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INTRODUCTION
Forests provide essential habitat to wildlife, produce oxygen, act as carbon sinks,
control pollution and prevent erosion. The variety of life on Earth and its biological
diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. Forests help preserve biodiversity
by providing habitat for many diverse species of wildlife. The Amazon rain forest, for
example, is home to nearly 1,300 species of birds, over 400 each of mammals and
amphibians, over 300 reptiles and millions of insects. The number of species of
plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these
species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests, and
coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth. Tropical rainforests are, with
coral reefs, the most endangered ecosystems in the world, and are vulnerable to a
substantial loss of biodiversity. Deforestation depletes biodiversity by destroying
habitat,
by
separating
contiguous
areas
of
rainforest from each other.
When
forest
cover
is
removed, wildlife is deprived
of habitat and becomes more
vulnerable
to
hunting.
Considering that about 80%
of the world's documented
species can be found in
tropical
rainforests,
deforestation
poses
a
serious threat to the Earth’s
biodiversity.
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
Deforestation: It is the act of clearing the Earth’s trees and forests on a massive
scale, usually through ways such as burning or cutting. It severely damages the
quality of land, causes soil erosion, loss of species, and contributes to climate
change.
Inhabitant: It is the resident of a certain habitat or environment.
Biodiversity: It is the existence of a wide variety of plant and animal species in their
natural environments, which is the aim of conservationists concerned about the
indiscriminate destruction of rainforests and other habitats.
Timber: Wood prepared for use in building and carpentry. Before timber is felled,
foresters assess it in order to determine how valuable it is. A harvest plan must be
filed with a government agency in order to cut trees in most areas of the world.
Flora and Fauna: The term used to refer to plants and wildlife of a specific
geographical region or a particular time period. The term flora, named after the
goddess of flowers, refers to the plants where the term fauna refers to the animal life
in the particular region. Deforestation has many negative effects on flora and fauna.
Commercial Logging: Cutting trees to sell as timber or pulp.
GENERAL OVERVIEW
Deforestation in simple term means the felling and clearing of forest cover or tree
plantations in order to accommodate agricultural, industrial or urban use. It involves
the permanent end of forest cover to make that land available for the residential,
commercial or industrial purpose. Deforestation happens through many methods of
destruction such as; fires, clearcutting for agriculture using ways such as slash and
burn method, unsustainable logging for timber, etc. It also occurs due to several
different causes. The reduction in the habitats of indigenous people, deforestation, is
directly related to the damage they receive that goes as far as extinction in some
cases. The coexistence of all living beings is only possible when there’s mutual
respect. Mankind is almost entirely dependent on forests and therefore should do all
that is possible to end deforestation, which is has become one of the biggest
environmental problems of the day. Over the last century, the forest cover around the
globe has been greatly compromised, leaving the green cover down to an all-time low
of about 30 per cent. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), an estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are
lost each year. However, forests all around the world are under threat of destruction
due to deforestation. Biodiversity may not seem very important for humans, but it is.
The living organisms of the world are critical to many aspects of human life, all of
which will be affected as biodiversity is lost.
Energy
Wood and wood-based charcoal provide a large percentage of energy used for
heating and cooking around the world, especially in rural or developing areas. Loss
of biodiversity will reduce the amount of wood and the variety available for these
purposes.
Pollination
Plants require pollination to produce seeds and fruit, and many of the plant-based
foods we enjoy consuming need to be pollinated by insects or birds. Pollinators are
beginning to decline in abundance globally, resulting in fewer seeds or fruit, or seeds
that are less viable to produce the next generation of plants.
Livelihoods
Millions of people worldwide make their livings from biodiversity. People who farm,
fish, or create crafts or furniture from natural sources will be in danger of losing their
livelihoods if the species they depend on begin to decline. In some cases, this is
paradoxical, since overfishing and overhunting contribute to the very loss that will
eventually make the fishers and hunters unable to support themselves.
Clean Water
Watershed destruction and deforestation lead to decreased quality of drinking water,
which has greatest effects in rural and developing areas. Wetlands also serve waterfiltering purposes that are lost when they are destroyed or converted.
Spiritual
Many people around the world value various ecosystem components in their religious
and spiritual beliefs. As this biodiversity is lost it will affect culture and quality of life
for many.
It has long been feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. Despite
increased efforts at conservation, it has not been enough and biodiversity losses
continue. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be
high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert
ecological problems. The rapid loss of species we are observing today is estimated
by experts to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction
rate. These experts calculate that between 0.01 and 0.1% of all species will become
extinct each year. If the low estimate of the number of species, which means that
there are around 2 million different species on our planet, is true, this means between
200 and 2,000 extinctions occur every year. However, if the upper estimate of
species, which is that there are 100 million different species on our planet, is true,
between 10,000 and 100,000 species extinct each year.
MAJOR PARTIES INVOLVED
Brazil
Brazil is home to the world’s largest tropical
forest, the Amazon Rainforest. Amazon
Rainforest has been facing an accelerating
amount of deforestation since 1991 and it has
been slowing down only since 2004, when
activities to reduce deforestation were
implemented. These efforts are a reflection of
the growth of the environmental and social
movements in Brazil in the last two decades. Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s election as
the President was one of the factors that established such improving measures.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Central Africa's deforestation rate since 1990 has been the lowest of any major forest
region in the world. However there are still a number of threats to the health of the
Congo rainforest and its residents. The biggest drivers of deforestation in the Congo
rainforest over the past 20 years have been small-scale subsistence agriculture,
clearing for charcoal and fuelwood, urban expansion, and mining. Industrial logging
has been the biggest driver of forest degradation. However, it is important not to
understate the impact of logging in the region. Logging roads have opened up vast
areas of the Congo to commercial hunting,
leading to a poaching epidemic in some
areas and a more than 60 percent drop in the
region's forest elephant population in less
than a decade. Furthermore, logging roads
have provided access to speculators and
