The economic activities that were the most influential in the deforestation of the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast were the lumber industry and the agriculture.
The lumber industry has not been properly controlled, and with such a high quantity of high quality lumber that is highly demanded and expensive on the global markets, it was taking down as much trees as possible in order to make a big profit.
Because of the needs for land for the agriculture, lot of forested area had been cleared and destroyed so that the agriculture can develop and grow in this region.
Unfortunately, the nature hasn't been taken into consideration while doing this activities, so big portions of it had been destroyed, and even worse, the process is continuing.