The rate causes and effects of deforestation environmental sciences essay

Nirmaljit Kaur d/o Jaspal SinghC1200349Southern New Hampshire UniversityENG200 Sophomore SeminarMs Christina WongAbstractThis research paper is to study about the rate, causes and effects of the increasing global phenomenon, which is deforestation. The very reasons and causes of deforestation are closely related to the acts of humans. This paper roughly views the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and the Southeast Asia forest. From the studies and past research by other researchers, there were methods used and demonstrated to measure the rate of deforestation as well as the causes and effects of deforestation. Apart from that, other researchers mentioned the causes of deforestation ranging from the government and people. The information found in this research papers was extracted and analysed in-depth. Deforestation is not only a growing concern and does not only endanger the wildlife’s, exotic plants and the climate but it also harms humans. Deforestation also takes away the natural resource from earth. The Rate, Causes and Effects of DeforestationAs we all know, deforestation is an increasing concern as the tropical forests as well as other forests around the world is depleting. Deforestation can be defined as the process whereby trees are chopped down and cut-off on a massive scale, which disrupts the forest cover due and the balance of the habitats of the wildlife. Forests play a vital role in humans’ life simply because trees provide oxygen for us humans to breathe and survive. In other context, deforestation is the net loss of forests whereby, the removal of all the tress from the forest area often results in soil erosion, the pollution of waterways and the decrease of biodiversity through this destruction (” The Free Dictionary”, n. d). In other context, deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas for the usage of lands for agricultural purposes, logging and so on (Scribd. com, 2013). The main reasons of deforestation are closely related to the never-ending demand and needs of humans. Humans chopped down trees for development such as the development of houses, furniture’s, roads and to also develop papers from trees. In addition to that, another biggest cause for deforestation is agriculture. Trees are chopped down for farming, the need for woods and grazing livestock. Often, farmers will clear a small area of the forests in order to feed their families and for the need of wood. If there is a will, there is a way and we as individuals can help create awareness to our families, peers and friends by educating them about deforestation and the effects of it. The questions that arise from this is that, will the rate of deforestation reduce? Will we be able to see tress around us? Will the future generation experience the true bliss of nature? The answers to these questions lays in our hands as to whether we want to save the earth and stop deforestation or to let it prolong and carry on. Many past studies have been conducted to investigate the rate of deforestation, the impact of deforestation and the causes of it. In this study, we will be focusing to determine the rate of deforestation as well as the cause and consequences of deforestation towards the lifestyle of people, the economy, the government and the most vital, the environment and climate. The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and the Southeast Asia forests are almost alike but only that the forests cover in the Asia link is more drastic. Starting off with the rate of deforestation in the Southeast Asia from the year 2000 to 2010, based on the research done by (Miettinen, Shi & Liew, 2011), five different countries from the Southeast Asia link which consisted of Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Timur Leste, was divided based on the latitude and longitude to study the rate of deforestation. Even though the insular of Southeast Asia has, a comparatively small land compared to the two other main humid tropical rainforests or regions; Amazon and Africa, the global impacts of deforestation in these following regions are increased by its own distinctive characteristics such as tropical wetlands. The data retrieved shows the percentage of Malaysia obtaining a higher level of deforestation compared to Indonesia. The rate of peat swamp in Malaysia has affected the increase of the general rate of forest loss of (1. 4%) compared to Indonesia, which is (1. 0%) (Miettinen, Shi & Liew, 2011). Other countries statistics was not attained, as the area to study on, was relatively small. On the other hand, in the Brazilian Amazon the approximate rate of deforestation at the beginning of the twentieth century, is four million square kilometres (km2) out of five million square kilometres (km2), with the remaining areas covered with grasslands and shrubs lands. Regarding the land-use activities in the Amazonian forest consists of cattle ranching and small-scale farming, which, has played the extremely noteworthy part of the clearing of the Amazonian forest (K. R. Kirby et al, 2005). In contrast to that, the government has always placed more attention to the development of the country such as transportation infrastructure. According to (K. R. Kirby et al, 2005), the government used several incentivises to encourage formation and the development of incentives economic activities in the region and, some of the projects that was carry out was large scale mining, timber extraction and hydroelectric energy. Some of the methods used in this research was satellite-based estimates of deforestation. Two trends were observed from the charts of annual rates of deforestation that is the annual rate of deforestation is huge and quickening. Apart from empirical studies and observations, remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used as it allowed researchers to relate dissimilar data’s (K. R. Kirby et al, 2005). The result showed that paved or unpaved roads have higher tendencies for deforestation as paved roads had 38% more variation in deforestation intensity than unpaved roads. Other causes are the soil quality and agricultural development. According to Ewers (2006), deforestation occurs in both high and low income countries. Low-income countries despite having high forest cover due experience deforestation simply because forests are their source of income and when there is a lack of these sources, these countries cannot come up with any solutions. Whereas, high-income countries on the other hand that have low forest cover does not experience deforestation, as there is another method that is implemented which is, afforestation. Interestingly, Ewers (2006) also mentioned that despite all of the stated reasons, nations with huge amounts of