Long time ago the total area of rainforest cover was about 12-14% of Earth’s total land surface area. Due to large-scale development large tracts of rainforests have been cleared. Activities such as agriculture, mining, cattle pasture, and construction work require cutting of forests. Now the rainforest cover on earth is about 2-6% of Earth’s land area.

Due to constant deforestation for development purposes, the top soil which is held together by the trees gets washed away as the rains fall. As a result, the once lush green forests change into barren landscapes. More reasons include logging for hardwood, fuel wood and paper, grazing land, slash and burn farming.