Deforestation

Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forest in order to make the land available for other uses. An estimated 18 million acres of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (kids.mongabay, 2015)

What are the causes of deforestation?

* Logging

* Mining

* Oil and gas extraction

* Cattle ranching

* Agriculture: Cash crops

Between 1960 and 1990, most of the deforestation occurred globally, with an increasing trend every decade.

* Brazil has the highest annual rate of deforestation today.

* Atlantic coast of Brazil has lost 90-95% of its rainforest.

* Central America has 50% of its rainforests.

* South America has 70% of its rainforests.

* The Philippines have lost 90% of its rainforests!

* Madagascar has lost 95% of its rainforests!

* El Salvador has lost 70-85% of its rainforest due to heavy bombing during the civil war 1984-1985.

* Sumatra has 15% of its rainforests left.

* Law protects only 6% of Central Africa’s forests. (kids.mongabay, 2015)

Cutting down trees for fuel has become a major problem in our environment. People think that the issue is coal, gas and oil but in reality cutting down trees creates more carbon pollution than those three put together. Not only has that it taken away from our natural resources and beauty from nature itself. It has a worse impact on climate change as well; it destroys the ecosystem that we cannot get back. Now the easiest solution would be to stop cutting them down but we have to be realistic.

We would need a more workable solution, clear-cutting seems to be the route to go. Clear-cutting is to make sure that forest environments remain intact. In addition, there needs to be a balance as your cutting down the trees plant enough younger ones so they can be replaced as we take away. Mostly they have been targeting tropical rainforest. NASA has predicted by...