The Causes and Consequences of Tropical Deforestation: A Review

The dynamic nature of global ecosystems makes environmental changes inevitable. These environmental changes are driven by human-made and natural causes. Human activities have always had an impact on the environment. Economic activity and the rate of population growth have now increased to the point where the effects of humanity on the environment can no longer be ignored or viewed in isolation. The quality of many of the basic elements of the natural resource base, such as air, water, soil, etc., is deteriorating, in particular due to the widespread depletion of forest resources. The other concern is emission of pollutants which have long-term and potentially irreversible effects such as climatic modification. This paper therefore provides a description of the consequences of deforestation from the perspectives of different segments of society. This description is followed by a review of the human-induced causes of depletion of forest resources, with reference to tropical deforestation, at different levels of the economy. The role of tropical forests in carbon sequestration has now received increased attention in the proposals for emerging carbon markets for climate change mitigation. This implies that such proposals for climate change mitigation should carefully consider the causes behind and the consequences of the tropical deforestation for the benefits of local land uses and the global communities.