agricultural land.

• The demand for wood as a source of energy decreased when modern energy sources became available – initially fossil fuels, and more recently renewables and nuclear power.
• The need for more and more agricultural land decreased when existing farmland was used more efficiently – when an increase in food production was achieved by a higher output per area of land .The increased productivity of the land thanks to modern agriculture allowed more and more countries to spare the forests that would otherwise be converted into agricultural land. Innovative modern crops, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation make this increase of crop yields possible .

These two technological changes can be complemented by effective policies and regulations. Zero-deforestation policies restrict deforestation and programs like REDD+ of the FAO compensate poorer countries and farmers to make forest protection economically more attractive than deforestation. 8

Can we achieve a Global Forest Transition in our lifetime?

If we want to protect our planet’s forests the world as a whole would need to achieve what many countries have achieved already, the turnaround from deforestation to reforestation – a global forest transition.

Countries around the world have made the end of deforestation their explicit goal: At COP26 in Glasgow, countries with about 85% of the world’s forests pledged to end deforestation by 2030.

The last chart shows where the world is in this effort.

The brown part of the chart shows the history of the temperate forests. These forests as a whole have achieved the transition: deforestation was high in the past, then peaked in the first half of the 20th century, and from the 1990s onwards temperate forests have expanded in size. Temperate forests are growing back.

The challenge is now to achieve the same in tropical forests, which are shown in green. We are making progress in this direction: the rate of deforestation in the tropics was highest in the 1980s. Since then, the rate of deforestation has declined by a factor of three.

If we can further decrease the demand for fuelwood and agricultural land it seems possible to bring deforestation in the tropics to an end.

If we achieve the global forest transition in our lifetimes it would be a major success for the protection of the world’s biodiversity. Additionally it would bring greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation to an end, and expanding, rather than shrinking, forests would instead suck more carbon out of the atmosphere.

We can become the first generation that achieves a world in which forests expand

How can we bring deforestation to an end? There is no single answer, but, as we have seen, a few big changes can bring this big goal into reach.

More productive agriculture that allows more production on a smaller land area, a shift away from meat, effective conservation policies, and a shift to modern energy sources: by bringing all of these factors together we could get there. Not only would we save existing forests from being cut down, we might also free up space for forests to grow back.

In our lifetime we have the unprecedented opportunity to bring our long history of deforestation to an end. For the first time in millennia we could achieve a world in which forests expand.

57% of the world’s habitable land was forested and habitable land accounts for 71% of the world’s land surface. This means (0.57*0.71=0.4047) that 40% of the total land surface was forested.For more information on the data see see Hannah Ritchie’s Our World in Data article The world has lost one-third of its forest, but an end of deforestation is possible .

Today about half of all wood extracted from forests globally is used to produce energy, mostly for cooking and heating. See: FAO (2017) – The Charcoal Transition . In FAO – Wood Energy - Basic Knowledge the authors write “The annual removal of wood worldwide was estimated at about 3.7 billion m3, of which 1.87 billion m3 was used as fuel. On the African continent the reliance on wood as fuel is the single most important driver of forest degradation. See: FAO and UNEP. 2020. The State of the World’s Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8642en The same report also reports that an estimated 880 million people worldwide are collecting fuelwood or producing charcoal with it. In addition to the destruction of the natural environment, the reliance on fuelwood also contributes between 2 and 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the 2017 FAO publication The Charcoal Transition the use of firewood and charcoal contributes between 1-2.4 gigatons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases annually, which is 2-7% of global anthropogenic emissions.

Here is the interactive version of this chart in which you can download the data, compare these countries with other countries, and in which you find information on the data sources.

The land use of different beef production systems varies. A big reason why beef drives so much deforestation in Brazil in particular is that Brazil has very low-density cattle-ranching (very few cows per unit of land).

On this point see the following studies:

Feltran-Barbieri, R., & Féres, J. G. (2021) – Degraded pastures in Brazil: improving livestock production and forest restoration . Royal Society Open Science, 8(7), 201854.

The authors find that “the Brazilian cattle sector has performed far below its biophysical potential. The observed average productivity is 89 kg ha−1 yr−1. However, biocapacity exceeds 172 kg ha−1 yr−1. Despite significant regional heterogeneity in technology adoption and production specialization, extensive and inefficient production systems are unfortunately common in the country.”

Schmidinger, K., & Stehfest, E. (2012) – Including CO2 implications of land occupation in LCAs—method and example for livestock products . The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 17(8), 962-972.

One key finding of this study that is relevant here is that “The highest CO2 implications of land occupation are calculated for beef and lamb, with beef production in Brazil having a missed potential carbon sink more than twice as high as the other GHG emissions.”

Also see Cederberg, C., Persson, U. M., Neovius, K., Molander, S., & Clift, R. (2011) – Including carbon emissions from deforestation in the carbon footprint of Brazilian beef .

One reason that explains part of the poor performance of beef production in Brazil is that in other cattle agricultural systems – such as in Europe – there are more mixed-dairy herds than in Brazil. So that the environmental impacts per nutritional value of beef production are shared between beef and dairy in these systems. In Brazil, more cattle are exclusively used for beef which means a higher footprint per kilogram of beef.

Finally also see the text on carbon opportunity costs by my colleague Hannah Ritchie. The first chart there makes this point well.

Williams, David R., Michael Clark, Graeme M. Buchanan, G. Francesco Ficetola, Carlo Rondinini, and David Tilman (2021) – ‘Proactive Conservation to Prevent Habitat Losses to Agricultural Expansion’. Nature Sustainability 4, no. 4 (April 2021): 314–22. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00656-5 .

Also see Hannah Ritchie’s ‘Our World in Data’-essay on this research , with interactive visualizations of the data.

Most beef produced by Brazil is consumed by people in Brazil. At the time of writing the latest data was for 2018 when about 80% was consumed domestically: Exports of beef in 2018 were  about 2.1 million tonnes; production of beef was about 10.2 million tonnes.

The data on Annual CO₂ emissions from deforestation in Brazil by product is also useful to see in this context.

