Deforestation

Definition

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale.

Causes

• People cutting down trees to make space for houses, farms, or for infrastructure.
• Palm oil plantations cut down palm trees for palm oil.
• A cause of deforestation is the need for harvesting trees for paper and wood
• Illegal logging is when people clear cut many trees without abiding laws, Illegal loggers can clear cut entire forests.

Interesting fact: About 36 football fields worth of trees are cut a minute.

Effects

• Animals lose their habitats, that sometimes can causes losses of entire species.
• Entire destruction of eco-systems and the plants and animals that live in them.
• Trees normally soak up some of the pollution in streams and rivers causing more pollution in water when they are cut down.
• The soil will erode without the tree roots holding the land together causing more landslides and mudslides.
• There will be more silt in water supply's without trees to soak it up.
• It will increase the rate of global warming; tree cutting already contributes 6-12% of the world's total carbon emissions. When trees are cut down they release greenhouse gasses.