Evidences of the Impact of Deforestation

Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and a host of other problems. 

Given below are a couple of evidences of the impact of deforestation.

Evidence on decline in rainfall: In order to determine the effects of deforestation, Meher-Homji (1980a, 1980b), India, selected two groups of meteorological stations with long records of rainfall and rainy days in the Western Ghats. A statistical comparison produced evidence of declining tendency of rainfall and rainy days becoming more apparent after large-scale deforestation.

Evidence of species loss: August 24, 2015, Researchers from Lancaster University studied plants, ants, birds, dung beetles and orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon have found clear evidence that deforestation causes drastic loss of tropical forest biodiversity.

Mankind can counteract deforestation to a certain extent by reforestation, it facilitates:

·         Restoring the ecosystem services provided by forests including carbon storage, water cycling and wildlife habitat

·         Reducing the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

·         Rebuilding wildlife habitats

“Unfortunately, we have already diminished the population of many species to such an extreme that they might not recover, even with a massive reforestation effort," - Michael Daley ( an associate professor of environmental science at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusett ) told Live Science. In addition to reforestation, some other measures must be taken to counteract or slow deforestation.