Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. It is a major issue because it reduces biodiversity and affects water and soil quality and is an important contributor to climate change. Globally, 13 million hectors of forest are forested each year, the area of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick combined.
Mexico's deforestation is very bad.Before the Spanish conquest, about two thirds of the country was forested. But not all of it was virgin forests and evidence links deforestation to the down fall of great pre-conquest cities Palenque and Teoihuacon. Today less then one fifth of the country remains verdant, mainly in the south and east. Today deforestation remains a large issue because unlike most of the modern word a lot of mexico sees it as progress and not an environmental crisis. It is also a means for the poorest segment of Mexico's rural population to gain unclaimed land. Fifty percent of the farmers now live at subsistence levels, meaning they simply do not grow enough food to support their families. They ether move further into the forests and increase deforestation or migrate to the cities. The forests play an important role in supplementing incomes in the economy of the population of the forest regions. The Purepecha indigenous people have traditionally constructed their homes from wood. Firewood is one of the principle sources of energy in the area due to the fact that the people who live in the communities do not have the financial resources to buy gas.
Social and Economic Factors of Deforestation in Mexico
- incoherent development policies
- expansion of the agricultural frontier and agrarian distribution
- laws and policies favoring free felling
- the green revolution, wood cutting programs, agrarian law reform and policies that support cattle raisers
- inadequate participation of affected communities in decision making over the use and exploitation of natural resources
- lack of knowledge about technological and cultural advances in the rural and indigenous communities
- a lack of employment opportunities and a lack of environmental culture and awareness.
Profepa, the federal agency charged with protecting Mexico's natural resources, estimates that the country loses about 1.3 million acres of forest each year, the fifth worst deforestation rate in the world. Cattle ranching gas destroyed more than three quarters of the high forests that covered mexico at the turn of the century. Because of the deforestation many animal and plant species have died due to the loss of native habitats. In Caiaphas Lacondon rain forest. around 70,000 acres are cut down each year. The forest that originally was 15 million hectares and 90 percent has been converted to grazing pastures. Environmentalists predicted it could disappear within the next two decades.
Mexico's deforestation problem is a lot worse then Canada. Mexico is ranked as the fifth worst deforestation rate in the world. While Canada's deforestation rate is one of the lowest being only 0.4% of the global deforestation rate. Canada's forests take up 10% of the worlds forest cover. Mexico's deforestation rates are increasing while over the past thirty years Canada's deforestation rates have been decreasing. A portion of this deforestation in Canada is offset by increases in forest area due to afforestation which is planting of new areas of forests. Deforestation affected less then 0.02% of Canada's forests in 2005. In Canada 53% of deforestation goes for agriculture 19% urban development, 10% for hydro electricity, 10% for forest roads and 8% for industry and resource extraction. Canada also has some of the most rigid laws in the world for protecting forests and ensuring forest management. But for mexico , as seen above, do not have many laws protecting forests. One of the consequences of deforestation in Mexico is that it leads to soil erosion and flooding. Forests work as a natural sponge that soaks up excess rain waters and slow rivers that over flow their banks. Another problem is that in Mexico with the soil erosion from the deforestation shortens the life span of hydroelectric dams . Chiapas contributes a good degree of the nations electrical supply and continued deforestation threatens the capability of the plants to generate power.
