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Forests Extinction Essay, Research Paper

Can you picture our earth without forests? Many of us can?t. Forests cover

approximately one fifth of the worlds land surface and play an important role in

our everyday lives (Dudley 4). Forests provide us with many products and

services from helping maintain erosion to providing jobs for our citizens.

Humanity depends on the survival of a healthy ecosystem and deforestation is

causing many social, economic and ecological problems. One ecological problem is

Global warming witch is caused when carbon is released into the air after the

burning of forests. Governments and industries must become more aware of these

consequences of their activities and change accordingly. They need to cooperate

with forest management and work towards a future that benefits all. Humans need

to be educated about the current issues of the forests in order for us to save,

preserve or sustain these places that provide us with so much. Humans depend

tremendously on the world?s forests, but yet were the ones destroying them.

For humans, the forests have many aesthetic, recreational, economic, and

cultural values. Timber and other products of the forests are important

economically both locally and as exports. They provide employment for those who

harvest the wood or for those who make products from the living forest. Forests

also provide us with medical drugs, dyes and fabrics. There are many people who

are dependent on forestland for their livelihoods. One third of the world?s

people depend on wood for fuel as a significant energy source (Dudley). Not only

do the forests provide some people with homes, but also provides a popular

setting for ecotourism, which includes hiking, camping, bird watching and other

outdoor adventure or nature study activities. All these activities and products

the forests provide us are at great risk from deforestation. Not only do forests

provide us with all this but also protect soil from erosion and reduces the

risks of landslides and avalanches. Trees help sustain freshwater supplies

therefore are an important factor in the availability of one of life?s basic

needs. Forests affect the climate and are also a very important source of

oxygen. One major factor that the forests carry is that they are the home to

over one half of the world?s total species (Dudley). Currently we are

discovering 20 new species of insects and 15 species of plants each day (Dudley

13). ?Recent reports by the World Resources Institute have shown that more

than 80% of the plant?s natural forests have already been destroyed?

(Hatch). Yes humankind is the cause of deforestation, however us humans are also

capable of having a positive effect on this crisis. Tropical forests cover about

10 per cent of the world?s dry land surface, mostly located in South America

and Asia (Dudley 6). In the tropical forests of the world, deforestation is

occurring for agriculture and livestock pastures. The main cause is the unequal

distribution of land (Anderson). Temperate forests are found in land areas that

are warm enough and low enough to support trees but not so hot to be tropical.

They are found in North America, Europe and cooler parts of Australia (Dudley

4). The problems in temperate forests are not so much the decrease in overall

forest area, but the substantial change in the types of forests and their

ecological diversity and stability. Commercial forestry is the main cause of

deforestation in temperate forests. ?In very broad terms, the total area of

forest in Europe, the USSR and North America is likely to decrease only slightly

in the medium future, but the proportion of forest existing as plantation is

liable to rise sharply? (Dudley 66). This however is going to lead to an

increase in conflict between the recreational and conservation interests and

will also tend to make forestry a more capital-intensive operation, thus

providing fewer jobs. Since so many people are dependent on the world?s

forests, deforestation will have a social, economical and ecological effect on

the world. Most of these effects are negative ones. The loss of forestlands is

connected to desertification, which translates into there being fewer trees,

thus decreasing the future forest workers employment. Heavy rainfall and high

sunlight quickly damage the topsoil in tropical rainforest, causing them to

regenerate slower and also providing insufficient farming grounds. When forests

are replanted there will also be a loss in quality. Also the medical treatments,

cures and vaccines will never be discovered if there are no forests to discover

them in. There may be a loss of future markets for ecotourism. The value of a

forest is often higher when it is left standing than it could be worth when it

is harvested (Dudley). Deforestation can cause the climate to change which could

cause and increase in floods and droughts. Global warming is a big factor in the

destruction of trees. Forests store large amounts of carbon that are released

when trees are cut or burned. It is said that deforestation and the burning of

biomass will be responsible for fifteen percent of the greenhouse effect between

1990 and 2025 (FAO). Because of global warming ranges of tree species could

shift with respect to altitude and latitude (Humankind 2). Furthermore, the

stress of such environmental change may make some species more

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