Deforestation,how it is impacting our environment, the chief causes of deforestation, the organisations that are working against it.

2. Deforestation is clearing Earth's
forests on a massive scale, often
resulting in damage to the quality of
the land and related ecosystems,
where the land is thereafter
converted to a non-forest use.

4. 1.Agriculture Activities 2.Logging 3.Urbanisation
4.Desertification 5.Mining 6.Forest Fire

5. Agriculture is the most important cause of deforestation on the planet
comprising nearly about 50-70%. Due to huge demand for food
products, huge amount of trees are fell down to grow crops and for
cattle grazing. They often clear acres of trees in what is called “slash
and burn technique”. Besides this, local cattle, goats, sheep etc. ,not
only destroy the vegetation but also pull out the roots of plants.
Statistics shows that 60-70% of amazon forests are deforested due to
cattle ranching. Over-grazing and the growing hunger for land have hit
the ecology of the India so badly that India may soon have more of
wasteland than productive land.

6. Logging contributes around 14% in deforestation. Wood based industries
like paper, match sticks, furniture etc. need a substancial amount of wood
supply for our ever growing population. Some of these industries thrive on
illegal wood cutting. Illegal logging is now being strictly implemented and
most business are moving into a paper free environment. National laws
regulate the production and trade of timber products. These laws can be
violated in any number of ways, such as taking wood from protected areas,
harvesting more than is permitted and harvesting protected species. This
destruction threatens some of the world’s most famous and valuable
forests, including Amazon, Congo Basin, Indonesia and the forests of the
Russian Far East.

7. Overpopulation too directly affects forests covers, as with
the expansion of cities more land is needed to establish
housing and settlements.
Further in order to gain access to these forests the
construction of roads are undertaken. Therefore forest
land is reclaimed. Our progress required that we travelled
from one place to another the fastest possible way. This
means roads and highways.

8. Some of the other factors that lead to deforestation are also part natural
and part anthropogenic like desertification of land. Destruction of biotic
potential of land leads to desertification. It occurs due to land abuse
making it unfit for groth of many trees. Such problem arises due to over-
grazing, indiscriminate falling of trees and over-exploitation of land
resources. Many industries in petrochemicals release their waste into
rivers which results in soil erosion and making it unfit to grow plants and
trees.
Soil erosion increases manifold and the soil actually gets washed,
leading to an accentuated cycle of floods and drought.

9. A lot of forested areas are rich in minerals and are vulnerable to
mining operations. What are trees, compared to gold or
diamonds?
Oil and Coal mining require considerable amount of forest land.
Apart from this, roads and highways have tobe built to make way
for trucks and other equipment. The waste that comes out from
mining pollutes the environment and effects the nearby species.

10. Another example would be the forest blazes; Hundreads of
trees are lost every year due to forest fires in various
portions of the world. This happens due to extreme warm
summers and milder winters. Fires whether causes by man
or nature results in huge loss of forest cover.
According to a study conducted by the Forest Survey of
India (1996), on an average, 53.1% forest vegetation is
affected by fire. Data further indicate that fire destroys
about 0.5 million hectares of forests annually.

11. Impacts
Increaesd
soil
erosion
Disruption
of water
cycle
Climate
change
Reduced
bio
diversity
Disruption
of
livelihood

12. Erosion is sweeping the land into rivers. Deforestation generally
increases rates of soil loss, by increasing the amount of runoff and
reducing the protection of the soil from tree litter. The agricultural
plants replacing the forests are unable to hold onto the soil. China's
Loess Plateau was cleared of forest millennia ago. Since then it has
been eroding, creating dramatic incised valleys, and providing the
sediment that gives the Yellow River its yellow color and that causes
the flooding of the river in the lower reaches (hence the river's
nickname 'China's sorrow').Tree removal on steep slopes with shallow
soil also increases the risk of landslides, which can threaten people
living nearby.

13. Trees play a key role in the water cycle by helping to keep a balance
between the water on land and water in the atmosphere. But when
deforestation occurs, that balance can be thrown off, resulting in
changes in precipitation and river flow. Trees extract groundwater
through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a
forest is removed, the trees no longer transpire this water, resulting in
a much drier climate
Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh water.

