This can be done on an individual level, for example by reducing meat consumption, going paperless and recycling products as much as possible, opting for natural products that do not contain ingredients such as palm oil and supporting organisations and sustainable companies that are committed to reducing this dangerous practice. This water replenishes clouds and maintains rainfall. This effect was most pronounced in the interior of the forest, where some patches of forest are still intact, providing the moist edge habitat that the mosquitoes like. Changing temperatures can alter which organisms can survive in an ecosystem. maintaining Without the transpiration of trees, deforested areas become drier. In 1997, clouds of smoke hung over the rainforests of Indonesia as an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania was burned to make way for agriculture, the fires exacerbated by drought. The South American rainforest, for example, influences regional and perhaps Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Estimates of deforestation Our goal is to make science relevant and fun for everyone. For example, starting in 2017, the government of New Zealand sought to plant more than 100 million trees per year within its borders, but perhaps the most ambitious replanting project took place in India on a single day in 2017, when citizens planted some 66 million trees. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? What is deforestation? A man sprays to kill the Aedes mosquito that carries the yellow fever virus in Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Brazil, while control efforts have dramatically reduced malaria transmission in the pastbringing 6 million cases a year in the 1940s down to just 50,000 by the 1960scases have since been steadily rising again in parallel with rapid forest clearing and expansion of agriculture. A November 2022 study showed that when bats struggle to find suitable habitat, they travel closer to human communities where diseases are more likely to spillover. The current rate of rainforest-loss generated emissions is nearly 25% higher than those generated in the European Union and just slightly below US levels. Studies in the Amazon reveal that about 5,000 square km (1,931 square miles) are at least partially logged each year. Whether such diseases stay confined to forest fringes or if they gain their own foothold in people, unleashing a potential pandemic, depends on their transmission, Vittor says. In Tanzania, the residents of Kokota have planted more than 2 million trees on their small island over a decade, aiming to repair previous damage. Zambrana-Torrelio notes that the likelihood of spillovers to people may increase as the climate warms, pushing animals, along with the viruses they carry, into regions where theyve never existed before, he says. Not all deforestation is intentional. According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading green group, 32 million acres of tropical rainforest were cut down each year between 2000 and 2009and the pace of deforestation is only increasing. We cut down forests to build our homes and feed our growing population, while destroying the homes and food of our native wildlife. You might also like: 10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About. The water here is shallow but still impenetrably murky, with the odd strand of seagrass floating by. (NPR) Small-scale farmers clear forests by burning them and then grow crops in the soils fertilized by the ashes. Since 1990, the world has lost more than 420 million hectares or about a billion acres of forest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsmainly in Africa and South America. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat. A mans world? Soil erosion is a gradual process that occurs when the impact of water or wind detaches and removes soil particles, causing the soil to deteriorate. Not long after the bats settled on trees in Malaysian orchards, pigs around them started to fall sickpresumably after eating fallen fruit the bats had nibbled onas did local pig farmers. Between 2003 and 2015, on average, they estimated that a 10 percent yearly increase in forest loss led to a 3 percent rise in malaria cases. One way some tropical countries are reducing deforestation is through participation in the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program. This, in turn, contributes to destroying forests, intensifying deforestation even more. A national park, a world heritage site, an international biosphere reserve, and were starving it of fresh water.. Although the increased levels of carbon dioxide may stimulate forest growth, more data is needed to measure the long-term impact. In conclusion, deforestation, while it may be necessary, will have an extremely negative effect on the environment. Although there are many benefits that can be enjoyed through it, its risks cannot be ignored. Many deforestation efforts focus only on short-term gains and think nothing of the long-term risks and consequences. Diseases that are transmitted through insects, such as malaria and Lyme disease, are more common in open spaces with more sunlight exposure. The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells review our terrifying future, Am I the only one whos terrified about the warm weather? This increases the occurrence of human-wildlife conflict, where the needs and behaviour of wildlife impacts negatively on humans, or when humans negatively affect the needs of wildlife. The upshot is that we should be doing as much to prevent deforestation as we are to increase fuel efficiency and reduce automobile usage. The numbers are grim, but many conservationists see reasons for hope. These often support only very low numbers of domestic grazing animals, but they may still be considered grazing lands by national authorities. A wedge-shaped expanse of water between the Everglades and the Florida Keys, it is a clean, sun-dappled 1,000 sq mile playground for reddening tourists, grizzled fishermen and loud-shirted locals. While some of them move into areas occupied by other tribes, straining the lands resources, others are forced to relocate to urban settings and completely change their way of living. Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. For instance, in Liberia forest clearings for palm oil plantations attract hordes of typically forest-dwelling mice, lured there by the abundance of palm fruit around plantations and settlements. To reduce climate change pollution produced by our current dependence on fossil fuels, renewable energy is our only economic long-term option. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. Discover world-changing science. MacDonald sees value in this idea: If we can conserve the environment, then perhaps we can also protect health, he says. