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Kirtika Tyagi: BAJMC IVth Semester
Deforestation refers to the deliberate or widespread removal of trees from forests or woodland areas, resulting in the transformation of forested land into non-forest areas. It involves the clearing, cutting down, or burning of trees, often for agricultural expansion, logging, mining, or urban development purposes. Deforestation can have significant environmental, social, and economic impacts, including loss of biodiversity, disruption of ecosystems, increased greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation, and displacement of indigenous communities. Deforestation and deforestation. Throughout history and today, forests have been cleared to provide wood for agriculture and livestock and construction. Deforestation has changed much of the world.
One-third of the forests on Earth have disappeared. Up until 5,000 years ago, only 10% of this was lost in the first part of this time. There were fewer than 50 million people living in the planet at the time, and it was a small and slowly expanding population. In fact, more land was required per person back then than it is today in order to grow enough food. However, due to a relatively small world population, there was little pressure on forests to clear land for farming and harvesting wood for electricity.
Primary Causes of Deforestation:
- Agriculture – big and small farms
- Log – cutting wood for raw materials
- Cattle Pasture
- Others
SOURCE – Forest Survey of India and FAO
Secondary factors that contribute to Deforestation
- Construction of buildings and other buildings.
- Agriculture (meeting growing food demand).
- Build roads, dams and other infrastructure
LOST OF TREES COVER IN LAST FIVE YEARS (IN SQ KM)
Source: Forest Survey of India
As we can see from the above chart that there was significant loss of tree cover in the year 2020 and 2021 but the situation improved in 2022. As per ministry of Forest and Environment, between 2011 and 2021, the forest cover has decreased by 22.62 sq km (0.04%).
The solution to this never ending problem lies within us when we will consume less, save some for future, also ignoring the single-use plastic, having sustainable food or choosing the products which can be recycled we can all be part of the movement to protect forests. Make sustainable choices for forests, our mother nature, and habitants — and do so vocally!
