Deforestation Essay Examples and Research Papers

What is Deforestation

What would happen if all of the trees in the world were gone? What would happen is that the earth will not have enough oxygen and this will happen in 71.5 years at the rate of deforestation. Deforestation is when all of the trees from an area are removed for lumber and land to farm or build houses. Deforestation should be stopped because of its effect on the ecosystem global warming, and biodiversity.

Deforestation should be stopped because of its effect on the ecosystem. For example “… 50,000 species go extinct every year. You might not have noticed a drastic change in your daily life due to the loss of these species, but there is evidence that as the world’s animal species disappear, the entire ecosystem can collapse.”(Kate Good) This demonstrates that because of deforestation to many animals go extinct. The effect of this affects more than just the animals, one animal species extinct effects the whole ecosystem. According to Orangutan Foundation “, this species plays a vital role in spreading the seeds of fruit trees in the rainforest. Many species, humans included rely on these fruit trees as a food source and as the orangutan disappears, these foods are becoming less available.”(Kate Good) This means that fruit is help spread by the orangutan which is killed during clear-cutting or slash and burn. Without the orangutan, many of the fruits that humans rely on will disappear and not be accessible anymore. Deforestation destroys the ecosystem and takes away the plants animals and humans need to thrive.

Deforestation is a major cause of global warming. For example “Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere and increased speed and severity of global warming.” This means that trees help keep down the greenhouse gasses. Trees use gases like carbon dioxide and put out oxygen instead which is a cycle. Living creatures put off CO2 and trees need CO2 and there waste product id oxygen. For example “NASA and NCAR say, the world’s tropical rainforests can absorb a massive 1.4 billion tons out of the 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide that are naturally absorbed by the earth’s natural systems.” This is in a way bad because in 71.5 years there won’t be any natural forests to absorb over half of the carbon dioxide. So 1.4 billion tons of carbon will be released into the air. The clear-cutting of trees is resulting in the increase of global warming.

Clearing forest is very useful because it makes room for humans. For example “Forests make way for residential houses, office buildings and factories. Governments are able to build roads to make trade and transport easier and therefore more convenient for residents.’ This means that clearing the forests will make it so humans can spread out and not overpopulated areas. The effects of overpopulation are the loss of freshwater, species extinction, lower life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, Increased Emergence of New Epidemics and Pandemics, less freedom, more restrictions, More Intensive Farming Practices, Increased Global Warming, Climate Change, and Elevated Crime Rate. By removing forest for more land these are some problems it causes ”The loss in the number of biodiversities. This is probably the most serious consequence of deforestation. Put simply, it means the destruction and extinction of many plant and animal species, many of whom remain unknown and whose benefits will be left undiscovered.” According to the “ National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 70 percent of the anti-cancer plants identified so far are rainforest plants. A new drug under development by a private pharmaceutical company, possibly for treating HIV, is Calanolide A, which is derived from a tree discovered on Borneo, according to NCI.” This all means that we are destroying medical plants and herbs that could have a cure for incurable diseases if we stopped destroying the forests. Overall the biodiversity of rainforest is great and the potential is unknown but, we are taking it before we can discover everything and causing generic for plants.

The problems of deforestation are the effect on the ecosystem, global warming, and biodiversity. People have spent years trying to cure cancer when it is in the rainforest the thing we destroy. Stop the deforestation and save the natural world along with ours.

The Causes, Effects, and Solutions of Deforestation 

Nearly thirty one percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by forests. These forests are responsible for providing the planet and its inhabitants with vital resources such as producing oxygen and absorbing emitted carbon dioxide. Forests are also home to nearly half of all known species as well as some 300 million people whose survival depends almost entirely on their native woods. Many of our Earth’s forests and rainforests are under threat from the eradicating process of deforestation. Deforestation is the removal, loss, or destruction of Earth’s forests on a massive scale which mainly consists of the conversion of forest to land used for agriculture. Direct causes of deforestation can be natural, unintentional causes such as from hurricanes, fires, and floods as well as from intentional human activities such as the expansion of agriculture, oil and timber extraction, road and infrastructure construction, and mining. 

The indirect factors that contribute to the cause of deforestation include a rapidly growing population, increasing poverty rates, poor government policies, and a lack of alternative livelihood sources. The effects of deforestation have an extremely negative impact on the environment. The most devastating contributing factors are a loss of habitat for millions of endangered species resulting in extinction as well as the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere leading to an increase in global climate change. Many people don’t realize that the steps that need to be taken to combat the effects of deforestation begin with making changes we make at home, at work, with the purchases we make, and the foods we consume. By educating ourselves and others about the devastating impacts of deforestation, we can begin to take action needed to save our forests and curb the effects of climate change. Deforestation is the permanent destruction and damage of forested land to make the land available for industrial, agricultural, and urbanization purposes to accommodate an ever-growing human population. 

