Effects Of Deforestation :: essays research papers

Effects of Deforestation     The subject of deforestation and the effects that it has on theenvironment have been heavily debated for a long time particularly over thelast few days. Governments and large lumber companies see large pay in themass deforestation of forests and state that their actions are having few, ifany, harmful effects on the environment. Most people disagree with this andthink that the environmental effects are devastating and will becomeirreversibly disastrous in the very near future. Whether or not the prosoutweigh the cons will be hotly debated for years to come but the fact is thatdeforestation is harmful to the environment and leads to declining wildlifepopulations, drastic changes in humor and loss of soil.     The loss of forests means the loss of habitats for many species. originalstatistics show that as many as 100 species become extinct every day with alarge portion being attributed to deforestation (Delfgaauw , 1996). " ringeffects" are the destruction or degradation of natural habitat that occur on thefringes of fragmented forests. The effects for the animals include greaterexposure to the elements (wind, pelting etc), other non-forest animals and humans(Dunbar, 1993). This unnatural extinction of species endangers the worlds foodsupply, threatens many human resources and has profound implications forbiological diversity.     Another negative environmental impact of deforestation is that it causesclimate changes all over the world. As we learned in elementary school, plantlife is essential to life on earth as it produces much of the oxygen that isrequired for humans and other organisms to breathe. The massive destruction oftrees negatively effects the quantity and select of the air we breathe whichhas direct repercussions on the quantity and quality of life among both humansand animals alike. With this reduced amount of vital plant life comes theincrease of carbon dioxide levels in the earths atmosphere. With theseincreased levels of CO-2 come unnatural changes in weather patterns both locallyand globally. "The removal of forests would cause rainfall to gloam more than26%. The average temperature of soil will rise and a decline of 30% in theamount of moisture will evaporate into the atmosphere" (Delfgaauw, 1996). Thisleads to the global warming phenomenon which is also directly related to thedeclining amounts of forest areas on the earth.      grunge erosion caused by deforestation is also a major concern among eventhe most amateur environmentalists     "When rain falls, nearly may sink to the ground, some may run off thesurface of the land, and flowing down towards the rivers and some may evaporate.