Deforestation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deforestation is when forests are lost because people want to make farms and cities. Without the forest, the habitats of the animals are lost and many animals die.

[change] Cause of deforestation

Deforestation happens because people in many countries need to grow more food. They remove the trees and use the land to make farms. They also use the wood from the trees to make buildings or to burn the trees for heat. Sometimes, forests are lost because people want to make cities bigger: this means building roads and buildings on the land where the forests are.

Forests have the following functions:

• regulation of the water cycle
• production of soil
• protection of soil
• provide habitat for animals
• provide most of our oxygen

Forests are often planted to protect against natural disasters. When forests are lost, very often the soil they protected is also lost. This loss of soil is often called erosion. We give out carbon dioxide when we breathe and plants and trees take it in by photosynthesis.

Trees are also important for storing carbon. Deforestation causes the carbon in the trees to go into the air again, and this causes more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, deforestation causes global warming. In fact, 20% of global warming is caused by deforestation.