Deforestation is the destruction of forests by logging, mining or burning trees to create land, palm oil, and other products for consumers.
Why is this important?
Trees are vital to every ecosystem on Earth. They take in all the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and release oxygen for organisms to breath. Forests used to cover 14% of the Earth’s surface, but it has now decreased to 6% with 7.3 million hectares of forest lost each year. When trees are cut down or burnt they release the carbon they have absorbed, and this results in 1.5 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide released into the atmosphere each year. The increase of Carbon makes up 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, effecting global warming drastically. If Global warming continues, sea levels will rise and the atmosphere’s temperature will increase. These greenhouse gases will pollute our air, waterways and food sources and inevitably the world as we know it will be history.
Resources:
http://www.regentsearthscience.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=66&id=1034:how-will-global-warming-affect-the-human-and-plant-species
http://www.oocities.org/plasmicfurball48/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html
http://www.regentsearthscience.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=66&id=1034:how-will-global-warming-affect-the-human-and-plant-species
http://www.oocities.org/plasmicfurball48/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html