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). What are the reasons behind deforestation? Forests around the world are home to more than 80% of all terrestrial animal, plant, and insect species. All rights reserved. This led to the die-off of Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. The extent to which forests have become Earths grazing lands is much more difficult to assess. The patient is on life support at the moment, said Steve Davis, senior ecologist at conservation not-for-profit Everglades Foundation, describing what was once a prime fishing area in the western portion of the bay. Construction of roads and buildings, logging, mining, and agricultural production have resulted in large amounts of soil erosion in the U.S. and around the world. Not according to biology or history. That disruption leads to more extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to plants and animals. We cut down forests to build our homes and feed our growing population, while destroying the homes and food of our native wildlife. Most present-day croplands receive enough rain and are warm enough to have once supported forests of one kind or another. Malariawhich kills over a million annually due to infection by Plasmodium parasites transmitted by mosquitoeshas long been suspected of going hand in hand with deforestation. These animals can sniff it out. Notice how turbid and brown the water is, Davis said, standing up on his skiff and peering into the bay. What if we could clean them out? He has previously written for YoDerm, a dermatology-related start-up as a copywriter writing on various acne-related topics, drawing from his experience in biology and research. Another important role of trees is to regulate the temperature of forests and maintain it constant. Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest. Water sources in deforested areas were shown to have higher nitrate levels, lower dissolved oxygen levels, and somewhat higher temperatures (from 20 to 23 degrees Celsius on average) than in forested areas. . Can we bring a species back from the brink?, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Obviously, Floridas native species are suffering. In Africa, studies have found little association between malaria and deforestationperhaps because the mosquito species there like to breed in sunlit bodies of water and favor open farmland over shady forest areas. Some viruses, like Ebola or Nipah, can be transmitted directly between people, theoretically allowing them to travel around the world as long as there are humans. All rights reserved. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. Rainforest is cleared for cattle farming along the Trans-Amazonian Highway. , Cattle ranching and deforestation are strongest in Latin America. By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the worlds roads. The Amazon actually helps furnish water to some of the soy farmers and beef ranchers who are clearing the forest. WebAbstract. Dead fish in Florida following the 2018 toxic red tide. Plants create oxygen and absorb greenhouse gases. Deforested lands are being replanted in some areas. Figure 1: Tropical primary forest loss between 2002 and 2020. Find out the causes, effects, and solutions. Water temperatures increase because the trees that provide cover from sunlight are cut down. Flash floods, rivers and streams, slowly but surely erode rock. In answering the question of how does deforestation affect the environment, you may discover that in fact, it also has a direct impact on the human population. Such processes arent limited to tropical diseases. Climate change has accelerated the rate of ice loss across the continent. WebIn 2010, United States had 252Mha of natural forest, extending over 29% of its land area. Healthy forests act as extremely valuable carbon sinks, with the Amazon rainforest being one of the worlds most important ones. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as much as half of the worlds topsoil has been lost as a consequence of the nearly 4 million square miles of forest that have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. Only about 1 million square km (390,000 square miles) of cropland are in areas that would have been cool boreal forests, as in Scandinavia and northern Canada. One of the basic materials of human civilization, wood still plays a central role in 21st-century life. In recent decades, Floridas massive population growth and booming tourism industry have disturbed and fragmented many natural areas across the state. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the annual rate of deforestation is about 1.3 million square km per decade, though the rate has slowed in some places in the early 21st century as a result of enhanced forest management practices and the establishment of nature preserves. You might also like: 12 Major Companies Responsible for Deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of forests to obtain lumber and provide space for either agricultural zones or urban development. Participating nations can then accrue and sell carbon pollution credits when they can prove they have lowered deforestation below a baseline. According to a 2010 congressional study, 17 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, from both burning trees and the resulting loss of photosynthesis, which removes carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere. These uncontacted tribes live by the rules of nature but are becoming increasingly vulnerable to deforestation, which has forced many of them to migrate. Much of the remainder was once moist subtropical or tropical forest or, in eastern North America, western Europe, and eastern China, temperate forest. In a 2015 study, researchers at Ecohealth Alliance, a New York-based non-profit that tracks infectious diseases globally, and others found that nearly one in three outbreaks of new and emerging disease[s] are linked to land-use change like deforestation, the organizations president Peter Daszak tweeted earlier this year. As widespread burning continues today in tropical forests in the Amazon, and some parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, experts have expressed concern about the health of people living at the frontiers of deforestation. This erosion will carve out caves and crevices. On average, they found that the Malaysian government spends around $5,000 to treat each new malaria patient in the regionin some areas much more than they spend on malaria control, Zambrana-Torrelio says. Along with Indigenous tribes, animals are some of the biggest victims of deforestation. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. Logging operations, which provide the worlds wood and paper products, also fell countless trees each year. The commercial palm oil industry rapidly expanded in the late 20th century and led to thedeforestationof significant swaths of Indonesia and Malaysia as well as large areas in Africa. