Combating Deforestation

Food and warmth are basic needs that force people to cut down trees. Finding ways of providing for local people is key to saving forests.

Deforestation is a problem throughout the world. From rainforests to mangroves, trees are being lost at an incredible rate. Trees that are needed to help combat increasing CO2 levels. In the developed countries cheap furniture from Southeast Asia lures us into contributing to the loss of forests. But in the developing countries, it is often the basic needs of food and warmth that drive deforestation.

And it is this issue that needs to be looked at more closely. The developed world can easily stop buying wood products from the rainforests of Asia. But how do we ensure that people’s basic needs are met so that they are not forced to gather wood in protected areas? This is critical, as once the easily gathered wood from the ground is used up, trees are cut down. Many national parks and protected areas around the world are constantly being encroached on for just these needs.

There are no easy answers. Providing employment for people near the protected forests has helped in some cases but it is not the complete solution. Conservation and humanitarian organizations will need to work together to come up with creative ways of saving forests and their wildlife.