In both Europe and N. America deforestation has slowed and even reversed itself, allowing forests to reclaim land and wildlife to return. Why should we worry about the same process in Less Developed Countries 1. Irreversible damage in the tropics. Tropical and temperate soils are very different. Cool winters of temperate climates allow soils to recover and to build up after intensive cultivation in summer.
Tropical forest survives by rapid utilization of decomposing leaf litter.
In a sense, the forest is a recycling system. Once the forest is cut, soil leaching occurs because of heavy rain and high temperatures. Loss of biological diversity in the tropics. Most of the world s plants and animal species are concentrated in the tropical forest. Deforestation in the tropics destroys much of the biological capital of the world.