For an evaluation of such policies (via an RCT) see Jayachandran, Seema, Joost de Laat, Eric F. Lambin, Charlotte Y. Stanton, Robin Audy, and Nancy E. Thomas (2017) – ‘ Cash for Carbon: A Randomized Trial of Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Deforestation’ . Science 357, no. 6348 (21 July 2017): 267–73. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan0568

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Home > Books > Vegetation Dynamics, Changing Ecosystems and Human Responsibility

Impact on Forest and Vegetation Due to Human Interventions

Submitted: 29 April 2022 Reviewed: 05 June 2022 Published: 24 October 2022

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.105707

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Vegetation Dynamics, Changing Ecosystems and Human Responsibility

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Forest and vegetation play an important role in balancing ecosystem patterns, providing food security, and blessing the environment for living beings, so the status of global forests and biodiversity, their impact and change overtime with climatic effects and challenges is important. This study’s methods include a review of global forest cover and status; distribution, and assessment; biodiversity, forest carbon assessment; causes of forest loss; and the impacts and implications of CO2 emissions. Forests encompass 31% of the world’s forests, are home to 2 million to 1 trillion species, and provide habitat for 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species, 68% of mammalian species, and so on. Deforestation is the major cause of forest loss, with a decrease of 4.7 million ha. From 2010 to 2020, only in the Asia Pacific region and from 2000 to 2010, 13 million ha of world forests were lost. All flora, fauna, and microbes are slowly degrading and disappearing due to human activities such as deforestation, intensive use, inappropriate forest management, agriculture, encroachment of forest land, slash burn practices, forest fires, urbanization, overharvesting, environmental deterioration, etc. Because the globe has emitted over 1.5 trillion tonnes of CO2 since 1751, the persistence of biodiversity in human-modified habitats is crucial for conservation and the provision of ecosystem services.

• forest and vegetation
• forest cover
• biodiversity
• interventions

Author Information

Ramesh prasad bhatt *.

• Atlantic International University, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Humans have changed forests, browbeaten species, fragmented wildlife’s, altered habitats, imported exotic pests and rivals, and domesticated favored species. All have had an impact on genetic diversity (both within and across species) through their effect on evolutionary developments such as destruction, assortment, implication, gene flow, and transformation. Several literatures illustrate the main impacts of human intervention causing deforestation, fragmentation, grazing, forest clearance for the development, intensive use, desertification, inappropriate forest management, agriculture, encroachment of forest land, slash burn practices, forest fire, urbanization, overharvesting, environmental deterioration, and so on.

Deforestation is one of the most significant drivers of rising greenhouse gas emissions because forests also remove CO 2 from the atmosphere. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is out of reach without immediate and significant reductions in emissions across all sectors [ 1 ]. Southeast Asia has lost regional forest cover at a rate of 1% per year over the last 15 years [ 2 ]. Deforestation has a greater impact on tropical forests than ever before, accounting for 60% of forest loss in Latin America and Southeast Asia [ 3 ]. According to the research, logging has a disproportionate impact on deforestation processes in Southeast Asia, whereas deforestation in arid and populated regions of East Africa and South Asia appears to be driven mostly by demand for fuelwood [ 4 ].

Several studies explain that potential drivers of deforestation are international trade in Brazil [ 5 ], deforestation in Amazonia due to the comparative advantages of agriculture in South America [ 6 ], agricultural products, leading to agricultural land expansion and in turn promoting deforestation [ 7 ], weak governance in developing countries with forests often leads to higher rates of deforestation [ 8 ], and about 80% of current global deforestation is supposedly due to agricultural production [ 9 ]. Thus, agriculture, grazing, the use of firewood and charcoal, and forest fires are the primary causes of deforestation. The main reasons for deforestation are poverty and rapid population growth [ 10 ].

Fragmentation occurs due to the continuous development of cities and related infrastructure. Ledig et al. [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], forest fragmentation is a broad issue that affects global forest biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem services [ 14 ], forest fragmentation can affect the forest ecosystem’s long-term health and vitality, leading to species extinction [ 15 ], increases in agriculture, logging, and urban growth during the past decades caused unprecedented losses of tropical forest [ 16 ]. Europe had the most fragmentation caused by humans, while South America had the least. Humans have fragmented or eliminated about half of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biomes, as well as roughly one-quarter of the tropical rainforest biome [ 17 ].

Grazing is responsible for the loss of forest and vegetation in many parts of the world where conventional forest management practices are used. Forest grazing is also common in Bhutan and the Himalayan coniferous forests [ 18 ]. Forest vegetation depletion is particularly severe in northern Ethiopia’s highlands [ 19 , 20 ]; practically all the available area is under cultivation or used for pasture and reported severe deforestation due to forest clearances [ 21 ]. The Swiss Alps have a long history of forest grazing [ 22 ]. Wood pastures are a distinguishing feature of the traditional European rural landscape [ 23 ]. Other significant factors of forest loss and degradation in the Siwaliks and midhills include overgrazing, which is a major driver in Nepal’s Siwaliks and high highlands [ 24 ].

Agricultural growth is responsible for approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation, with infrastructure improvements such as roads and dams, as well as mining and urbanization, accounting for the remaining sources of deforestation [ 25 ]. Forest removal, as well as accompanying grazing and mining activities, has increased erosion and landslides in the Dolomites, the Maritime Alps, and the south-central Italian Alps [ 26 ]. According to the mining businesses, individual miners remove significant sections of forest in Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela [ 27 , 28 ]. Forests and woods cover 22% of Africa’s total land area. Firewood is the most important forest product, as well as the primary source of energy for the majority of African families. East Africa’s annual rate of deforestation increased from 0.7% between 1981 and 1990 to 1% between 1990 and 2000 [ 29 , 30 ].

Drylands represent around 38% of the Earth’s land area, including much of North and southern Africa, western North America, Australia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Approximately 2.7 billion people live in drylands. Because of scant and irregular rainfall as well as inadequate soil fertility, drylands are especially vulnerable to land degradation. Plowing, grazing, or deforestation, as well as poor land management and agricultural growth, all contribute to this. As a result, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Mexico have been identified as being particularly vulnerable to degradation [ 31 ].

Forest fires contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions and have the potential to harm human health. Fires are a natural aspect of the dynamics in boreal forests, while they are mostly man-made in the humid tropics. Due to a lack of trustworthy data, global trends in fire-related forest loss remain ambiguous [ 32 ]. The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 [ 33 ] has reported a regional total of “tree cover area burned.” This was calculated by crossing a 500-m resolution burned area map [ 34 ] and a global 30-m tree cover map from the year 2000 by Hansen et al. [ 35 ].

Inadequate forest management is one of the factors contributing to the detrimental human effect on urban and suburban forests [ 36 ]. Another issue associated with the decline of forest vegetation and its consequences for human health and biodiversity is environmental degradation. Environmental degradation is due to industrial and urban emissions as well as the presence of pollutants in the atmosphere (sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) and soil contaminants (heavy metals and acid deposition) [ 11 ]. Together with SO 2 , NH 3 and NOx contribute to soil acidification, habitat alteration, and biodiversity loss. Ground-level O 3 harms forests by slowing their growth [ 37 ].

