The extent to which forests have become Earth's grazing lands is much more difficult to assess. Cattle or sheep pastures in North America or Europe are easy to identify, and they support large numbers of animals. At least 2 million square km of such forests have been cleared for grazing lands. Less certain are the 5 to 9 million square km (1.9 to 3.5 million square miles) of humid tropical forests and some drier tropical woodlands that have been cleared for grazing. These often support only very low numbers of cattle, but they may still be considered grazing lands by national authorities. Almost half the world is made up of “drylands”—areas too dry to support large numbers of trees—and most are considered grazing lands. There, goats, sheep, and cattle may harm what few trees are able to grow.
Although most of the areas cleared for crops and grazing represent permanent and continuing deforestation, deforestation can be transient. About half of eastern North America lay deforested in the 1870s, almost all of it having been deforested at least once since European colonization in the early 1600s. Since the 1870s the region's forest cover has increased, though most of the trees are relatively young. Few places exist in eastern North America that retain stands of uncut old-growth forests. In addition, while some forests are being cleared, some are being planted. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that there are approximately 1.3 million square km (500,000 square miles) of such plantations on Earth. These are often of eucalyptus or fast-growing pines—and almost always of species that are not native to the places where they are planted.
Elsewhere, forests are shrinking. The FAO estimates that the annual rate of deforestation is about 1.3 million square km per decade. About half of that is primary forest—forest that has not been cut previously (or at least recently). The greatest deforestation is occurring in the tropics, where a wide variety of forests exists. They range from rainforests that are hot and wet year-round to forests that are merely humid and moist, to those in which trees in varying proportions lose their leaves in the dry season, and to dry open woodlands. Because boundaries between these categories are inevitably arbitrary, estimates differ in how much deforestation has occurred in the tropics.
Dry forests in general are easier to deforest and occupy than moist forests and so are particularly targeted by human actions. Worldwide, humid forests once covered an area of about 18 million square km (7 million square miles). Of this, about 10 million square km (3.9 million square miles) remained in the early 21st century. Given the current annual rates of deforestation, most of these forests will be cleared within the century. Indeed, in some places, such as West Africa and the coastal humid forests of Brazil, very little forest remains today.
The human activities that contribute to tropical deforestation include commercial logging and land clearing for cattle ranches and plantations of rubber trees, oil palms, and other economically valuable trees. Another major contributor is the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture, or swidden agriculture (see also shifting agriculture). Small-scale farmers clear forests by burning them and then grow their crops in the soils fertilized by the ashes. Typically, the land produces for only a few years and then must be abandoned and new patches of forest burned.
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest remaining block of humid tropical forest, and about two-thirds of it is in Brazil. (The rest lies along that country's borders to the west and to the north.) Detailed studies of Amazon deforestation from 1988 to 2005 show that the rate of forest clearing has varied from a low of about 11,000 square km (4,200 square miles) per year in 1991 to a high of about 30,000 square km (11,600 square miles) per year in 1995. The high figure immediately followed an El Ni?o, a repeatedly occurring global weather anomaly that causes the Amazon basin to receive relatively little rain and so makes its forests unusually susceptible to fires. Studies in the Amazon also reveal that 10,000–15,000 square km (3,900–5,800 square miles) are partially logged each year, a rate roughly equal to the low end of the forest clearing estimates cited above. In addition, each year fires burn an area about half as large as the areas that are cleared. Even when the forest is not entirely cleared, what remains is often a patchwork of forests and fields or, in the event of more intensive deforestation, "islands" of forest surrounded by a "sea" of deforested areas.
The effects of forest clearing, selective logging, and fires interact. Selective logging increases the flammability of the forest because it converts a closed, wetter forest into a more open, drier one. This leaves the forest vulnerable to the accidental movement of fires from cleared adjacent agriculturI know this is crazy but could u summarize this?
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Although most of the areas cleared for crops and grazing represent permanent and continuing deforestation, deforestation can be transient. About half of eastern North America lay deforested in the 1870s, almost all of it having been deforested at least once since European colonization in the early 1600s. Since the 1870s the region's forest cover has increased, though most of the trees are relatively young. Few places exist in eastern North America that retain stands of uncut old-growth forests
Elsewhere, forests are shrinking. The FAO estimates that the annual rate of deforestation is about 1.3 million square km per decade. About half of that is primary forest—forest that has not been cut previously (or at least recently). The greatest deforestation is occurring in the tropics, where a wide variety of forests exists. Indeed, in some places, such as West Africa and the coastal humid forests of Brazil, very little forest remains today. The Amazon Rainforest is the largest remaining block of humid tropical forest, and about two-thirds of it is in Brazil. Detailed studies of Amazon deforestation from 1988 to 2005 show that the rate of forest clearing has varied from a low of about 11,000 square km (4,200 square miles) per year in 1991 to a high of about 30,000 square km Even when the forest is not entirely cleared, what remains is often a patchwork of forests and fields or, in the event of more intensive deforestation, "islands" of forest surrounded by a "sea" of deforested areas.The effects of forest clearing, selective logging, and fires interact. Selective logging increases the flammability of the forest because it converts a closed, wetter forest into a more open, drier one. In addition, each year fires burn an area about half as large as the areas that are cleared. Because boundaries between these categories are inevitably arbitrary, estimates differ in how much deforestation has occurred in the tropics. Given the current annual rates of deforestation, most of these forests will be cleared within the century.
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