What are the effects of deforestation
Answers
Effects of Deforestation:
National Geographic Magazinesummarizes five primary effects of deforestation. The loss of trees causes several problems. In short, cutting or burning forests has a number of negative effects on soil, water, the climate, and the ecosystems they are part of.
Loss of biodiversity - According to National Geographic, 80% of the world’s plants and animals live in forests, and many cannot live elsewhere. With so many of the world’s plants and animals live in forests, that a significant reduction in that habitat, whether tropical rainforest or northern evergreen forest has an impact on biodiversity. Worse, many endangered plants and animals live only in a certain kind of forest habitat. Those species can be lost entirely or can become extinct in the wild very easily.
Climate change - Cutting down the trees also removes a mechanism to regulate the temperature in forested areas. Hotter days and cooler nights put additional strain on the remaining plants and animals. Growing trees trap a good deal of carbon dioxide. That function cannot be fully replaced by planting single crops, like soy or hemp. The plants are good at holding moisture, trees in particular. Without forest cover, deserts can advance and push out remaining plants and animals.
Loss of soil fertility - Forested land can be attractive for agriculture because it seems so fertile. In fact, this often isn’t so. The seeming fertility of a rainforest depends on the complex relationships between a variety of plant species. Clearing an area to plant soy or hemp just exposes soil that is high in nutrients at first. After a few growing seasons, the soil is exhausted and the farmers move on. The trees and brush in a forest help prevent soil from running off into lakes and rivers and polluting them.
Flooding - Forests absorb heavy rains that otherwise could run directly into rivers and streams. After a storm, or after several rainy days, a local river can rise to flood stage, even with forests taking up much of the water. Without greatly reduced forest cover comes greatly increased runoff and flooding. Because so much of the world’s population lives along rivers, indiscriminate cutting and burning of forests can be a real threat to lives and property downstream.
Water pollution - Clearing a forest also causes runoff into the water. The soil carries away nutrients and may pollute the water with agricultural chemicals. This would certainly happen if the forest is replaced with farm land. Water that should filter down through grass and soil into the water table runs off into nearby bodies of water, reducing the amount of ground water available later. The land that the forest once covered becomes drier and the soil becomes less and less suitable for growing food crops or for grazing. The issue of soil degradation is probably better known in the tropics, but it can be a concern anywhere that forests are clear-cut to make room for agriculture or take lumber.
The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.