Deforestation causes fertile soil to be blown away or washed into rivers, leading to soil erosion, drought, flooding, and loss of wildlife, and consequently affecting the biodiversity (biological variety) of ecosystems. It may also increase the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere and intensify the greenhouse effect, because there are fewer trees absorbing carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis.

The first deforestation occurred more than two thousand years ago in areas surrounding the Mediterranean as wood was increasingly used for fuel, building materials, and the construction of ships. Throughout the next two millennia most of the woodland in Europe was destroyed as human demands increased. The current wave of deforestation in the tropics dates back only to the 1970s, but even so has reduced the amount of intact forest ecosystem from 34% of total land in the affected areas to 12%. Deforestation in the tropics is especially serious because such forests do not regenerate easily and because they are such a rich source of biodiversity.

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that 137,000 sq km/53,000 sq mi of tropical forests were destroyed during each year of the 1980s, and that the deforestation rate for the tropics between 1990 and 1995 was 130,000 sq km/50,000 sq mi a year. A FAO survey showed that the area covered by mangrove forest had fallen to below 15 million hectares by the end of 2000 and that the deforestation rate was still 1% per annum.

Global deforestation continues to rise despite international efforts to control the situation. The rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest alone rose by 40% in 2002-03.

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deforestation, tropical

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Earth Summit

Forest Fires in Borneo

Forests: The Hunt for Sustainability

Pollution and Eastern Europe

Sustainable development

Destructioon of the Amazon rainforest

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EO Library: Tropical Deforestation Fact Sheet

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deforestation

deforestation

deforestation

Guatemala