Global Deforestation: Causes, Trends, and Impacts

Definition and Scope of Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal or destruction of forests and the conversion of forested land to non-forest uses. These uses include agriculture, livestock pasture, plantations, urban development, mining, and infrastructure. It may result from direct human activities or, in some definitions, from other causes that permanently change forest land. Deforestation differs from forest degradation, which damages forest ecosystems without completely removing them, and from net forest-area change, which combines forest losses with forest gains from reforestation, afforestation, or natural expansion. The scope of deforestation is global, but its effects are especially severe in tropical and subtropical regions. Agriculture is the largest direct driver, particularly cropland expansion, cattle ranching, and plantations for commodities such as palm oil, coffee, and rubber. Logging, urbanization, mining, wildfires, drought, pests, diseases, and climate change also contribute. Deforestation causes habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, species extinctions, soil erosion, desertification, local climate changes, reduced carbon sequestration, and the displacement of Indigenous and forest-dependent communities. Although the global rate of forest loss has generally declined since the 1990s, substantial forest destruction continues, especially in tropical primary forests.

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Conversion of Forests to Other Uses

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