Protecting, restoring, and encouraging the protection and sustainable use of terrestrial and other ecosystems are all required for the survival of various sorts of life on land. Thus, Goal 15 focuses on sustainable forest management, minimizing and reversing land and natural habitat degradation, combating desertification effectively, and ending biodiversity loss. All of these projects seek to ensure that the benefits of land-based ecosystems, such as sustainable livelihoods, are available to future generations.

2. Material and methods

2.1 review of literature.

The important literature concerning the loss of forest and biodiversity was reviewed from different dimensions. Forest assessment biodiversity related information is made by the global forest assessment reports, books, research articles, and proceedings. Climate change is a significant threat to forests, as is the link between forests and climate change, which was assessed by UNEP, the World Bank, and other published works. Other man-made implications were assessed through assessment studies, research, and publications, including difficulties in preserving ecological integrity. The assessment finds gaps in the enabling conditions that necessitate additional research and action.

2.2 Use of ArcGIS, global forest maps and database

Although global deforestation rates average 13 million hectares per year, around 30 percent of the world’s land surface is currently forested [ 38 ]. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has set a target of 10% protected area coverage. The MODIS05 VCF dataset identified forest zones that did not exist in the original GFM. Plantations, shrub lands, and agricultural areas are examples of non-natural regions that could be included on the GLC 2000 map.

2.3 Assessment of geographical distribution

The world’s forests are critical for biodiversity conservation as well as climate mitigation. The use of remotely sensed data to create new forest status and forest change spatial layers has revolutionized forest monitoring around the world. The review of simulated biodiversity values uses remote sensing data on tree cover to create worldwide maps of the importance of forest biodiversity.

Many vulnerable species rely on intact forest landscapes, including “primary” forests. For more than 40 years, remote sensing has been recognized as an essential tool for understanding land cover and land use. The phrase “urban/suburban forest” is used to refer to a type of urban or suburban forest in Europe as well as one of the following categories: location; forest type (woodland), the documented, or at least indicated, problem (pressure and threat to nature), and the quality of the information source.

2.4 Assessment of forest cover and biodiversity

The USGS Land Cover Institute provided tree cover data for 2010–2017 [ 39 ]. The FAO utilizes a 10% MCC criteria to evaluate if an area has been deforested [ 40 ].

According to Hansen et al., a number of 25% can be used to calculate global deforestation [ 41 ]. As Whittaker outlined, three commonly used criteria for measuring species-level biodiversity, including measurements such as species diversity, endemism, and genetic variety, were considered to assess the consequences [ 42 ]. Because of this heterogeneity, comparably sized areas of tree cover mapped via remote sensing can vary dramatically in biological value. Remote sensing represents an important tool for looking at ecosystem diversity, forest cover, and various structural aspects of individual ecosystems. Many different forms of remote sensing sources are reviewed and assessed to provide a means to make assessments across several different spatial scales and changes in ecosystem patterns over time.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 global forest assessment.

Forests are the most important ecosystems on the planet because they include a diverse range of plant species and are home to a diverse range of animal species, including microorganism. Forests cover over 31% of the total surface area on the planet or 4.06 billion hectares (40 million square kilometers). With around 1015 million hectares of forest cover, Europe is the second-smallest continent by area. With 842 million hectares of forest cover, South America comes in forest area in second category. With 593 ha of forest, Asia, the world’s largest continent, has the second-smallest forest area. More than half of the world’s forest cover is accounted for by five countries: Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and China. When it comes to our world’s forests, deforestation and degradation of forest significant issues: by 2030, nearly 47% of the world’s forests will be deforested or degraded. More than half of the world’s forest cover is accounted for by five countries: Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and China. However, due to their huge size, forests cover just a small percentage of the land areas in most of these countries. Suriname, Guyana, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Gabon have the largest proportion of forest cover, with forest covering at least 90% of their land areas. More than two-thirds of the world’s total forest acreage is shared by 10 countries [ 43 ].

Russia, the world’s largest country, has by far the most forest cover. With 815 million hectares, the country possesses more than one-fifth of the world’s forest acreage (20.1 percent), making it the most wooded country on the planet. Russia’s forest cover accounts for around 45% of its entire land area and 5.5% of the global land area. Only Canada, the United States, China, and Brazil have a larger overall land area than Russia. It also accounts for around 81% of Europe’s total forest area and is the sole reason that the continent has the largest forest area among the seven continents. Russia has four categories of forest: recreational, reserve, field, and waterproof. The Russian forestry industry provides approximately $200 billion each year. The 10 countries with the most forest cover are shown in Figure 1 .

Forest cover in the world (%).

Forests are important resources for climate regulation. Every square kilometer of land in Amazonia emits 20 billion tons of water into the sky every day. That is 3 billion tons greater than the amount of water that pours out of the Amazon, the world’s most plentiful river [ 44 ]. The most serious dangers to forests around the world are deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation occurs when forests are converted to non-forest uses such as agriculture and road development. Forest ecosystems are said to be degraded when they lose their ability to provide vital goods and services to humans and the environment. More than half of the world’s tropical forests have been destroyed since the 1960s, with more than 1 hectare destroyed or severely degraded every second. Cattle, insects, illnesses, forest fires, and other human-related activities affect an estimated 3.7 million hectares of Europe’s woods [ 45 ].

3.1.1 Deforestation

Tropical deforestation is caused by a complex interplay of natural forces (social, ecological, economic, environmental, and biophysical). The particular mix of drivers differs by region of the world, country, and locality. Population growth, density, and spatial dispersion are rarely the primary causes of deforestation. Taxation, subsidies, corruption, property rights, and other institutional elements are usually linked to economic forces. Cultural and sociopolitical variables, such as a lack of public support for forest protection and sustainable use, are also important [ 46 ]. Many areas continue to experience high rates of forest loss and degradation. Tools that can offer an integrated assessment of human impacts on forest biodiversity are needed. The modeling toolkit method proposed by Sturvetant et al. could be useful in these situations [ 47 ].

Deforestation and forest degradation are both harmful to forest health, but there is a distinction to be made. Brazil has around 497 million hectares of forest, accounting for about 12.2% of the world’s total forest area. Around 92% of Brazil’s forest is categorized as primary, which means it is carbon-dense and diversified. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade. However, Brazil has set a goal of slowing the pace of deforestation to 3900 sq. km annually by 2020.

In the Amazon, forest degradation is a widespread occurrence that often affects a significantly larger area than clear-cut deforestation. Each year between 2007 and 2016, an average of 11,000 km 2 of forest was degraded. In the same time period, this is twice the annual average for deforested lands. While deforestation progressed at a reasonably consistent rate during the study period, degradation fluctuated greatly over time, particularly from 2009 to 2016. The total degraded area per year fluctuated from a low of 2700 km 2 in 2014 and a high of 23,700 km 2 in 2016 [ 48 ].

