Stop Deforestation to Save Future Generation
Stop Deforestation to Save Future Generation
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Stop Deforestation to Save Future Generation
Abstract
Deforestation converts the natural forest ecosystems especially the world rainforest and other related land use systems into reduced bio-diverse ecosystems like plantations, croplands, settlements, urban centers, pastures, and other infrastructural developments (Andersen, 2002). The future threatening action of unsustainable cutting down of the trees is caused by multiple factors, some of which include agriculture, commercial logging, mining, urban sprawl, wood fuel, and trade on wood and non wood resources (Babin, 2004). Again, the current rates of forest loss have escalated due to increased industrial growth and global human populations. It is also modeled that if the current global rates of deforestation persist or increase, the world’s forest cover will vanish in one hundred years to come, which will lead to massive loss of world’s biodiversity and aggravate global climate change. Therefore, in just one century, habitats for the world’s plants, animals, insects, microbes, and indigenous people will be wiped out, making the earth devoid of life as a human being cannot survive without them. Deforestation must stop. Also, loss of forests affects watershed geomorphology that alters the world’s climatic patterns; hence conditions of aridity and desertification ensue in many parts of the globe increasing the susceptibility of the future population to poverty and hunger (Costa & Pires, 2010). Deforestation also leads to social impacts; for example, displacement of the indigenous group, small-scale farmers, which might initiate social struggles and conflicts over the scarce, shared resources. Additionally, global economic uncertainty results because monetary valuation of forest resources and the services they offer has not been properly evaluated, especially on the non-marketable good and services. However, another school of thought argues through inductive notion that deforestation is a means of economic growth as it supplies industries with inputs. Further, they use inadequate premises to support conversions of forest lands to agricultural lands so as to increase food production (UNDP, 2000). Mistakenly, their objectives are short-lived and only satisfy the needs of today but, not tomorrow. All said, to save the new generation, proper and timely interventions must be put forward to prevent deforestation so as to avoid future miseries (Cardenas, 2008).
Introduction
There are different people in the world with different opinions concerning deforestation; for example, some are for it while others against it. The reasons why some support deforestation includes; trees being used to produce paper, wood fuel, and other raw materials to the industries, and allow farmers to increase the expense for crop and livestock production (Kummer & Turner, 1994). They also categorize forest as a purely renewable resource that regenerates but, without taking into account the time dimension properly. On the other hand, ecologically sensitive school of thought supports this paper by asserting that deforestation must stop because it impacts on the society, the environment, and the economy (Babin, 2004).
The world forest cover estimates to around 31%. But, despite the small percentage, the cover is under threat due to human and natural factors, which include unsustainable logging, creating land for agriculture, development activities, and natural causes such as forest fires and droughts (Andersen, 2002). Out of the world population, more than 1.6 billion people depend on the forest for food, shelter, traditional medicine, fresh water, and clothing (Margulis, 2004). Therefore, if deforestation continues, human suffering will be so intense because of reduced food availability amongst other effects such as global warming and climate change (Cardenas, 2008).
The current scale of world deforestation has been very significant, especially those of the rainforest, which form the largest percentage of the world forest cover. In the 1950, above 17% of the world land surface was covered with natural rainforest, however, in less than 50 years later, more than 50% of the rainforest had been lost. Unbelievably, close to 200,000 acres are burnt or cut every day that trickles down to 150 acres lost per minute every day and over 78 million acres the rainforest lost per annum. Evidently, over 20 % of the largest Amazon rainforest has already gone. Estimation shows that up to 20,000 square miles of Amazon vanish every year. Scientists predict that if the current rates of deforestation continue, the earth will lose 80 to 90% of the global tropical rainforest ecosystems by the year of 2020.
In Africa, use of forest as a source of wood fuel has led to high levels of deforestations. Many people depend on wood fuel as the sole source of household cooking energy all around the year. Therefore, areas that were once covered by rainforest are converted to arid and desert lands; for example, in Ghana and Congo, which also accelerated the rates of soil erosion. Consequently, the quality of land degenerates coupled with reduced food crop production.
