estock pastures.
             In the agricultural sector, the importance of export crops is a driving force behind deforestation. ). It is estimated that in that period nearly sixty million hectares of forest were converted to farmland and a similar amount of forest was put to non-agricultural uses. This is equivalent to the mass of twelve hundred square meters of forest added to the population (Ramphal, 1992, p. 57). Quite often, areas of forest were cleared in such a way (ex.: slash and burn) that they will never grow back. After a forest area has been converted to grazing lands or intensive farming, the soil will only sustain it for a few years. Then the land is left lifeless.
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