Impacts of Deforestation on Biodiversity
Forests serve as the bank of oxygen. They make life possible on the planet Earth. Every living or non-living thing is either directly or indirectly influenced by forests. Besides oxygen, they support sustainable habitat for people, wild life, and other creatures of the world. Forests offer a substantial environment for endangered and vanishing animal species. They also deliver life supporting benefits that to 1.6 billion population of the world. More than thirty percent of or planet is covered by forests. But, unfortunately, forests are being cleared off at massive scales from around the world in the form of deforestation. It has its adverse effects on the areas of the worlds with richest biodiversity, for example, Amazon. Deforestation has caused an immediate environmental issue that has led to threat to the livelihood of the people, wiping out wild life species, and escalating global warming. All these consequences lead to ecological imbalance of the world environment.
Deforestation can be both due to human intervention or natural interference (calamities). Both these factors are responsible for the degrading the sustainability of the environment. Forest fires, urbanization, cutting down the forests for agriculture and creating grazing fields for cattle, floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, etc. are the main causes of deforestation. However, people account for the deforestation at a huge level. All these elements endanger the welfares and sustainability of the forests, making life hard for the living diversity of the world. It results in ecological inability to meet the requirements of the normal natural processes. According to panda.org, each year twelve to fifteen million hectares of forest land are vanished, which means that a huge area equal to thirty-six football fields is lost per minute.
Forests are not only an assemblage of trees but they support and sustain ecosystems and flourish living diversity including both plants and animals. Deforestation causes end to these valuable ecosystems. According to greenpeace.org, more than two-hundred species of plant species can be present on one hectare of Amazon, and also there are about seventy-two diverse species of ants living in it. But, deforestation through illegal Logging is demolishing this exquisite expanse.
Generally speaking, forest degradation (through forest fires, fuel wood harvesting, unsustainable and illegal logging etc.) and conversion of forest land into agricultural lands (crop plantations, materialistic infrastructures etc.) are the main causes of deforestation. Such factors severely escalate the process of deforestation, which in turn have adverse effects on the living diversity of the planet.
Deforestation is a very solemn concern that affects the biodiversity of the world. It has created a moment of chaos, which the people are unable to comprehend due to their increasing egocentric needs. Increase in population account for much increase in the process of deforestation in order to meet the ever-increasing need for more food. Forests are being cleared off to make the land available for agricultural cultivation and farmlands. At times, the forests are put of fire to clear them off that adds a huge amount of carbon-dioxide and carbon-monoxide to the atmosphere, harmfully affecting the ecological balance.
Wood is preferred as a better fuel for heating and cooking in most parts of the world, and almost fifty percent of the illegal timber is used for fuel only (WWF). Also, it is used for construction purposes and making furniture. Illegal logging (also unsustainable logging) along with fuel-wood harvesting wipes out a huge share of forests from the surface of the Earth. It destroys vital habitats of unlimited plant and animal species.
According to wwf.panda.org, ten countries account for eighty-seven percent of deforestation; Brazil and Indonesia are responsible for fifty-one percent of discharges from the loss of the forests.
Deforestation severely affects the sustainability of the planet Earth. It is the result of deforestation that the world is experiencing unpredictable climate changes along with extinction of various animal species. Deforestation results in the destruction of the habitat, causing an end to the ecosystems. Also, it badly affects many animal species by making them endangered (or even causing their extinction), which affects the ecological valance of the planet. Habitat destruction makes the species vulnerable to hunting and other threats.
Deforestation corresponds to the emission of about fifteen percent of green-house gas into the atmosphere, which results in global-warming. Global warming affects the erratic climate change with rise in temperature. It results in melting of glaciers, causing increase in sea water level and submersion of low level areas. According to a study, summers are hotter now, with a very low humidity and added winds in the Mediterranean. Such conditions provide good conditions for forest fires.
Deforestation also causes soil erosion due to uneven rains and floods, washing away the fertile portion of the land. Also, deforestation accounts for decreased unsatisfying livelihood that can disrupt social aura of a society and may even lead to serious crimes.
Deforestation is a serious issue that directly affects the habitat of the living plant and animal species. Loss of habitat results an end to an entire ecosystem which gravely affects the ecological balance of the environment. Cutting down of trees on large scale disrupts the sustaining approach of the environment, making it unsupportive for existing life forms. Deforestation critically disturbs the biological flow of the environment, making it prone to certain threats.
References
Deforestation. WWF Global.Retrieved from: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_forests/deforestation/
Impacts of Deforestation on the Amazon. Greenpeace.Feature story. 2003. Retrieved from: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/impacts-of-deforestation-on-th/
Threats of Deforestation . WWF Global. Retrieved from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
