causes of deforestation
population:
- increase in demand for agricultural landuse:
new settlers >> small holdings >> profit >> more land
plantation companies >> oil palm >> profitable and cheap
- growth of settlements:
people move to urban areas >> employment >> urbanisation >> human population
- forest fires:
clear forests by burning >> make forests easily catch fires
development:
- improved transport networks:
link settlements >> accessibilty
- growth of industries:
timber companies >> logging
clear forests >> minerals >> loosens soil >> affect animals
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problems caused by deforestation
- loss in biomass
deforestation >> food chains are affected >> unable to support life
- loss of biodiversity
deforestation >> extinction of species
- changes in the nutrients cycle
soil can't absorb water >> infertility
- changes in quantity of water
reduce in transpiration >> drought
absence of roots >> high surface runoff >> flooding
- changes in quality of water
absence of roots >> soil is washed away >> affect aquatic life
- air pollution
dust and smoke >> haze >> suffer from health problems
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policies in tackling deforestation
- afforestation and reforestation
- timber species take shorter time to grow, which enable these trees to be logged at a
sustainable rate
- rate of restoring can't replace the rate of clearing
- original biodiversity is lost
- controlled logging
- enable forests to regenerate and minimise soil erosion
- studies shown that selective cutting can be as damanging as clear cutting
- significant variety of plant species could be damange
- conservation
- enables forests to grow in an undisturbed environment
- lack of manpower to detect illegal logging
- controlling forest fire
- burning fires is still the cheapest way to clear land
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