Thomas, Caroline. "Building Bridges Between REDD and Sustainable Agriculture: Addressing Agriculture's Role As a Driver OF Deforestation." Forestry and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAO, 2011. Web. 4 Mar. 2012. . In the article “Building Bridges Between REDD and Sustainable Agriculture:
Addressing Agriculture's Role As a Driver OF Deforestation,” Thomas demonstrates that agriculture is a major contributor to deforestation by stating that by 2050, farmers will need to feed a population of an estimated 9.1 billion. Deforestation continues because of population growth and changes in consumption patterns are expected to increase the demand for food by 70 percent. Agricultural expansion has many drivers: populations are growing and need more food; incomes in many countries are rising which creates a greater demand for meat, animal feed and other cash crops; urbanization is changing consumption patterns; firewood and charcoal consumption along with bio-fuel production are increasing as fossil fuels become less accessible or their costs rise. This reveals that the expansion of agriculture is creating a growing dependence on clearing forestlands. ith the cultivation of various agricultural commodities driving deforestation across the planet, and a larger and increasingly connected global market spurring the demand for these commodities, it is more important than ever that global and local solutions are reached to counteract the forces that are contributing to deforestation. Deforestation, mainly resulting from the conversion of tropical forest to agricultural land has resulted in about 13 million hectares of forest into farmland. She argues that action must be taken in order to prevent the further release of “greenhouse gases” by stating that forests store more that 650 billion tons of carbon. The social function is it the rainforest can be central to culture and recreation and play a crucial role in supporting livelihoods and safeguarding food security. She also demonstrates that forests also contain at least two-thirds of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. In addition, climate change is likely to have a significant negative impact on agricultural production, reducing farm output in ways that may significantly affect parts of the developing world. Large-scale farming plays the most important role in the conversion of forestlands. Containing agriculture expansion will be difficult because with the growing population, the increase in dependence on agriculture to make a living. In Latin America, deforestation is driven primarily by extensive cattle production and cultivation of soybean. In the Asia-Pacific region, the drivers of deforestation are more diverse. However, palm oil production, which has doubled in the last decade, is particularly significant. In Africa, unsustainable land use practices of small holders remains one of the key agricultural drivers of deforestation. The impacts of smallholder agriculture on clearing and degrading forests are largely tied to poverty, tenure insecurity, access rights and poor agricultural practices that lead to soil degradation.

This source is a secondary source because the author references to other articles to prove that agriculture is a major contributor to deforestation and what needs to be done to stop it. This is designed as an informative article, but the author seems to be supportive of preventing deforestation and protecting the cultures and civilizations threatened by develop countries.