Deforestation
is the process of clearing the Earth’s trees on a very large scale, which then damages
the quality of the land. Today, forests cover about 30 percent of the Earth’s
land, “but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year”(National
Geographic). With the rate that deforestation is at right now, the forests on
earth could be whipped out within a hundred years.
Forests,
especially the Amazon, have helped take-in about 2 billion tons of carbon
dioxide per year, but this number is gradually declining as deforestation
continues to grow as a problem. Part of the issue that has grown with the
excess of carbon dioxide in the air is that the growth of trees has been
stimulated and their lifespan has been sped up.
Trees
thrive on carbon dioxide, but “with time, the growth stimulation feeds through
the system, causing trees to live faster, and so die younger,” Oliver L.
Phillips, a tropical ecologist at the University of Leeds. This statement by
Phillips means that the excess of carbon dioxide in the air has caused the
trees to intake great amounts of carbon dioxide that speed up their lifespan
therefore the trees do not live very long. This causes issues within the issue deforestation
because usable trees do not last as long as they should and these consequences can
almost double the destruction of forests.
“Forests
are doing us a huge favor, but we can’t rely on them to solve the carbon
problem,” Dr. Phillips said. “Instead, deeper cuts in emissions will be
required to stabilize our climate.”
Some
companies have ben able to step up and speak out against deforestation to help
decrease its growth in our world’s forests. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is one
of the world’s largest commodities suppliers and they have ensured that they
will take steps to help protect the forests. The global demands for such
commodities as palm oil and soy make it difficult to accommodate their company,
but with the addition of the No Deforestation policy, they have been able to
take control of their supply chains.
With
the help of such major companies as ADM, deforestation can be on its way out of
the headlines in the next hundred years. Although without the help of exposing
the issues of deforestation, nothing will or can be done about the problem.
Do you know of any companies that
take responsibility for their actions as ADM did?
Are there any other measures that
can be taken to decrease deforestation issues?
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