Effects of Deforestation

Effects of Deforestation

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Abstract

Deforestation and forests degradation is one of the major sources of global warming and biodiversity loss. Even with the important social and economic values of biodiversity and related ecosystem services, worldwide biodiversity is vanishing. In some places, it occurs at a very rapid rate. In the majority of the cases, biodiversity loss and global warming are associated with widespread illegal cutting of trees and forest conversion for the purpose of agriculture. The scale of the waste and loss of natural resources related to deforestation is huge; about 18% of the forest cover has vanished in the past 51 years, mainly because of deforestation. A huge percentage of greenhouse gas emissions are as a result of deforestation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for dealing with deforestation problems both currently and in the future. Reinstating degraded forests possess a big potential for alleviating climate change globally by enhancing carbon stocks.

Introduction

Deforestation can be referred to as the cutting down of trees within a large range of land, basically done to make space or grounds for other purposes. The earth is taken over by about 30 percent of forest cover; however, annually, there has been a huge degradation that is almost three quarter the size of England. Then is it actually an issue that needs to be solved? Do humans care if the forest totally vanishes? Does it have an effect on our existing? Well, essentially, it does; forest offers us numerous resources that comprise writing paper, fabric, and wood utilized in everyday lives. The forests play a big role in attempting to keep the environment steady. It offers us oxygen, offers other animals’ homes, and plays a key responsibility in the change of climate (Devaraju et al., 2018). Some people do insist that deforestation is good for economic growth and industrialization many other activities. I think that deforestation is a crucial environmental problem that must be sorted and solutions are given to it.

Environmental Effect of Deforestation and What Should Be Done

On the planet earth, about thirty-two percent of the land is concealed by forests. They offer wildlife and humans homes and oxygen. About 1.7billion persons depend on forest since it offers food, fresh water, habitats, and medications that may assist in the treatment of the sick. Therefore, the majority of the earth’s rare and vulnerable species depend on these forests for existence (Pascual et al., 2019). Nonetheless, forest cover is being tattered and totally cut down, reducing these remarkable benefits. Deforestation may be in numerous ways, comprising fires, unmanageable logging, climate degradation, and clearing for ranching, agriculture, and growth. This impacts a huge quantity of living organisms within the forests and a big human population that profits from them. According to Pascual et al., 2019, “It is estimated that we are losing 17.8 million forest acres yearly, which is equal to 27 soccer pitches each minute.” Tropical rainforests now do have a big issue dealing with deforestation, the reason being that these kinds of forests offer habitats for the biodiversity of the earth. About 18% of the forest cover has vanished in the past 51 years, mainly because of forest alteration for cattle keeping (Cai et al., 19). For instance, because of animal ranching in the last 50 years, 18% of the Amazon forest cover has been destroyed. Deforestation does often happen close to inhabited roads and areas, though solitary spaces are also being degraded when treasured resources are discovered in those lands.

Deforestation may happen in a matter of few seconds, just like when a fire abolishes land or when a forest undergoes the clear-cutting process to create space for plantations of oil palm. Right from the harvesting first phase to the very end phase of sales, State rules usually manage the business and gathering of timber produces. Removing wood from areas protected and excessive harvesting are some manners that the rules are being violated. In each country, illegal logging happens more commonly than what is considered legal. Even though business people involved in the wood business argue that it contributes to jobs and high revenues, that actions do endanger and destroy most rainforests: which comprises the Congo Basin, Amazon, the Russian forest, and Indonesia, and many others. This does action does not only destroy the mentioned forest but also several others around the universe that offer many valuable resources to mankind.

Logging that is Illegal also cuts the lumber price that actually makes it difficult for companies that harvest lawfully to create a profit. Disadvantaged groups staying near the forest are most vulnerable to violations of human rights when persons attempt to access timber unlawfully. Fires happen consistently and aren’t at all times a big problem to the forest landscapes, and sometimes they are helpful. However, these profits become dead if they happen at a bad location, at a rapid rate, and at the wrong period. Over millions of forest acres all over the world are vanishing and also degraded each year. The majority of the degradation is because of both agriculture and logging. The fire benefits come in if utilized for the reasons of making agriculture areas. Most of the formation and structure of forests is because of fires; however, they offer negative impacts that include; a broader range of biodiversity that is threatened (Semper-Pascual et al., 2019). They allow the accessibility for invasive species in the environment, and it damages the soil fertility and water cycle. Additionally it brings numerous health problems to persons staying around that location.

Some people are of the view that as the world’s population rises rapidly, enormous burdens for food are anticipated. Agricultural foodstuffs like palm oil and soy are utilized in the majority of the products, from biofuels to lipsticks. These strains have brought numerous explanations for changing forests into farmlands for agriculture. This indicates that every time a forest is transformed for agricultural usage, it may certainly not return to its initial content, including all species that once lived there. Wood still goes on to be the standard most fuel chosen for food preparation and heating most of the things that require to be heated. However, almost half of the illegal timber removing is because of fuel wood consumption.