The Asia-Pacific Region’s total forest area in 1990 was 733.4 million ha, 726.3 million ha in 2000, 737.8 million ha in 2005, and 740.4 million ha in 2010, accounting for approximately 18.3% of the global forest area. Deforestation in the Asia-Pacific Region has decreased from an annual loss of more than 0.7 million hectares of forest from 1990 to 2000 to an annual increase of 0.5 million hectares from 2005 to 2010. There has been a considerable decrease in the net annual gain in forest area since 2005, from about 2.3 million hectares between 2000 and 2005 to approximately 0.5 million hectares between 2005 and 2010, Figure 2 , [ 49 ].

Forest area change.

According to FRA 2020, the rate of net forest loss decreased from 7.8 million ha per year in the 1990–2000 decade to 5.2 million ha per year in the 2000–2010 decade and 4.7 million ha per year in the 2010–2020 decade. In 2015, a statistical profile of the world’s forest assessment revealed 3999 individuals and 234 nations and territories have a total forest area of 2 million hectares, with an annual change rate of 0.13%. Since 1990, the ration has dropped by 31.6%, from 4128 million hectares in 1990 to 3999 million hectares in 2015 [ 50 ]. According to the FAO, forests span approximately 3.9 billion hectares (or 9.6 billion acres), or approximately 30% of the world’s land surface. Between 2000 and 2010, the FAO estimates that around 13 million hectares of forest were converted to other uses or lost due to natural causes.

3.1.2 Biodiversity in human-modified landscapes

The persistence of biodiversity in human-modified environments is critical for conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services. Studies of biodiversity in settings where humans live, work, and extract resources could aid in the development of sound policies. However, research should cover relevant areas, and study topic biases should not result in gaps in the evidence base. Biodiversity is an important resource on the earth, but the world is in a declining stage of biodiversity. All flora, fauna, and microbes are slowly degrading and disappearing due to human activities. Global terrestrial forests account for 75% of terrestrial gross primary output and 80% of Earth’s total plant biomass, encompassing 4.03 billion hectares or 30% of the planet’s total land area [ 51 ].

3.1.3 Assessment of carbon and human alteration

The long-term or permanent transfer of forest to other land uses is referred to as deforestation. Deforestation and forest degradation constitute roughly one-fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions globally. Deforestation can have far-reaching consequences for society and the environment, from the local to the global. Forest users and managers are concerned about deforestation because it threatens their livelihoods [ 52 ]. Forest managers can help to reduce deforestation by improving knowledge of the importance of forests in landscapes. Deforestation can also harm the production, biodiversity, and health of neighboring forests. Forests are both a source of carbon emissions and a carbon sink due to forest fires, the carbon imbalance of old trees, and other non-cleaning forest processes. Forest investment and management of existing forests to address environmental issues are potential carbon-reduction strategies [ 53 , 54 , 55 ].

Forests play an important role in the Earth’s carbon cycle, storing and releasing this vital element in a dynamic cycle of growth, decay, disturbance, and rejuvenation. Forests have helped to mitigate climate change by absorbing roughly one-quarter of the carbon released by human activities such as fossil fuel combustion. The carbon balance of the Earth is the ratio of CO 2 emissions to CO 2 uptake by oceans and terrestrial systems. Photosynthesis absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and deposits it in forests. Carbon sequestration refers to the process of carbon absorption and deposition. Since 1970, the net carbon balance has risen from 280 parts per million to more than 390 parts per million [ 56 ].

Terrestrial ecosystems are important players in the global carbon cycle. Annually, an estimated 125 Gt of carbon is exchanged between vegetation, soils, and the atmosphere. Forests account for over 80% of this exchange; research suggests that deforestation in the 1980s may have accounted for a quarter of all human carbon emissions. Carbon is stored in both live and dead biomass, including standing timber, branches, foliage, and roots, as well as litter and woody debris. Any activity that changes the amount of biomass in vegetation and soil has the ability to either absorb carbon from the atmosphere or release carbon into it. CO 2 emissions were totaled. Globally, there are approximately 3870 million acres of forest, with over 95% of it being natural. While forest areas in rich countries have stabilized, deforestation in underdeveloped countries has continued. The 2001 edition of The State of the World’s Forests highlights two recent causes of forest destruction [ 57 ].

The CO 2 levels in the atmosphere have risen from 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in 55 years of measurements to over 410.79 ppm in the latest CO 2 reading [ 58 ]. Human activities have emitted almost 400 petagrams of carbon (C) into the atmosphere. Human activities, such as the combustion of fossil fuels and land usage, contribute to the atmospheric CO 2 content. Plants and soils retain about 2000 PgC, with forests and forest soils containing 60% of this amount. Changes in human activities could aid in the preservation of forest carbon stores and promote more CO 2 uptake and storage [ 59 ].

3.2 Forest biodiversity

The range of living organisms that occupy forests, as well as the ecological responsibilities they play in an ecosystem, is referred to as forest biological diversity. It includes not just trees, but also the numerous plants, animals, microorganisms, and species that live within them. Forest biological diversity can be considered at several levels, including ecosystem, landscape, species, population, and genetic. According to the state of the world’s forests 2020, the majority of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity is found in forests. Forests provide habitat for 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species, and 68% of mammalian species. A number of fish and shellfish species use mangroves as breeding grounds and nurseries. They help to collect sediments that would otherwise harm seagrass meadows and coral reefs.

It listed 2.12 million species in the world in 2020. Figure 3 shows that the number of described species in the world is 105 million insects, over 11,000 birds, over 11,000 reptiles, and over 6000 mammals [ 60 ].

Numbers of described species in the world.

The overall variability of life on Earth is characterized as global biodiversity. The current number of species on Earth is estimated to be between 2 million and 1 trillion [ 61 ]. Biodiversity has increased and decreased over time for (supposedly) abiotic reasons such as climate change. Biodiversity loss involves both the global extinction of many species and the local decline or loss of species in a specific environment. The latter phenomena can be either temporary or permanent, depending on whether the environmental deterioration that causes the loss is reversible via ecological restoration or ecological resilience or is effectively permanent [ 62 , 63 ].

3.3 Impacts and changes due to human intervention

Ecological succession is the relatively predictable shift in forest types over time, typically decades. Environmental factors such as soil type, water regimes, vegetation history, climate, and invasive species all have an impact on succession. All of these characteristics are influenced by humans, yet the relationship between them and humans might be ambiguous.

