can someone give me some reasons why cutting down forests is wrong?

Answer 1

The above is a good answer but a couple of other concerns...

Developers, mineral extractors, lumber companies etc often cut down large sections of forest for commerical reasons with no little regard for the people who live there, often they are forced to abandon their homes and have nowhere to go.

In recent years there have been many mudslides and landslides, especially in South American countries, and these have claimed a large number of lives. When forests are cleared the soil is exposed and the root systems that bind the soil together are lost. As a result the soil washes away much more easily, often with disasterous conseqences. In times of heavy rain less water is absorbed and the liklihood of flooding increases.

Trees (like all plants) photosynthesize meaning they 'breathe in' carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and 'breathe out' oxygen. Good for all oxygen breating species including humans and good for the atmosphere as well.

Deforestation alters the hydrological cycle which affects the amount of groundwater and atmospheric water vapour. This can lead to changes in local weather and loss of water supplies.

Key words you might want to look up for further information:
Deforestation / Clearfelling / Clearcutting / Slash and Burn
Biological Diversity / Biodiversity
Hydrological Cycle
Evapotranspiration
Canopy Interception
Soil Moisture / Transpiration
Medicinal Conservation
Greenhouse Effect

Answer 2

It's all in how its done, first of all.

Logging forests means roads and clear-cutting and roads equals impacts to the watershed, which translates into problems for aquatic organisms, fishermen, and water quality in general with possible financial impacts often not borne by the responsible parties.

Biodiversity. Even if trees are replanted, a tree farm has far less biological diversity than a healthy, old growth forest.

Air quality. Trees clean up the air by producing some of the oxygen we breathe.

Climate change: the more drastically we alter the planet's waters, surface area and atmosphere the more we doom the planets inhabitants. Last I looked we only had the 1 planet to live on.

And very simply, it's wrong to give huge profits to a few at the expense of so many.

Answer 3

a forest is home for a lot of plants and animals, it's called ecosystem, and if you cut trees you are also killing animals and everything that live inside the forest.
it's common to say that we know nearly 10% of the species of plants in the rainforests in the world, before cutting all of them I would like to analyze more unknown plants, maybe I will find some new useful molecules for new antibacteria/antivirus for example.

forest has low albedo, so they help to keep to regulate the temperature of the region.
also the plants help to regulate the humidity of a vaste region: plants can extract very efficiently water from the soil and bring this humidity into the leaves, this water could eventually evaporate (from the stoma) and be dispersed into the atmosphere.

plants produce oxygen, you know ? that stuff that you breathe every single moment in order to live...

paper from corn, wheat (even weed) is as good as tree derived paper now, recycling help a lot also.

Answer 4

Rainforests do no longer in simple terms furnish fabric products, in addition they furnish precious facilities for us. round 25% of the human beings contained in the global matter in a unmarried way or yet another on the water from the rainforest. The timber and soil of the rainforest acts like a sponge, storing water from standard downpours. They forestall the pricey water from straight away flowing into the rivers, seas and oceans. even as the rainforest are cleared, thousands and thousands of folk are dropping a useful source of water. there will be severe water shortages in interior sight parts and in parts more advantageous away, there could be major floods occuring as there could be no more advantageous rainforest to take in the water. otherwise, the rainforest also helps to diminish the the temperatures global. They act as an excellent and global air conditioner. in case you may be conscious a rainforest from a distance, you may see that it makes up a gloomy floor. This darkish floor absorbs warmth from the sunlight and reduce the temperatures. even as the timber are decrease down, there does no longer be a gloomy floor to take up the nice and cozy temperature. fairly, there's a lighter floor formed via the final plants and flora, and this floor reflects the nice and cozy temperature back into the ambience inflicting temperatures to upward thrust. this change in temperature can adjust climate sorts global on a global scale. Droughts, famines and floods would ensue in diverse aspects of the global inflicting large harm. to boot to, the rainforest works adversarial to the stepped ahead greenhouse outcome. between the major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, traps the sunlight’s rays contained in the ambience, ensuing in an enhance in global temperatures and global warming that's heating the planet and risky our destiny. Carbon dioxide is mostly given out throughout the time of means utilization, fabric intake, driving, and from cutting and burning timber or plants. the priority is made worse even as out of control logging takes position or maybe as tropical rainforests are burnt. those account for almost one-third of carbon emissions contained in the global. preserving the rainforest helps to keep global temperatures correct. via preventing deforestation, shall we make the global a cooler position and more advantageous positive position for us to stay in.

