Deforestation: Causes, Definition, & Consequences - Essay Sample

Introduction

Different agencies have defined deforestation, but among them, the outstanding definition is that by the United States Environmental Protection Agency that defines it as the permanent removal of standing forests. Deforestation usually occurs for a varied number of reasons, and its consequences are many and devastating. Deforestation could either occur accidentally due to a natural disaster or deliberately through human activities. As a result of deforestation, many adverse effects could follow, and they include soil erosion, climate change, fewer crops, increased greenhouse gases, flooding, and many problems for the indigenous people. Among the three significant consequences of deforestation include disruption of the water cycle, disruption of the carbon cycle, and reduction of the diversity of species. Deforestation contributes to the disruption of the water cycle in the atmosphere since trees play a crucial role in controlling the levels of water in the atmosphere by regulating the water cycle. When deforestation occurs, it means that there will be fewer trees left, and there will be less water in the air to be returned to the soil. Deforestation also interferes with the carbon cycle in the atmosphere through increased greenhouse gases. Trees are responsible for oxygen in the atmosphere, and with deforestation, the levels of carbon will increase to more severe levels in the future. Species, both plants, and animals also suffer under deforestation. When forests are cut down, certain endangered indigenous tree species are lost. There are also animals such as birds and other forest animals whose habits in the woods, who upon deforestation, may be lost.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Disruption of the Water Cycle

The forests play a significant role in adding to the local humidity through the transpiration process by the trees. Transpiration is the process by which plants release water into the atmosphere through their leaves, which adds to the local rainfall. The process of the water cycle occurs such that moisture transpired and evaporated into the atmosphere (Chidumayo & Gumbo, 2013). Upon reaching the atmosphere, it condenses to form clouds, which then precipitate as rain back to the earth's surface. Cutting down forests results in less moisture evapotranspiring into the atmosphere; hence fewer rain clouds get formed. As a result, there is a subsequent decline in the amount of rainfall which subjects the affected area to drought. The continued practice of deforestation would have far-reaching impacts on the local areas since if the rains decline and stop for a long time, the area could become arid with the intense rays of the sun hitting hard on the scrub-land. Every tree in the forest is important and acts as a fountain sucking water from the ground with its roots and releasing it into the atmosphere in the form of vapor to create the giant rivers of water in the air. However, by shaving the planet of the trees, humans risk drying up the aerial rivers and other land water sources that highly depend on these trees. There is a growing body of research, and according to the sources, continued deforestation could lead to a shortened impacts of global climate change. The Nile could be dried up, and the Asian monsoons could be possibly hobbled.

Disruption of the Carbon Cycle

Since the industrial revolution, there has been a steady increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The increased amount of carbon in the atmosphere has been attributed to many factors, but most significantly through the deforestation activities (Bala et al., 2017). Rain forests, for example, play a vital role in locking up carbon in the vegetation, and this implies that the moment such forests are brought down through deforestation, atmospheric carbon will have nowhere to be contained and hence increasing its concentration in the atmosphere. When such forests get degraded, they are burnt, or get cleared. There are large amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere together with other greenhouse gases like methane, nitrogen oxides, and nitrous oxides. The burning and clearing of tropical forests are responsible for the release of over a billion metric carbon tons into the atmosphere every year. This exceeds ten percent of anthropogenic carbon emissions (Bala et al., 2017). When carbon dioxide and other gases build up in the atmosphere, it creates a condition known as the greenhouse effect. It is believed that due to the accumulation of these gases into the atmosphere, the radiative balance of the earth has been affected, implying that more of the sun's rays reach the earth's surface as opposed to how it should be. It is the same effect that produces global warming since more of the heat from the sun gets absorbed and trapped inside the atmosphere. Global warming occurs since greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are transparent, and they allow the passage of shortwave solar radiation, which are very harmful to the lives on earth, humans included (Bala et al., 2017). The shortwaves reach the surface of the earth, heats it, and then reflects the atmosphere as long-wave radiations. The other funny thing here is that the greenhouse gases are opaque to long-wave radiations, and this means that the heat will be trapped in the atmosphere. Due to the buildup of greenhouse gases, there is an increment in this opacity, which results in more heat getting trapped in the atmosphere.

