ASSIGNMENT 03 (the portfolio) .
This assignment contains 2 parts; The first part contains a detailed explanation of a specific environmental problem which in this case is deforestation explored though the areas interconnectedness with Biodiversity and Conservation Biology as well as the area of Soil and Agriculture. Furthermore the first part contains a relevant environmental awareness and responsibility plan. The second part contains my own “Statement of Environmental Awareness and Responsibility”
DEFORESTATION – a challenge to sustainable environment on Earth
By Eric Notulu Mubuka
INTRODUCTION
Deforestation is commonly defined as: “the cutting down of trees on a large scale turning forests into non forests”. There a many
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Amazon Rainforest destroyed or damaged in 2008: http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319- brazil_inpe_degrad.html, May 2009.
Environmental problems.
Soil erosion.
In “Forests and the end of second millennium” in forests in a full world (2001) George M. Woodwell points out that the most successful civilizations have decayed as forests where destroyed and replaced with scrublands. The scrublands were further impoverished by intensive grazing and erosion until the underlying rocks emerged and became the land scape. He goes further giving an example of the ancient Syria, Persia, throughout the Levant, and the Mediterranean basin, also the decline of the state known as Greece today was as a result of loss of forests and the impoverishment of the landscape. The same process happened with respect to Carthage in North Africa.
We also have contemporary examples of land degradation from Haiti and Madagascar, now over populated and deforested and degraded to the point where their land scape are dysfunctional, incapable of supporting organized society. The rivers no longer flow in established channels, water from storms in mountains appears as floods in low lands and carries silt to fill harbors and destroy the coastal fisheries, so to restore all these problems, there is need to reforest and stabilize the uplands to regain control of water flows and water quality and to re-establish a potentially
Forest is one of the subunits that deforestation had influenced on. The government cost was significantly influenced by deforestation in the forest. According to the BBC news, a new study estimated that the annual cost of forest loss for the global economy is
Deforestation is the destruction of a wide area of forest land into a cleared land that is used for a variety of reasons. The impact on the environment from cutting down, burning and damaging forests is very detrimental and there are severe consequences for the environment and future generations because of deforestation. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization approximately 7.3 million hectares of forests are being destroyed per year in the world (Bradford, 2015). In this essay, I will explore the impact that deforestation on the environment and I will also look at the actions that are being taken to prevent deforestation. There are various reasons why deforestation is occurring despite its negative effects on the environment. Deforestation can cause very serious environmental problems such as climate change, flooding, loss of habitats as well as others.
Deforestation has been a major concern in tropical rainforests, this is an act of destructing a forest for multiple reasons including wood supply, agriculture purposes or the extraction of minerals and energy. Forest loss till date is 18.03 million acres per year and it has been estimated that within 100 years all rainforests will be destroyed.
In the artical " Devistating facts of Deforstation ", it states that ," Forest are one of the most organically distinct areas of the world.Millions of plant and animal species inhabit forest , from large creatures to tiny microscophic organisms . Many species are yet to be descovered , we call these areas" biodeverse" because they include so many different species ".More than 80% of the worlds species live in tropical rainforest .Therefore if we destroy the forest we are killing off these animals as well . And without the animals the entire food chain will be thrown off balance , and civillization will go to complete caos.
The purpose of my science fair project was to investigate the phenomenon called Deforestation. I researched the causes of deforestation and how they affected the environment. I chose to do this project because I read a book called “Amazon Rainforest Destruction.”
Agricultural expansion such as cropland is a leading cause of deforestation. Plantation expansion for logging is another leading cause of deforestation. Infrastructure building including road construction is a huge cause of deforestation. All of these causes lead to the effect of
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. Half of the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or degraded. Some people ask why forests’ are being cleared. It is typically done to make more land available for other things like housing, cash crops, oil, and cattle ranching. Most of what everyone does with deforestation is said to be illegal. Common methods of deforestation are clear cutting and burning trees. The burning method can be done either quickly or slowly. Quickly for plantation use or more slowly using the slash and burn technique. The many reasons why farmers and other people do that is to get money to feed there family or like it was stated early, to make room for growing crops or livestock. Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to people’s need to provide for there families or money. Logging operations, which provide the world’s paper and wood products, also cut a number of trees down each year. Loggers, some of them doing it illegally, also build roads to get to more and more remote forests, which leads to further deforestation. Not all deforestation is a terrible thing and intentional. Deforestation comes in handy when in need to build a new oil place. There are a lot of natural factors that play into deforestation like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing. Most of the deforestation occurs in the tropics, which is a terrible place because they have poor soil for
From 1990 to 2005, deforestation, or the removal of trees, was happening at an average rate of 13 million hectares (32.11 million acres) per year (Hope 247). In many ways, deforestation has been the reason for great economic success which turns people on to the idea even more. Deforestation is an essential element in promoting and encouraging developmental growth. Some places around the world may feel obligated to resort to deforestation due to population increases around the world. The concept of deforestation may seem to have a positive impact on society, but many people fail to consider the importance of replanting the trees that were harvested and removed. Deforestation mainly affects North and South America, but because of the Transamazon
Large forests are destroyed for raising beef, lumbering, and use of wood for clear cutting for crops or profit (Cooney). Wood has been in a huge demand for several centuries to build houses and buildings. However, this is causing other animals losing their shelter and habitat in forest. The topsoil has been wearing off from the soil which is creating soil erosion. Topsoil contains all the healthy nutritions that will make the soil fertile. Plants needs this fertilization and all the proper nutritions in soil to grow. However, water erosion in soil is causing soil erosion. Which is creating the land a desert where no one can live.
At first there was concern only among foresters about deforestation but now the public has created organizations such as Green Peace to facilitate increased awareness and reduce deforestation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.) has worked mainly within the forestry community to find new and better ways to manage the forests. In 1985 there was the introduction of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan or T.F.A.P. This plan involved the F.A.O, United Nations, World Bank, other developmental agencies, and several other multi-national government organizations; together they developed a new strategy. More than sixty countries have decided to prepare national forestry action plans to manage their forests (Gallant, 381).
Rainforests have been declining rapidly over the last few decades. There are various factors responsible for this decline, resulting in serious impacts on the environment and the economy. Critically discuss the causes of deforestation and solutions to it.
Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be
There are many causes/factors to deforestation, which are largely associated with direct human influence. The first proximate cause to deforestation is infrastructure expansion (Geist & Lambin, 2002, p. 144). This refers to transportation (roads), private and public markets, rural and urban settlements, and private and public services (water lines, oil exploitation, etc…) (Geist & Lambin, 2002, p. 144). The next cause is agricultural expansion, which includes, large or small-scale cultivations, shifting cultivations (slash and burn), and, of course, cattle ranching. Wood extractions for industrial and domestic purposes are other proximate causes to this issue.
The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.
In some cases, deforestation can be beneficial. Given the right mix of social needs, economic opportunities, and environmental conditions, it can be a rational conversion from one type of land use to a more productive one. The tragedy lies in the fact that most lands that have been deforested in recent decades are not suited for long-term farming or ranching and they quickly degrade once the forest has been cut and burnt. Unlike the fertile soils of temperate latitudes, most tropical forest soils cannot sustain annual cropping. The carrying capacity of the soil will not support intensive annual cropping without rapid, irreversible degradation. Similarly, intensive cattle grazing cannot be supported because