Deforestation & Climate Change
About Deforestation and Climate Change
Forest loss has devastating consequences for all species on our planet, including humans. Not only are we losing plants and animals at alarming rates, but we are jeopardizing our own future survival by altering the global climate and diminishing the quantity and quality of our precious natural resources. Even now, as trees come down, weather patterns are changing. Without forests, we lose the ability to mitigate the effects of climate change.
"Worldwide, nearly 300 million people depend directly on forests for their subsistence."
- Forests contain an estimated 50% of the world’s carbon. When forests are burned or cleared, that carbon is released into the atmosphere, making deforestation a major contributing factor in climate change. (1)
- The destruction of tropical forests accounts for more than 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than all carbon emissions released by the world’s cars, boats, planes and trains combined.
- Deforestation in the tropics continues at an annual rate of 32 million acres per year - an area the size of Greece. (2)
In addition to contributing to climate change, deforestation has more immediate consequences. Land and coastlines devoid of forests make human communities more vulnerable to drought, flooding, tsunamis, and other catastrophes, whereas intact forests would help to mitigate many of these disasters. Worldwide, nearly 300 million people depend directly on forests for their subsistence. People living in poor rural communities feel the effects of vanished forests and increased climate change first and most acutely.
In Cambodia, food security is heavily reliant on natural resources, and the vast majority of the population lives in rural areas and depends on forests, fishing, and farming for their livelihoods. (3)
Forests in Cambodia and throughout Southeast Asia are under threat from a variety of industries, illegal activities and interests. Illegal logging, mining, slash-and-burn farming, forest fires, unsustainable development, unsustainable population growth, and charcoal and drug (ecstasy, methamphetamine, etc.) production are all contributing to massive forest loss. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s aerial forest survey, Cambodia lost nearly 30% of its primary tropical forest between 2000 and 2005. (4)
In Cambodia, the Cardamom Mountain Range encompasses 5 million acres of dense forest, rivers, coastal wetlands, and mangrove forests. The Southern Cardamoms alone encompass nearly two million acres, roughly the size of Yellowstone National Park, and are one of the last contiguous lowland evergreen rainforests in mainland Southeast Asia. With 16 distinct ecosystems, the Cardamoms represent important habitat for a range of plant and animal species, including significant populations of globally endangered species. The heavily forested mountain range is also the central watershed for Southwestern Cambodia and plays an important role in moderating the effects of monsoon rains, typhoon winds, and dry weather cycles. (5)
1 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, ‘Deforestation causes global warming’, September 2006
2 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, ‘Deforestation causes global warming’, September 2006
3 Millenium Ecosystem Assessment Report, ‘Forest and Woodland Systems’, 2005
4 UN Food and Agriculture Organization, ‘2005 Global Forest Resources Assessment’
5 Daltry, J.C. & Traeholt, C., ‘Biodiversity Assessment of the Southern Cardamoms and Botum-Sakor Peninsula’, 2003
