Deforestation: Causes & Effects

 

Johanson F. Cabello                                          Grade 8 Assyrians

Deforestation: Causes & Effects

Introduction

From food to life saving medicines, forests gave us a variety of gifts that contribute much to our daily life.

Between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 502,000 square miles of forest, according to the World Bank, this area is larger than South Africa. Since humans have started cutting down forests, 46 percent of the world’s trees have been cut down.

Main Causes of Deforestation

Deforestation often takes place as an effect of overpopulation, economic reasons and quite possibly, government corruption. Forests are cleared for agricultural purposes, such as to grow more crops on a bigger area of land. These crops are sources of food and income for the people. Materials from the trees, such as timber, are used for furniture and paper products.

Forests are cleared for the purpose of raising animals, which provides sources of food and income for the people. The surplus of animal products and materials from the trees can be exported to other countries to gain economic interests for the country.

Urbanisation: when rural refugees move to cities and adopt an urban lifestyle, they tend to consume more resources. Their income increases and their diet shifts to a greater proportion of animal products and processed foods.

Illegal logging: illegal logging causes loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions. Illegal logging has also contributed to conflicts with indigenous and local populations, violence, human rights abuses, corruption, funding of armed conflicts and worsening poverty.

Mining; mining activities are carried out on land that has been cleared of forests. As the demand for resources increases, more land is cleared for the extraction of these resources.

Effects of Deforestation

One of the effects of deforestation is global warming which is an irreversible process. As trees are cut and burnt down to use usable land, large amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Global warming also leads to a host of problems like climate change, the effects of climate change are: rising of sea levels, higher ocean temperatures, an increase of heavy precipitation, etc.

Habitat destruction; deforestation destroys the homes of wildlife in the forest, which can affect the biodiversity in that forest.

Desertification; deforestation causes soil erosion or removal of fertile top layer of the soil. This leaves the soil devoid of humus and makes it infertile, gradually converting it to a desert.

Flooding; when the roots are gone from trees after deforestation, there's nothing to strengthen the soil anymore. Hence, the soil slide around and the water is able to build on the surface causing flooding.

Forest Fires: more deforestation means an increase in climate change, which increases the likelihood of vegetation drying out, which in turn increases the risk of forest fire.

 

Conclusion

Deforestation will lead to destruction, extinction, and displacement of many plants and animals. So the best solution to deforestation is to stop the cutting down of trees.