DEFORESTATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of
the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the worlds land area, but swaths the sizes of Panama
are lost each and every year. By that, we can say that deforestation and its effects on environment is, it
can effect on climate change, resources loss, at and it also can effect on animal species.

First, due to deforestation and it can effect on climate change.
1. Increase in Reflected Solar Radiation
Wood lands reduce the amount of solar energy reaching the ground, since the
upper canopy reflects some incident radiation. (Sodienye A. Abare and Jacinta
A. Opara, January 2012, P. 108)
Deforestation can change the global change of energy not only through the
micrometeorological processes but also by increasing the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because carbon dioxide absorbs thermal
infrared radiation in the atmosphere. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P.
Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 15)
Deforestation can lead to increase in the albedo of the land surface and
hence affects the radiation budget of the region. (Sumit Chakravarty, S.
K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 15)

2. Global warming
Global warming or global change includes anthropogenically produced climatic
and ecological problems such as recent apparent climatic temperature shifts
and precipitation regimes in some areas, sea level rise, stratospheric ozone
depletion, atmospheric pollution and forest decline. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K.
Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 15)
Deforested areas will reflect more radiant energy into the atmosphere, which
will in turn enhance global warning. (Sodienye A. Abare and Jacinta A. Opara,
January 2012, P. 108)
Next, deforestation also can effect on resources loss.
1. Water resources
Water resources affected by deforestation include drinking water, fisheries and
aquatic habitats, flood/drought control, waterways and dams affected by
siltation, less appealing water related recreation, and damage to crops and
irrigation systems from erosion and turbidity. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C.
P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
Deforestation can also result into watersheds that are no longer able to sustain
and regulate water flows from rivers and streams. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K.
Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
Deforestation often results in soil compaction unable to absorb rain. Locally, this
causes a faster response of stream flows to rainfall and thus potential flash
flooding. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal
Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)

2. Soil resources
Deforestation exposes forest soils to direct contact with the rains and this
enhances the free flow of run off which causes soil erosion. (Sodienye A. Abare
and Jacinta A. Opara, January 2012, P. 108)
Deforestation in desert prone areas destabilizes soil and enhances the
encroachment of sand upon agricultural lands. (Sodienye A. Abare and Jacinta A.
Opara, January 2012, P. 108)
The long term effect of deforestation on the soil resource can be severe.
Clearing the vegetative cover for slash and burn farming exposes the soil to the
intensity of the tropical sun and torrential rains. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh,
C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
Deforestation and other land use changes have increased the proportion of the
basin subject to erosion and so over the long run have contributed to siltation.
(Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April
2012, P. 16)
Lastly, deforestation also can effect on decrease in animal species.
1. Decrease biodiversity
The biodiversity loss and associated large changes in forest cover could trigger
abrupt, irreversible and harmful changes. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P.
Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
These include regional climate change including feedback effects that
could theoretically shift rainforests to savannas and the emergence of
new pathogens as the growing trade in bushmeat increases contact
between humans and animals. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P.
Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
Retaining the biodiversity of the forested areas is like retaining a form of capital,
until more research can establish the relative importance of various plants and
animal species. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and
Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 16)
Some times it results in the death of such animals and subsequent extinction, as
such animals are not able to adapt to their new environment. Typical examples
are the migration of elephants and hippopotamus from the Niger Delta as a
result of deforestation. (Sodienye A. Abare and Jacinta A. Opara, January 2012,
P. 108)

2. Habitat loss and conflict
Another negative effect of deforestation is increasing incidents of human-
animal conflicts hitting hard the success of conservation in a way alienating the
peoples participation in conservation. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P.
Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 17)
Forest areas which had been the natural habitats of some wild life for years are
no longer conducive for such wild animal species to survive when deforestation
takes place. Such animals end up migrating to more conducive environments.
(Sodienye A. Abare and Jacinta A. Opara, January 2012, P. 108)
The heavy fragmentation of this habitat has resulted into an intense human-
elephant conflict causing not only in loss of agricultural crops but also human
and elephant lives. (Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and
Gopal Shukla, April 2012, P. 17)
Mortality of about 50 persons and 20 elephants was reported due to
these severe human-elephant conflicts from this hotspot area annually.
(Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal
Shukla, April 2012, P. 17)

Conclusion
It shows that deforestation can effect badly on the environment such as climate change, resources loss
and also effect on the animal in the jungle. We should take immediate action so that this problem can
be handle in the future.