Deforestation is the large-scale reduction in forested lands that is destroying habitats, carbon sinks, and resources around the world. Forests cover only 30% of land on Earth and are concentrated in temperate and tropical climates. This destruction of area is concentrated in 11 places around the world: the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and Gran Chaco, Borneo, the Cerrado, Choco-Darien, the Congo Basin, East Africa, Eastern Australia, Greater Mekong, New Guinea, and Sumatra. These places will account for 80% of deforestation by the year 2030 due to the fast rate and extensive area of clearing that deforesters claim to be necessary to maintain future population growth and provide land for agriculture, business, and housing.
Deforestation occurs in a number of manners from fires, to clear-cutting, to logging. This land is often then claimed for agriculture and ranching or development of business and housing but can also just be abandoned. And the rate at which this is being done is just as disgusting as the new uses of the land: the Earth is losing an area equal to 27 soccer fields per minute, totally 18.7 million acres per year. The Center for Global Development performed a study in 2015 that predicted that by 2050, an area of tropical forest over a million square miles large, or the size of the country of India, will just disappear.
Most of the effects of deforestation are obvious, however there are some that cannot be observed as well. The most visible effect is habitat loss and subsequently, endangerment and extinction of species. Not so visible, but just as tremendous as an effect, is changes the oxygen and carbon cycles and ultimately in climate control.
Habitat Reduction and Wildlife Endangerment
All 11 previously listed locations of concentrated deforestation are homes to indigenous peoples and a huge diversity of wildlife. Most of the world’s biodiversity is housed in these forested areas, making them an important resource of life and science to protect and therefore a major component as to why clearing habitats is such a horrific event.
By clearing these homes of animals, plants, and humans, we are forcing them to relocate. While this may be easy for humans to deal with, it is not so easy for wildlife. Humans are adaptable to many different climates and living conditions, hence why we have survived as a species for so long and dominate the Earth. Wildlife are not so lucky.
Most of the plants and animals who live in these forests have only ever been adapted to life in the forest. With their habitat gone and subsequently their food sources, these animals and plants will soon become endangered, and eventually go extinct. If we cannot halt the destruction of these habitats soon, much of the biodiversity of Earth will be lost forever.
Climate and Atmosphere Change
Tropical forests act as a major carbon sink, meaning that they take in a very large concentration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, incorporating the carbon into living things and releasing oxygen. These forests are responsible for balancing the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen in order for life to exist as we know it. Humans as well as most other animals very much depend on the output of oxygen by forests and would not be able to breathe without this large export. By choking out the forests of our planet, we will only choke out ourselves.
With an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, global climate is also changed. Carbon dioxide increase due to the loss of a carbon sink in combination with carbon dioxide from sources such as fossil fuels will eat even more away from the ozone layer and cause global warming to occur faster and more harshly. Forests are helping to mitigate the effects that humans are contributing to climate change currently, and to rid of this mitigation will contribute more to this.
Can we live without forests?
A common belief in support of cutting down forests is that more land is necessary for agriculture and ranching and therefore for food production in order to support the exponentially growing human population. This argument has recently been disproven by researchers who argue that the current amount of land available for food production will indeed provide sufficient nourishment for the human population projected for the year 2050 while still maintaining the concentration of forests today.
In conclusion, deforestation is causing and contributing to numerous issues in today’s world, and not proposing any valid benefits other than harvesting wood. In order to stop the destruction of forests and ultimately our planet, we need to be active in the fight against deforestation and push back against the companies who are claiming these precious lands.
Sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160419120147.htm
https://phys.org/news/2015-04-future-deforestation-confined.html
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
https://news.vice.com/article/heres-how-much-of-the-worlds-forests-could-vanish-by-2050
April 12, 2018 at 1:42 pm
I remember when I was younger I would pass trees forests alongside the highway and not understand how deforestation was a problem. Now that I have a much more comprehensive view of the world this issue is one that I am very much aware of. This is especially troublesome when areas are deforested for commercial use.