The top five reasons for deforestaion are:
Government policies
Economic conditions
Subsistence Agriculture
Commerical logging
Cattle ranching and agriculture for export.
For example: the Brazilian government opened the Amazonian frontier for settlement, begining in the late 1950s by constructing the Belem-Brasilia Highway, which cut through the Amazon Basin.
Some of the small reasons for the destruction of the tropical forest include mining, particulary when ore smelters burn charcoal produced from rainforest trees, and the development of hydroelectric power, which inundates large areas of forests.
For Example: The farmer who convert more forests to pasture can maintain a larger herd of cattle, which is a good hedge against inflation.
Subsistence agriculture, in which enough food is produced by a family to feed itslef accounts for about 60% of tropical deforestation.
Subsistence farmers often allow loggers' access roafs until they find a suitable spot. They first cut down the trees and allow then to dry, then they burn the area sn plant crops immediately after burning, also known as slash ans burn agriculture.
Slash and burn agriculture when done on a small scale with periods of 20 to 100 years between cycles of sustianable. The forest regrows rapidly after a few years of farmering, but when millions of people try to obtain a living in this way, the land is not allowed to lie uncultivated long enough to recover.
About 20% of tropical deforestation is the result of commerical logging. Most topical countries allow commerical logging tro procees at a much faster rate than is sustainable. In the final analyis, tropical deforestation doesn't contribute to economic development; rather it destroys a valuable natural resource.
About 12% of tropical deforestation is carried out to provide open rangelands for cattle.
After the forests are cleared, cattle can graze on the land for up to 20 years, after which time the soil fertility is depleted.