The forests degradation brings a broad range of damages and touches life at the local level and in each nation in the world. How does deforestation impact us? “Forest assist in eradicating carbon dioxide and numerous greenhouse gas releases; it becomes an issue when the forests are degraded” (Silva, 2021). Thereafter, the greenhouse air or gases are freed inside the atmosphere. Climate does change because of forest degradation, and it makes temperatures start to increase, leading to changes in weather and water patterns because of greenhouse gas releases. Therefore, changes in climate have the muscle to raise the rate of very hazardous natural events. One instance is offered in the republic of Sumatra that the forests were repeatedly degraded at a fast rate than they are replaced; that then lead to high CO2 levels and different greenhouse gas releases in Indonesia (Cai et al., 2018). This contributes to an alteration in climate, which makes most species misplace their habitats and discover new places that they may get available resources, but many living organisms die due to this.

Through sustaining water equilibrium inside both the air and the surface, forests donate to a significant effect on the environment. Though when there is the process of deforestation occurs without being replenished, the balance within the cycle of water is damaged; this afterward impacts and changes in river flow and precipitation. The deforestation of trees impacts the rivers; this happens when the soil does not have somewhere to settle, and it then goes into streams and rivers. Some agriculturists do argue that it results in no harm because the plantations are replacing the trees, but factually speaking, they have no idea of how they are damaging the environment to a bigger extent; this is because agricultural vegetation doesn’t grip more of the soil compared to the trees. Vegetation that forms big damage to the erosion of soil comprises; cotton, palm oil, coffee, wheat, and soybean. Numerous environmentalists have determined that about a third of arid land was triggered by soil erosion ever since the early 20th century. As this went on, farmers and agriculturist continued their method of changing the forest for agriculture usage triggering a larger amount of erosion.

The most vulnerable rainforest is the tropical rainforest, which is most prone to deforestation and has almost 80% of the species found on earth. Ultimately it leaves out most species with no habitat suitable for them to reproduce and survive (Belt et al., 2019). Therefore the species become open access for the hunter to slaughter and begin to create their way inside the list of endangered species and ultimately could perhaps be extinct. As little as deforestation exists locally, it can still result in a lot of species found only locally being extinct. In order to avoid this harm and danger to ourselves, there is a need for concrete solutions. Because protecting our forest against deforestation and applying the rules may be helpful to guard the majority of the living species and plants that require the trees for their existence and sustainability.

Encouraging energy that is sustainable may also play a big role in assisting in the reduction of deforestation. This can be done by offering different alternatives. Another solution can be through utilizing recycled and less wood that may assist create a good level of bioenergy even without forest destruction. Therefore we can utilize different alternatives to make energy that will not damage the forest or trees. The most effective ways deforestation can be dealt with is by stopping or putting to a stop unlawful logging. Unlawful logging is among the easiest though less efficient methods to decrease deforestation because most criminals aren’t concerned about their health in the future and risks built by them; they are just focused on their needs currently. Awareness to these people may help because it is not very late to let them know that what they are doing is harmful to the environment.

Conclusion

Forests donate to our day-to-day needs, and they offer the resources needed to stay or exist in a bearable environment. For our survival, we hinge on trees, majorly from the air we breathe to the wood utilized for fire. The forest offers a large number of resources for us as humans and offers a diversity of wildlife habitats. They form the surroundings for everybody around the universe and provide watershed safety, timber products, and products that are non-timber, stop soil erosion and global warming is kept in check. However, deforestation is the main problem required to be addressed through the various solutions available and in return for us as humans we will stay in an environment that is sustainable.

Reference

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Cai, X., Riley, W. J., Zhu, Q., Tang, J., Zeng, Z., Bisht, G., & Randerson, J. T. (2019). Improving representation of deforestation effects on evapotranspiration in the E3SM land model. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11(8), 2412-2427.

Devaraju, N., de Noblet-Ducoudré, N., Quesada, B., & Bala, G. (2018). Quantifying the relative importance of direct and indirect biophysical effects of deforestation on surface temperature and teleconnections. Journal of Climate, 31(10), 3811-3829.

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Semper-Pascual, A., Decarre, J., Baumann, M., Busso, J. M., Camino, M., Gómez-Valencia, B., & Kuemmerle, T. (2019). Biodiversity loss in deforestation frontiers: linking occupancy modelling and physiological stress indicators to understand local extinctions. Biological conservation, 236, 281-288.

Silva, C. A., Santilli, G., Sano, E. E., & Laneve, G. (2021). Fire occurrences and greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Remote Sensing, 13(3), 376.