The Problem Of Deforestation

The Problem of Deforestation What is deforestation? Deforstation is to divest or clear of forests or trees. Now day the problem is very serious. Thousand and thousands of acres of lush rain forest are cleared each year to make way for development. The once beautiful and spectacular forests are change to barren landscapes... This is for the sake of development. Yet, what happens when trees are cut down? First, the earth is left vulnerable to soil erosion. The heavy tropical rain than we have in Malaysia will carry away the rich topsoil, and the land that is left is no longer be fertile. Slowly this land will become wasteland. Secondly, the water that flow down because of the rain not only washes away the topsoil but will bring this topsoil to the rivers. What will happen is that the river will become shallower. At it will make floods become more frequent in the area. Thousands of people will suffer because of the floods and the Government has to spend a lot of money to give foods and shelter. The main point is the forests are home to hundreds kind of flora and fauna. Animals and plants live in symbiotic relationships in the balance of nature. The balance will destroy when men flattens the forests to the ground. Then, what will happen to the habitats there? Where do they go? Nowhere. They die. If this goes on, the food chain will be disrupted. Finally, man is destroying his own sources of food through the damage of rain forest. A shocking fact will hit us full force, when forests are a distant memory. People forget that they are also cutting down their supply of oxygen while cutting down a tree to fulfill their luxurious lifestyle. The living creatures will breathe out the carbon dioxide that absorb from the trees, reprocess it and in the end, produce the life-sustaining oxygen. Where will this oxygen come from, without trees? Furthermore, the extreme carbon dioxide will also effect a change in the micro-climate and increase the region’s temperature. There will be a greenhouse effect on earth; warm air and radiation will be trapped under the earth atmosphere. Then, as the earth’s temperature rises, the ice in the polar caps will melt, raising the sea level. Great floods will hit the lower-lying areas. It is called vicious cycle. It means that a change in our environment will trigger off another change which will trigger off yet another. This is the main reason why we should keep balance of nature and also protect our forests. This is why environmentalist groups are pressuring governments to reduce the felling of trees and the clearing of forests and to be serious about replanting forests. The important thing is with the support of ordinary citizens, they will get the attention of the people in power. We can also help by planting trees. Members of this beautiful planet must be united. By preserving our forests, we are preserving ourselves.