What is the review of literature of Deforestation?
Answers
Deforestation is clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to
the quality of the land. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. An estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2015). With this happening, NASA predicts
the world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of
deforestation. Ironically enough though, the biggest cause of deforestation is agriculture. The
second is illegal logging. Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper
products, also cut countless trees each year. Furthermore, forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl as land is developed for dwellings. Considering these many factors, not all deforestation is intentional. Some are caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing, all in which may prevent the growth of young trees. What not many people know though is that deforestation can have a negative impact on the environment. The biggest and most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species.
About eighty percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests
, many in which cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes. Another impact that deforestation drives is
climate change. The soils of forests are moist, however without protection from the sun’s heat
and rays, they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts. The purpose of this literature review is to define the causes of deforestation and its effects it has on the climate, while also explaining certain ways to prevent and reverse it.
Forest plays a significant role in the overall balance of carbon in the atmosphere. Forest carbon sequestration can potentially reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, when deforestation takes place, carbon is released to the atmosphere again.