What Effect of Deforestation – The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines deforestation as the “permanent elimination of permanent forests.” Elimination, however, is produced for a variety of different reasons and has a variety of devastating consequences.
What is deforestation?
Deforestation is to clean, destroy or eliminate trees through deliberate, natural or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plants, but most are currently occurring in the Amazon rainforest.
The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, floods, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a number of problems for indigenous peoples.
Deforestation occurs for several reasons, including agriculture, mainly cattle due to its rapid return; and logging for materials and development. It has been going on for thousands of years, no doubt since man began to convert from hunter/collector to agriculturally based societies, and demanded larger, clear land trails to accommodate livestock, crops, and coverage. It was only after the emergence of the modern era that it became an epidemic.
Environmental effects of top deforestation
Habitat loss
One of the most dangerous and disturbing effects of deforestation is the loss of species of animals and plants due to their loss of habitat; Not only have we lost those we know, but also the unknown, potentially an even greater loss.
“70% of the animals and plants of the Earth live in the forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.”
Rainforest trees that house some species also provide canopy regulating temperature, a need for many others. Its elimination through deforestation would allow for a more drastic temperature variation of the day for the night, very similar to a desert, which could be fatal to the inhabitants present.
Increased greenhouse gases
In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Currently, tropical forests in South America are responsible for 20% of the Earth’s oxygen and are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares per decade. If these fees do not stop and are reversed, the consequences will become even more severe.
Water in the atmosphere
The trees also help to control the water level in the atmosphere, 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 the floor of the dryer and the inability to cultivate crops, an ironic turn when considered against the fact that 80% of deforestation comes from small-scale farming and livestock.
Environmental effects of deforestation from below
Soil erosion and flooding
Other effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. In addition to their previously mentioned roles, trees also work to retain water and soil, which provides rich nutrients to maintain the additional life of the forest.
Without them, the soil corrodes and washes, causing the farmers to move and perpetuate the cycle. The barren ground left behind by these unsustainable farming practices is then more susceptible to floods, specifically in coastal regions.
“Coastal vegetation decreases the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to harmful flooding. ”
Effects of deforestation on indigenous peoples
Destruction of homelands
As large amounts of forests are cleared, allowing the exposed land where and dying and the habitats of countless species to be destroyed, the indigenous tribes that depend on them to maintain their way of life are also irreparably damaged.
The loss of forests has an immediate and direct effect on your way of life that in the modern world, despite our own dependence on what the forest provides, you will never know. The level of immediacy is exponentially higher.
Governments of rainforest nations at their borders also try to expel indigenous tribes and often succeed, before the Real clear cut begins. One of the preventive effects of deforestation.
