Impact on the environment
Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.
Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.
Deforestation is a substantial contributor to global warming, The worlds rain forests are widely believed by laymen to contribute a significant amount of world's oxygen although it is now accepted by scientists that rainforests contribute little net oxygen to the atmosphere and deforestation will have no effect whatsoever on atmospheric oxygen levels. However, the incineration and burning of forest plants in order to clear land releases tonnes of CO2 which contributes to global warming.
Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding and landslides often ensue. Forests support considerable biodiversity, providing valuable habitat for wildlife and forests foster for medicinal conservation.Forests enhance the recharge of aquifers in some locales however forests are a major source of aquifer depletion on most locales . With forest biotopes being a major, irreplaceable source of new drugs (like taxol), deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.
Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape's capacity to intercept, retain and transport precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover. Deforestation also contributes to decreased evapotranspiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects precipitation levels down wind from the deforested area, as water is not recycled to downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and returns directly to the oceans. According to one preliminary study, in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the 1980s .
Longterm gains can be obtained by managing forest lands sustainably to maintain both forest cover and provide a biodegradable renewable resource. Forests are also important stores of organic carbon, and forests can extract carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air, thus contributing to biosphere stability. Deforestation (mainly in tropical areas) account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Forests are also valued for their aesthetic beauty and as a cultural resource and tourist attraction.
Experts estimate that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation, which equates to 50,000 species a year.“Reducing emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries has emerged as new potential to complement ongoing climate policies. The idea consists in providing financial compensations for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation”.
www.saveourtrees.net
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