Forest lands are increasingly under development pressure, which may result in parcelization and fragmentation. When the forest canopy is dissected for houses, lawns, roadways, and other infrastructure, this is referred to as fragmentation. The annual net loss of forest area decreased from 7.8 million hectares in the 1990s to 4.7 million hectares from 2010 to 2020 [ 64 ]. The presence of more humans in the landscape raises the chance of exotic invasive species spreading. Invasive characteristics in native species can sometimes be promoted. Human impacts on forests have altered key biological traits, allowing species such as deer, Pennsylvania sedge, and ironwood to become invasive at times.

These native species have, in turn, weakened ecological dynamics even further. Although the effects of climate change have been clearly documented, the effects on forests have been more difficult to determine. Predictions of future forest effects are much less trustworthy. Changes in carbon dioxide levels, land use, natural cycles, and other factors all have an impact on climate change. Temperature, precipitation, and extreme events are all showing the consequences.

The best way for forest owners to prepare their woods for change and work with change is to actively manage to lessen environmental stress. Forest management, including timber harvesting, has been shown to increase commodities and services. Management leads to a more resilient and healthier forest.

The increase and contraction of forest cover are erratic. Deserts, farms, and urban areas flow all over the world, and although some countries are rapidly removing trees from their ecosystems, others are increasing their forest cover. Since 1990, the world’s forested land area has shrunk by 2 million square miles (3.1 million square kilometers), with the majority of the losses occurring in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Human activities have put a significant burden on the Amazon Rainforest, one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, in recent decades. Brazil’s expanding road network has been critical to economic success, but the landscape has frequently suffered as the country’s GDP per capita rises [ 65 ].

Deforestation disrupts ecosystems that are essential to both animals and humans. Every year, we take down more than 15 billion trees. Humans have transformed 420 million hectares of wooded land into different uses since 1990. Over one billion acres of forest have been removed to make space for strip mining, cattle grazing, and industrial sprawl. Animal feces from factory farms pollute the air, water, and land, hastening climate change. More greenhouse gas emissions from industrial agriculture remain in the atmosphere when forests are cut down. Forests operate as a “carbon sink,” collecting CO 2 and converting it into the oxygen we breathe [ 66 ].

During Australia’s “Black Summer” season, which began on January 1, 2019, more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres) were burned. Fires raged through forests in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales for 8 months. More than 510,000 hectares were burned in one incident (1.26 million acres). The total area burned during the Black Summer is believed to be 24 million hectares (59 million acres), nearly the size of the whole United Kingdom [ 67 ].

The main causes of deforestation are forest fire, livestock grazing, commercial agriculture, growing animal feed, excessive use of palm oil, illegal logging, mining extraction, paper production, urbanization, and desertification of land. People who live near woods bear the brunt of deforestation’s consequences. Forests are home to millions of wild animal and plant species. When humans destroy trees for short-term economic gain, we endanger our species’ long-term survival. Thus, each nation must first protect the natural forests and biodiversity, cope with development in an environmentally friendly manner, mitigate long-term impacts onsite, promote plantation, protect natural habitats, and control environmental pollution.

4. Conclusion

Forest lands are increasingly being pressured for development, which may result in parcelization and fragmentation. Fragmentation occurs when the forest canopy is cut up for houses, lawns, roadways, and other infrastructure. The increased presence of people increases the likelihood of exotic invasive species spreading. Since 1990, the world’s forested acreage has shrunk by 2 million square miles (3.1 million square kilometers). Forests act as “carbon sinks,” absorbing CO 2 and turning it into the oxygen we breathe. More than one billion acres of forest have been cleared to make way for strip mining, cattle grazing, and industrial sprawl.

One of the major contributors to increased greenhouse gas emissions is deforestation. Deforestation is responsible for 60% of forest loss in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Poverty and rapid population expansion are the primary causes of deforestation. Agricultural output is said to be responsible for over 80% of current world deforestation. Forest fragmentation can have a long-term impact on the health and vitality of the forest ecosystem. Human-caused fragmentation was greatest in Europe, whereas it was least in South America. Forest removal, as well as accompanying grazing and mining activities, has exacerbated erosion and landslides in the Dolomites, the Maritime Alps, and the south-central Italian Alps.

Drylands cover around 38% of the Earth’s land surface. Much of northern and southern Africa, western North America, Australia, the Middle East, and Central Asia are among them. Land degradation has been noted as a specific threat in India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Mexico. Inadequate forest management is one of the elements contributing to the negative human impact on urban and suburban forests. Pollutants in the atmosphere, as well as emissions from industry and cities (sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter PM 10 and PM 2.5 ), all contribute to environmental degradation.

Biodiversity is a valuable resource on the planet, but the globe is experiencing a decline in biodiversity. Biodiversity research in areas where humans live, work, and extract resources may contribute to the formulation of sensible policy. However, research should cover important topics, and study topic biases should not result in evidence gaps. Extinction and speciation have an impact on global biodiversity. Mammal species, for example, have a mean life span of 1 million years. Biodiversity has increased and decreased over time for (supposedly) abiotic reasons.

The primary causes of global deforestation are logging, shifting agriculture, agricultural expansion, and urbanization. To reverse deforestation and biodiversity loss, we must alter our food systems. Agribusinesses must follow through on their commitments to deforestation-free commodity chains. People who live near woodlands bear the brunt of the repercussions of deforestation. Millions of wild animals and plant species live in forests. When humans damage trees for short-term economic benefit, we threaten the long-term existence of our species. Each country must first safeguard its natural forests and wildlife.

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Human Impacts on the Environment

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• Published: 19 January 2023

Human fingerprint on structural density of forests globally

• Wang Li   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1330-2019 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Wen-Yong Guo 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Maya Pasgaard 2 , 3 , 5 ,
• Zheng Niu 1 ,
• Li Wang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2929-4255 1 ,
• Fang Chen 6 ,
• Yuchu Qin 6 &
• Jens-Christian Svenning   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3415-0862 2 , 3  

Nature Sustainability volume  6 ,  pages 368–379 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Conservation biology
• Environmental impact
• Macroecology
• Sustainability

Climate change and human activities strongly influence forests, but uncertainties persist about the pervasiveness of these stressors and how they will shape future forest structure. Disentangling the relative influences of climate and human activities on global forest structure is essential for understanding and predicting the role of forests in biosphere carbon cycling and biodiversity conservation as well as for climate mitigation strategies. Using a synthetic forest canopy structure index, we map forest structural density at a near-global scale using a satellite dataset. We find distinct latitudinal patterns of multidimensional forest structure and that forests in protected areas (PAs) and so-called intact forest landscapes (IFLs) have an overall higher structural density than other forests. Human factors are the second-most important driver of forest structure after climate (temperature and rainfall), both globally and regionally, with negative associations to structural density. Human factors are the dominant driver of regional-scale variation in structural density in 35.1% of forests globally and even of forest structure in 31.4% and 22.4% of forests in PAs and IFLs, respectively. As anthropogenic forest degradation clearly affects many areas that are formally protected or perceived to be intact, it is vital to counteract human impacts more effectively in the planning and sustainable management of PAs and IFLs.

