With This Information On What Is Deforestation

Luxuriant forests are not just a dwelling place for the birds or the arboreal inhabitants, but, they are important for the survival of living entities too. Starting from small plants to the astonishingly large trees, each play their part in absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen for life survival. You might have heard about deforestation in the Amazon. The Amazon, once known for its thick vegetation and rich biodiversity is now facing problem for loss of biodiversity, just because of deforestation. The following paragraphs will highlight on what is deforestation and its related impacts on the environment.

What is Deforestation: An Overview

Deforestation is an unavoidable environmental issue that requires immediate attention. It is the practice of chopping down trees to such an extent that the global climate is slowly undergoing changes. As per environment conservation reports, the annual rate of deforestation in the US is very high, ranking seventh in the global list of primary forest loss. For better understanding on what is deforestation, refer to the following points.

Deforestation Causes
Everyone of us are familiar with the negative deforestation effects. But, why does deforestation happen? The main causes of deforestation are related to increased population and urbanization; while a few are natural, like forest fire and acid rain. Some common reasons for cutting trees are providing room for developmental projects, agriculture, animal grazing and residential homes. Also, trees are cut down for mining, oil extraction, lumber, paper industry and fuels.

Impact of Deforestation
The major impacts of deforestation are soil erosion, disturbance in water cycle, loss of habitat, reduced biodiversity, flood, drought and climate change. A drastic change in the climate is also responsible for increasing deforestation. This happens when the trees and vegetation in the area cannot cope up with the prevailing environmental conditions. No wonder, the number of endangered species is increased day by day.

Deforestation and Global Warming
Speaking more about what is deforestation, global warming and deforestation are directly linked to each other. With the rapid declining rate of forest, there are lesser trees for absorption of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (especially carbon dioxide). With significant increase of greenhouse gas in the environment, there is increase in the amount of heat trapped by GHG. The outcomes are raised in seasonal temperature and global warming.

Deforestation Facts
As far as facts about deforestation are concerned, much of the forest destruction occurred during the period 1960-1990. Believe it or not, the total rainforest of Brazil (Atlantic coast) is reduced by about 90-95 percent. Other areas which share the same statistics are Madagascar and Philippines. If the rate of deforestation continues in the same pace as it is today, the rainforests will be cleared completely within the next 100 years.

Deforestation Statistics
Though the loss of primary forest is a concern for every state, the problems of deforestation vary from one place to another. With reference to deforestation statistics, the rate of forest destruction is highest in regions of South America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. On an average, 60 hectares of rainforest are cut down per minute, which accounts to lost of 86,000 hectares per day.

Deforestation Prevention
Regarding deforestation solutions, the practical implementation of purported strategies requires collective effort of all responsible citizens. Every state should have stringent legislation concerning cutting of trees, forest management, reforestation, commercial growing of forest and so on. Illegal logging, infrastructure development and mining should be kept under control.

With this information on what is deforestation, I hope you are clear with your doubts regarding the causes and effects of deforestation. So, in order to increase existing forest areas, every responsible citizen should make an effort to grow more trees (reforestation) in the coming years. This man-made forest will not be as sound as the natural forest cover, but it definitely helps in conserving the biodiversity and regulating the environmental conditions to some extent.