Reduction of the Diversity of Species

The loss of biodiversity is arguably the most severe aspect of environmental degradation and crisis (Chidumayo & Gumbo, 2013). Biodiversity can be termed as a grouping of all the other living things with which humans share the earth. Humans are, in turn, affected since natural processes like water purification and pollination are interfered with, as well as the destruction of humanity's fascinating, beautiful, and culturally significant living companions. According to Ceballos et al. (2015), there is a growing body of evidence indicating a high rate of extinction of species compared to the pre-human background rate. There is documentation of the destruction of hundreds of anthropogenic vertebrates in historic and pre-historic times. A good example is the extinction of over 1800 birds in the islands of tropical Oceania, in the 2000 years since human colonization (Barlow et al., 2016). Most of these birds have been described using their subfossil remains. There are also written records of extinction of reptiles, large mammals, and birds, including species like Steller's sea cow, dodo, and the Rodrigues giant tortoise (Ceballos et al., 2015). Trees continue to be cut down for consumer benefits and economic purposes despite the clear evidence of reduced biodiversity resulting from deforestation. Deforestation may primarily contribute to the loss of biodiversity when species of animals have their habitats destroyed, and they can no longer relocate, resulting in them becoming distinct. Certain species of trees can disappear permanently due to deforestation, and this negatively affects the biodiversity of plants in an environment. In tropical rainforests, deforestation can have the largest effects since half of all the 5 to 80 million species live there (Barlow et al., 2016). Rain forests cover only seven percent of earth's land area, and this explains why these forests are densely populated by these species, which cannot find habitat in any other place. Only 1.5 million species have been named in detailed, and still, there are about 137 species that become extinct daily (Barlow et al., 2016).

Conclusion

The three effects of deforestation are a growing concern in the health of humans and other living organizations, and it is the responsibility of everyone to ensure that such impacts are reduced. The members of the society must determine the economic costs they have to incur to preserve animals and plants species. Besides, the changing hydrological conditions are dangerous to the economy of the world since reduced rainfalls would mean reduced agricultural productivity. Human health is also at stake due to the greenhouse effects, and as a result of all these, there is a need to mitigate the impact of deforestation. The problem of deforestation is a global crisis that needs the intervention of all parties, the government, private sectors, and other agencies and corporate organizations. Deforestation is majorly a human activity, and in the long run, it is the humans who suffer from its consequences. In as much as development is essential, it is crucial to develop sustainably so that the future generation may also be able to enjoy the benefits of a safe and healthy environment. Reducing the degree of deforestation would require that the tree harvesters use selective logging, whereby only the most economically beneficial trees get cut. At the same time, those with low economic value are left. Even though this method would still have problems, it would be better since it is impractical to purport that deforestation can be ended completely.

References

Bala, G., Caldeira, K., Wickett, M., Phillips, T. J., Lobell, D. B., Delire, C., & Mirin, A. (2017). Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(16), 6550-6555. https://www.pnas.org/content/104/16/6550.short

Barlow, J., Lennox, G. D., Ferreira, J., Berenguer, E., Lees, A. C., Mac Nally, R., ... & Parry, L. (2016). Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestation. Nature, 535(7610), 144. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18326

Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., Garcia, A., Pringle, R. M., & Palmer, T. M. (2015). Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Science advances, 1(5), e1400253. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253.full?con=

Chidumayo, E. N., & Gumbo, D. J. (2013). The environmental impacts of charcoal production in tropical ecosystems of the world: A synthesis. Energy for Sustainable Development, 17(2), 86-94. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082612000476