14. This is probably most serious consequence of Deforestation. About 80%
of the world’s documented species can be found in tropical rainforests
.When species lose their forest homes, they are often unable to subsist
in the small fragments of forested land left behind. They become more
accessible to hunters and poachers, their numbers begin to dwindle and
some eventually go extinct. Even localized deforestation can result in
extinctions as many unique species exist in small isolated geographic
locations in the world. It has been estimated that we are losing 137
plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest
deforestation, which equates to 50,000 species a year

15. Deforestation also causes the Greenhouse effect that leads to global
warming, a contributor to climate change. Loss of tree cover also
upsets the oxygen carbon dioxide balance leading to lower oxygen
levels and higher levels of pollution. Forests help to mitigate carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but they become carbon
sources when they are cut, burned or otherwise removed. Tropical
deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world
greenhouse gas emissions.These greenhouse gas emissions contribute
to rising temperatures, changes in patterns of weather and water and
an increased frequency of extreme weather

16. Millions of people around the world depend on forests for hunting,
gathering and medicine, forest products such as rubber and rattan, and
small-scale agriculture.
In Brazil, poor people have been lured from their villages to remote soy
plantations where they may be abused and forced, at gunpoint, to work
under inhumane conditions.
Some indigenous people’s may of life and survival are threatened by the
loss of forests. Fewer trees results an in secure future for forests
workers.

19. • PLANT MORE TREES – Encourage your friends to plant a tree and
keep your local forest safe.
•EXERCISE YOUR POWER AS A CONSUMER – Buy products of
the companies supporting zero deforestation policy.
•PRACTICE THE 3 R’S – Reduce,Reuse and Recycle to lower the need
for more raw materials from trees.
•TAKE A STAND ON POLITICAL ISSUES – Ask your local
government to create more parks.
•SUPPORT NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS – Donate small
amount of money to organisations to help them fight against
deforestation.

20. This Chipko Movement was started by group of villagers in reni villiage
in Uttrakhand who opposed the cutting of trees. It is the first organised
movement started in April 1972 to protect the trees against the
commercial forest policy. This revolutionary movement soon got
worldwide support and attention. Chipko Movement was very
successful in influencing policy both at center and state level. The
participants in Chipko Movement were primarily small town women
who fought for their bread and communities, these women were
determined to protect the forests from deforestation even at the cost
of their lives. Gradually men also were involved in the Chipko
Movement.The chief people in this movement were Amrita Devi,
Gaura Devi , Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Sundarlal Bahuguna.
Chipko Movement leader like Mr Sundarlal Bahuguna believed that,
“Ecology is the permanent economy. There are many movements that
formed to save natural resources inspired by Chipko Movement in
India and abroad.

21. If corporations have the ability to destroy the world’s rainforests,
they also have the power to help save them.
•Implement Anti-deforestation policies - Corporations can
implement anti deforestation policies that require suppliers and
other stakeholders to operate in ways that do not harm the
environment.
•Minimise paper wastage and encourage recycling -
Corporatons are huge consumers of paper. Management can work
towards a paper-free office by shifting towards email and soft-
copies,and also encourage their employees to recycle.
Many big organisations are working towards finishing deforestation
like WWF.

22. WWF’s is an organisation that focusses on sustainable forestry around the world.
WWF works with local communities and other partners in forest management
efforts.
It is working in the following areas:-
•Working to reduce deforestation - Paraguay reduced the rate of deforestation in
their country by 85%
•Offsetting carbonn emissions from forests - WWF focuses on reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks (called REDD+).
•Creating protectred areas - WWF has worked to create and continue support for
protected areas in more than 100 countries around the world
•Promoting sustainable bioenergy - WWF’s vision is that by 2050, 100% of the
world’s energy will come from sustainable, renewable sources, including bioenergy.
•Stopping illegal logging – WWF encourages US consumers to buy wood products
that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

23. Government have the resources to allow anti deforestation
organisation to get their sphere of influence. This is a good
way to indirectly solve deforesatation.
Government shoould make strict rules for deforestation and
illegal logging. It should promote small parks in the cities. It
should promote reforestation on the cost for deforestation.
The cutting down of trees must be countered by replacing
old one that were cut with young ones.

25. And We Should protect them