The Forest Buddies      
Save The Forests, Save Our Lives
   
 
Cultivation
Slash and burn for shifting cultivation
 
The main cause of deforestation is the slash-and-burn activity in tropical forests. This leads to the perennial problem of haze in South-east Asia. However, slash and burned crops cannot be a sustainable practice and as such rainforests need to be cleared to obtain land for this purpose. This process is called shifting cultivation.

Subsistence farming

Why is subsistence farming needed? Governments in developing countries have to support their poor people by allowing rainforests to be used for subsistence crops to provide enough food for their poor families. Any excess crops may then be sold to the local market.
Commercial cultivation

Can you think of another reason for deforestation? In some countries, rainforests are cleared for the planting of palm trees, rubber trees, fruits for export and to fuel the growth of the biofuel industry. This is important for the economy as it helps the country to earn foreign exchange.

Biofuels

It is hoped that biofuels can replace fossil fuels to reduce global warming. Some examples of biofuel are oil palm, Jatropha curcas, sugar cane, soya bean, maize and rapeseed. The two main types of biofuel are bioethanol, which comes from crops such as sugar cane and biodiesel, which comes from vegetable oils.

However, cultivating crops such as soya bean involves deforestation which can lead to a whole host of problems. Moreover, biofuels made from soya bean can make the food more expensive for us. In addition, producing biofuel from rapeseed produces a lot more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels.

Jatropha curcas is non-edible and able to grow on unfavourable land. It can be a good biofuel source. In Singapore, biodiesel is being produced from fermentation of food and gasification of biomass in the laboratory.

In summary, it is important that when we are trying to produce biodiesel, we must use the right sources so that there will be no unnecessary destruction of forests which may lead to global warming and other effects.
 
Sources:
Keith Carpenter. (March 15, 2008). Closing the biofuels smokescreen. The Straits Times. p. S11

Jessica Cheam. (Mrach 15, 2008). Rising palm oil prices take steam out of biofuels industry. The Straits Times. p. S10