1
Deforestation
Teachers’ Notes
Key Stage 2
Key Terms
Biomass, Carbon Storage, Charcoal, Climate, Deforestation, Ecology, Erosion, Extinction,
Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Nutrients, Plantations, Rainforest, Soil,
Subsistence Agriculture, Tropics, Water Cycle
Learning Outcomes
Through using this resource pupils will be given
opportunities to:
•Discover the characteristics of
rainforests and learn what
benefits
they provide
•Understand why forests are sometimes cut down and the impacts of this
•Develop a greater understanding of the impact of
deforestation globally, in Madagascar
and in Northern Ireland
Deforestation - What is Happening?
•1.5 acres of forest are cut down every second, 36
football pitches every minute: 18 million acres (7.3
million ha) are lost every year
•Half of the world’s
tropical forests have already been
lost
•A 2012 study by UNEP and Interpol states that illegal
logging accounts for up to 30% of the global logging trade
and contributes to over 50%
of tropical deforestation in Central Africa, the Amazon
Basin and South East Asia
• Illegal trade of forest resources undermines international security, and is frequently
associated with corruption, money laundering, organized crime, human rights abuses and
sometimes violent conflict
•Deforestation leads to
soil erosion, flooding, wildlife
extinctions, increases in
greenhouse
gas emissions and loss of
carbon storage
•Main causes are human activities (chiefly
logging and
clearing for agriculture) and direct
climate change impacts
Terms in bold are defined in
