DEFORESTATION
Stretching out from the equator on all Earth’s land surfaces is a wide belt of forests of amazing diversity and productivity. Tropical forests include dense rainforests, where rainfall is abundant year-round; seasonally moist forests, where rainfall is abundant, but seasonal; and drier, more open woodlands. Tropical forests of all varieties are disappearing rapidly as humans clear the natural landscape to make room for farms and pastures, to harvest timber for construction and fuel, and to build roads and urban areas. Although deforestation meets some human needs, it also has profound, sometimes devastating consequences, including social conflict, extinction of plants and animals, and climate change—challenges that aren’t just local, but global. Deforestation is therefore a permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. The term does not include the removal of industrial forests such as plantations of gums or pines. Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area. Indigenous forests now cover 21% of the earth's land surface. Of great concern is the rate at which deforestation is occurring. Currently, 12 million hectares of forests are cleared annually. Almost all of this deforestation occurs in the moist forests and open woodlands of the tropics. At this rate all moist tropical forest could be lost by the year 2050, except for isolated areas in Amazonia, the Zaire basin, as well as a few protected areas within reserves and parks. Some countries such as Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka are likely to lose all their tropical forests by the year 2010 if no conservation steps are taken.
Deforestation is brought about by the following:
ü conversion of forests and woodlands to agricultural land to feed growing numbers of people;
ü development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries;
ü commercial logging (which supplies the world market with woods such as meranti, teak, mahogany and ebony) destroys trees as well as opening up forests for agriculture;
ü felling of trees for firewood and building material; the heavy lopping of foliage for fodder; and heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals like goats.
To compound the problem, the poor soils of the humid tropics do not support agriculture for long. Thus people are often forced to move on and clear more forests in order to maintain production
CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION
· Erosion: The lushness of the world’s tropical forests is somewhat deceptive. Although these forests assume to be lush and full, the underlying soils are very poor, almost all the nutrients being bound up in the vegetation. The problem is that once forests have been cut down, essential nutrients are washed out of the soil all-together. This leads to soil erosion. As of now, about 80% of the soils in the humid tropics are acidic and infertile (Dudley 21). When there are no trees to keep the soil in place, the soil becomes ripe for erosion. It dries and cracks under the sun’s heat. Once the soil temperature exceeds 25 degrees centigrade, volatile nutrient ingredients like nitrogen can be lost, further reducing the fertility of the remaining soil (Myers 14). Furthermore, rainfall washes remaining nutrients into rivers. This means that replanting trees will not necessarily help to solve the problems of deforestation; by the time the trees have matured, the soil might be completely stripped of essential nutrients. Eventually, cultivation in the forest regions will be impossible, and the land will be useless. The soil erosion will lead to permanent impoverishment of huge land areas. The social impact of soil erosion can be quite severe. Those who settle into the forest regions are forced to move every year or so due to soil erosion. They find areas where they can cultivate. When those areas are no longer good for growing, they move to another region. Erosion washes away valuable minerals. This process could be controlled if the rate of deforestation is reduced.
· Flooding : Flooding is a quite serious consequence of deforestation. Clearing the forest dramatically increases the surface run-off from rainfall, mainly because a greater proportion of the rain reaches the ground due to a lack of vegetation which would suck up the excess rainfall. "Tropical forests can receive as much rain in an hour as London would expect in a wet month, and a single storm has been measured as removing 185 tonnes of topsoil per hectare" (Dudley 21). In tropical regions where the forests are dense, flooding is not as serious a problem because there is vegetation to absorb the rainfall. It is in areas where there is little vegetation that there is a problem. Hence, to avoid the disastrous effects of flooding, tropical forests need to remain dense and lush.
· Climate Change : Although all consequences of deforestation are potentially serious, perhaps the most serious consequence is that of climate change due to the loss of trees. Earth has an atmosphere which contains a variety of gases, all in a delicate balance, to ensure life on Earth. One of these gases in Earth’s atmosphere is carbon dioxide; a gas which helps moderate heat loss to outer space. Insulating gases such as carbon dioxide are called "greenhouse gasses because their function is much like that of the glass in a greenhouse: they allow solar heat into the system, but discourage its escape" (GFF 3). Other greenhouse gases include methane, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, and ozone. If there are additional greenhouse gases, there will be a gradual increase in temperature on Earth surface. This could lead to changes in weather patterns, sea levels, and other cycles in nature that directly affect life on Earth (GFF 3). The process of greenhouse gas increase is quite simple. Carbon dioxide levels increase for a number of reasons; but one of the main factors contributing to the increase of carbon levels is decay of woody material. The only way to help moderate the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is through plant life. Alive plants and trees absorb the carbon dioxide from decaying plants and trees. With a decrease in trees and plant life (due to deforestation) it is much harder to moderate these levels. Ultimately, the amount of carbon will increase due to a lack of plant life present to keep the carbon dioxide levels in check. This whole process leads to an "albedo effect which reflects more heat and light back into the atmosphere than would be the case if the sun shone on green trees" (Dudley 23). The bottom line is that the increase in the carbon level and other greenhouse gas levels into the atmosphere leads to an increase in temperature, and eventually a change in climate and weathe.