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, since the 1990’s nearly 130 million hectares of Earth’s forests have been destroyed; an area nearly equivalent to the size of South Africa. Every minute, the equivalent of 36 football fields are hacked, burned and destroyed and with it, close to 135 species of animals, insects, and plants are lost each day (Lam, One Green Planet). Countries with the greatest annual net loss of forested area are Indonesia, Paraguay, and Malaysia. The major purposes of quickly turning lush forests into barren wastelands is due to an increase in global commodities that agricultural plantations can provide such as production of palm oil and soybeans. Even when efforts had been made to replenish the land of its nutrients, the soil was depleted and unable to produce the same biodiversity it once had. This world also has a very large and strong global demand for meat. 

On average, we consume nearly 75 pound of meat per person, per year and that number is only growing as the population expands. India, for example is the world’s biggest exporters of beef followed by Brazil, and then Australia. This growing demand for meat only contributes to the effects of tropical deforestation as these forests are destroyed and converted into agricultural cattle ranches. It is estimated that cattle ranching in the Amazon accounts for eighty percent of the current deforestation rate, making it the largest driver for deforested land. 

Soy cultivation also makes up a large percentage of destruction in jungled areas. The soy plant seeds are fed to the livestock as a high protein feed as well as export for a large demand of a meat alternative. This enables farmers to push their way further into the Amazons (Butler, Deforested Amazon). Logging, the process of cutting and processing trees to produce timber for consumption is probably the most commonly known driver of deforestation. Wood-based industries use timber to produce and supply products such as paper, construction, furniture, as well as charcoal and lumber for fueling purposes. One of the many consequences of deforestation is soil erosion, a major environmental and agricultural worldwide issue. Rainforest trees are able to act as an anchor for soil with their roots. When these trees are uprooted, it is no longer able to retain water and nutrients nor provide the soil shade from the sun, leaving the soil dry and deficient of proper nutrients (Echolls, Soil Erosion). 

The fertile topsoil is then able to blow or wash away from flash floods during heavy tropical rains leaving the land barren and unable to regenerate future vegetation. Soil erosion has also led to an increase in pollution and sedimentation in neighboring streams and rivers. The excessive accumulation of sediment in these bodies of water may then lead to flooding as well as landslides. Deforestation may also be to blame for severe and frequent droughts. Throughout rainforests, moisture that is collected on the leaves, branches, and trunks of trees is able to be stored within its soil. When the moisture evaporates into the atmosphere through the process of transpiration, rain clouds are then able to form which then release rain back into the forested region creating a water cycle. As well as being a main contributor to rainfall, forests have the ability to influence the amount as well as the timing of its downpours. Simply put, without the trees to supply moisture, clouds cannot form resulting in a severe reduction of rainfall and eventually droughts.  

Deforestation is Killing Our Animals

The earth revolves around captivating animals, that form the globe’s ecosystem. The wildlife assists in ecology, economics, and biomedicine; these idioms will keep our earth vigorous. However, in the present time, there’s a vast extinction of animals due to deforestation. Deforestation is removing the wildlife tropical forests to create deserted land. Without the animal’s territory, they can not survive. Every living organism depends on each other to survive, infinitely its prime to stop deforestation and save wildlife.

The wildlife is in charge of detoxifying deadly substance and removing biological debris. Animals have the ability of immobilizing crop pest and disease carriers. Also, in future evolutionary processes, they form a large gene pool. The gene pool is necessary because it helps maintain the health in a population. Sustaining diversity allows the earth a guard against change, this will allow everyone to adapt. Presuming that the ecosystem changes, a population with a higher variety of genes will better adapt to a new environment. Diversity could even mean the survival of the population.

First, to create a desert land, it’s necessary to remove all trees. That affects the animals because the air will not contain enough oxygen. Trees and plants in the forest utilize carbon dioxide to fabricate chemical vitality, producing oxygen. They are the main oxygen-producing element. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen, while animals and humans breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe oxygen. The fewer oxygen organisms receive, the more stress their body becomes. When animals are stressed, a physiological response to a stimulus attacks them. Epinephrine rises resulting in increased heart rate and blood pressure, weakening the immune system. It can be fatal because it results in heart attacks or arrhythmias.

Continuing, trees help regulate the amount of water in the atmosphere by controlling the cycle of hydrology. With hardly any trees left, there is less water in the atmosphere returning to the ground, resulting in dry soil. Soil is a valued natural resource on Earth to sustain life. The soil’s most recognized feature is its food production support. Ninety-five percent of the earth’s food utilizes oil. If there isn’t soil, the wildlife struggles to find food.

Additionally, soil and the hydrological cycle take part in providing pure water and controls floods and droughts. The infiltration of soil captures contaminants in water and restrains the runoff of groundwater. Rich oil holds the highest proportion of water. During a massive rainfall its beneficial because it slows the release of water into the streams, allowing safe access to water for the wildlife.