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DEFORESTATION Exposition

Deforestation refers to the decline of forest areas worldwide that are lost to other uses like agriculture, urbanization, and mining. It has significantly intensified due to human activity and reduced forest areas around the world, increasing desertification. The main causes of deforestation are agriculture, infrastructure development, and urbanization, which lead to threats to biodiversity, unemployment, poverty, and soil erosion. Agriculture, responsible for 80% of deforestation, involves clearing forests for crops and livestock. Infrastructure development and urbanization each account for around 10% and 5% of deforestation respectively due to land clearing for transportation, housing, and other human needs. Deforestation endangers biodiversity, threatens livelihoods of over

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344 views2 pages

DEFORESTATION Exposition

Deforestation refers to the decline of forest areas worldwide that are lost to other uses like agriculture, urbanization, and mining. It has significantly intensified due to human activity and reduced forest areas around the world, increasing desertification. The main causes of deforestation are agriculture, infrastructure development, and urbanization, which lead to threats to biodiversity, unemployment, poverty, and soil erosion. Agriculture, responsible for 80% of deforestation, involves clearing forests for crops and livestock. Infrastructure development and urbanization each account for around 10% and 5% of deforestation respectively due to land clearing for transportation, housing, and other human needs. Deforestation endangers biodiversity, threatens livelihoods of over

Uploaded by

Damon Helth
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DEFORESTATION

Deforestation refers to the decline of forest areas worldwide that are lost to other uses, such as
croplands, urbanization, or mining operations. It has been significantly intensified by human activity,
has adversely affected natural habitats, biodiversity, and the environment. The annual deforestation rate
is estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to be around 1.3
million km2 per decade. This occurrence has reduced the area of rainforests around the world and has led
to an increase in desertification. Since, it is as a result of human activities, all of its causes are human-
related such as: agriculture, construction of infrastructure and urbanization. These causes lead to terrible
long-term consequences which in turn affects all ecosystems including humans. These are: threat to
biodiversity, unemployment and poverty, and soil erosion.
Agriculture is considered the top contender for the causes of deforestation. According to the
Food and Agriculture Organization, 80% of the world’s deforestation is accounted by Agriculture and
33% of that is caused by subsistence farming which is particularly done by peasants. Commercial
agriculture involves large plantations for the growing of crops and the rearing of livestock, as a result,
huge areas of forest are cleared each year to accommodate these plantations and their expansion. Also to
create feeding grounds for such livestock, the trees are consequently cleared.
In addition to agriculture, construction of infrastructure is another impact of deforestation. The
construction of human infrastructures has also been driving deforestation. More specifically, 10 percent
of deforestation can be attributed to new infrastructures that serve the current human lifestyle in three
main ways: transportation, transformation and energy generation. Large areas of land are cleared to set
up these structures to accommodate human needs of infrastructure to make life easier. Since the trees are
not replanted the land is left barren, so there are no trees.
Furthermore, urbanization is also a major effect of deforestation. The population shift that is
leading people to move from rural areas to urban areas is also contributing to deforestation (5%,
according to FAO). This urban growth – in which 68% of the world’s population is expected to live in
cities by 2050 according to FAO, is leading to an exponential growth of housing and consumption sites.
And as cities become larger so they can host more people, they challenge the natural boundaries
surrounding them, often leading to deforestation.
All the causes aforementioned are naturally followed by consequences that have affected the
environment and humankind, even though they are the frontrunners of the causes.
One consequence is threat to biodiversity. The danger to biodiversity is the most well-known
effect of deforestation. Indeed, forests constitute some of the most genuine centers of biodiversity. From
mammals to birds, insects, amphibians or plants, many uncommon and fragile species live in the forest.
80 percent of the animals and plants on Earth live in forests conferred by FAO. Human actions are
placing whole habitats at risk by destroying forests, causing ecological imbalances and putting life at
risk. The natural world is complicated, interconnected and composed of thousands of interdependencies
and functions, among others.
Another effect is unemployment. Healthy forests sustain the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people
worldwide, of which one billion are among the poorest in the world according to FAO. This implies that
many individuals rely on forests for survival and use them for their small-scale farming processes to
hunt and collect raw products. But land tenure systems are weak in developing countries like Borneo,
Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, or Mexico. Large businesses exploit them and use up these lands, thus
taking away the locals livelihood.
The last impact is soil erosion. Deforestation degrades and makes the soil poor. In addition to
being richer in organic matter, forested soils are typically more resistant to drought, poor weather and
severe weather events. This occurs largely because roots help anchor trees in the soil and the cover of
the sun-blocking tree allows the soil to dry out slowly. As a consequence, it makes the soil more porous,
making the environment more vulnerable to natural disasters such as landslides and floods.
In conclusion, deforestation is caused by human activities which consequently lead to
anthropogenic events. Incipiently, deforestation was a minor issue but as time progressed, its impacts
became more aggressive. It is a major problem in the world that has yet receive a practical solution.

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