small-holders who clear land for agriculture.
Looking forward, the biggest threats to the
Congo rainforest come from industrial logging
and conversion for large-scale agriculture.
Some environmentalists fear that the Congo
could be on the verge of a massive increase
in deforestation for palm oil, rubber, and
sugar production.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate
members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come
from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity
FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter
alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted
governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices.
Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.
Ecuador
Ecuador has experienced major changes in its forest ground mostly due to
agricultural expansion and illegal logging. It has one of the world’s highest rates of
deforestation estimated at over %3 of its forest grounds per 2 years. This problem is
recognized and reducing deforestation is considered to be a national priority. These
actions are mainly taken as part of UN – REDD program projects, which Ecuador has
been participating in since 2009.
Paraguay
The South American Atlantic Forest that runs through Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay
has been cut down to 7 percent of its original size in three decades. The region in
Paraguay is the part that has been decimated the most severely due to the
industrialization and uncontrolled migration in the country. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is an organization that
is taking progressive steps towards ending deforestation. It publishes Global Forest
Resources Assessment (FRA) every 5 years in order to “provide a consistent
approach to describing the world’s forests and how they are changing”.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
For 50 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading
conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2
million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. WWF's unique
way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science involves action at
every level from local to global and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that
meet the needs of both people and nature. In the fight against deforestation, the role
of WWF is crucial. The organization funds many projects, such as Zero Net
Deforestation and Forest Degradation (ZNDD), and are to be fulfilled until 2020.
TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS
1 December 2008
14 February 2011
May 2013
15 November 2013
26 November 2014
15 January 2016
23 February 2016
Deforestation destroys 70% of the
Amazon
US oil giant Chevron is fined for
polluting
the Amazon
Major oil spill from Ecuador that
severely affects and concerns Brazil
Brazil states that Amazon deforestation
rose 28% in only a year
A year later, deforestation drops by 18%
in the light of effective measures taken
A chemical explosion at a cargo
warehouse in Brazil occurs, unleashing
a mass of toxic gas.
Over 3000 barrels of crude oil are
spilled in the Amazonian region, as a
courtesy of Peru.
UN Involvement
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the agency of UN
that has been working on the issue of deforestation very closely. FAO frequently
states that deforestation has fortunately decreased in the past few years but this
decline is not even nearly enough and new solutions must be generated and
successfully implemented. The report published by FAO in 2015 states that
deforestation has decreased by 50 percent and many countries are implementing
policies for better forest management using legislation. Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is United Nations’ collaborative
initiative to implement what the name of the program suggests explicitly. It was
established in 2008 by the cooperation of FAO, UNDP, and UNEP. The program
offers financial incentives that the MEDCs generously provide to LEDCs in order for
them to be able to decrease their amount of industrialization done by deforestation.
Notably, the REDD continues to have an increasingly positive impact on Brazil and its
decrease of deforestation since 2002.
Furthermore, for more than 30 years, UNEP has played a leading role in developing
and advancing the international agenda on biodiversity: catalyzing awareness on
global environmental problems, building consensus on action to address those
problems, and promoting and supporting conservation programs of a catalytic nature.
Foremost among these efforts has been the strengthening of the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) to which UNEP provides the Secretariat and for which the
Global Environment Facility (GEF) acts as the project financing body. Some of the
examples of these projects are:
Andean Páramo Project "or" PPA
The project "Conservation of Biodiversity in the Moors of North and Central Andes, is
a regional initiative that works to conserve and sustainable use of grasslands in
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Food for the Future: Conserving Crop Wild Relatives
As the name suggests, a crop wild relative (CWR) is a wild plant species related to a
domesticated crop. For centuries crop wild relatives have provided farmers with the
genetic material to improve the nutritional quality of crops, enhance productivity, and
provide cultivated varieties with resistance to pests and diseases.
Managing Water Wisely to Save Wetlands and Water birds
Human civilizations have risen by the shores of seas, rivers, and wetlands, the latter
being remarkably productive ecosystems, teeming with biodiversity for water birds
and fish. Yet, where water has been abused and lost, wildlife and civilizations too
have vanished. Now, more than ever, as human population increases and water
demands grow, people and wildlife need secure and adequate sources of water for
survival.
Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean (MTIASIC)
The Project is funded by the Global Fund for the Environment (GEF) with the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the lead implementing agency and the
Centre for Agriculture and Bio-Sciences International (CABI) as the lead executing
agency; and Caribbean Invasive Species Working Group (CISWIG) are some of the
main groups actively tackling the issue of IAS in the Caribbean.
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity through Sound Tourism
Development in Biosphere Reserves in Central and Eastern Europe
The GEF Supported project will strengthen protection of globally significant mountain
ecosystems in selected Biosphere Reserves of Central and Eastern Europe. This will
be achieved through the development of new and innovative management systems
with a special focus on tourism-related uses of these sites. Concurrently, awareness
raising and capacity building systems will be developed and implemented, to ensure
long term sustainable impacts. Tourism model initiatives and activities will be initiated
to ensure distribution of returns for conservation purposes as well as to local
stakeholders.
Enhancing Conservation of the Critical Network of Sites of Wetlands Required by
Migratory Water birds on the African/Eurasian Flyways
The WOW project is funded by The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the
Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the African-Eurasian Migratory
Water bird Agreement (AEWA) and a wide range of other donors. The project's goal
is to strengthen capacity to plan and manage the conservation of migratory water
birds and the critical sites along their flyways. Showcase projects under way in twelve
countries (Estonia, Gambia, Hungary, Lithuania, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey and Yemen) are providing lessons learned and
leading practices.
Relevant UN Documents



