Deforestation undoubtedly entails the deterioration of an individual country’s economy and the world. First of all, forestry employs a large global labor force. Second, in certain locations, forest owners or managers are compensated for providing environmental services like safeguarding watersheds, sequestering carbon, or conserving habitat. Deforestation will cause these forests to vanish, resulting in a loss of revenue from paying for environmental services. Third, the deterioration of regenerative natural resources is the outcome of deforestation. This involves the removal of trees, the degradation of the forest’s aesthetic value, and the loss of productive land.
In my local community, deforestation can cause other environmental problems, such as desertification, wildfires, and flooding. These conditions may force people to leave their homes and go to places prone to adverse living conditions. Consequently, there will be many vacant jobs, which will greatly worsen the region’s economic condition. Also, deforestation can cause such a problem as loss of jobs. In my city, a large number of people are employed in forestry. If the forests are destroyed, these people will lose their jobs, and the economy will deteriorate.
Moreover, since forests reabsorb carbon as they regenerate, they can also reduce emissions from other sources. In other words, as a natural technology for capturing and storing carbon, forests can produce net emissions with a minus sign. This is crucial for achieving the long-term goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change – to balance emissions and removals (Huang & Zhai, 2021). Ending logging and allowing damaged trees to regenerate might lower current emissions by 30% (Assis et al., 2022). Thus, addressing deforestation will help humanity mitigate several other environmental issues.
I recommend finding a replacement for this resource for industries that require cutting down trees. At the same time, people should promote associations to preserve forests and plant trees. States should allocate funds to this movement and address this pressing global problem. Trees should be planted in deforested areas to combat climate change and restore habitat for rare species. While a growing number of companies are abandoning the supply chain with deforestation, there is still much work ahead. Global brands and smaller retailers should strive to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains to ensure sustainable production. To achieve this goal, businesses need to adopt new methods and technologies that provide additional sources of wood in the supply of raw materials.
For example, in producing fuel and building materials, recycling and reusing waste can be key to solving the issue. In addition to conservation laws, local conservation measures include cooperative land use and ecosystem management to improve human interaction with and use of the world’s forests. This is especially relevant to agribusiness and national governments, which must do more to meet commitments to reduce alarming deforestation statistics. Not buying uncertified lumber is another recommendation I have that consumers can support.
My recommendations will improve the global economy by solving the situation of deforestation. Consequently, it will no longer be such a large problem. These actions will directly affect the local economy, people will pay attention to the question, and the economy will increase because of their actions. From a global point of view, other countries will take an example and adopt a policy to preserve the forest.
Brazil has shown that a decoupling between the growth of the agricultural sector and the loss of forests is possible. In the ten years since 2004, Brazil has reduced the rate of deforestation in the Amazon by about 80% (West & Fearnside, 2021). The decline in this rate has been accompanied by an increase in soybean and beef production, which are largely responsible for deforestation. The Brazilian achievement refutes an argument often made by the forestry and agribusiness sectors and their allies in government. It states that exploiting forest resources and using forest land for other purposes are important for economic growth and rural poverty reduction.
The scientific evidence linking deforestation to a changing climate and the assessments of the benefits of woods and development policies support global collaboration to protect trees in ways compatible with inclusive growth. The missing link is performance-based finance, and while Brazil has received over $1 billion in REDD+ money, it is only a fraction of the cost of avoiding emissions through decreasing deforestation. The Green Climate Fund is developing a REDD+ funding mechanism (Streck, 2021). The U.S. state of California and the International Civil Aviation Organization are considering international forest “offsets” as part of emission reduction programs. However, these initiatives are still in their infancy and have yet to translate into tangible incentives for decision-makers in forest-rich countries.
Thus, with the right financial instruments, guaranteed public or private payments for forest-based emission reduction outcomes can turn a future stream of carbon sequestration services into an asset with a guaranteed income. Redirecting funds that currently go to fossil fuel subsidies would be the most appropriate funding source for domestic and international payments. With a significant increase in performance-based financing, REDD+ would be a great idea yet to be realized. Moreover, it would be a missed opportunity for a win-win outcome for climate change and development.
References
Huang, M. T., & Zhai, P. M. (2021). Achieving Paris Agreement temperature goals requires carbon neutrality by middle century with far-reaching transitions in the whole society. Advances in Climate Change Research, 12(2), 281-286. Web.
Streck, C. (2021). REDD+ and leakage: Debunking myths and promoting integrated solutions. Climate Policy, 21(6), 843-852. Web.
West, T. A., & Fearnside, P. M. (2021). Brazil’s conservation reform and the reduction of deforestation in Amazonia. Land Use Policy, 100, 105072. Web.
Assis, T. O., Aguiar, A. P. D., von Randow, C., & Nobre, C. A. (2022). Projections of future forest degradation and CO2 emissions for the Brazilian Amazon. Science Advances, 8(24), eabj3309. Web.