· Biodiversity Impacts: Although tropical forests cover only about 7 percent of the Earth’s dry land, they probably harbor about half of all species on Earth. Many species are so specialized to microhabitats within the forest that they can only be found in small areas. Their specialization makes them vulnerable to extinction. In addition to the species lost when an area is totally deforested, the plants and animals in the fragments of forest that remain also become increasingly vulnerable, sometimes even committed, to extinction. The edges of the fragments dry out and are buffeted by hot winds; mature rainforest trees often die standing at the margins. Cascading changes in the types of trees, plants, and insects that can survive in the fragments rapidly reduces biodiversity in the forest that remains. People may disagree about whether the extinction of other species through human action is an ethical issue, but there is little doubt about the practical problems that extinction poses. First, global markets consume rainforest products that depend on sustainable harvesting: latex, cork, fruit, nuts, timber, fibers, spices, natural oils and resins, and medicines. In addition, the genetic diversity of tropical forests is basically the deepest end of the planetary gene pool. Hidden in the genes of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria that have not even been discovered yet may be cures for cancer and other diseases or the key to improving the yield and nutritional quality of foods—which the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says will be crucial for feeding the nearly ten billion people the Earth will likely need to support in coming decades. Finally, genetic diversity in the planetary gene pool is crucial for the resilience of all life on Earth to rare but catastrophic environmental events, such as meteor impacts or massive, sustained volcanism.
· Desertification: The causes of desertification are complex, but deforestation is one of the contributing factors.
· Social Impacts: Tropical forests are home to millions of native (indigenous) people who make their livings through subsistence agriculture, hunting and gathering, or through low-impact harvesting of forest products like rubber or nuts. Deforestation in indigenous territories by loggers, colonizers, and refugees has sometimes triggered violent conflict. Forest preservation can be socially divisive, as well. National and international governments and aid agencies struggle with questions about what level of human presence, if any, is compatible with conservation goals in tropical forests, how to balance the needs of indigenous peoples with expanding rural populations and national economic development, and whether establishing large, pristine, uninhabited protected areas—even if that means removing current residents—should be the highest priority of conservation efforts in tropical forests.
SOLUTIONS
The responsibility of safeguarding our magnificent earth lies in the hands of its populace. Needless to say, we as humans are accountable for preserving our planet. Our actions do major impacts on the natural world; our choices can either revive our Earth or totally annihilate it. The many forested lands are being shattered all over the world, and we must make moves to further pursue the deforestation solutions. Deforestation is in fact an inescapable problem; it should therefore be addressed to and not put aside. Solutions are needed for this kind of problem if we want to stay away from its consequences. Although smaller forests are but a speck of soil in contrast to the whole land mass of the globe, there is a likelihood that the entire world might one day end up like a wasted place if deforestation persists without fervent actions taken against it.
The False Solutions At Hand
In the past, various solutions have been taken account to for further experiments against what could bring deforestation down. However, some of the solutions failed and some progressed, and here is the list of what should not be considered as a problem solving equation for one of the world’s biggest threats: Sustainable Commercial Logging Options, Tropical Forestry Action Plan, Limits of Reserve Strategies, and International Biodiversity Program.
The Sustainable Commercial Logging Options has been considered negligible by most of our environmentalists. Its key concept of permitting logging at a minimal rate resulted to more deforestation events all over the world. People did not seem to listen or to participate in such program since aggressive prohibition of logging was not made.
Second, the TFAP plan which was based on a concept that deforestation problems were due to poverty did not work out as well. Timber harvest was assumed by TFAP to have lifted poverty problems, which only drove all the more to the evils of deforestation.
Strict protective measures to preserve earth through the third plan are only a second and subsidiary form of healing. Instead of dealing directly with the problem, it tends to sidetrack by supporting only one of its branches. What should be done is to have the greatest protection available for our depleted rainforests. In this way, direct controlling of the problem is needed.
The fourth and the last failed plan is International Biodiversity Program which only addresses to the underlying causes of deforestation and not the direct ones. Just like TFAP, such plans also came to end without showing good results.
The Sensible Solutions :Toward Deforestation Eradication Like the false solutions, the world also came up with realistic problem solving ideas which would help in the betterment of the deforestation problems. Some of which include: recognizing the presence of the indigenous people as the original inhabitants of all rainforests over the Earth.
Non-timber values which explain to people that other crops or products can be means of lumber substitute, the impact of debt burden to a country and how the nation can ask for help from the world bank; and lastly, putting an end to over consumption of forest made products.
Whichever deforestation solutions we use, the only thing that actually matters is how the humans react to it. If they give much time and effort for the world’s conservation, then the possibilities of reaching that goal would definitely be high.
However, as human concern declines, the rate of deforestation correspondingly grows higher.
