Almost 50 percent of the world’s rainforests have disappeared since the start of the 1970s, when the first scientific studies began to raise awareness about their value. Tropical deforestation and forest degradation are estimated to contribute between 10 percent and 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Converting rainforest for commercial agriculture — primarily cattle, soybean and palm oil — has been the main driver of deforestation for the past 25 years
Of the more than 100 million hectares of agricultural land added in the tropics from 1980 to 2000, more than 55 percent came from cutting down rainforests, according to the report. That includes small-scale cultivation and subsistence farming, and large-scale commercial plantations.
Brazil’s portion of the Amazon, the largest remaining tropical forest, has shrunk by 20 percent in the last 40 years, according to government data. Forests in Africa are under threat from illegal logging, small farmers and a growing population
Meanwhile, the number of cattle in the Brazilian Amazon more than doubled between 1990 and 2002, driven by growing global demand for food that made Brazil the world’s biggest beef exporter. That accounted for more than two-thirds of the annual deforestation in the region over that period, Martin said in the report.
Source: bloomberg.com
