"Once, there were forests . . ."
The state of the forests, deforestation, and what we can do about it Up until about the Industrial Revolution, deforestation-if it could be called that-used to be a not unnatural consequence of man's need for timber, the expansion of human settlements, and slash-and-burn agriculture which has been practised since the Neolithic Age and is still used by indigeous or nomadic peoples and settlers.