Do you know the good, the bad, and the ugly about deforestation? Deforestation is the process of cutting down trees and then using the cleared area for non-forest use. For example, using the cleared area for a parking lot or a factory. Deforestation can be beneficial to humans and can be harmful to animals, but there are ways to lessen the negative effects of deforestation.
There are some positive impacts of deforestation. For example, building more roads and making travel and trade easier. Deforestation allows people to build more factories to produce more food, cars, and refined oil. Also, it provides office buildings and homes. There is also a negative side to deforestation.
As there are positive impacts, there are also negative impacts on deforestation. Deforestation causes soil erosion, disruption in the water cycle, and it impacts biodiversity. Soil erosion is the wearing away of the topsoil. Topsoil is crucial for growing plants because it contains the most organic, nutritional-rich materials. Trees have an important role in the water cycle.
They take in the water and return it to the earth’s atmosphere. Trees also provide oxygen for animals. Biodiversity is the variety of species in the world or a particular area. According to WWF.com, “Forests are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.”. Animals that live in the trees are being forced to move to a place that is most likely overpopulated. However, there is still hope.
There are ways to help stop deforestation. One way is to plant trees.* in your yard or the public park. Also, go paperless at your home and in the office. Quora.com states that “Nearly 4 billion trees are being cut down due to paper products […]”.
Another way is to buy recycled products and then recycle them again. By buying recycled products, it cuts down on the paper products being bought and thrown away.
Deforestation is a real problem in the world but if we do what we can to stop it, it can slow down the deforestation rate. It is good for deforestation like more homes and more land to farm, but the bad outweighs the good. Remember, cutting down on paper products, planting trees, and recycling will help stop deforestation and improve lives. People caused deforestation but people can stop it but only if we do our part.