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Data availability.

All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are open access and are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Information . GEDI data are freely available at https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/ . The ecoregion data are available at https://ecoregions2017.appspot.com/ . The WDPA data are available at www.protectedplanet.net . The IFLs data are available at http://www.intactforests.org/ . The human footprint score data are available at http://www.ciesin.org/ . The human modification index data are available at https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/lulc-human-modification-terrestrial-systems/data-download . The travel time to the nearest city data are available at https://www.map.ox.ac.uk/accessibility_to_cities/ . All the other environmental data including climate, fire, soil and topography dataset are available in the data catalogue of Google Earth Engine at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog .

Code availability

The codes that support the main findings in this study are available at the Zenodo repository: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7266231 .

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant 2018084, to W.L.), H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (grant 893060, to W.L. and J.-C.S.), VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’ funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549, to J.-C.S.), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 42171369, to W.L.; grant 41730107, to Z.N.), the Director Fund of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (grant CBAS2022DF012, to W.L.), the National Key Research and Development Project of China (grant 2021YFE0117900, to L.W.) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant XDA19030000, to F.C.). We further consider this study a contribution to Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF173, to J.-C.S.). We appreciate NASA for providing the valuable GEDI and MODIS data for our analyses. We also appreciate the Freepik company for providing the graphic resources for Fig. 1a .

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State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Wang Li, Zheng Niu & Li Wang

Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Wang Li, Wen-Yong Guo, Maya Pasgaard & Jens-Christian Svenning

Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Research Center for Global Change and Complex Ecosystems, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

• Wen-Yong Guo

Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change (SustainScapes), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

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International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), Beijing, China

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W.L. and J.-C.S. designed the research. W.L. performed the research with help from W.-Y.G., Z.N., L.W, Y.Q., F.C. and J.-C.S. M.P. assisted with the contribution framing and political implications of the study. W.L. wrote the first draft of the manuscript with contributions from J.C.S., and all authors contributed to subsequent versions of the paper.

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Correspondence to Wang Li .

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Extended data

Extended data fig. 1 global forest zones within the observation coverage of gedi satellite..

(a) Forest area defined by global tree cover product updated from ref. 33 . (b) Protected areas belonging to IUCN protected areas categories I to VI and categorized as ‘designated’, ‘inscribed’ or ‘established’. (c) Intact forest landscape data from ref. 23 .

Extended Data Fig. 2 Global patterns in individual forest canopy structure metrics.

(a) Canopy height (RH100). (b) Plant area index (PAI). (c) Canopy cover (CC). (d) Foliage height diversity (FHD). (e) Kernel normalized difference vegetation index (kNDVI). (a) - (d) are derived from the GEDI LiDAR data, (e) from MODIS multispectral data.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Latitude patterns in individual forest canopy structure metrics.

These individual metrics include canopy height (RH100), plant area index (PAI), canopy cover (CC), foliage height diversity (FHD), and kernel normalized difference vegetation index (kNDVI). The color ramp represents human pressure index (HPI) values. The dashed lines represent the smoothed conditional means fitted by loess regression. The shaded areas around the lines represent the 95% confidence interval.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Spatial distribution for local coefficient of determination (R2).

R 2 is fitted by geographically weighted regression to identify local dominant influencing factor on forest structural density represented by canopy structure index (CSI).

Extended Data Fig. 5 Representative examples of spatial patterns in forest structural density depicted by the canopy structure index (CSI) in forests under different human impacts.

Map in the first row shows the spatial CSI pattern for near-global forests. Maps in the second row show the spatial patterns in CSI and locations of example forest parcels with different levels of canopy structural density and human impacts centered by an area of 110-km × 110-km (1: Entire block of intact forests severely fragmented by selective logging for agriculture in northwestern Paraguay; 2: Intensively managed forests in southwestern China; 3: Degrading intact forests fragmented by logging and road expansion in northern Brazil (the left part of the seamless forests are still intact and protected while the right part is severely fragmented); 4: Protected intact forests in central Congo basin). The statistic numbers in the second row represent the CSI values (mean ± standard deviation) for the forest grid cells within the central 110-km × 110-km areas. The satellite images in the third row were obtained from the Landsat-8 satellite around the year 2020 and show the forested areas within the rectangles in the second row.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Canopy structure index (CSI) of near-global forest is positively correlated with forest landscape integrity index (FLII).

The FLII represents the degree of anthropogenic modification for the start of 2019. r represents the Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Forest structural density is negatively linked to 1-Time2City in protected areas (PAs) and intact forest landscapes (IFLs).

Time2City represents the magnitude of land-based travel time to the nearest densely-populated city. The x-axis represents the normalized Time2City subtracted from 1. The scatter plots in each column represent the grid cells for forests in PAs (left) and IFLs (right). The gray dots represent the forest grid cells. The color ramp of the contours represents the density level (≥ 0.1) of dots. The regression fitted lines are overlaid in red. r represents the Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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Li, W., Guo, WY., Pasgaard, M. et al. Human fingerprint on structural density of forests globally. Nat Sustain 6 , 368–379 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01020-5

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AP®︎/College Biology

Course: ap®︎/college biology   >   unit 8.

• Mutation as a source of variation
• Introduced species and biodiversity
• Invasive species
• Human activities that threaten biodiversity
• How does climate change affect biodiversity?
• How did all dinosaurs except birds go extinct?
• Were dinosaurs undergoing long-term decline before mass extinction?

Human impact on ecosystems review

• Disruptions to ecosystems

Human impact on biodiversity

Human-mediated causes of biodiversity loss.

• Land-use change : Humans may destroy natural landscapes as they mine resources and urbanize areas. This is detrimental, as it displaces residing species, reducing available habitats and food sources.
• Pollution : Pollution can occur from the runoff or disposal of chemical substances, or from energy sources (noise and light pollution).
• Introduced species : Humans may unintentionally, or intentionally, introduce a non-native species into an ecosystem. This can negatively effect an ecosystem because the introduced species may outcompete native organisms and displace them.
• Resource exploitation : Humans consume large amounts of resources for their own needs. Some examples include the mining of natural resources like coal, the hunting and fishing of animals for food, and the clearing of forests for urbanization and wood use. Extensive overuse of nonrenewable resources , like fossil fuels, can cause great harm to the environment. Recycling products made from nonrenewable resources (such as plastic, which is made from oil) is one way to reduce the negative impacts of this resource exploitation. In addition, the development and use of renewable resources , like solar or wind energy, can help decrease the harmful effects of resource exploitation.

