ENVS195 Study Guide - Final Guide: Slope Stability, Sukarno, Suharto
31 May 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Deforestation introduction: deforestation as one of the first steps towards development of human communities, hunting/gathering way of life towards sedentary agricultural lifestyle, led to development of economic and trading systems, deforestation rates: Estimate loss of 1 billion hectares of forested land. Most of this loss occurred in temperate latitudes. More recently, losses in temperate latitudes reduced. Accelerated deforestation in tropical regions: example: brazil & deforestation, northern europe & deforestation. Why would this be so: difficulty in defining deforestation rates. Defining a forest : closed forests, at least 20% crown cover, open forests, 5 20% crown cover. Recent assessment by fao found: more than 650 different definitions of forest, example of spain. Using switzerland"s definition = forested land is 5% larger. Using uk"s definition = forested land is 8% smaller: deforestation methods: Clear cutting: dominant forest harvesting practice that has caused significant conflict in canada, entire stands of trees is felled and removed, aesthetically unpleasing, substantial environmental impact.
