|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe |
|
|
Tropical deforestation rates to slow in future - new study Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com April 6, 2006 As human population growth rates diminish in coming years deforestation rates are expected to slow according to research published in Biotropica online. "Trends such as slowing population growth and intense urbanization give reason to hope that deforestation will slow, regeneration will accelerate, and mass extinction of tropical forest species will be avoided," report S.J. Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and H.C. Muller-Landau, University of Minnesota, authors of the study. Using UN population projections and area-specific relationships between both total and rural population density and present forest cover, Wright and Muller-Landau show that "the proportion of potential forest cover remaining correlates with human population density among countries in both the tropics and the temperate zone." According to their forecast, deforestation rates will slow as human population growth decreases.
On a broader scale, FAO data indicates that primary forests are being replaced by less biodiverse plantations and secondary forests. Due to a significant increase in plantation forests, forest cover has generally been expanding in North America, Europe, and China while diminishing in the tropics. Industrial logging, conversion for agriculture (commercial and subsistence), and forest fires—often purposely set by people—are responsible for the bulk of global deforestation today. However, say the authors of the study, because humans in rural settings contribute most to deforestation of tropical forests, declining rural populations will likely result in lower rates of forest loss and, in turn, reduced rates of biodiversity loss.
"Creative strategies to preserve tropical biodiversity might include policies to improve conditions in tropical urban settings to encourage urbanization and preemptive conservation efforts in countries with large areas of extant forest and large projected rates of future human population growth," the authors conclude. "We hope that this first attempt inspires others to produce better models of future tropical forest cover and associated policy recommendations." Ref: S. Joseph Wright and Helene C. Mueller-Landau. The Future of Tropical Forest Species. 2006. Biotropica. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), a unit of the Smithsonian Institution, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, furthers understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems. www.stri.org
Tags: extinction biodiversity animals wildlife rainforests forests deforestation threats to the rainforest Rainforest deforestation population green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
Photos HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
CALENDARS 
CANVAS BAGS 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
