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Our learning objectives

Definition of deforestation

Causes and consequences of deforestation

Our learning outcome

At the end of the lesson you must be able to

Give the different causes of deforestation.

List the consequences of clearances of natural vegetation.

Can you try to explain deforestation.

What is deforestation ?

• Deforestation refers to the loss or destruction of naturally occurring forests, primarily due to human activities such as logging, cutting trees for fuel, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing land for livestock grazing, mining operations, oil extraction, dam building, and urban sprawl or other types of development and population expansion.

What are the main causes of deforestation ?

There are 5 main causes of deforestation :• Logging • Industrialization• Agriculture• oil exploitation• human disasters

How Fast is Deforestation Happening?

• Currently, 12 million hectares of forests are cleared annually.

• At this rate all moist tropical forest could be lost by the year 2050, except for isolated areas in Amazonia, the Zaire basin, as well as a few protected areas within reserves and parks.

Hots

• Do you think forests are important for the environment.

• Trees too give out Carbon dioxide to the atmosphere does this have a role in global warming.

CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION

Alteration of local and global climates through disruption of :

a) The carbon cycle. Forests act as a major carbon store because carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken up from the atmosphere and used to produce the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up the tree. When forests are cleared, and the trees are either burnt or rot, this carbon is released as CO2. This leads to an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration. CO2 is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect. It is estimated that deforestation contributes one-third of all CO2 releases caused by people.

• b) The water cycle. Trees draw ground water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). In Amazonia over half of all the water circulating through the region's ecosystem remains within the plants. With removal of part of the forest, the region cannot hold as much water. The effect of this could be a drier climate.

Time to think critically

• How are plants able to keep the environment cold?

Flooding

• Flooding. Deforestation can result to watersheds that are no longer able to sustain and regulate water flows from rivers and streams. Trees are highly effective in absorbing water quantities, keeping the amount of water in watersheds to a manageable level. The forest also serves as a cover against erosion. Once they are gone, too much water can result to downstream flooding, many of which have caused disasters in many parts of the world

More effects ……

• Soil erosion With the loss of a protective cover of vegetation more soil is lost.

• Silting of water courses, lakes and dams This occurs as a result of soil erosion.

• Extinction of species which depend on the forest for survival. Forests contain more than half of all species on our planet - as the habitat of these species is destroyed, so the number of species declines

• Desertification The causes of desertification are complex, but deforestation is one of the contributing factors .

Summary

• Define deforestation• List four causes of deforestation• Give three effects of deforestation on the

environment.