What Causes Tropical Rainforest Destruction?
The assault on tropical rainforests is many-faceted and complex. This is what makes tropical rainforest conservation so difficult. A single cause of the deforestation would allow us to focus all our educational and conservation efforts in a specific direction, and would increase our hope of success. Students should also understand that there are many underlying social problems giving impetus to the deforestation. Factors such as over-consumption in the industrialized countries, foreign debt in less developed countries, poverty, unequal ownership of land, and perhaps the root of all environmental evils – overpopulation – all lead to tropical rainforest destruction. Despite the complexity of the situation, the following are considered to be primary factors in tropical rainforest loss. • Commercial logging • Non-commercial farming operations • Commercial agricultural development • Cocaine production and other factors For further, in-depth considerations of the forces affecting tropical ra