The current trends of deforestation are very high in all parts of the world, with the leading regions including Central and Southern America, western and central Africa, Canadian- Alaska temperate boreal forest, Australian, and many parts of Latin America and Asian countries (Babin, 2004). The world loses forest cover of about 45-60 thousand square miles every year, equivalent to 36 football fields in every minute. No doubt, something has to be done, deforestation has to be stopped (Cardenas, 2008).
To Stop Deforestation Understand the Causes
Remedial measures applicable in curbing the current rate of forest loss ought to address the causative agents. Deforestation is a consequence of various factors that are cumulatively categorized as either human or natural factors. Human causes are due to short-term economic drivers that leave the long–term situation unknown and gloom. On the other hand, natural causes are catastrophic and unpredictable; however, some human activities are responsible for their occurrences. Examples of the non-human causes include droughts, fires, and to some extent floods and earthquakes, for instance, in the period of 1990 to 2010, Australia experienced many cases of deforestation due to forest fires and droughts. Notably, factors underlying deforestation are not isolated; instead, multiple local and global factors exert synergistic impacts on deforestation in different geographic regions of the world (Andersen, 2002).
Commercial and Illegal Logging
Cutting down of natural forest for timber, wood products, and wood fuel is the primary cause of deforestation. Logging has so many impacts as the roads for trucks have to be cleared even before the real falling of trees start (Laurance & Peres, 2006). For example, in Madagascar, which is the world richest land in endemic plant species, massive logging has occurred for fuel wood, shifting cultivation, mining, cattle ranching, and economic development. Consequently, 50 % of Madagascar’s forest has disappeared. Again, over the past 40 years, large tracks of land have been cleared in Colombia due to commercial trade on wood and wood products. In Nigeria, Bendl forest is almost cleared because of illegal international trade on forest resources and over dependence on fuel wood. Illegal companies spur indiscriminate logging where forest has no adequate time to regenerate, leading to decline or extinction of the wildlife (Costa, & Pires, 2010).
Agriculture
With the rapid growth of the human population, quest for increasing food production has been prioritized at the expense of forest ecosystems (Babin, 2004). Forests are removed to pave the way for grazing land, building farms, food, or cash crop production, and ranching (Palo & Vanhanen, 2000). Agricultural expansion have led to large scale destruction of forests; for example, from the 1990 to date, the many parts of rural areas of Philippines have been rendered worthless due to increased flooding, soil erosions, landslides, and displacements, which are consequences of deforestation. Also, the world’s largest Amazon rainforest have greatly reduced into small geographical dimension due to replacement of forest with large-scale soybean and production. Again, in Indonesia, palm and animal feed productions have reduced the previously large tropical rainforest. In summation, both small and large scale agriculture have led to high rates of deforestations in the world (Babin, 2004).
Infrastructural Developments
Construction of roads, bridges, mega dams, residential areas, urban centers, have either increased demand of forest resources or the cutting of forests. In as much as the world needs economic development, proper planning must first be implemented on where and how to developed and site the projects. Failure to plan prior will lead to deforestation and loss of life supporting ecosystems. For example, the state policies in Amazon and Central America that promoted road and rail construction as a mission of economic development has caused tremendous loss of forest cover. Moreover, technological enhancements behind the current industrial growth have spurred inefficient and rapid logging (Sunderlin, Resosudarmo & Center for International Forestry Research, 1996).
Natural Causes
Some reports on deforestation have been linked to natural phenomena such as droughts, floods, climate change, forest fires, and overpopulation of invasive animal species. For instance, many forest fires in Australia and the Congo rainforests have burnt large forest area, leaving almost no traces of trees. In addition, droughts deny the tree water for physiological processes; thus tree stands wither and die at slow but steady rates.