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. (The rest lies along that countrys borders to the west and to the north.) Work in the late 1990s by Amy Vittor, an epidemiologist at the University of Floridas Emerging Pathogens Institute, and others, suggested a reason why. Among the, for this damaging practice are agricultural expansion and cattle breeding as well as to obtain raw materials such as palm oil, a key ingredient in cosmetics and food products widely used around the world, and timber used for fuel, manufacturing, and infrastructure development. Deforestation and desertification have many detrimental effects on the environment, but one of the most devastating impacts is the loss of biodiversity. In a complex analysis of satellite and health data published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MacDonald and Stanford Universitys Erin Mordecai reported a significant impact of deforestation across the Amazon basin on malaria transmission, in line with some previous research. When does spring start? Additionally, significant areas are planted as monotypic plantations for lumber or paper production. Old cells hang around as we age, doing damage to the body. This makes soil vulnerable to being washed away, and prone to erosion. These animals can sniff it out. Organizations and activists are working to fight illegal mining and loggingNational Geographic Explorer Topher White, for example, has come up with a way to use recycled cell phones to monitor for chainsaws. What are the 3 major causes of soil erosion? Indeed, a forthcoming study shows that left unchecked, deforestation will cost Florida timber and agriculture between $4 billion and $6 billion. We quantified the effect of human population growth and development on rates of deforestation and analyzed the relationship between these causal factors in the 1980s and 1990s. What are the 10 effects of deforestation? But in Sabah, a part of Malaysian Borneo, malaria outbreaks also occur in tandem with bursts of forest clearing for palm oil and other plantations. In addition, each year fires burn an area about half as large as the areas that are cleared. If trees are removed, the area can become much warmer and drier, which may result in desertification, which is a transformation of once fertile land into desert. What is deforestation and its causes and effects? Yarborough morosely added: The water used to be so clear you could see the seagrass move back and forth. Please be respectful of copyright. It was the first known emergence of Nipah virus in people, which has since caused a string of recurrent outbreaks across Southeast Asia. The main effect of deforestation on animals and plants is the loss of their habitat. Separate red tide algal outbreaks in the ocean ravaged Florida last year, leading to beaches being closed, horrified dog owners who saw their pets poisoned, and hundreds of tons of dead fish and manatees piling up along the Gulf coast. When these resources are lost, animals become weaker, more vulnerable to diseases and often succumb to starvation. Some scientists believe there could be as many as 1.7 million currently undiscovered viruses in mammals and birds, of which up to 827,000 could have the ability to infect people, according to a 2018 study. Please be respectful of copyright. Deforestation also affects nearby rivers, streams, and other water sources as nutrients from the soil are removed through leaching, which happens when water (e.g., from rain) removes soluble nutrients from the soil and carries them elsewhere. Furthermore, many animal species are heavily reliant on specific plants and their fruits for food sources. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. Photograph by William Daniels, Nat Geo Image Collection. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? Destroying forests alters weather patterns, destroys habitats, and negatively affects rural communities, leading to food insecurity and causing irreversible damage to entire ecosystems. He and his colleagues are beginning work with the Malaysian government to incorporate this into land use planning, and are undertaking a similar project with Liberian officials to calculate the cost of Lassa fever outbreaks there. But the consequences of Floridas century-long attempt to bend the environment to its will arent hard to find. Inversely, when bats native habitats were left intact, they stayed away from humans. Running water is the leading cause of soil erosion, because water is abundant and has a lot of power. 59% occurs in Latin America, with a further 28% from Southeast Asia. Some of MacDonalds research has revealed a curious association between deforestation and Lyme disease in the Northeastern United States. Over time, that adds up, outweighing the profits that could be gained by cutting forests down and making a compelling financial argument to leave some forests standing, Daszak says. Find out how a tribe in the Amazon is using old cell phones and machine learning to help save their forest home. Ecohealth Alliance researchers have proposed that containing diseases could be considered a new ecosystem service, that is, a benefit that humans freely gain from natural ecosystems, just like carbon storage and pollination. According to One Tree Planted, the top five are: Industrial agriculture (Meat production) Timber logging Mining Expansion and infrastructure Climate change 75% of the US Virgin Forests Have Been Destroyed by the US Itself in the 1600s. In terms of climate change, cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. Image by, In addition to their role as carbon sinks, forests are a crucial component of the water cycle and have the all important function of preventing desertification. With many Florida Deforestation alters not only nearby ecosystems -- communities of interacting organisms and their environments -- but also the atmosphere on a global level, with devastating results. Deforestation deprives the land of its cover, leaving the soil exposed to wind and rain. In Malaysia and Indonesia, forests are cut down to make way for producing palm oil, which can be found in everything from shampoo to saltine crackers. Many factors related to cutting down trees contribute to driving species to extinction. With the loss of trees and entire forests, homelands are also being destroyed in the process. as a consequence of the nearly 4 million square miles of forest that have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. Its a numbers game: The more we degrade and clear forest habitats, the more likely it is that were going to find ourselves in these situations where epidemics of infectious diseases occur.. While deforestation may occur locally, its effect is global. That I think is the silver lining that we should keep in mind., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Soil erosion tends to be greater in drier, more mountainous areas, where there is less vegetation to prevent the movement of soil and to absorb the nutrients.