Climate change and biodiversity

Conservation, common mistakes and misconceptions.

• The extinction rate is currently 1,000-10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. Some people think that extinction is not a relevant issue, but it is actually more relevant than ever! Historically, the natural extinction rate is between 1-5 species-level extinctions per year. Human impact has caused this rate to jump to a significantly higher rate, offsetting the balance of biodiversity.
• The greenhouse effect is not all negative. Although we talk about greenhouse gases producing a negative impact (global change), the greenhouse effect serves a natural purpose: maintaining the warmth that sustains life on Earth. The problem arises when too much heat is trapped, causing a rise in average global temperature.
• An individual person can have an effect on biodiversity. Although biodiversity loss may be a large-scale problem, reducing threats to biodiversity can begin with a single individual. Smaller efforts, such as reusing or recycling items, or even purchasing sustainable foods, can have a culminating effect. That is, if each person did these things, even just a little, they would add up and help reduce biodiversity loss!

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5.17 Sustainable Forestry

2 min read • january 5, 2023

Mark Little

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Sustainable forestry is the practice of managing forests in a way that meets the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations. It involves using forest resources in a responsible and sustainable manner, with a focus on preserving the health and productivity of the forest ecosystem. Sustainable forestry is important for the health of our forests and the many benefits they provide, including timber, clean water, and wildlife habitat. It is also important for addressing climate change , as forests play a critical role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Finding a Balance

Maintaining a sustainable forest is very important for planet Earth.  Sustainable forestry aims to find a balance between human need of the timber or forest products with long-term sustainability of the forests and revenues from the timber products.  

There are several ways to reduce the impacts of deforestation and other potential impacts using our forests. One method is called reforestation . Reforestation is the process of replanting trees. Reforestation is important for the animals in the forests and can help reduce erosion . There are many reforestation projections going on in the world today that help with biodiversity , help fight climate change , and other benefits. One such project in the United States is called the Urban Tree Project .

Other ways to reduce deforestation include reusing wood for another use. For example making a birdhouse from wood that was used to make a fence. 

Prescribed burns help keep our forests healthy.  A prescribed burn is set under specific “controlled conditions” to help reduce the frequency and the damage that occurs from natural fires. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a strategy used to protect the forests from pests like insects.  Using this technique, the infected trees are removed. Examples in spruce budworm , and pine bark beetle . 

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Carbon Dioxide

Climate Change

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Pine Bark Beetle

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How do humans affect biodiversity?

Humanity impacts the planet's biodiversity in multiple ways, both deliberate and accidental. The biggest threat to biodiversity to date has been the way humans have reshaped natural habitats to make way for farmland, or to obtain natural resources, but as climate change worsens it will have a growing impact on ecosystems.

The main direct cause of biodiversity loss is land use change (primarily for large-scale food production) which drives an estimated 30% of biodiversity decline globally. Second is overexploitation (overfishing, overhunting and overharvesting) for things like food, medicines and timber which drives around 20%. Climate change is the third most significant direct driver of biodiversity loss, which together with pollution accounts for 14%. Invasive alien species account for 11%. 

Some models predict that climate change will become the primary cause of biodiversity decline in the coming decades. The impact of all the main drivers of biodiversity loss is accelerating and, as a consequence, so is the pace of biodiversity decline.

Growing demand for natural resources due to the increasing human population, more rapidly increasing per capita consumption and changing consumption patterns has meant that ever more natural habitat is being used for agriculture, mining, industrial infrastructure and urban areas.

Key areas of human activity causing biodiversity loss include:

• Deforestation. Tropical rainforests are particularly rich in biodiversity and are being destroyed
• Habitat loss through pervasive, incremental encroachment such as that caused by urban sprawl
• Pollution such as that associated with widespread pesticide use and overuse of fertiliser which are 6 and 12 times greater than they were before 1961 respectively
• It is estimated that half of the species at risk are threatened by agriculture
• Water use in some of the largest water catchments in the world where dams and irrigation reduce water flows
• Hunting and the over-exploitation of species such as in wild capture fisheries but also for wildlife trade
• Spread of invasive species and diseases through trade and travel 
• Climate change, as warming and changing rainfall patterns alters species ranges and the underlying water and chemical cycles which define current ecosystems 
• Pollution from plastic waste although its long-term effects on biodiversity are far from clear

For more on this issue visit: Amazonia’s future: Eden or degraded landscapes? | Royal Society ; Preserving global biodiversity requires rapid agricultural improvements | Royal Society ; and Past and future decline and extinction of species | Royal Society

Climate change and biodiversity

Human activities are changing the climate. Science can help us understand what we are doing to habitats and the climate, but also find solutions.

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• Call to Action
• Once Upon a Tree
• What is the longleaf?
• Where is the longleaf?
• HUMANS & THE LONGLEAF
• Species of the longleaf
• Different Habitat Types
• Species of the Longleaf
• Heathy Ecosystems
• Importance of Fire
• Human Impact
• Define the Problem
• Project Ideas
• Project Design
• Implement Your Solution
• Engaging Others
• Story Toolkit
• Share your Story
• Extending your Quest

Human Impacts

"The longleaf forest ecosystem is so amazing and cool! It's hard to imagine that there is only about 3% of the historic range left and that even what remains is threatened by us - people!"

Human activities have directly impacted the extent and health of longleaf pine forest ecosystem. We have lost about 97% of the original forest, so it's even more important that we help the remaining forest stay healthy.

Clearing the land for other uses

Much of the longleaf pine forest land that stretched from Virginia to Texas has been lost because people cut down the trees to use the land for other uses including farms or agriculture, roads, houses and buildings, and other land uses. So it's important that we protect the forest that is left!

Planting other tree species that grow faster to sell

Longleaf pine trees grow slower than many other types of pine trees. If someone is looking to grow and sell pine trees as lumber, they might choose to plant faster growing trees in rows, kind of like a farm. Tree farms or plantations growing other species of pine tree, namely slash pine or loblolly pine, has taken over a lot of land that was formerly longleaf pine forest.

Decades of work in preventing and suppressing fire in forests

For more than 100 years, Americans have been taught that forest fires are bad and scary. Forest managers and agencies worked hard to prevent fires, which has led to lots of dead wood or fuel building up in forests. This fuel build up is why we see lots of really big damaging fires on the news, which are definitely scary and bad.

