What is deforestation and its causes and effects?
What is deforestation and its causes and effects?
Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, or mining activities. Greatly accelerated by human activities since 1960, deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate.
How does cutting down trees affect us and our environment?
Large scale tree cutting can lead to deforestation, a transformation of an area from forest to terrain with little vegetation. Plants create oxygen and absorb greenhouse gases. The destruction of trees may, therefore, encourage global warming. Changing temperatures can alter which organisms can survive in an ecosystem.
Where is the deforestation happening?
In North America, about half the forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down for timber and farming between the 1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic. Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics.
Where is deforestation the worst 2020?
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has surged to its highest level since 2008, the country’s space agency (Inpe) reports. A total of 11,088 sq km (4,281 sq miles) of rainforest were destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020.
What is the current rate of deforestation?
Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, down from 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. The area of primary forest worldwide has decreased by over 80 million hectares since 1990.
What animals are extinct due to deforestation?
Amazing Extinct Animals Because of Deforestation
- It takes about 75 million trees annually to make enough copy paper to keep American offices operating. Only about 30 percent of that paper is recycled.
- Pygmy Racoons. Scientists estimate that only 192 mature pygmy raccoons remain in the world.
- Darwin’s Fox.
- Black Spider Monkeys.
- Saola.
- Orangutans.
- Borneo Pygmy Elephants.
Why did the dodo bird go extinct?
Over-harvesting of the birds, combined with habitat loss and a losing competition with the newly introduced animals, was too much for the dodos to survive. The last dodo was killed in 1681, and the species was lost forever to extinction.