Deforestation
In short we could say that deforestation is the use and loss of forests for other purposes such as agricultural, industrial or urban.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), an estimated 7.3 million hectares of forest are lost every year.
Causes
The WWF reports that half of the trees illegally removed from the forests are used as fuel.
The other main causes of deforestation are:
- To leave land available for housing and the construction of housing developments: Trees are cut for road construction. The overpopulation also affects directly since more land is needed to build houses and cities.
- To use wood to create commercial items, such as paper, furniture and houses: Wood-based industries such as paper, matches, furniture, etc. They also need a considerable amount of wood supply. Wood is used as fuel, both directly and indirectly, therefore, the trees are cut.
- To create ingredients that are highly valued as consumer items, such as palm oil, from which you get a vegetable oil, also known as "vegetable fat", which is used for all kinds of things, such as oil for food, frozen foods, margarines, pastries, ice cream, biofuels, household cleaning, personal care products
- To create space for agricultural and livestock use: Due to the excessive growth of the demand for food products, a large number of trees were eliminated for cultivation and livestock.
Consequences
- The loss of biodiversity. This is probably the most serious consequence of deforestation. In short, it means the destruction and extinction of many species of plants and animals, many of which remain unknown and whose benefits will remain undiscovered.
- Desertification: When forests are removed, the soil cover, which consists mainly of vegetation, is also removed. This leaves the ground bare and exposed to extreme conditions produced by the heat of the sun and rainwater, becoming desert. The forest soils are humid, but without protection from the trees that block the sun they dry quickly. The trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without trees that fulfill this mission, many forest lands can quickly become sterile deserts.
- Floods: Deforestation can lead to watersheds that are no longer able to sustain and regulate the water flows of rivers and streams. Trees are very effective at absorbing large amounts of water, keeping the amount of water in the watersheds at a manageable level. The forest also serves as a hedge against erosion. Once the forest disappears, water can lead to flooding, many of which have caused disasters in many parts of the world.
- Disappearance of tropical forests: A study estimates that if we continue this rate of deforestation, tropical forests could disappear completely within a hundred years.
- Climate Change: Deforestation also drives climate change. The trees block the sun's rays during the day and keep the heat at night. This alteration results in more extreme temperature changes that can be harmful to plants and animals. Trees also play a fundamental role in the absorption of greenhouse gases that increase global warming. Less forests means higher amounts of greenhouse gases that enter the atmosphere and as a consequence of this there is an increase in the average temperature of the earth.
- Land not suitable for agriculture and livestock: Most of the areas that have been subjected to deforestation become inadequate for long-term agricultural and livestock use. Once deprived of their forest cover, the land degrades rapidly in its quality, losing its fertility.
Bibliography
http://www.areaciencias.com/ecologia/que-es-la-deforestacion.html
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestaci%C3%B3n
