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Impact of deforestation
The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
Impact of deforestation
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The environment is a unique unit and incorporates all the living and non-living components such as plants, animals, streams and lakes. Deforestation refers to the long-term loss of tree canopy and the conversion of the land to other purposes. The overuse of resources and the industrialization process are some major causes of this phenomenon. This process goes on without check leading to soil erosion, floods, silting of irrigation canals, all of which degrade the environment.
In the United States (U.S), deforestation has caused the destruction of virgin forests by 90 percent since 1600. At the current rate of deforestation, only one-fourth of the forests standing today will be standing in 70 years. Deforestation in the United States is an ongoing
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Prior to the arrival of European-Americans, about one half of the United States land area was forest, about 4,000,000 square kilometers’ (990,000,000 acres) in 1600, yet today it is only about 3,000,000 square kilometers (740,000,000 acres). Nearly all of this deforestation took place prior to 1910, and the forest resources of the United States have remained relatively constant through the entire 20th century. Deforestation in the United States is affected by many factors. One such factor is the effect, whether positive or negative, that the logging industry has on forests in the country. As stated by the U.S Forest Service, logging is nearly impossible to stop and it is a hotly debated topic as groups who either support or oppose logging argue over its benefits and negative effects. Logging either with permits or without permits goes on throughout the U.S. Companies with permits disregard them and harvest beyond what is allowed. The Forest Service and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work together to make sure that the permits for logging companies in the United States are granted in such a way that the forests are kept healthy and sustainable, and illegal logging reduces the chances that forests will be kept this way. Another way to help curb this …show more content…
Deforestation can change the global change of energy not only through the micrometeorological process but also increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide. In solving this issue ambitious domestic forest policies should be set by the government with latest science technology to be able to conduct experiment and research on possible solutions in order to save the forest. However, groups like NativeForest.org and EarthRoots.org would say taking an action like this would cost a lot of money being invested into this
In “The Stream-Flow Controversy: A Conservation Turning Point,” conservationists argued that the United States will be lead down a “irretraceable path of desiccation and destruction” due to its maltreatment of forests (59). Even though the conservationists
The main reason deforestation happens, is because of farming. They need to clear out land in order to plant crops and vegetables. Another loss from deforestation is that many animals lose their habitat. The loss of animals habitats will lead to migration, or possibly even extinction. And when this happens this will ruin the food chains which will affect even more animals.
When Aldiss explained about the condition of the Badlands, “Ancient bomb craters and soil erosion joined hands here; man’s talent for war, coupled with his inability to manage forested land, had produced thousands of square miles of temperate purgatory, where nothing moved but dust.” (257) For the overpopulated humans, they all needed land to live in, so deforestation was a major issue. War also made deforestation worse, with bomb craters destroying thousands of square miles of forested land. Today, many trees are being logged to create land for people. The more overpopulated our planet is, the more land we need to deforest and reduce the world’s forests.
Logging in the United States is a very controversial subject. Many people have different opinions on how we should take care of our forests and sometimes the arguments can get heated. Logging needs to be done to protect small western communities from catastrophic wild fires. Logging also gives small communities a way of income. When people think of logging they think of clear cutting which is damaging to the environment, but clear cutting does not happen too much on the national forests. The Forest Service has strict guidelines in which they follow to make sure the forest will stay healthy for years to come. Logging must be done with wildlife, human effects of the forest, and the health of the forest in mind. Logging can ultimately liberate small towns in the forest from fire danger and liberate the towns from having to depend on surrounding communities for a way of income. The forest and animals are also liberated from dense forest which can suffocate animals and plants. The animals are provided with more food with grasses after logging has accrued. Logging if done right is great for the forest and towns that are in the middle of the woods.
“The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, human have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time, we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.” - Unknown. One major environmental problem in our world is deforestation - what is that, you ask? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests. Some consequences of this include a large contribution to global warming and climate change (about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year), loss of biodiversity especially in tropical rainforests, and the extinction of many known or yet to be discovered species. But, through some Debt-for-Nature Swaps, leaving forests
Deforestation began with man’s ability to manipulate his environment. Wood has always been a primary source for shelter and has been affected by human expansion. As the worlds population grew, so to did the need for wood to make housing. As cities grew so did the demand for space to accommodate the growing population. Throughout history and even today, man has manipulated the environment affecting it’s resources.
Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest parasite to the human race. There are many resources that humans and animal needs to survive; some of the most obvious resources come from the forests. Forests make up a large percentage of the globe. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath, determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. The wood from the forests are used everyday form many useful resources. Moreover, thinning the forests increases the amount of available light, nutrients and water for the remaining trees. Deforestation (forest thinning) is one of the most critical issues of environmental problems that are occurring today.
“The paper and lumber industry has had almost a free hand, resulting in near indiscriminate cutting and the replacement of native trees with vast, highly profitable plantations of pine and eucalyptus” (Nash, Nathaniel). Some may argue that there are ways about creating less damage to the environment when logging, but the article, “Why are Rainforests Being Destroyed?” doesn’t agree. “While logging can be carried out in a manner that reduces damage to the environment, most logging in the rainforest is very destructive” (Butler, Rhett). The motive behind cutting down all of those trees is to make a profit, so the damage level is not considered most of the
General Information: First off, deforestation is the clearing of forests or areas with trees to be converted into something else after. There are a few different ways forests are cleared. Clear cutting is simply removing everything in sight. Patch cutting is the removal of trees in specified patches. Strip cutting is removing trees in selected strips. The most environmentally friendly method is known as selective cutting. This is the removal of only selected trees, leaving the others un-harmed. The technique used most during deforestation is the slash and burn technique. This uses the basic cutting method of clear cutting, but afterwards everything that remains is burned to ash.
Deforestation, defined by biologist Charles Southwick as "the destruction of forests; may involve clear-cutting or selective logging" (p. 365), is a predominantly human-driven process that is dramatically altering ecosystems worldwide. "Clear-cutting" involves the indiscriminant removal of every single plant and tree species from within a selected area. The other major process of deforestation, "selective logging," focuses removal efforts on only specific, predetermined tree species within a chosen area. The statistics gathered about human deforestation over time are considerable, and they can be somewhat controversial. Depending on the source and the location selected, the magnitude of deforestation varies. Southwick estimates that, approximately 10,000 years ago, 6.2 billion hectares (23.9 million square miles) of forest existed on earth (p. 117). That figure is equivalent to 45.5% of the earth's total land. He further estimates that, by 1990, this amount had declined 30%, with only 4.3 billion hectares of forest remaining (p. 117). Southwick also acknowledges other estimates that place the total amount of deforestation between 50% and 75% (p. 117). NASA has similar deforestation statistics that confirm these trends. According to their website, 16.5% of the Brazilian Amazon forests have been destroyed. They also note similar magnitudes of deforestation in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam), despite the significantly smaller total area of forest within these countries. These grim figures are somewhat tempered by the NASA finding that, over the past ten years, the deforestation rate has declined from 6,200 square miles per year to 4,800 square miles per year. Though this trend is n...
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”). 2. And acid rain, which is created when water in the atmosphere mixes with chemicals, ravage through rain forests and can even kill fish. 3.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
To overcome this problem person has to get awareness regarding what deforestation is and what are the effects of it if we continue to practice it on the same scale. Actually, trees are the only source to filter the harmful gasses which are present in the atmosphere and can balance the harmful effects of those
centuries. Today with an increasing population the amount of wood available has declined seriously in recent decades. People have been harvesting wood to cultivate land, burn, and for the use of raw materials for industry (Urquhart 2014). The estimated amount of deforestation taking place is twenty million hectares per year (Urquhart 2014). Climate change and global warming are just a few of the problems associated with the degradation of our forests.
People have been deforesting the Earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they aren’t just meeting local or national needs; economic globalization means that the needs and wants of the global population are bearing down on them as well. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization. Rarely is there a single direct cause for deforestation. Most often, multiple processes work simultaneously or sequentially to cause deforestation.