Deforestation

More than half the loss of the world's natural forests has occured since 1950 Meadows, 75
Fastest and cheapest way to prevent chaotic climates: stop deforestation. Loss of tropical forests accounts for up to 25% of GHG emissions Lovins, 239
Immediate effects of deforestation on Easter Island: damages to soil, decreased crop yields. Further consequences: starvation, population crash, cannibalism Diamond, 74
USDA projects forests declining from 767,000 acres (1982) to 377,000 acres (2022). Louv, 29
Britain: Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction's climate model is one of the world's top 3. Hadley model predicts that if climate emissions continue at current trends, the Amazon rainforest will be gone by 2100: "able to support only shrubs or grass at most" because of warmer seas > droughts > threshold forest fire conditions > huge fires across the rainforest Hadley study in 2005, in Pearce, 66
Death of the Amazon rainforest (as predicted by 2100 assuming current emissions trends continue) would release enough carbon to increase expected rate of global warming by 50%+ (77b currently stored down to 16.5b by 2100) Pearce, 66
China has only 0.3 acres of forest/person. World average is 1.6 Diamond, 365
Deforestation is a major contributor to China's soil erosion and floods Diamond, 366

Fighting deforestation

Organizations: United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), New York Declaration on Forests, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Hawken, 110
Brazil cut loss by 80% in 10 years with strong enforcement, scientific monitoring including satellite photo alerts of new deforestation, land registry programs, credit withholding from government entities with high deforestation rates, financing of projects devoted to sustainable development, reduction of deforestation, and increased productivity of agricultural lands Hawken, 111
Soy traders: embargo products from recently deforested land. Similar embargo: Amazon meat packers vs. suppliers who deforested (orchestrated by Greenpeace) Hawken, 111
United Nations Environment Programme awards money to countries for reaching target reductions of deforestation Hawken, 111
Concept of FLR points to needs of a protected and/or restored forest to interact economically & socially with its surrounding environs Hawken, 116
AFR100: the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative is committed to restoring 247 million acres of degraded land by 2030 Hawken, 116

[aggarwal]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040619013001917 "Aggarwal, Sonia and Harvey, Hal. 'Rethinking Energy Policy to Deliver a Clean Energy Future.' Energy Innovation, 2013."