Regular, low-intensity fires, especially those that are managed by professionals, are good. The forest needs it!

Fear & misunderstanding

There are characteristics of the longleaf pine forest ecosystem that many people probably don't appreciate, or are maybe even afraid of. Compared to other types of forests, the longleaf pine forest may not seem as pretty or green or lush, so people may not realize how many plant and animal species depend on it! Especially after it has been burned, people may think it's ugly or dead. And there are some species that people might find scary like the Indigo Snake or Gopher Tortoise. So people's fear and misunderstanding about how special this place is has also contributed to its troubles.

In some cases, species are under pressure in the wild because people actually go out and illegally catch or poach these plants and animals to sell. Species of carnivorous plants, snakes, and tortoises are in this group.

But not all human impacts has been negative

It's important to remember that while humans have largely been responsible for the degradation of the longleaf pine ecosystems in the recent past, humans also have had a positive relatsionship and impact on the biodiverse ecosystem. Prior to removal, Native Americans lived carefully on the land, and even today, there are lots of people - scientists, foresters, landowners, and others - working hard to restore and protect the forest. You can be one of them!

Hero Journal

What human impacts do you think might be putting pressure on the species you chose?

How can we help make a difference for the longleaf pine forest ecosystem?

• Biology Article
• Forests Our Lifeline

Forests - Our Lifeline

Forests are our lifeline. We all depend upon forests in some way or the other for survival. Forests provide us with fresh air to breathe, food, medicines, and other sources like wood, fodder and other raw materials for the industries. Forests prevent soil erosion and hold the earth firmly.

What is a Forest?

Forest is a dense land or a complex ecosystem consisting of rich biodiversity and supports a variety of life forms. The trees maintain the environment of the surroundings which in turn affects the plants and animals living in the forest. They are an important component of the environment that purify the air, cool the air during the day and act as excellent sound absorbers.

They can develop wherever the average temperature is more than 10°C in the warmest month with the average rainfall exceeding 200 mm annually.

India shares a history of traditional conservation and management of forests. The annual festival of tree plantation called Vanmahotsava was started by the Indian Government and was first implemented in the state of Gujarat.

Also, read Forest

Structure of Forest

The evergreen forests have a specific structure. It is organized in layers which are maintained by the abiotic components such as sunlight, wind, humidity, etc.

Let us have a detailed look at the structure of the forest and the different layers it is made up of:

Emergent Layer

This layer is made up of very tall trees with a crown at the top. Their roots spread up to 20-30 ft. The leaves are small and pointed that are structured to withstand strong winds at the treetop.

The trees receive constant sunlight. Hummingbirds and parrots commonly reside in this layer.  Light animals such as sloth and spider monkeys reside here.

This layer hinders sunlight and water from reaching the underneath layers. The trees have broader leaves and the rainwater drips down quickly rather than staying on the leaves.

Common animals found in this layer include squirrels, bats, monkeys, reptiles and a variety of birds. Due to thick leaves, visibility is low in this region.

This layer has few trees and more shrubs and small trees growing up to a height of 12 feet. The area mostly contains roots of the tall trees and branches of climbers and ferns. Very little sunlight reaches here. The leaves and trunks are covered with fungi, mosses, mildew and algae.

This layer has more humidity and is wet and dark. Excellent conditions for the breeding of mosquitoes and bugs. The animals found in this layer include frogs, insects, snakes, beetles, butterflies and termites.

Forest Floor

This is referred to as the ground level of the forest. The soil is shallow with microorganisms feeding on the dead and decaying organic matter. The moist and dark conditions are ideal for the decay of organic matter and nutrient absorption by the trees. Most of the heavyweight carnivorous and herbivorous animals are found in this layer.

Importance of Forest

There is numerous importance of the forest as it helps us by providing all the useful products which are required for our lives. Some of them are listed here.

Forests provide us with – Firewood, Timber, Wood pulp, Honey, lac, medicinal plants and herbs, raisin, biofertilizers, etc. Forests also supply us with the different types of raw materials for industrial uses, fodder for the animal’s feed, fuel, and fibres.

Along with these essential products, forests also play an important role in protecting our environment by:

• Promoting rainfall.

Reduces noise pollution.

Maintains the ecological balance.

Acts as a wind barrier from heavy winds.

Provide moisture and lower the temperature.

Prevents flash floods by slowing down the movement of water.

Preventing soil erosion and preserve the fertility of the soil.

Maintains the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the environment.

Preserves the biodiversity by providing shelter for many creatures that depend on the forest for their survival.

Deforestation

The forests are being destroyed continuously to make the land available for other uses. Forests are the natural source of resources. With the advent of industrialization, forests have been constantly depleted for raw materials. Also with the rising population, there is competition for food and space. This had led to the depletion of forests on a large scale.

Deforestation has affected the climate and in turn our lives. There is a shortage of rainfall. The resources are also depleting rapidly and will not be available in future. The temperature is rising tremendously which has led to the melting of glaciers which has increased the water levels.

The weather changes and earthquakes are a result of deforestation. The trees hold the earth firmly. Due to the forest depletion, the grip of the earth is loosened which causes frequent earthquakes.

Thus we see how forests act as our lifeline. It is very important to preserve the forests. Forest is the natural resources which are being destroyed by the humans for their use. We should conserve this natural resource as it is one of the fundamental constituents for the sustainability of life on the earth.

Facts about Forests

Forests play an essential role in the existence of life on earth.

80% of the world’s animal species depend on the forests for their homes

Forests are the lungs of our planet. It plays a crucial role in improving air quality.

Forests are storehouses of biodiversity. As per the estimations, there are around three trillion trees globally.

Forests are the treasures of medicines. There are 5000 years old plants and about 60% of the medicines are originated from the rainforest.

Important Questions for you:

Q.1 What are the benefits of the forest?

A.1. Forests play a fundamental role in the wellbeing of life forms on the planet earth. Listed below are some of the major benefits of forests:

• Prevent soil erosion
• Maintains its climate
• Purifies the air in the atmosphere
• Controls the increasing temperatures
• Serves as a home for a vast range of plants, trees, and animals

Q.2. List out the different types of forests?

A.2. There are different types of forest and are broadly classified into:

• Tropical forests include- evergreen,  seasonal, dry, cloud forests, tropical and subtropical.
• Temperate forests include- Temperate deciduous and coniferous forests
• Boreal forests also called as the Taiga forests

Stay tuned with  BYJU’S Biology  to learn more about the Forests Our Lifeline, the structure of forests, their importance and some related facts about deforestation. You can also download BYJU’S app for further reference.

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