Deforestation

One environmental issue I care a lot about is deforestation. Growing up my parents would take me up to the mountains. For as long as I can remember I have loved everything about nature. All the family trips up to the mountains really made me fall in love with the forest and its environment. Everything about forests just makes me smile, what can I say I’m a tree hugger. There’s so much that people don’t know about deforestation. Deforestation has become a very big issue in the past couple years. Some statistics show that an estimated 18 million acres are lost each year due to deforestation. In the last two decades Afghanistan has lost over 70% of its forests throughout the country. Deforestation if you don’t know is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land for uses such as arable land, pasture, urban use, logged area, or wasteland. Deforestation can cause many unbalances in the ecology and environment and causes a decline in habitat and diversity.

Facts about deforestation:

1. Forests cover over 30% of earths land

2. It is estimated within the next 100 years there will be no rainforests

3. One and a half acres are cut down every second

4. 28,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next quarter of a century due to deforestation

5. Tropical forests, where deforestation is most prevalent, hold more than 210 gigatones of carbon

6. Tropical rainforests which cover 6–7% of the earth’s surface, contain over half of all the plant and animal species in the world

Deforestation is a very big contributer in climate change. When trees fall, they release carbon into the air but they also get rid of greenhouse gases. 4–6,000 species go extinct each year due to deforestation. People cause the most damage to forests because of urban development and logging and many more. If we find out to get a hold on deforestation we can save many species. There are some ways that we can fix this, such as replanting new plants when we cut them down. The biggest driver of deforestation would be agriculture. Many farmers cut down forest to provide crops or livestock. Also, farmers use a process known as slash and burn agriculture. But, logging operations provide the most wood and paper products. What people don’t know is some loggers illegally build roads to remote forests which leads to more deforestation. There are some cases where deforestation isn’t intentional some caused by human and natural factors like forest fires and overgrazing. The most feasible solution for this huge environmental issue is to carefully manage. The number of new tree plantations is growing each year, but their total still equals a tiny fraction of the Earth’s forested land. This may be a small fraction but in the long run every little bit helps and we need to start fighting this issue now before it gets even more out of hand.

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