Deforestation: Causes and Impacts
Introduction:
Deforestation is no doubt the world’s most crucial problem because the reduction in the area of forests is responsible for a range of other problems. In the age where climate change and global warming are popular issues, deforestation becomes very relevant to present global needs. Trees cause environment-friendly content into the atmosphere that makes the surroundings clean and healthy. Areas with high forest density are healthier areas, and their residents are also healthy. Unfortunately, in recent years every country is busy fulfilling its energy needs from fossil fuels that add harmful content into the atmosphere (Marques, Fuinhas, & Leal, 2018). In this context, deforestation becomes more dangerous and harmful when the addition of harmful content into the atmosphere is increasing from other ways. This crucial and very important problem needs attention. This essay discusses the causes of deforestation and the possible environmental and health impacts of it for developing an understanding of deforestation. Deforestation has caused a link between human and nature-driven factors, but its impact on the environment and health is very harmful.
Most Significant Causes of Deforestation:
Agricultural activity is one of the significant causes of deforestation. It is the cause of deforestation in the Amazon region of Latin America. The Amazon region has the largest area of forests in the world. Any changes to forests there affect the world’s environment because they add good gases to the environment in large quantities. For the expansion of agricultural land, people use fire as well. It does not only affect the environment as a result of carbon emissions, but it also reduces the area of deforestation. Thus, having more areas of agricultural activity is one of the significant causes of deforestation (Mullan, Sills, Pattanayak, & Caviglia-Harris, 2018).
In Australia, recent decades have witnessed an increase in bush fires. Bush fire may have human involvement, but it may also start through the natural process during the summer season. Extreme hot season during summer triggers fire, causing deforestation. It is one of the most significant causes of deforestation that has intensified recently (Sharples, et al., 2016). Many critics state that global warming and climate change have increased the intensity of bush fires.
Possible Environmental Impacts:
Significant causes of deforestation may be numerous, but this essay has included two of them. However, the impact of deforestation is always negative to the environment. Deforestation has substantial negative effects on the environment. According to a study, there has been a visible impact on the potential and actual impacts of deforestation on the temperature of the land surface. Deforestation is responsible for the increase in temperatures (Li, et al., 2016). It leads to a further increase in global temperatures that is responsible for climate change and global warming.
Rainfall is very helpful for the environment, and an increase in rainfall is suitable for the environment. According to studies, deforestation has a negative association with rainfall and even, in the region of Amazon, deforestation leads to a reduction in rain. To be exact, deforestation occurred in 2010 led to a decrease in rainfall by 0.3 percent (Spracklen & Garcia‐Carreras, 2015). A decrease in rain would lead to an increase in temperatures across the globe. As a result, the problems of global warming and climate change would become severer.
Possible Health Impacts:
Deforestation is a leading cause of climate change. Therefore, the impact of climate change would be the impact due to deforestation. In a study, the health impact of climate change on children noted that it is responsible for harsh weather conditions and responsible for the spread and tropical diseases. However, the study has not considered deforestation as the only responsible factor in climate change, but it is one of the important factors. Malaria and diarrhea are the most prevalent diseases among children as a result of climate change (Odunola, Odunsi, & Daramola, 2018).
In Australia, bush fires are one of the top reasons for deforestation, and research confirms that the country has public health issues because of bush fires. Wildfires or bush fires come in the category of other natural hazards like heat waves and droughts. These changes have affected society, agricultural activity and health of citizens in society. Along with casualties, the wildfires cause injuries that pose a serious health risk for individuals and the government. It may be a natural way of deforestation, but its causes are human made. The government has to spend money to extinguish fires and it has to be ready to fulfill the health needs of affected people (Orwig, 2016).
The major health impacts of deforestation are direct and indirect. Deforestation increases pollution and harmful substances into the atmosphere that cause health concerns. On the other hand, it causes other harmful processes like climate change and global warming. These processes create a climate and atmosphere that lead to negative impacts on health (Levy, Lopes, Cohn, Larsen, & Thompson, 2018).
Conclusion:
Deforestation has a nature-driven and human-caused factors that are harmful to the environment and health. Humans are going to acquire more land for agriculture, and it causes deforestation while bush fires are a natural way of deforestation. However, a recent increase in bushfires is mainly due to human activities triggering climate change and global warming. However, the environment is having a negative impact because of the increase in carbon emissions and a decrease in rainfall considerably. Moreover, deforestation is responsible for climate change that is spreading to many diseases among children and older people. Bushfires are also spreading injuries and cause casualties that raise health concerns for people. In the Australian context, bushfires have become a crucial issue as it is removing forests in large number. The essay states that deforestation is not a single act that has limited effects, but it is the beginning of many processes and steps. For instance, it increases the intensity of harmful processes as trees are a natural element to keep the atmosphere normal and healthier. The essay recommends taking serious attention to increasing the size of forests in every part of the world. A single act affecting the environment may cause serious consequences for all humankind.
References
Levy, M., Lopes, A., Cohn, A., Larsen, L., & Thompson, S. (2018). Land use change increases streamflow across the arc of deforestation in Brazil. Geophysical Research Letters, 45 (8), 3520-3530. Doi 10.1002/2017GL076526
Li, Y., Zhao, M., Mildrexler, D. J., Motesharrei, S., Mu, Q., Kalnay, E., et al. (2016). Potential and Actual impacts of deforestation and afforestation on land surface temperature. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121 (24), 14372-14386. Doi 10.1002/2016JD024969
Marques, A. C., Fuinhas, J. A., & Leal, P. A. (2018). The impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions in Australia: the environmental Kuznets curve and the decoupling index. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 25 (27), 27283-27296.
Mullan, K., Sills, E., Pattanayak, S. K., & Caviglia-Harris, J. (2018). Converting Forests to Farms: The Economic Benefits of Clearing Forests in Agricultural Settlements in the Amazon. Environmental and Resource Economics, 71 (2), 427-455. Doi 10.1007/s11356-018-2768-6
Odunola, O., Odunsi, O., & Daramola, O. (2018). Climate change evidence and effects of climate‐change‐related diseases on children’s health. Environmental Quality Management , 28 (1), 47-55. Doi 10.1002/tqem.21571
Orwig, K. (2016). Strategies for Funding Wildfire Mitigation. Risk Management, 63 (5), 14-15.
Sharples, J. J., Cary, G. J., Fox-hughes, P., Mooney, S., Evans, J. P., Fletcher, M.-s., et al. (2016). Natural hazards in Australia: extreme bushfire. Climatic Change , 139 (1), 85-99. Doi 10.1007/s10584-016-1811-1
Spracklen, D., & Garcia‐Carreras, L. (2015). The impact of Amazonian deforestation on Amazon basin rainfall. Geophysical Research Letters , 42 (21), 9546-9552. Doi 10.1002/2015GL066063