44/228 UN Conference on Environment and Development, 22 December
1989.
UN Environment Programme. Agenda 21. Combating Deforestation.
UNEP. Resolution 2.1 on the topic of Deforestation.
Treaties and Events

United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries Programme
The program is implemented through the collective contributions of the FAO,
UNDP, and UNEP. It was initiated after the decisions of United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regarding the Bali Action
Plan and REDD at COP-13.

The REDD+ Decision in Cancun, December 2010
The Cancun REDD Text differs from previous drafts of REDD+ texts in two major
ways: The agreement states that REDD+ is about eliminating and reversing
deforestation as much as it is concerned with reducing emissions. Secondly, the
text encourages every single country to seek new methods through which we can
extinguish the problem of deforestation.

New York Declaration on Forests, September 2014
The declaration was spurred by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate
Summit. It is non-legally binding and is predominantly about actions taken
against deforestation thus, Brazil, among the most closely related countries; not
signing the treaty is quite incomprehensible.

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED)(informally known as Earth Summit), Rio de Janeiro, June 1992
The conference was hosted by the Brazilian government and saw a participation
of as many as 172 governments. Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles, the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity was the resulting document of the conference.
PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS
Policies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, set forth by
the UN REDD+ Programme, a program developing with the collective cooperation of
many NGOs and member states, have been implemented around the world.
Compared to the deforestation rate of 16 million hectares of forests being consumed
in the 1990s, the deforestation rate has definitely slowed down due to the success of
REDD. To mitigating climate change, REDD+ can support livelihoods, maintain vital
ecosystem services and preserve globally significant biodiversity. Therefore,
discussions on the linkages between REDD+ and biodiversity conservation increased
and a number of research projects and policies were developed around the issue.
Also, PES programs provide financial compensation for the protection of the
environment and have even gone beyond preventing deforestation to promoting
reforestation.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
There are several important ways in which humans can slow biodiversity loss,
although there is no way to bring back the species that have already gone extinct.
Habitat loss is a major issue. Human population is constantly growing, needing new
areas to live in which reduces are of animal habitats. Many animals are going extinct
because their habitats are constantly shrinking (for instance Bengal tiger). The world
needs to establish more protected areas free of humans because this is the only way
to stop further decline of many animal species.
Stopping deforestation is an important factor in the solutions of this topic. Tropical
rainforests are the areas of the richest biodiversity on our planet, providing a living
environment for millions of different species. Rainforests also play important role in
sinking carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, which is extremely helpful in the
fight against climate change.
Climate change and global warming is running out of control. Many plants and
animals are finding it very hard to cope with the changes in climate, and many of
them will forever perish from the face of our planet unless we prevent climate change
and global warming. In order to tackle climate change our world needs international
climate treaties that is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global level.
Reducing environmental pollution is a part of tackling the problem. Many plants and
animals are finding it extremely hard to survive in a polluted environment. Pollution is
not only happening on land but
also, in our oceans having very
negative impact on marine
biodiversity.
Animals
and
plants cannot thrive in the
polluted
environment.
Protection native ecosystems
from invasive species is
another
significant
point.
Invasive species often do
serious damage to native
ecosystems, and reduce the
success rate of conservation
efforts.
Furthermore,
biodiversity is a topic that
needs to be further and deeper
studied, in order to contain the
necessary knowledge needed
to protect animal and plant
species from going extinct.
USEFUL LINKS AND DOCUMENTS

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
http://www.rainforestconservation.org/rainforest-primer/3-rainforests-in-perildeforestation/f-consequences-of-deforestation/3-loss-of-biodiversity-includinggenetic-diversity/
http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions
http://www.tropical-rainforest-animals.com/biodiversity-loss.html
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html


http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/globalwarming/deforestation-overview/
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/deforestation.html