The Negative Effects Of Deforestation

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 18 million acres of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year. Undeniably, the deteriorating environmental situation, the increasingly severe pollution of the atmosphere, and water, the severe damage to the living environment of wild animals and plants, the extinction of many species, the deforestation and the transitional mining of mineral resources caused contrary facts. Human existence and development have brought real and more serious potential threats. The scarcity of environmental resources is manifested gradually. As environmental issues are becoming a bottleneck restricting economic growth, it is imperative that lousy effect governed the environment.

Deforestation is the action or process of the clearing of forests. Deforestation makes what we know as a cause and effect system. We cause the problems, and the effect is the aftermath of our actions. Some causes of deforestation include urbanization, climate, and overpopulation. And some effects include soil erosion, water cycle, and species loss. Removing trees at the pace we’re going now could lead to the vanishing of trees in a few hundred years("Deforestation"). Yes, we need the resources to survive, but the outcome of deforestation at such a fast pace could leave the future with nothing.

However, forests around the world are under threat from deforestation, jeopardizing these benefits. Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. This impacts people’s livelihoods and threatens a wide range of plant and animal species. Some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year, which is equivalent to 36 football fields every minute.

Deforestation is the destruction of a wide area of forest land into a cleared land that is used for a variety of reasons. The impact on the environment from cutting down, burning and damaging forests is very detrimental and there are severe consequences for the environment and future generations because of deforestation. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization approximately 7.3 million hectares of forests are being destroyed per year in the world (Bradford, 2015). In this essay, I will explore the impact that deforestation on the environment and I will also look at the actions that are being taken to prevent deforestation. There are various reasons why deforestation is occurring despite its negative effects on the environment. Deforestation can cause very serious environmental problems such as climate change, flooding, loss of habitats as well as others.

Three to six billion trees are cut down each and every year! Deforestation is a huge problem in the rainforests. Because these forests are home to much of the Earth’s species of life. Covering 30 percent of our land forests provide homes, protection, and oxygen for humans and other wildlife in the forests. There are 7.125 billion people that count on the benefits provided by the forest, which is: food, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter. If something isn 't done soon to reduce our carbon footprint, we will not have forests of any type to soak up the carbon dioxide(CO2) in the atmosphere.

Deforestation has been an increasing issue with the modern age. As new technologies and productions are introduced, space for forests and trees are removed dramatically. Although it offers massive economic benefit, it creates a portal to more issues, such as environmental and gas emissions, animal habitats, and local people in several third world countries. Contrary to popular belief, however, deforestation can also provide as a benefit. It allows people internationally to have access to a common resource, lumber, and creates room for employment; in some areas, deforestation could actually positively affect climate change. It is critical to weigh both pros and cons of deforestation as well as its effects on society, environmentally and economically. Deforestation’s negative outweigh the positives; however, the positives are crucial to function our society globally. As a result, it is imperative that deforestation must be used in moderation and only used when necessary.

Since the beginning of time, every single living organism on this planet has come to depend on one important thing, oxygen. One of the main sources of this life necessity is our trees. Trees are known to filter the air of many harmful pollutants and absorb carbon dioxide, making the air we breathe fresh and clear of toxins. But what happens when this source is eliminated from the environment? Deforestation, the removal of forests/trees, is a major ongoing issue that, not only has been happening for centuries, but is very well still occurring today. Although there are some positive aspects of deforestation, including building more communities, there are also many negatives that outweigh the positives. Scientists have estimated that between the years 1990-2015, the Earth lost approximately 129 million hectares of forest. The results have been catastrophic and include increased amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, the impending extinction of various different species, and major changes in the weather.

The Earth has an ability to produce natural resources, provide land to build on, and absorb waste. This is known as the bio capacity of the Earth, and it can only take so much to keep the planet healthy and clean. It takes about a year and a half to generate the resources that the human population only uses in a year. Therefore, if it continues at this rate, according to the World Wildlife Fund, “by the year 2050, the human population is anticipated to use an equivalency of two Earths worth of renewable sources in only one year.” The planet Earth can only produce so much in one year, and doubling the amount is far from possible. There are many threats on the planet Earth to prevent it from providing what is demanded, in which people do not realize are a part of a day-to-day routine. Just as the Earth is evolving, human life and wildlife is expanding its population as well and consequently, all residents of the planet should be aware of saving the Earth from demolishing everyone and everything in it. Cutting down forests for the sake of human utilization may be beneficial, however it will decrease the benefits of Earth as a whole. The act of deforestation may be considered a gateway to the extinction of all living things on the Earth.