If Deforestation is Not Stopped, the Consequences are Multiple
Just like the multiple and interlinked causes, the consequences of deforestation are so many, which exacerbate as time passes by; hence threatening the well-being of the future generation than the present (Margulis, 2004). The current population might perceive deforestation a way of satisfying their economic needs; however, their satisfaction is short-lived. Additionally, irrational economic objectives are in contrast to sustainable development that reiterates on satisfaction of the current needs without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet the needs (Babin, 2004). That is the bottom line as to why this paper stresses on putting remedial measures to avoid consequences such as global warming, biodiversity loss, land degradation, pollutions, climate change, desertification, reduced future food production, and problems to indigenous persons (Bosetti & Lubowski, 2010).
Loss of Biodiversity
Deforestation negatively affects world plants and animal species in a number of ways, which could be habitat destruction and fragmentation, reduced species food, influence on climate and degenerated quality of soil. Conceptually, biodiversity loss is pegged on a network of complex direct and indirect effects of deforestation. Evidently, forests are primary sources of nutrition for herbivores, which in turn pass the energy up the trophic levels, therefore, when primary production-forest is eliminated, the magnitude of species loss becomes high. For example, the world tropical rainforest hosts more that 50% of the earth’s microbes, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles, unfortunately, with the high rate of the forest loss, nearly 137 species of plants and animals are lost in a single day. For only the earth’s rainforest loss, up to 50000 species disappear annually, this bring the vision of how much species will be extinct in the next one hundred years, probably all of them. Therefore, the current rate of deforestation must be stopped for the world to retain its wildlife endowment.
A good example to show how deforestation leads to loss of biodiversity is Madagascar. The country is one of the world’s poorest countries; therefore, the residents are high dependent on the forest (Margulis, 2004). Moreover, the land is known to host diverse known and endemic flora, and fauna species with up to 105 known mammal species, 202 known bird species, 104 endemic bird species, 84 endemic mammal species, 6500 endemic plants, and up to 9000 known plants. However, deforestation on a large scale since the 1970s has resulted in the loss of forest cover to less than 10% of the island. Apart from the loss of very many plants and animal species, still more than 300 organism species are under threat with extinction.
Climate Change and Global Warming
Forests play a crucial function in the planet’s carbon cycle. When deforestation occurs, not only do the carbon sequestration cease, but the stored carbon in the trees is also emitted to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas if the wood decomposes or burnt. Notably, forest ecosystem store 100 times of carbon than agricultural crops do, this explains why conversion of forest to agricultural lands contributes to global warming, as a result, of reduced carbon absorption (Bosetti & Lubowski, 2010).
In addition, forests have an important role in stabilizing the global climate patterns since they act as a temperature regulator and lungs for the planet (Asante, 2002). Due to anthropological factors, the loss of the global tropical rainforest results to nearly 25% of the world’s carbon emission. If the trend continues, scientific estimates predict that by 2100, the forest loss will lead to emission of carbon estimated to be 87 to 130 billion tons. The quantitative figure will be greater than carbon emitted from world fossil fuel combustion in the next 13 years. Therefore to stabilize global greenhouse gas concentration, forests have to be maintained as carbon sinks. Worse still, it is estimated that in Sub-Saharan Africa, close to 180 million people will probably die because of diseases linked to changes in climate when this century ends. It is, therefore, paramount to address deforestation, which is of the highest contributor to global climate change.
Land Degradation and Water Pollution
Cutting down of the trees especially on steep slopes accelerates the rate of soil erosion. In turn, the top fertile soil is lost, exposing infertile subsoil that affects crop production. In essence, deforestation leaves the soil bare and makes the soil vulnerable to agents of erosions (water and wind). Consequently, in many parts of the world, several parts of countries have been converted to unproductive lands, as a result, of intense deforestations. In addition, after detachment and subsequent transportation of sediments, deposition occurs in the adjacent water bodies leading to siltation and shrinking of water volumes. For example, in China, every year the Yellow River transports more than 1.6 billion tons of soil particles or sediments into the ocean. Further, in United States in the last 50 years, increased erosions have caused many problems majorly because of deforestation. Forests are also known to reduce the speed of overland flows; however, on barren lands, incidences of flashfloods are common. The floods in turn erode riverbanks leading to diversions of river water and aggravate the extent of erosions.
