It is not a question that natural systems all over the world have been greatly affected by natural occurrences and especially by human activities. Many has been altered, polluted, or completely destroyed. One of many complications that we have been facing is deforestation, “the complete removal of existing forests and their replacement by other forms of land use (Walpole, 1993).” This environmental issue can be found all over the globe, especially in the Philippines. This issue has been dated back when the Spanish colonized the Philippines around 1521. Two primary influences that caused the percentage of forest cover to decline in the Philippines were due to economic reasons, logging production and agricultural expansion. There is a two-step …show more content…
Due to the continues actions of cutting down these natural habitats the animals were forced to displace to other untouched lands, further up the mountains or traveling to further distances. Indigenous animals that have been greatly affected by deforestation are the tamaraws, wild buffalos. They have been forced to move up further into the forests clinging to the last remaining cluster of trees on the mountains. The population of this animal have drastically decreased throughout the years and are now classified as endangered animals, “from the population of about 10,000 around 1994, only 250 tamaraws remain on the island today (Walpole, 1993).” It has been predicted that the survival of the tamaraws is unlikely if the deforestation continues. The Philippines eagle is another species that is at risk of extinction from deforestation. The animal’s source of food can all be found in the forests consuming monkeys, lemurs, bats and snakes. These animals are then forced to migrate to other lands, not being congested at one specific area, bringing complications for the eagle. With the eagles natural habitat being altered and food source being scattered and endangered it causes difficulties for the eagle to survive, making a domino …show more content…
They keep the air and water clean, prevent erosion and flooding, enrich soil, make harness homes for animals, plants and bring aesthetic beauty to a place. It is essential that destructive actions such as deforestation have to be stopped. Deforestation in the Philippines mainly caused logging and agriculture expansion has brought forth great devastation not only in the country alone, but to the world as well. Animals have been stripped from their source of shelter which brings greater destruction. Without their natural habitat they are left weak and prone to extinction. Indigenous people are also forced to relocate from the ancestral land. In addition, with the actions of decreasing forest cover and emitting more natural gas into our atmosphere we are further contributing to climate change, causing global warming. There are many solutions that could come into play to help stop these outcomes. Forest restoration can be achieved with our services and the help from nature itself. We must provide protection with the help of our government, repair forest cover with community services, and help educate our society especially the youth. We must also maintain these actions and care for the forest to provide resources and help sustain a healthy environment. Ultimately with local and international concerns, the rate of deforestation can decrease not just in the Philippines but all over the
Many animals depend on different environments such as lakes, oceans or the forest in order to survive. However due to human intervention such as pollution of the ocean, or heavy deforestation, many animals are at the risk of extinction. One such example is known as the Gundlach Hawk which due to deforestation is currently on the endangered species list. Due to it being on the list, conservation attempts are being made in order to keep the animal alive and save it from extinction.
However with the rising temperatures in the tropics, the plants and animals are moving to higher and higher altitudes. The most concerning issue is that the climate seems to be rising at an alarmingly fast rate. At this rate, some species will not be able to migrate quick enough to survive the sudden rise in temperature. Many, many species are going to die out thanks to the change in climate. In chapter nine Kolbert writes about the lack of undeveloped land that is left in the world. The little land that has remained undeveloped exist as small ‘islands’ within an ocean of developed land. In one of these land ‘islands,’ Kolbert discusses the decline in species of birds. These islands also have an overall lower biodiversity when compared to the surrounding land, which can be attributed to the severely limited amount of space and organisms that can live in the space. One of these islands, a rainforest, has an amazingly large amount of biodiversity. However due to the small space available, the biodiversity is dropping at a rapid rate. This is bad for the ecosystem as a whole, since if one organism goes extinct, all of the other species are affected in some
Deforestation demolishes the habitats of many animals leaving them very little food or for many others, no choice but die. "The toll on wildlife across
Extinction is no longer just a natural process. It is an enemy, slowly changing our world into a barren wasteland where life is as rare as a flower in the Arctic Circle's winter. The wolf, the tiger, the caribou, the elephant, the bison, the cheetah, the sequoia cactus, the redwood tree – all of these and so many more things are on the verge of disappearing from our planet forever. Extinction is the most pressing environmental issue of our time, because if it continues the way it is going without anything being done to counteract its causes and consequences, there will soon be no environment left for there to be debates about.
