Mother Nature can at times cause damage to rainforests through cyclones or storms, however, humans are having an increasingly larger impact on the state of rainforests.

 

 

One of the biggest problems is logging. Vast areas of rainforest are being cut down for several reasons. Some of these reasons are listed below.

 

• To make pulp, which is used to make paper.

 

• Certain types of wood from rainforests is prized and very valuable, and thus is cut down and sold to a demanding market.

 

• Particularly in developing countries, trees are cleared to make way for farms where crops are grown and livestock is raised. 

 

• Trees are cut down to make way for new buildings and roads.

 

• Trees are harvested, or land is cleared to plant crops to produce palm oil. This is a product found in many foods and consumer goods that we use everyday including chocolate, cereals, snacks, shampoo and conditioner.

 

• Areas are cleared of trees to enable mining to occur.

 

There are many negatives consequences of deforestation. 

For example, establishing farms on deforested land is unsustainable. It is believed that the crops will use up all of the soil's essential nutrients within several seasons, as there is no decomposing leaf matter to replenish the soil. Pollution becomes a problem when acres of forest are cleared by burning.

 

 

The Young People's Trust for the Environment has some more information about deforestation. This will be useful for your next challenge.

 

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