Similarly, deforestation gradually leads to conditions of aridity in lands that were previously productive. Evidence shows that forest loss impact severely on areas that were once arid or semi arid resulting to conditions that cannot support human life. Land degradation, as a result, of deforestation is paradoxical since humans cut down tree to give space for farmlands; in the long run they suffer repercussions that are almost irreversible. Thus, it is worth taking into account forest protection, and conservation to foresee the future state of the environment and to avert human suffering.
Impacts on Human Livelihood
Forest resources contribute to income generation to many households; for example, in Ghana products from the forest sustain up to 2.5 million of poor people but, the high rate of deforestation between 1950 and 2005 have destabilized human livelihood. Ghana’s scenario can be extrapolated to millions of people in the world who depend directly or indirectly on the resources from the forest. Additionally, the forest communities who live within or near the forest directly depend on forest for shelter, food, and medicine, therefore, if the current encroachment of forest ecosystems persist, the indigenous people’s right to live and eat are breached.
Solutions to Deforestation
According to this paper, to ensure that the future generation accesses the resources from the forests, there must be solutions to stop the current rates of deforestation. As opposed to those in favor of deforestation, the paper reiterates that conversion of forest to another land uses deprive the future population of enjoying what the present generation does (Asante, 2002). Therefore, prompt and timely interventions must be put forward to stop deforestation and to save the future from sufferings spurred by the present generation. The strategies employed must be feasible and practical to ensure restoration of the lost natural treasure (Lambin & Geist, 2006). Possible restoration measures have to include the following:
Management of Forest
Forest management entails two aspects, which include conservation and protection. In particular, conservation involves sound practices of utilizing forest resource sustainability. It augurs well with the concept of ecological consideration of resource consumption. Moreover, conservation can as well adopt reforestation and forest plantation practices to enhance recovery of the primary forest (Vajpeyi, 2001). On the other hand, protection outlines strict regulations that bar users from tapping any resource from the forest. In this regard, protection aims at alienating destructed or threatened forests as protected zones, which are out of bounds to consumers. Again, protection gives complete and ample time for the forest to regenerate. In relation to the subject of this paper, forest management ought to be implemented both at the local and international levels according to relevant forest Acts, policies, Laws, or agreements (Campari, 2005).
Community Forestry and Eco-Forestry
Eco-forestry directs for selective exploitation of tree stands; that is, only specific trees are cut to avoid conspicuous alteration of the nature of forest. Alternatively, the communities within or near the forest should participate in forest management (Tucker & Townshend, 2000).To encourage the strategies of involvement, the responsible forest management agencies ought to provide incentives to the local or indigenous persons so as to mobilize for the participation (Spilsbury, 2012).
Switch to Alternative Energy Sources
Over reliance of wood fuel and charcoal as a source of energy both at the household and industrial levels contribute to enormous losses of forests, particularly, in the poor countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia (Durham & Painter, 1998). Therefore, through governmental agencies, NGOs, and private sectors in collaboration with the public, avenues should be opened to allow quick and smooth transition to other clean energy sources and devices such as solar, energy saving stoves, and briquettes (Pearce & Brown, 1994).
Sustainable Agriculture
Agricultural sustainability employs integrated systems where farmer incorporates crops and trees, a practice known as agroforestry. In such cases, the small scale farmers maximize production since the trees within crops improve soil fertility, reduce soil erosion, act as shelterbelts, and can directly produce fruits and vegetables. Explicitly, to adopt such projects, an approach of public, private partnership proves feasible (Asante, 2002).
Thorough surveillance and monitoring ought to be in operation all around the clock to curb illegal logging. For instance, through application of geographical information systems, photogrammetric tools, remote sensing, and geographic position systems (GPS), forestry bodies can collect temporal and spatial data to facilitate digital and hotspot analysis. The analyses aid in the creation of forest database management systems and collection of evidences for litigating environmental crimes (Campari, 2005).
