Environmental Effects Of Deforestation

<What is Deforestation?>

Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise the deliberate removal of trees, natural or accidental means. It can occur in any area that is densely populated by trees and other plant life.

The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, deforestation, soil erosion, flooding, fewer crops, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.

Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons, including: farming, mostly cattle due to its quick turn around and logging, for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since man began to convert from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops and housing. It was only after the onset of modern era that it became an epidemic.

<Environmental Effects Of Deforestation>

Soil Erosion and Flooding
Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. One very important role of trees is it helps to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life. Without them, the soil erodes and washes away gradually

"Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods"

Loss of Habitat
One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat, not only do we lose those known to us, but also those unknown, potentially an even greater loss.

"70% of Earth's land animals and plants live in forest, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes"

The trees of the rainforest that provides shelter for some species also provides the canopy that regulates the temperature, a necessity for many others

Increased Greenhouse Gasses
In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows for a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere for 20% of Earth's oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares a decade. If nothing helpful is done and these rates are not stopped and reversed, the consequence will become more severe.

Water in the Atmosphere
The trees also helps to control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle. With fewer trees left, due to deforestation, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil. In turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops.

<Effects of Deforestation on Indigenous People>

Destruction of Homelands
As large amounts of forest are cleared away, allowing exposed earth to whither and die and the habitat of innumerable species to be destroyed, the indigenous tribes who depends on them to sustain their way of life are also irreparably damaged

The loss of forest has an immediate and direct effect on their lifestyle that we in the modern world, despite our own dependency on what the rainforest provides, will never know. The level of immediacy is exponentially greater.