Deforestations main causes are growing population, education, and the commercial timber industry. But there are many smaller causes that create a great deal of other problems. Often the short-term benefits seem to outweigh the long-term cost, which seems to direct our reason.

The growing population can be seen as a major enemy of forest. Our cities and towns are growing at an alarming rate. Forests and farmlands are cleared to make way for new sub divisions and condos. As our populations numbers grow the cities spread into the natural forestlands. Real estate also sets a high standard on the surrounding areas. Many people pay large sums to build summer homes in the woods were they can get away form it all. Most are only used a few weeks a year, and only further exploit backcountry lands.

Ten years ago we were not as concerned with recycling

The economic effects deforestation can be somewhat devastating too. Most large commercial timber companies bring in there own people and ship the trees unprocessed out of the area. Which is not very conductive to producing jobs. Smaller companies are more productive for the locals they bring jobs and boost the local economy.

The biggest enemy of forests is of course the commercial timber Industry. Its not all there fault though, they are acting in accordance with the current demand. The US and Europe consume huge sums of wood and non-wood forest products. Practices like clear cutting leave areas devastated and slow how quickly they regenerate. "Last year an acre of Canadian forest was logged every 12.9 seconds. The US is estimated to only have 1-2% of their forests left"(Dudley 1995). Company's can also play an important role in helping to restore the forests. New legislation is forcing companies to start replanting areas after they have clear-cut and minimize the impact after there gone. Other alternatives like whole tree harvesting, which utilizes the whole tree, and thinning (selective logging) have helped to lessen the impact on forestlands.

and protecting our environment. Today we know better and have slowly started to learn the importance of the world we live in and the impact that we can have on it, for good or bad. That lack of education has cost us a lot though. We have had to learn the hard way and have paid a great price. "Today it's estimated that 80% o

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Ghana Cameroon, commercial timber, forests legislation, commercial timber industry, fao 93, trees affect, destroy forests, effects deforestation, global warming, lively hood, timber industry, growing population,
Approximate Word count = 998
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)