Cutting and felling of trees in and on the fringe of the forest to reduce the number of trees and reduce the surface area of the forest is deforestation. It may go the extent of totally wiping out the forest and converting it into a barren land without any trees. This may be done for a variety of purposes.Deforestation has devastating effect on the environment. It depletes oxygen supply, for one thing. The carbon dioxide of the atmosphere is not absorbed any more leading to greater increase in its concentration in the atmosphere which causes " greenhouse effect".Rainfall is lowered in that area where trees are scanty.
2006-11-17 19:32:31
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answer #1
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answered by Ishan26 7
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Deforestation: Destruction of forest on large areas by man for their selfishness is called as deforestation.
Introduction: Man is a very selfish vertebrate on this earth. He is cutting forests for acquiring land for various purposes viz. construction, industrilization etc.
2006-11-18 01:15:51
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answer #3
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answered by sapkalgirishd 1
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2016-04-04 06:44:41
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land use such as arable land, urban use, logged area or wasteland. Historically, this meant conversion to grassland or to its artificial counterpart, grainfields; however, the Industrial Revolution added urbanization. Generally this removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. In developing countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.
Deforestation results from removal of trees without sufficient reforestation; however, even with reforestation, significant biodiversity loss may occur. There are many causes, ranging from slow forest degradation to sudden and catastrophic wildfires. Deforestation can be the result of the deliberate removal of forest cover for agriculture or urban development, or it can be an unintentional consequence of uncontrolled grazing (which can prevent the natural regeneration of young trees). The combined effect of grazing and fires can be a major cause of deforestation in dry areas. In addition to the direct effects brought about by forest removal, indirect effects caused by edge effects and habitat fragmentation can greatly magnify the effects of deforestation.
Impact on the Environment
Deforestation alters the hydrologic cycle, alterring the amount of water in the soil and groundwater and the moisture in the atmosphere. Forests support considerable biodiversity, providing valuable habitat for wildlife; moreover, forests foster medicinal conservation and the recharge of aquifers. With forest bioptopes being a major, irreplacable source of new drugs (like taxol), deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.
Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape's capacity to intercept, retain and transport precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover. Deforestation also contributes to decreased evapotranspiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects precipitation levels downwind from the deforested area, as water is not recycled to downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and returns directly to the oceans. According to one preliminary study, in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the 1980s [1].
Long-term gains can be obtained by managing forest lands sustainably to maintain both forest cover and provide a biodegrable renewable resource. Forests are also important stores of organic carbon, and forests can extract carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air, thus contributing to biosphere stability and probably relevant to the greenhouse effect. Forests are also valued for their aesthetic beauty and as a cultural resource and tourist attraction.
Characterization
Deforestation is the loss or continual degradation of forest habitat primarily due to human related causes. Agriculture, urban sprawl, unsustainable forestry practices, mining, and petroleum exploration all contribute to human caused deforestation. Natural deforestation can be linked to tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, glaciation and desertification, although the desertification process is driven primarily by human causes. The effects of human related deforestation can be mitigated through environmentally sustainable practices that reduce permanent destruction of forests or even act to preserve and rehabilitate disrupted forestland (see Reforestation and Treeplanting).
Definitions
Deforestation defined broadly can include not only conversion to non-forest, but also degradation that reduces forest quality - the density and structure of the trees, the ecological services supplied, the biomass of plants and animals, the species diversity and the genetic diversity. Narrow definition of deforestation is: the removal of forest cover to an extent that allows for alternative land use. The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) uses a broad definition of deforestation, while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) uses a narrow definition.
Definitions can also be grouped as those which refer to changes in land cover and those which refer to changes in land use. Land cover measurements often use a percent of cover to determine deforestation. This type of definition has the advantage in that large areas can be easily measured, for example from satellite photos. A forest cover removal of 90% may still be considered forest in some cases. Under this definition areas that may have few values of a natural forest such as plantations and even urban or suburban areas may be considered forest.
Land use definitions measure deforestation by a change in land use. This definition may consider areas to be forest that are not commonly considered as such. An area can be lacking trees but still considered a forest. It may be a land designated for afforestation or an area designated administratively as forest.
Use of the term deforestation
It has been argued that the lack of specificity in use of the term deforestation distorts forestry issues.[2] The term deforestation is used to refer to activities that use the forest, for example, fuel wood cutting, commercial logging, as well as activities that cause temporary removal of forest cover such the slash and burn technique, a component of some shifting cultivation agricultural systems or clearcutting. It is also used to describe forest clearing for annual crops and forest loss from over-grazing. Some definitions of deforestation include activities such as establishment of industrial forest plantations are considered afforestation by others. It has also been argued that the term deforestation is an such an emotional term that is used "so ambiguously that it is virtually meaningless" unless it is specified what is meant. [3] More specific terms terms include forest decline, forest fragmentation and forest degradation, loss of forest cover and land use conversion. The term also has a traditional legal sense of the conversion of Royal forest land into purlieu or other non-forest land.
Levels of causation
The causes of deforestation are complex and often differ in each forest and country. It may be difficult to determine the cause of deforestation in a particular forest. For example a rise in the price of soybeans may result in soybean farmers displacing cattle ranchers in order to expand their farms. This might cause cattle ranchers to shift to land previously used by slash and burn farmers who in turn shift further into the forest which has been made accessible by roads built by loggers. In this case it may not be clear who "caused" deforestation. In this case it could be claimed that the loggers caused forest degradation and that the slash and burn farmers were agents of deforestation, the cause was demand for farm land. The underlaying causes may be poverty or the trade in international commodities.
Theories of deforestation
Three schools of thought exist with regards to the causes of deforestation - the Impoverishment school, which believes that the major cause of deforestation is "the growing number of poor", the Neoclassical school which believes that the major cause is "open-access property rights" and the Political-ecology school which believes that the major cause of deforestation is that the "capitalist investors crowd out peasants". The Impoverishment school sees smallholders as the principal agents of deforestation, the Neoclassical school sees various agents, and the Political-ecology school sees capitalist entrepreneurs as the major agents of deforestation. Actual data support the first two theories as widespread numerical impacts.
2006-11-17 18:42:21
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answer #9
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answered by KEiKo 3
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