Deforestation

 

DEFORESTATION:

Deforestation is an issue that has been brought to the front of the international scene since the past decades. Unfortunately, as the human needs grow, so is the deforestation. As urbanization is developing, more and more lands are needed, but at what price? 

What is deforestation?

 It is the fact of cutting trees and removing forests for the human use like agricultural expansion, housing or even illegal logging. As we are more and more numerous on the planet, we need more space, but this exposes the planet to many risks. 

Reasons forests are destroyed 

The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) of forest have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) — an area bigger than the size of South Africa. In 2018, The Guardian reported that every second, a chunk of forest equivalent to the size of a soccer field is lost.

Often, deforestation occurs when forested area is cut and cleared to make way for agriculture or grazing. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four commodities are responsible for tropical deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood products. US estimates that an area the size of Switzerland (14,800 square miles, or 38,300 square km) is lost to deforestation every year. 

Natural fires in tropical forests tend to be rare but intense. Human-lit fires are commonly used to clear land for agricultural use. First, valuable timber is harvested, then the remaining vegetation is burned to make way for crops like soy or cattle grazing. In 2019, the number of human-lit fires in Brazil skyrocketed. As of August 2019, more than 80,000 fires burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National Geographic reported. 

Many forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is the most commonly produced vegetable oil and is found in half of all supermarket products. It's cheap, versatile and can be added to both food and personal products like lipsticks and shampoo. Its popularity has spurred people to clear tropical forests to grow more palm trees. Growing the trees that produce the oil requires the leveling of native forest and the destruction of local peat lands — which doubles the harmful effect on the ecosystem. According to a report published by Zion Market Research, the global palm oil market was valued at $65.73 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $92.84 billion in 2021. 

How Does Deforestation Endanger the Environment?

Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment, we tried to narrow them down: 

• It is estimated that in 100 years time there won’t be any rain forests on earth anymore.
• The loss of Biodiversity.
• One and a half acres of forest is cut down every second.
• The rate of deforestation equals to a loss of 20 football fields every minute.
• Up to 28,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next quarter of the century due to deforestation.
• deforestation effects water cycle

Why are Forests so Important?

• They provide habitats for animals and livelihoods for humans.
• They cover about 30% of the world.
• 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon forest.
• Trees are important components of the ecosystem by absorbing carbon.
• More than 25% of the medicine we use come from rain forest plants.
• Forests provide watershed protection, prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate change.

What can we do to Avoid Deforestation?

The number of newly planted trees increases every year, but the total still equals a tiny part of what the planet really needs. Ending the deforestation requires a strong political will from the leaders of all countries.

However, your power as a consumer is vital to stop deforestation! Like any business, if there is no demand, the supply will reduce. Fortunately, there are environmentally friendly companies that are helping to reduce deforestation. They need your support.

Developing alternatives to deforestation can help decrease the need for tree clearing. For example, the desire to expand the amount of land used for agriculture is an attractive reason to deforest an area. But if people adopted sustainable farming practices or employed new farming technologies and crops, the need for more land might be diminished, according to the UN's Sustainable Forest Management Toolbox. 

Forests can also be restored, through replanting trees in cleared areas or simply allowing the forest ecosystem to regenerate over time. The goal of restoration is to return the forest to its original state, before it was cleared, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The sooner a cleared area is reforested, the quicker the ecosystem can start to repair itself. Afterward, wildlife will return, water systems will reestablish, carbon will be sequestered and soils will be replenished. 

Everyone can do their part to curb deforestation. We can buy certified wood products, go paperless whenever possible, limit our consumption of products that use palm oil and plant a tree when possible

HEALTH EFFECTS 

According to the World Economic Forum, 31% of the emerging diseases are linked to deforestation[Kate Jones, chair of ecology and biodiversity at University College London, says the disruption of pristine forests driven by logging, mining, road building through remote places, rapid urbanization and population growth is bringing people into closer contact with animal species they may never have been near before, resulting in transmission of diseases from wildlife to humans.

Experts say that anthropocentric deforestation, habitat loss and destruction of biodiversity may be linked to outbreaks like the 2019–20   pandemic in several ways. According to American science journalist David, "We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Damage to forests and other aspects of nature could halve living standards for the world's poor and reduce global GDP by about 7% by 2050, a report concluded at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn in 2008.[84] Historically, utilization of forest products, including timber and fuel wood, has played a key role in human societies, comparable to the roles of water and cultivable land. Today, developed countries continue to utilize timber for building houses, and wood pulp for paper. In developing countries, almost three billion people rely on wood for heating and cooking.

  

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AUTHOR: VETCHA  LOKESH