The Other Side (The Dark Side)

The main reason for deforestation of the rainforests is logging for its tropical hardwoods, like teak, mahogany, rosewood, and other timber for building materials, furniture, charcoal, and other wood products; this is big business which equates to big profits. The demand for these woods are so high, that the countries who once exported these tropical hardwoods, are now importing because they have already exhausted their supply in their native rainforests. Also, trees are cleared so there can be roads for which the timber can be transported, so logging for timber does double damage to the rainforests.
Some other lesser known causes of deforestation is the fuel and paper industry, large-scale cattle grazing, and subsistence farming. An example of using wood for fuel, is a steel plant in Brazil for making Japanese cars needs millions of tons of wood each year to produce charcoal that can be used in the manufacture of steel. As for the paper industry, currently, 200 million tons of wood are required just to make paper. Also, as the demand for cheap meat increases, forests are cleared to provide grazing land for animals. Most of Central America and Latin America's tropical and temperate forests have already been lost to this reason, yet cattle operations are still continuing. Lastly, native peoples of the rainforests are cutting down trees for cultivating crops to sustain their life. Even though the soil of the rainforests actually lack nutrients and is infertile, farmers are unaware of this, and they keep cutting down more trees after they realize the first area did not work.