Rate And Effects Of Deforestation

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Earths forest cover about 30 percent of its land. And the ecosystem that it plays creates a very essential role in supporting life on earth. However, deforestation is clearing Earth’s forest on a massive scale than ever before. And with this current rate of deforestation, the world’s rainforest will eventually be completely disappeared within 100 years from now. But why should deforestation be a concern to the human species and the other living creatures that live in the on this Earth? Well, altogether forestry and agriculture are responsible for at least 24 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, causing deforestation to be a significant contributor to the climate change on the planet. So, when deforestation is being conducted, the deforestation is impacting the amount of greenhouse gases that is the atmosphere not in one way but in two ways. One of those being that when a tree is cut down, the tree releases carbon dioxide that they have been storing into the atmosphere. Secondly, the trees have a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that are fueling the global warming. Furthermore, the decrease of forest mean that larger amounts of greenhouse gases are being entered the atmosphere, increasing the rate and severity of global warming.

This becomes a serve concern when forest provide habitats for more than 80 percent of the plants and animals on these lands. So, whenever deforestation occurs, it starts to destroy these habitats that Earth has created for the animals, also diminishing all its biodiversity that coexists within them. The results of the deforestation cause the estimate of at least four to six thousand rainforest species each year. Not only that but the deforestation also affects more than two million people that are native to the lands and rely on the forests as their sources for food and shelter for their survival.

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However, even though humans are the ones to blame for the cause of deforestation, it seems as that itself is also killing them. See not all the humans are a part of the deforestation. There seems to be a handful of them who want this to stop, but don’t seem to have a voice in this dreadful activity. A great example for this is the natives within the rainforests. Within these tribes there are well over 300 tribes located in the rainforest. And out of all 300 tribes these are some of the tribes that are endangered by the agriculture humans created. Some of these tribes are the; Awa, Guaranu, Kawahiva, and Yanomami from Brazil. Then there are also some from Paraguay and Peru. (Ayoreo from Paraguay, the Uncontacted Frontier in Peru)

In the article “World’s most endangered tribe’ survives on armadillos and wild honey” by Alahna Kindred, it talks about how the rainforest natives named the Awa are facing trouble times to find a place to settle in ever since the deforestation of loggers have reached to their territory. The isolated group of natives rely heavily on the forest and all of its natural sources for survival but cannot be at peace since they become threated by illegal miners, loggers and drug traffickers. Even though their land protected by the government of Brazil, these illegal loggers cut down the trees for that the Awa call home. The way this happens is logger companies found back roads that lead to the protected land untraceable, even find ways to bypass the police with payloads stashed with secret sawmills and chainsaws. Though the Awa people can’t fight the loggers, another tribe known as the Guajajara reside in the same area, and contacted with the outsiders to find a solution to stop the deforestation of their home. A member of the Guajajara tribe named Tainaky Tenetehar, said his people will protect the “isolated ones” from running away, which in this case are the Awa. Tenetehar also stated “Who’s going to fight for the “isolated ones” from fleeing?” Even though these are humans that are struggling from big companies that go as far as to break the law protecting these natives, the natives will not stand down and let them be ran over for greed. “Their intention is to reach the center – where the isolados are. They have no choice but to flee when the loggers come.” Said by Tenetahar.

Natives are not the only ones being affected by the effects of deforestation though, the ecosystems that relay on the forests are endangered as well. Some of these animals are Orangutans, Sumatran Elephants, Sumatran Rhino, and the Sumatran Tiger. These species are being threatened to extinction due to the production of palm oil. Palm oil is one of the world’s most will known vegetable oil, it is produced in massive numbers in the rainforests, and it leads to agricultural expansion that leave a big threat to these animals homes. As these animals being crucially endangered by the deforestation, they don’t only lose their loved ones but also a home. Take the Orangutan as an example, as their home being located in Indonesia and Malaysia rainforest’s this is where more than 85 percent of their world’s palm oil is being produced from. Their government launched a program to try to save the Orangutan species by moving more than half of their population to Borneo, though it helped for a short period of time, the deforestation started to catch up to them since the deforestation was not and has not been strictly prohibited.

