9 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

There are many causes and consequences of deforestation. They highlight the expansion of agricultural and forestry activities, for example, resulting in the loss of millions of hectares of forests.

According to the United Nations (UN), an estimated 7.3 million hectares of forests disappear each year. This is the extension of the territory of Panama.

With deforestation, many of these species lose their natural habitat, which can cause their extinction.

The loss of biodiversity is not the only consequence of this problem. Deforestation also affects the composition of soils, promotes global warming by altering the carbon cycle, generates climatic changes, among other problems.

The 5 main causes of deforestation

According to the UN, about half of the world's tropical forests have been destroyed. The main causes of deforestation are human in nature.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) indicates that every minute an area of ​​forest equivalent to 36 football fields is lost.

1- Expansion of agricultural activities

Countries that practice extensive agriculture need large territories that allow the development of large quantities of crops.

Added to this, increased demand for certain agricultural products has led many large-scale producers to deforest forests in order to have more land available.

Slash and burn is practiced in some countries. This process consists of cutting down the trees and burning them to fertilize the land with the ashes obtained.

Over time, the soil loses nutrients and farmers move to another field.

2- Livestock activities

Like agriculture, livestock requires a vast expanse of territory in which animals can be raised.

Thus, deforestation is considered the best alternative to guarantee said physical space.

Brazil is an example of this. Since 1990 this country has lost impressive extensions of forested land, comparable to the size of the state of Texas, in the United States.

3- Silvicultural activities

Silvicultural activities are those that are related to obtaining wood and pulp from forests, and the treatment of these materials to create other products such as furniture, paper, sheets of wood for construction, among others.

These activities involve the deforestation of forested territories. Many companies are responsible for planting a tree for each plant they are cutting.

However, soils that have suffered deforestation will never be the same again: they will lose nutrients and will be prone to erosion.

4- Expansion of infrastructures

Population growth makes it necessary to expand urban centers to accommodate all the inhabitants of a territory.

This activity is one of the causes of deforestation, since many companies cut down forests to build new infrastructure there.

5- Food industry

In some cases, deforestation occurs to obtain items for the food industry.

Such is the case of palm trees, which are felled for the production of edible oils.

The 4 main consequences of deforestation

Forests are ecosystems in which various biotic (living) and abiotic (lifeless) factors intervene.

When these regions are degraded due to deforestation, the consequences can be devastating.

1- Loss of biodiversity

According to National Geographic magazine, 70% of animal and plant species live in forests.

For this reason the loss of these areas translates into loss of habitats for thousands of species.

Some animals and plants are unable to adapt to conditions other than those of the habitat to which they belong, which is why they die. In some cases the species could become extinct.

Other species integrate with difficulty in habitats that are not their own, since they must face other animals and plants much better adapted.

Competition for territory and food can also lead to loss of biodiversity.

2- climatic changes

Plants help regulate the level of carbon dioxide in the environment by absorbing it to carry out photosynthesis. When deforesting the cycle of this gas is altered, causing it to accumulate in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, the excess of which forms a barrier on Earth that prevents heat from escaping into outer space.

As a consequence, the temperature of the environment increases and climate changes occur: decrease in rainfall, increase in droughts, among others.

3- Changes in soils

The presence of trees makes the soils rich in nutrients. The fallen leaves end up on the ground, where they decompose and provide organic matter.

In addition, the trees absorb a large part of the water coming from the rains, which makes the soils not over-saturated.

Loss of forests means loss of nutrients for soils. Furthermore, deforested lands are prone to constant flooding.

On the other hand, trees provide physical stability to soils, which prevents the substrate from being carried away by the wind, water currents and other elements of nature. The absence of forests makes the soils prone to erosion.

4- Decrease in the level of water vapor

Trees are involved in the exchange of water vapor between the earth's surface and the atmosphere.

Deforestation has contributed to the decrease of this vapor by 4%, which can affect the weather patterns of planet Earth.

References

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