The biggest problem with deforestation is that we don’t cut down little areas at a time. We cut down trees in bulk. Some deforestation companies cut down trees football field lengths at a time. Indonesia once had one of the biggest rainforests in the world covering up about 95.4 to 112 million hectares before deforestation occurred( “Lambin” 3). After deforestation happened there rain forest is estimated to cover up about 52

Climate change is such a prevalent topic of concern in modern day that it is important to understand the contributions to it, deforestation being one of them. Deforestation exacerbates the already negative consequences of climate change. Forests play a fundamental role in many different aspects of earth systems and deforestation is decreasing the benefits of forests. Forests cover approximately thirty-one percent of the land cover in the world; however, 46-56 square miles of forestlands are lost each year (World Wildlife Fund). As technology continues to advance and the world increasingly becomes more industrialized, deforestation has the potential to get so extreme it will be difficult to go back and fix the negative effects.

Every day we use paper, and every day we sit on or use furniture that is made of wood. Look around you, how many things are not made out of wood? Deforestation is the destruction or removal of forests. In fact, 50,000 trees are being cut down every minute. The issue deforestation links directly with the issues of air pollution, loss of animal habitats and climate change as well as several health problems. Deforestation can be solved if everyone helped, but not everyone has the same perspective. For example, some world leaders like Donald Trump do not believe that climate change is an issue, and a lot of people do not care about deforestation because they are unaware or because they do not care about anything beside themselves. I became interested in this topic after knowing that in countries where deforestation is a bigger issue, people are less healthy. Although Canada does not struggle with deforestation as much compared to China and the US, I do not want the same to happen.

Ninety percent of the earth’s trees between three and four hundred years old have been cut down. The remaining ten percent is all we will ever have (Gallant, 97). The definition of deforestation by the Random House Dictionary of the English Language is "to divest or clear of forests or trees.” Deforestation is one of the most significant issues of our time; considerable measures must be taken to prevent further pillaging of our unique forest resource.

Did you know that in approximately one-hundred years forests will be a thing of the past? Due to deforestation, it is estimated that forests will be extinct by 2116. Deforestation is when large amounts of trees, such as forests, are cut down or removed. This practice has a negative effect on the Earth overall. It has, for example, a negative impact on the land because deforestation harms the soil. In effect, it may be difficult to grow trees where deforestation has occurred. Trees are a very important component of the Earth because they affect the Earth 's climate. The clearing of forests does not allow trees to serve their natural purpose. Deforestation releases toxic chemicals, such as methane and carbon dioxide, into our atmosphere. Trees, by nature, absorb greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen. In other words, trees stabilize the climate. Greenhouse gases, as many know, are huge contributors to global warming. The more we emit greenhouse gases, the more these gases accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere. These gases are deteriorating our atmosphere, and, as a result, the global temperature is rising.

Although deforestation is helping the development of many countries, cities and states, humans should work as hard as they possibly can to bring a halt to deforestation. This plague among the forests is causing harm not only to humans, with the drastic climate change, but this is also causing animals to become extinct. In some ways, deforestation makes our society come across as self-serving, by using the cleared lands for our own personal advantages, such as: construction of homes, businesses, amusement parks, dams, performances of oil extraction, mining and industrial agriculture. “The Amazon has lost at least seventeen percent of forest cover in the last half century due to human actions” (Giant Panda). The

Deforestation is a serious problem today, and has been for a long time. It is one of the greatest threats to nature on Earth, if not the single greatest. It is one root cause of soil erosion, the root cause of global warming, and the greatest contributor to the endangerment and extinction of so many species throughout the world. To understand deforestation though, one must know exactly what it is first. Therefore, deforestation is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica Online as "The cutting down and clearing of trees from forests, usually causing ecological harm. The process has occurred as long as wood has been used as an energy source." Furthermore, "In the 1990's, the deforestation of tropical rainforests threatened to increase Earth's