Chapter 13. Chapter 13: Forests

What is the current state worldwide of forest resources?

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Guiding Question 13.4

What is the current state worldwide of forest resources? What threats exist?

Why You Should Care

As the world population grows and industrializes, the demand for cheap lumber and cheap meat is growing exponentially. To meet that demand, forests, especially tropical forests, are being cut down at an alarming rate to provide the lumber and create the pastureland. Tropical forests are also in danger of being cleared to make room for high-profit commodity crops like coffee, tea, and chocolate. For many people living in developing countries, clearing a forest is a matter of making a livelihood and feeding one’s children, so preventing environmental degradation is understandably not their first priority. Some experts have suggested it would take a few billion dollars to protect the remaining tropical forests, mainly by giving local people employment and incentives not to clear trees. That may sound like a large sum for an individual, but it would be a small matter for governments or corporations in the developed countries.

Question 13.1

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Many forests have a natural fire cycle; occasional fires release nutrients, open up the canopy for seedling growth, and, most importantly, remove excess fuel (for example shrub thickets or tall grasses) from the understory. A buildup of hot-burning biomass in the understory can cause fires to actually kill a large proportion of trees, something that doesn’t happen with routine fires, which are normally cooler-burning and extinguish themselves quickly.

Question 13.2

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As mentioned, fossil fuels are used in cattle raising, but the big reason that beef production exacerbates global climate change is that clearing forested land for cattle ranching not only removes a carbon sink from the ecosystem, but the carbon stored in the felled trees is released into the atmosphere if they are burned.

Question 13.3

Most of the forest loss is happening in C9COr0/WkCiSG5OsozbU0jOrG6p1poChpkguzQ== countries, whereas many Pd9pIGRt+/IiwQm0YZS6Q8r8pXMcNSrO2w3fng== countries are regaining forests.

999

Try again.

Correct. Most major forest losses are happening in developing countries, whereas forests are re-growing in most developed countries.

Incorrect. Most major forest losses are happening in developing countries, whereas forests are re-growing in most developed countries.

Question 13.4

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999

Try again.

Correct.

Incorrect.

Question 13.5

In what latitudes is deforestation most prevalent? (Choose all that apply.)

Cool temperate/Arctic 6Tla4sTC7UhhcmHA

Temperate 6Tla4sTC7UhhcmHA

Subtropical aFyLQOV9P9qF6KzY

Tropical aFyLQOV9P9qF6KzY

999

Try again.

Correct. Most deforestation is occurring in tropical and subtropical forests.

Incorrect. Most deforestation is occurring in tropical and subtropical forests.

Question 13.6

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There could be many reasons; one is that developed countries have economies based largely on industry and services. Therefore, there is less demand for clearing land for agriculture.