Answer 5

There is one environmentalist who says there is nothing wrong. Clearly he is thinking outside the box, but his argument goes like this:

As the world seeks ways to cut atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels -- science says managed forests will play a key role.

Trees are the most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth. Through photosynthesis, they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their wood, which is nearly 50 percent carbon by weight.

You might be surprised to learn young forests outperform old growth in carbon absorption. Although old trees contain large amounts of carbon, their rate of absorption has slowed to a near halt. A young tree, although it contains little fixed carbon, pulls CO2 from the atmosphere much faster.

While cutting down an old tree results in a net release of carbon, new trees growing in their place can more than make up the difference. Wooden furniture made in the Elizabethan era still holds the carbon fixed hundreds of years ago.

The relationship between trees and greenhouse gases is simple enough on the surface. Trees grow by taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, through photosynthesis, converting it into sugars. The sugars are then used as energy and material to build cellulose and lignin, the main constituents of wood.

When a tree rots or burns, the carbon in the wood is released to the atmosphere. Active forest management, such as thinning, removing dead trees, and clearing debris from the forest floor very effectively reduces the number and intensity of forest fires. And the removed wood can be put to good use for lumber, paper and energy.

Accounting provides a useful metaphor to discuss forests and carbon sequestration. Old growth forests often have a large "balance" of carbon that has built up over time in wood and soil. They don't add much new carbon because they decay at about the same rate they grow.

In financial terms, this is like a company with many assets that operates on a break-even basis. Young forests have a smaller balance of carbon compared to old forests but accumulate carbon rapidly. In that sense, they are like an emerging, very profitable company with few assets that is growing rapidly.

The effect of forests on the global carbon cycle can be boiled down to these key points:

On the negative side, the most important factor influencing the carbon cycle is deforestation. This results in a permanent loss of forest cover and a large release of CO2 into the atmosphere. Deforestation -- primarily where tropical forests are permanently cleared for agriculture and urban settlement -- accounts for about 20 percent of global CO2 emissions, says a United Nations-World Meteorological Organization Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

On the positive side, planting fast-growing trees is the best way to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Many countries with temperate forests have seen an increase in carbon stored in trees in recent years. This includes New Zealand, the United States, Sweden and Canada.

Plus, using wood sustainably reduces the need for nonrenewable fossil fuels and materials such as steel and concrete -- the very causes of CO2 emissions in the first place.

The good news is that U.S. forests are net carbon sinks, since annual growth exceeds annual harvest. We are experiencing an increase in forested land: Forests are being re-established on land previously used for agriculture.

Catastrophic wildfires are uncommon in managed forests, whereas millions of acres of unmanaged forests burn every year due to excessive build-up of dead trees and woody debris.

Every wood substitute, including steel, plastic and cement, requires far more energy to produce than lumber. More energy usually translates into more greenhouse gases in the form of fossil fuel consumption or cement production.

Some activists would have us believe using wood is bad for forests. Yet we are the world's largest per-capita wood consumers, and North American forests cover about the same amount of land as they did 100 years ago.

According to the United Nations, our forests have expanded nearly 10 million acres over the past decade. This is precisely because we use a great deal of wood, which sends a signal to the market to grow more trees to meet demand. This is a win-win situation for both the economy and the environment.

One of the best ways to address climate change is to use more wood, not less. Wood is simply the most abundant, biodegradable and renewable material on the planet.

It is hard to imagine a more all-purpose, environmentally friendly act than contributing to the number and variety of trees growing throughout the world. In the age of climate change, Johnny Appleseed takes on a new meaning.

Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace, is chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. www.greenspiritstrategies.com

Answer 6

It is not wrong unless they don't replant.