Environmental

Management
Assignment

Deforestation

Student Name: Sayyid Aqeed Aabidi

Teacher’s Name: Carlesa Duncan
Due Date: October 7, 2019
 1. Define the following terms

 Deforestation: Deforestation is the destruction of a forest, performed by activities by

the humans that result in the clearing or removal of an area (or entire area) of a forest
topography for the purposes of land availability or resource management.
 Reforestation: Reforestation refers to planting trees on land that was previously a forest.
 Afforestation: Afforestation refers to planting trees on patches of land which were not
previously covered in forest.

2. Identify and explain at least three (3) causes of deforestation in Guyana

 Mining: Mining requires clear lands in order to dig into to attain the valuable resources.
In a news article (Guyana Times March 29, 2019), it was estimated that 85% of
deforestation in Guyana is as a result of accommodation of mining activities.
 Logging/Timber Mining: Timber (wood) is needed for construction, furnishing, and
several other byproducts such as paper production among many more. Forested trees,
such as green heart, Purple Heart, among more, are primarily used for such activities.
 Agricultural Expansion: Large pieces of lands are needed for large scale farming and
livestock ranching, and this requires sometimes the cutting of part of a forest to
accommodate such activities.

Other minor but noticeable causes of deforestation in Guyana are to make byproducts of particular
trees, such as palm oil from palm trees, paper or its related products, and building or roads and
other infrasturctures.

3. Outline the major areas that suffer from deforestation

As mentioned earlier that mining accounts for 85% of deforestation in Guyana, it can be
understood that mining areas are such areas that suffer from deforestation. Though Guyana has
recorded one of the lowest percentages of deforestation in the world (0.048% according to
forestry.gov.gy on October 5, 2018), it is still an issue and any medium to large scale of
deforestation affects nearby community and the habitat that was destroyed. Some areas in Guyana
that are suffering due to deforestation are in Regions 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10, mainly in mining (gold,
bauxite, stones) areas. Specific areas include Karouni, Imataka, Omai, Iwokrama, Mahdia,
Arakaka, among many more. The following map outlines the areas of mining, and hence most of
the lands that were deforested.
Map Outlining the Major Areas of Mining in Guyana
 4. Explain any two solutions being employed to reduce deforestation

There are no definitive solutions to stop deforestation, as activities that require some sort of
deforestation are needed for a country’s economy. Some implementations that rather can reduce
deforestation include:
⁃ Controlled Mining and Agricultural (especially cattle ranching) Activities: Mining
companies and farmers can be informed of the issue of deforestation, and hence certain restrictions
can be applied to the degree of deforestation whereby unnecessary cutting of trees is prohibited
and fined.
⁃ Reforestation programs: Timber Mining or Loggers can be restricted to cutting trees with
the condition of replanting elsewhere to, at minimum, have a close to net-zero carbon footprint in
such activities.

Other implications that can be done globally are, the promotion of proper farming and mining
techniques that occupy less land but outputs same or higher yields, awareness, such as tree planting
day, and possibly, e-learning (mainly the reduction of papers). Recycling plant byproducts is also
another solution. It is proven that recycling one ton of papers can save the cutting of up to
seventeen trees, and a multitude of other resources such as oil, water, landfill space and energy use
to produce paper (as less energy is required to recycle than to produce fresh).