Jarrett Stinson

4/20/16
Prd.3

Research Paper
Deforestation is the act of clearing out the vegetation in certain areas for the purpose of
constructing new buildings for living,recreational, and agricultural purposes. Deforestation can
bring a devastating crisis to the environment around it. It can also lead to extinction of wildlife
and plants in the area. Deforestation is caused by many reasons, but can only be prevented
through an organized cooperation of the public people.
In most cases, Deforestation occurs due to the growth of the agricultural industry. About
60 per cent of the clearing of tropical moist forests is for agricultural settlement with logging and
other reasons like roads, urbanization and Fuelwood accounting for the rest . Tropical forests are
one of the last frontiers in the search for subsistence land for the most vulnerable people
worldwide. Millions of people live on the tropical forest with less than a dollar a day where a
third of a billion are estimated to be foreign settlers. However, as the land degrades people are
forced to migrate, exploring new forest frontiers increasing deforestation. Deforestation is
proxied by the expansion of agricultural land. This is because agricultural land expansion is
generally viewed as the main source of deforestation contributing around 60 per cent of total
tropical deforestation. (Myers.,Anon.). This study proves that agriculture is the most common
reason for deforestation.
There is also ways to prevent and decrease the problem of deforestation. Reduction of
population growth is pivotal in reducing deforestation in the developing countries. Consequent
of reduced population, increase in per capita income will occur as a consequence of increased
incomes and literacy rates which will reduce pressure on the remaining forests for new human
settlement and land use change.(Chakravarty). Population makes a strong influence on
deforestation because if the population increases, the more land is needed to be cleared out in

Jarrett Stinson
4/20/16
Prd.3

order to fit the new citizens of that country in it. If population were to be stalled, then it would
give the citizens a higher per capita and decrease the deforestation in that area.
In conclusion, deforestation is destroying the population of the animals who are
influenced by this problem and is lowering the land value of that area.

Bibliography
Carr, David L. "Tropical Deforestation." WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives
on 100 Problems (2004): 293-98. Web.
Chakravarty, Sumit, S. K., C. P., A. N., and Gopal Shukl. "Deforestation: Causes,
Effects and Control Strategies." Global Perspectives on Sustainable Forest Management
(2012): n. pag. Web.