Causes And Effects Of Deforestation

Deforestation is the action or process of cutting down the trees in a large area or the destruction of forests. There are many causes of the deforestation such as both illegal and legal logging, farming activities as well as poor land management. Deforestation has brought negative impacts too, which includes the damage to land, the extinction of plants and soil erosion. This essay will discuss the causes and effects of deforestation.

First of all, legal and illegal logging including farming activities are the causes of deforestation (McLeish, 2007). As the population increase, humans cut down many trees and clear forests to provide more fields for crops such as tea, rubber and oil palm (Pakenham, 2005; Golden and Miller, 1994). It is suggested

Most farmers use poor farming methods in order to meet the demands of food from the consumers. For instance, they will use too much fertilizer and reduce the fallow period, as they want to increase the production of food to fulfil the needs of consumers. (Klissinger, 2002; McLeish, 2007). They also use the irrigation system, which is the application of controlled amounts of water to plants at needed intervals, to ensure the growth of their plants. The inefficiency of farming techniques and productivity happen since some of the farmers only use old and outdated farm equipment due to the lack of funds. Hence, it is obvious that poor land management is the cause of deforestation even though the methods can meet the demands of the

It is obvious that logging and farming activities, as well as poor land management, will lead to negative effects. The negative effects are the damage to soil, the extinction of plants and soil erosion including the loss of habitat. It is important to ensure the sustainability of the forests, as it will be beneficial for future generations.

References

McLeish, E. (2007). What if we do nothing? Rainforest destruction. London: Franklin Watts.

Pakenham, K. (2005). Making Connections: a strategic approach to academic reading (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stenstrup, A. (2009). Diminishing resources: Forests. Greenboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Publishing.

Golden, A. and Miller, M. (1994). Rainforest destruction has reached crisis proportions, In Leone, B (Executive editor) Global resource: opposing viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press

Klissinger, E. (2002). “Which way will it go?” In Contemporary Topics: 2. New York: Longman

National Geography. (2009). Deforestation and Its Effect on the Planet. Retrieved from