forest have equivalent deforestation rates. Forest cover change rates for all available nations were retrieved from the Forest Resource Assessment (FAO) to measure the forest cover rates. The gross domestic product (GDP) which is highly used index for economic development to measure the rates and countries were classifies into three groups that is low-income nations were African (69%), middle-income countries were Latin American (44%) and Eastern Europe (29%) and high-income countries were Western Europe (74%), (Ewers, 2006). Based on the graphs and tables, high-income countries displayed strong negative slope whereas poor countries a positive slope. Countries can only resort to afforestation if and only if, the quality of the government and supporting institutes are present and the availability of financial aids. It is evident from this research that wealth does play a role on the rated of deforestation because high-income countries has low deforestation rate due to their economic wealth where else low-income countries displayed the highest rate of deforestation (Ewers, 2006). Moving on to the causes of deforestation, based on Umeiya, Rametsteiner and Kraxner (2010), the quality of governance is identified to have effects on deforestation. Based on the theoretical study, the quality of governance is driven by political factors, which leads to infrastructure development then, deforestation. Six dimensions of governance quality indicator were established to test out the quality of governance. A statistical analysis was brought forward using the simple linear regression analysis (SRA) and multiple regression analysis (MRA) (Umeiya et al., 2010). Based on SRA and MRA, it was found that governance indicator is to be expected to have harmful effects on the rates of deforestation. Based on the analysis of this past researched paper, it was concluded that poor governance quality match up to the rise of deforestation rates, other overruling factors need to be taken into consideration and that the quality of governance matters regardless of other various dimensions (Umeiya et al., 2010). It sum, the quality of governance should and need to be overcome and other intervening factors such as forest cover ratio, population growth, and expansion of agricultural can be taken into deliberation. Interestingly, corruption and political stability are the causes of deforestation due to agricultural land expansions such as logging, road building, and market forces and in this case poverty. In the short run and long run, both political stability and corruption control have either positive or negative outcomes (Galinato & Galinato, 2013). Corruption control is the ability of the government to avert bribery and other important factors whereas; political stability is the probability that a government is ousted. Micro studies were used to classify the vital basis of deforestation. Governance and other economy policies were considered as underlying factors where else the two direct factors of deforestation that was focused on are agricultural land expansions and road building (Galinato & Galinato, 2013). From the empirical studies and data compiled, the political stability decreases croplands expansion, which increases forest cover in short run and long run. In addition, corruption control in the short run and long run increases cropland expansion, which decreases the forest cover (Galinato & Galinato, 2013). Apart from the stated causes of deforestation, not only the government or policy makers are responsible for deforestation, it is humans and peoples itself. Moreover, deforestation also affects living things such as animals because animals lose their habitats and dies when trees are chopped down. Eighty per cent of the earth’s natural forests have been destroyed and 70% of the world’s plants and animals are said to be living in the forests (” National Geography”, 1996). This indicates that the species and habitats of the wildlife are threatened and vanishing as trees are being cleared off. The effects of deforestation are the disruption of water cycle, soil erosion, flooding, climate changes and the loss of biodiversity (Buzzle. com, 2013). The loss of biodiversity occurs when trees are cut off on a huge amount, which resulted to the loss of 50 to 100 types of species of animals per day (Buzzle. com, 2013). Trees play a part in a great way in upholding and sustaining the water cycle. They take up water from their roots when is later on released in the atmosphere. When trees are chopped off, the surrounding area tends to dry up and the climate becomes drier as well. This is because the water remains inside plants. Trees help to prevent the depletion of water because they also help the soil to absorb the water thus, leaving the soil damp (Buzzle. com, 2013). Continuing, forests contain nutrients that are important for all plant lives. Soil erosion takes place when forested areas are cleared leaving the soil out in the open to the blazing sun, which in the end, makes it dry and infertile. When rainfall occurs, the remaining of the nutrients are washed away into the waterways (Buzzle. com, 2013). Flooding is the result of deforestation because the elimination of forested areas leaves little forest cover to uphold heavy rains, which leads to severe mudslides that are very pricey since it destroys houses and endanger the life of people (Mothernews. com, 2013). As we all know, global warming comes about when the emission of greenhouse gases is severe. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a process known as photosynthesis. When trees are chopped down, the activity of photosynthesis will deteriorate and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will upsurge (Mothernews. com, 2013). In sum, based on the researches that have been conducted and studied before, we can bring to a close that the rate of deforestation has been escalating since before and although there are people and governments trying to resolve this matter, others need to put in a helping hand so improvise this matter. Governments, policy makers and companies ought to deal with this crisis with proficiency before it is too late. For the betterment of the future coming generation, everyone should and must work together to resolve this global concerning matter. Not only will the world lose the true beauty of nature, the world will lose one of the utmost vital givers to the environment. Deforestation is not a light issue to be neglected and if there are no forests, it will lead to various types of climate changes and essential materials such as wood, plants, trees, exotic plants and animals will be threatened and vanished. Thus, it is certain that the cause of deforestation is development and the activities of agriculture along with the lack of awareness of the governments.