What Is Deforestation?

“Deforestation” is one of the buzzwords of environmental concern. Most people understand that the Amazon rain forests are being depleted, and that this deforestation is dangerous to the environment. But for those who do not study environmental issues carefully, the exact effects of deforestation may be unclear.

While environmental change is the most discussed result of deforestation right now, it is far from the only negative effect of deforestation.

Biodiversity is one of the major casualties of deforestation. All forests, including rain forests, form the natural habitat for many species of plants and animals. Clearing a forest kills the plants and drives the animals from their homes. By some estimates, literally millions of plant and animal species have disappeared because of deforestation in their natural habitats. Many currently endangered animals could be saved, according to experts, if their habitats were reforested and slash and burn deforestation eliminated.

While we don’t often think of the social effects of deforestation, many indigenous peoples suffer the loss of their homes because they live in the rain forests. With no home and no ability to live in the cities, these people must struggle to find new homes and survive without their natural living habitat.

And of course the environmental effects cannot be overstated. Climate change, as most people have now heard, is caused in large part by deforestation. When forests are obliterated, the temperatures in surrounding areas go up abruptly. Forests help retain moisture in the air, keeping the environment cooler. When the trees are gone, the area gets warmer; this is known as local climate change.
Global climate change is a longer process, but deforestation also contributes to the long-term global climate change we’re experiencing.

The ozone also suffers when rain forests are destroyed. The “ozone layer,” as we call it, is made up of oxygen atoms, and shields the earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Carbon monoxide destroys ozone, because it reacts with the oxygen atoms in the ozone layer. Destroying rain forests increases carbon monoxide in the air, and depletes the ozone layer.

Finally, deforestation prevents the water table from replenishing. Trees hold rainfall in the soil in their roots. Much of this water sinks gradually into the ground, rebuilding the water table and replenishing the supply of usable water in the water table. When the rain forests are destroyed, rain water simply runs off and is lost, or evaporates into the air and, again, does not enter the water table.

It can be hard to understand why the destruction of rain forests in Brazil matters to everyone in the world. Sometimes “the environment” seems like a very abstract term that doesn’t mean much. But when you understand exactly what deforestation is and what it does, you recognize its importance.

Finding a solution to deforestation will not be easy or quick, but the effort must be made. Our entire world depends on the rain forests, and this is much too important a matter to hope someone else will take care of it.