Effects of Deforestation

Jasmine Gatt and Maronia Magri

Deforestation

• Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost every year.

• The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.

• Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families

• Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees.

Solutions to Deforestation

• The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting down trees. Though deforestation rates have slowed a bit in recent years, financial realities make this unlikely to occur.

• A more workable solution is to carefully manage forest resources by eliminating clear-cutting to make sure that forest environments remain intact. The cutting that does occur should be balanced by the planting of enough young trees to replace the older ones felled in any given forest. The number of new tree plantations is growing each year, but their total still equals a tiny fraction of the Earth’s forested land.

Effects of Deforestation

The Water Cycle

Deforestation affects the water cycle. Trees absorb groundwater and release it into the atmosphere

during transpiration. With the loss of medium for

this release, the climate automatically changes to a drier one and reduction

in not only the atmospheric moisture,

but also the water table.

Soil Erosion

Deforestation reduces soil quality and results in soil erosion and flooding.

The land's capacity to hold ground water shrinks with the

depleting forest cover. Deforested areas

witness surface runoff and increased sub-

surface flow.

Soil Problems

• The absence of trees leads to increase salinity in the

soil cover and thus, affects the agricultural activity that is carried on in such regions.

• Tree roots not only bind fertile soil, but also the underlying bedrock.

• Deforestation results in an increased risk of landslides,

that not only claims the alluvial soil, but also

threatens the lives of people inhabiting the cleared

region.

Biodiversity

Forests support biodiversity and foster

conservation of medicinal products like honey, resin and herbs.

Deforestation destroys genetic variations and results in a permanent

loss of various rare plant, animal and insect

species.

Citizen’s living standard

Damage to forests, believe it or not, affects every

citizen's living standard. Over-utilization of forest products and logging has

resulted in creased dependency and in turn

is exposing us to environmental issues

associated with the large scale deforestation in the

absence of an afforestation program in

place.

Sources

• buzzle.com• nationalgeographic.co.uk