I've heard the same thing about GOAT deforestation.
On the subject of deforestation in general: at the rate we're going all moist tropical forest could be lost by the year 2050. In fact, if no conservation steps are taken, by the year 2010 some countries such as Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka are likely to lose all their tropical forests...
Generally, deforestation is brought about by the following:
A./ conversion of forests to agricultural land,
B./ cattle ranching,
C./ commercial logging,
D./ felling of trees for firewood and building materials,
E./ the heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals such as GOATS.
And adding to the problem, the poor soils of the humid tropics do not support agriculture for long, necessitating the clearing of more forests...
Certainly part of the solution is utilizing hemp to replace wood pulp when making paper. Hemp could replace cotton as well.
China has demonstrated that government control is a viable tool regarding population control...
However, with GOAT control, the thing is is that sometimes GOAT herds are people's social security system.
Is this what the biblical story of Soddom represents: The lack of righteous men in government--and the timely addressing of the pressing problems in this world--are going to leave us all getting burned...???