Deforestation and Land Use

• Deforestation


  The cutting down of forests
• Deforestation


  • Causes big problems when done on a large-scale, such as cutting down rainforests in tropical areas
  • Done for various reasons including clearing land for farming, growing crops for biofuels
• Deforestation


  Reduces the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis
• Deforestation


  Releases carbon dioxide when trees are burnt to clear land
• Deforestation


  Reduces biodiversity by destroying habitats like forests that contain a huge number of different species
• Trees and peat bogs trap carbon dioxide and lock it up
• Purposes for which humans use land

  • Building
  • Quarrying
  • Farming
  • Dumping waste
• Using land for human purposes means there's less land available for other organisms
• The way humans use land can have a bad effect on the environment, for example by requiring deforestation or the destruction of habitats like peat bogs
• Peat bogs


  Areas of land that are acidic and waterlogged, where plants don't fully decay when they die, gradually building up to form peat
• Peat bogs are drained


  To use the land as farmland, or to cut up and dry the peat for fuel or compost
• Draining peat bogs


  Causes the peat to decompose, releasing carbon dioxide and contributing to global warming
• Destroying peat bogs


  Destroys or reduces the habitats of animals, plants and microorganisms, reducing biodiversity