Effects

           Removing something from the planet definitely has its consequences. Usually the effects of deforestation are not something that we would  want to look forward to. Here we will discuss a few of the major consequences of deforestation. We need to realize that what we are doing now will definitely impact the future generation. Easily said the trees that we remove today will show serious effects in the long run. Now let's look at some of the negative outcomes of deforestation.

Increased Greenhouse Gas Emission

          Deforestation releases Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere leading to the warming influence on earth. There are various simulations that were done based on the effects of global scale deforestation and how afforestation in the tropics can help to control the alarming rate of global warming. Healthy forests can help to absorb the greenhouse gasses and carbon emission that are caused by humans which contributes to the global climate change. Deforestation reduces these trees and all these greenhouse gasses are put out in the atmosphere. The tropical forest holds more than 210 Gigatons of carbon and deforestation represents around fifteen percent of the greenhouse gas emission. (WWF, 2014)


Source:https://worldwildlife.org


Increased Soil Erosion


          Without trees to anchor the fertile soil, soil erosion takes place and sweeps the land into the river. Most of the time, agricultural plants cannot anchor the soil firmly like the trees. Instead, these plants aggravate soil erosion. Many of these agricultural plants are plants like cotton, coffee, palm oils, wheat and soybean. Scientists estimate that the worlds cultivatable land have been lost through soil erosion mainly since 1960. Not only that, this increase in soil erosion can later cause other effects like flash floods and reduced water quality that eventually leads to a disrupted system for the marine organisms. 



This image shows how soil erosion can lead to reduced water quality.(Source:http://www.buzzle.com/)














Habitat loss and impacted species

                 Deforestation leads to habitat loss. Since most of the flora and fauna depend on these habitats as their living space, they tend to face extinction threat when their homes are taken away from them. The Malaysian forest has been the home for several endangered species like the Borneo pygmy elephants, Sumatran rhinos and various timber species. What happens when these animals lose their homes, they tend to roam into areas that are populated by humans while trying to search for food or a new habitat. However, these species ends up being killed because humans are afraid that these animals can cause damages to their crops or might harm them. 
     We don't want our homes to be taken away right?






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