As stated, before agriculture is one of the factors that cause deforestation, many may believe for this to not be true. Even though agriculture is what builds the society that humans live in today, it is also the reason of why farmers are cutting down trees in order to plant more crops such as soybeans, palm trees and cocoa or to even make more room for livestock that is in high demand like beef. There are also the logging operations that provide the humans with wood and paper products, causing countless of trees to be cut down each year for its also high demand. Another great example can be urban sprawls that humans created. As the result of humans growing on a rapid rate, forests are also being cut down to develop more housing and business making space for human activities.

Equally important, the effects of deforestation, not only affects the natural habitats of the rainforest and its ecosystems with the natives within them. But the cause of deforestation is also effect those far from the operations of loggers and farmers. Even though one does not live near them, they are still going to be affected by effects of deforestation. Although, deforestation is decrease the amount of O2 (oxygen) in out atmosphere, as well as of trapping the carbon released by the trees in the atmosphere causing the temperatures around the world to rise when odd times or odd weather patterns. However, deforestation is causing another troublesome effect. This troublesome effect is the release of diseases, such as dengue and malaria fever. Even though these are dieses that are treatable, the loss of forest act as incubator to the insects borne and other infectious diseases that affect humans. Furthermore, the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases conducted research on the rise of malaria cases on humans in the Malaysia area and found that the increase of the cases are being caused by the deforestation going on in Malaysia and Indonesia. “In years when there is a lot of land clearance you get a spike in leptospirosis [a potentially fatal bacterial disease] cases, and in malaria and dengue,” says Peter Daszak, Ecohealth Alliance president. Daszak not only did this research to see why it was happening but to make others realize that the reason this happening is being the deforestation rate is creating an ideal habitat for diseases that can sky rocket and be a potential threat to the human health.

Although insects are not the only ones that are emerging from the deforestations of forest, scientist have also found that large amounts of different species of snails that are better able to adapt to warmer areas are found after forests have been cut down. Scientist found this alarming when they figured out that some of these species were host to parasites known as the flatworm, some causing schistosomiasis, which is deadly since it attacks the human organs.

However, the rate of deforestation is causing concerns all around the world, it is also causing change in the world in itself. According to NASA, the total amount of biomass burned by humans roughly make up 90 percent of the total number while natural fire create only 10 percent. This becomes alarming since fire burning produces carbon dioxide, which is a main driver in the greenhouse gases. This cause the Earth to heat up since it is not able to release most of the carbon all at once. Another aftermath of the deforestation is the soil erosion happening. This is when the soil becomes loosen from the ground and is washed away from rain or even blown away from wind. This became an issue as the farmers who deforested their land to plant crops started to plant soybeans, palm oil and coffee. The effects of these plants caused the environment and the wellbeing of people to be endanger. A great example is Haiti and the Dominican Republic with the forest interaction with the water cycle. Even though both are located in the same island, the Dominican Republic has much more forest than Haiti does. This causes that Haiti soil erosion become an issue for them, since this brings the extreme flooding and landslides the country deals with.

Burning and cutting down forest may not seem as a big deal to some, since they are not living in or near these operation. But the effect of deforestation is not only an issue that should be looked into but also heavily restricted. Cutting down forests are also causing the disappearance of medicine that are very important to humans. Because of the deforestation the plants that allow medicines to help minizine the effects of cancer. One examples of these medicines are Vincristine, which is used to treat different types of cancers. The main ingredient that is found in this medicine is a flower that is native in the Madagascar (also known as the Madagascar Periwinkle) The flower is also known to treat diabetes and found to that the flower can stop cells from dividing.

Although the rainforest holds unknown treasures and mysteries that may be able to cure multiple diseases. But these medicines were found by the indigenous tribes who gave the purpose for what the plant do through trail and error. When thinking of this, it starts to show that after all the deforestation, all the trees that have been cut down, might have held the secret to cure all the cancers and all the dangerous diseases that are all around the world.

When looking at the at how much the forest provide for humans, yet the humans destroy what is the most valuable element given to them. Most of them have started to see that, it is one of the most important things they should protect for humans and any other anime in the world.

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