Despite their immense value, nearly half of the world’s forests have been lost. What is worse is that we are cutting down trees at greater rates each year to plant crops, graze cattle and generate income from timber and other forest products. Though it is true that most of the world’s deforestation occurs in developing countries, it is driven by demands from developed countries. Therefore, deforestation is a global issue.
When forests are cleared, they emit carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere and put humanity on a dangerous collision course with the worst of climate change. According to studies, deforestation accounts for about 11 per cent of global greenhouse emissions caused by humans, leading to global warming.
Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to plants and animals. Trees help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees, many forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
Many of the world’s most amazing animals are under threat from deforestation including the Javan Rhinoceros, the Mountain Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan, the Giant Panda, Tiger, and the Golden Lion Tamarin.
In order for forestlands to fully return to their initial condition, many attempts are being made across the world in deforested areas to replant and nurture the environment to its original bio diverse state. Reforesting the landscape to this extent would eradicate many of the problems caused by deforestation. It will also undoubtedly benefit future generations as it will not be left up to them to repair the damage that our generation and generations before us did to the natural environment.
We can spread the word of “Green World” through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or by conducting various conferences. Before buying wood or timber products, we can check whether our products were harvested from sustainably managed lands. A more workable solution is to carefully manage forest resources by eliminating clear-cutting to make sure that forest environments remain intact.
- The reader is an Indian pupil based in Dubai.
