Land Clearance

Land Clearance (deforestation) is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by logging or burning. Deforestation is done for different purposes: commerial logging, cattle ranching, plantation agriculture or shifting cultivation.

Advantages:

• Provides more land that can be used for different purposes.
  

Disadvantages:

• Greenhouse effects
  - Deforestation contribues to a lot of the world greenhouse gas emmisions.
  Also, deforestation may cause carbon stores held in soil to be released.
  
• Soil erosion
  - After clearing the trees, the soil is exposed and thus is washed away when there is heavy rains.
  
  
  
  
  
• Soil leaching
  - As the nutrients in soil is soluble, when it rains, the nutrients will dissolve and be washed downwards, causing the soil to become loose.
  
• Decrease in evapotranspiration
  Evapotranspiration is a combination of water that evaporates from soil and plant surfaces with tiny water vapour that is released through the stomata. As deforestation decreases evapotranspiration, it also decreases regional rainfall.
  
  
• Destroys the habitats of animals and plants. Causing them to be endangered or extinct. The food chain may also be disrupted.
  
  

Singapore Context:

• However, in Singapore there are hardly any forests and thus it is impossible to use deforestation. The forests in Singapore has been conserved as rainforests, nature reserves or reservoirs.
  

How it affects different parties:

• Plants would die out.
  
• Animals would lose their habitats, causing them to be homeless. At the same time, they would not have food to eat as some of the animals rely on the plants for nutrition.
  
• Plants and animals species might become endangered or even extinct if deforestation continues.
  
• The greenhouse gases that are released will contribute to global warming, which in turn affect the climate.
  

Photo of deforestation