Environmental Litigation
Litigation ensures that everybody adheres to the legal frameworks that govern forest resources, where in case of non-compliance; the offender has to face the legal structures that define fines and judgments according to entrenchments of the law (Bosetti & Lubowski, 2010).
Land Use Planning
Before the conversion of forest to other land uses such as urban centers and infrastructural developments, prior environmental measures must be considered to postulate rationally on the effect of the current plan of action. Any project development in or next to the forest must satisfy the provisional requirements of environmental impact assessments (Asante, 2002).
Conclusion
The current rate of deforestation is an indicator of the future state of world forest cover and calls for immediate measures to stop deforestation so as not to endanger the future generation. Stopping deforestation aims at achieving inter-generational equity, which is a mandatory subset of provisions of sustainable development. On the contrary, those in favor of deforestation have short-term goals; hence liable to future environmental wrath that impact severely to human wellbeing. Again, encouraging deforestation to support agricultural production or other developments has proved to be paradoxical, for example, cleared land for agriculture have long term effects like land unproductively and reduced yield. Therefore, to avoid falling victims to actions of today’s people, deforestation has to be discouraged. All said, to save the new generation, proper and timely interventions must be put in place to prevent forest loss so as to avoid future miseries.
References
Andersen, L. E. (2002). The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Asante, M. S. (2002). Deforestation in Ghana: Explaining the Chronic Failure of Forest Preservation Policies in a Developing Country. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Babin, D. (2004). Beyond Tropical Deforestation: From Tropical Deforestation to Forest Cover Dynamics and Forest Development. Paris: UNESCO [u.a..
Bosetti, V., & Lubowski, R. (2010). Deforestation and Climate Change: Reducing Carbon Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.
Campari, J. S. (2005). The Economics of Deforestation in the Amazon: Dispelling the Myths. Cheltenham, U.K: E. Elgar.
Cardenas, H. O. G. (2008). Causes and Consequences of Deforestation and Land-Cover Change in Rural Communitites of Western Mexico.
HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item”Costa, M. H., & Pires, G. F. (2010). Effects Of Amazon And Central Brazil Deforestation Scenarios On The Duration Of The Dry Season In The Arc Of Deforestation. International Journal of Climatology, 30(13), 1970-1979.
Durham, W. H., & Painter, M. (1998). The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item”Kummer, D. M., & Turner, B. L. (1994). The Human Causes of Deforestation in Southeast Asia. BioScience, 44(5), 323.
Lambin, E. F., & Geist, H. (2006). Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: Local Processes and Global Impacts. Berlin: Springer.
Laurance, W. F., & Peres, C. A. (2006). Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Margulis, S. (2004). Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. Washington, D.C: World Bank.
Palo, M., & Vanhanen, H. (2000). World Forests from Deforestation to Transition?. Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Pearce, D. W., & Brown, K. (1994). The Causes of Tropical Deforestation: The Economic and Statistical Analysis of Factors Giving Rise to the Loss of the Tropical Forests. Vancouver : UBC Press.
Potter, C. S. (1999). Terrestrial Biomass and the Effects of Deforestation on the Global Carbon Cycle. BioScience, 49(10), 769.
Spilsbury, R. (2012). Deforestation. New York: Rosen Central.
Sunderlin, W. D., Resosudarmo, I. A. P., & Center for International Forestry Research. (1996). Rates and Causes of Deforestation in Indonesia: Towards a Resolution of the Ambiguities. Jakarta, Indonesia: Centre for International Forestry Research.
Tucker, C. J., & Townshend, J. R. (2000). Strategies for monitoring tropical deforestation using satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 21(6-7), 1461-1471.
United Nations Development Programme. (2000). World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems : the Fraying Web of Life. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
Vajpeyi, D. K. (2001). Deforestation, Environment, and Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis. Westport, Conn : Praeger.
