Effects of Deforestation
Jasmine Gatt and Maronia Magri
Deforestation
• Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting
in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent
of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost every
year.
• The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the
current rate of deforestation.
• Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to
money or to people’s need to provide for their families
• Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of
human and natural factors like wildfires and overgrazing, which may
prevent the growth of young trees.
Solutions to Deforestation
• The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting
down trees. Though deforestation rates have slowed a bit in recent years,
financial realities make this unlikely to occur.
• A more workable solution is to carefully manage forest resources by
eliminating clear-cutting to make sure that forest environments remain
intact. The cutting that does occur should be balanced by the planting of
enough young trees to replace the older ones felled in any given forest.
The number of new tree plantations is growing each year, but their total
still equals a tiny fraction of the Earth’s forested land.
Effects of Deforestation
The Water Cycle
 Deforestation affects the
water cycle. Trees absorb
groundwater and release it
into the atmosphere during
transpiration. With the loss of
medium for this release, the
climate automatically
changes to a drier one and
reduction in not only the
atmospheric moisture, but
also the water table.
Soil Erosion
 Deforestation reduces soil
quality and results in soil
erosion and flooding. The
land's capacity to hold ground
water shrinks with the
depleting forest cover.
Deforested areas witness
surface runoff and increased
sub-surface flow.
Soil Problems
•
•
The absence of trees leads to
increase salinity in the soil cover
and thus, affects the agricultural
activity that is carried on in such
regions.
Tree roots not only bind fertile
soil, but also the underlying
bedrock.
Deforestation results in an
increased risk of landslides, that
not only claims the alluvial soil,
but also threatens the lives of
people inhabiting the cleared
region.
•
Biodiversity
Forests support biodiversity and
foster conservation of
medicinal products like honey,
resin and herbs.
Deforestation destroys genetic
variations and results in a
permanent loss of various rare
plant, animal and insect
species.
Citizen’s living standard
Damage to forests, believe it or
not, affects every citizen's
living standard.
Over-utilization of forest
products and logging has
resulted in creased
dependency and in turn is
exposing us to environmental
issues associated with the
large scale deforestation in
the absence of an
afforestation program in
place.
Sources
• buzzle.com
• nationalgeographic.co.uk