Deforestation is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .
We have known that deforestation can lead to decline in biodiversity and land degradation. As John Donne has said, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”, not only governments are supposed to be responsible for deforestation, individuals should also take responsibilities. There are some things that we can do to help better the situation. For instance, we can refuse to use throwaway chopsticks and purchase wooden furniture, reduce the usage of papers by printing less, and educate others to cherish the forest resources.
Philip, M., & William F. 2004, ‘Tropical Deforestation and Greenhouse-gas Emissions’, Ecological Applications, (no publication information), Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 982–986, viewed 23 April 2010,
There were 5 mass extinctions in the past, with the latest one more known to man, the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction that caused the wiped out of the dinosaurs. Though the latest one happened 65 million years ago, something representing this phenomenon of mass extinction is underway in our era. While past mass extinctions were caused by natural forces, and asteroid, climate change and sea level’s changes were thought to be the culprit, this time the actor behind is not natural, and it is us Human Beings. It might occur to many that the current trend of animal extinction has no consequences on us, but in fact it is not true. Many of the endangered species does matter to us significantly. In this paper, using examples of some neglected critical endangered species as main headings, I will look into different forms of human activities that had led to their losses, and also more importantly how these losses could have impacted on us.
Therefore, a large amount of trees were cut down and led to forest destruction. People have done these kinds of activities for many years and these deforestation activities have brought about a lot of permanent and long term issues. Although the society has started to consider the problem of deforestation, it is not easy to solve the issues completely. Land desertification can be a huge area and it almost cannot be controlled. In addition, it is not only threatening the people and animals in the Amazon, the world is also threatened by deforestation.
Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be feral, increase of greenhouse gas emissions which may lead to global warming and consecutive catastrophes, destruction of home for indigenous residents which is considered as violation of human rights. Some people can argue with these drawbacks telling that deforestation have more valuable benefits such as growth of economics, production of food and providing better opportunities for life for poor families. However, these benefits are quite temporary and government of that countries and world organisations tries to halt deforestation proposing several solutions. Deforestation problem is especially acute in the Brazilian Amazon, where its rate is much high comparing with other regions. This paper will describe world-wide rainforests, causes and effects of deforestation, and evaluate possible solutions of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Deforestation is a widely used term, but one with different meanings. Disturbance deforestation refers to all man made disturbances that alter a forest, these are the most common. This argumentative essay discusses the positive and negative aspects of deforestation. In the first part of the essay the pro arguments of deforestation will be discussed. For example, the issue of Global population and how forests are being used, land use and the ways forests contribute, wood use, forest growth, destruction and the reasons for cutting down the trees. The second half of the essay will cover the issues that are harmful to the environment because of deforestation. Many environmental issues take place everyday; a big question that arises, is if the global economy will ever finds middle on the issue of forest thinning. If deforestation was used only in the most crucial of times, the world might become a better place.
In Wilcove’s article, it is examined within the 50 states the four types of animals being discussed such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians with the possibility of becoming extinct or critically imperiled determined by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). David Wilcove states that, “A total of 2,490 imperiled species, subspecies, and populations fit these criteria” (Wilcove, Rothstein, Dubow, Phillips, & Losos, 1998, p. 607). In response, within these 2,490 animals at risk the science of these problems is that their home is destroyed, and when introduced to a new environment they cannot adapt to the normal life in the same manner. Native animals cannot compete with the new species discovered and...
To overcome this problem person has to get awareness regarding what deforestation is and what are the effects of it if we continue to practice it on the same scale. Actually, trees are the only source to filter the harmful gasses which are present in the atmosphere and can balance the harmful effects of those
People have been deforesting the Earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they aren’t just meeting local or national needs; economic globalization means that the needs and wants of the global population are bearing down on them as well. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization. Rarely is there a single direct cause for deforestation. Most often, multiple processes work simultaneously or sequentially to cause deforestation.
Allen, Julia C., and Douglas F. Barnes. "The Cause of Deforestation in Developing Countries." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 1985: 163-184. Print.