Impacts:
Alteration to geographical landscapes: Deforestation
Deforestation
is the degradation of forest
areas in unsustainable rates,
caused by human activities.
Below
is a table explaining some
important pointers for
deforestation:
| Causes |
population
increase, demands more
lands to use for
cultivation, residence
and commerce areas,
added by inappropriate
technology
|
| Impacts |
- increases
in global greenhouse
gases rate (from
1850 - 1990,
deforestation
contributes to 122
billion metric tons
of carbon to the
atmosphere)
- reducing
the evaporation and
evapotranspiration
processes in forest,
thus decreasing
precipitation rates,
and makes the
surface warmer,
consequently lead to
atmosphere warming
- declining
of biodiversity
- erosion
and soil degradation
|
| Facts
and Trends |
-
lost
of 6200 square miles
per year from 1978 -
1986 in Brazillian
Amazon forest, fell
to 4800 square miles
per year from 1986 -
1993
-
16.5%
(230,000 square
miles) of the Amazon
forest was affected
by deforestation
-
an
average rate of
21,000 square miles
lost of forest in
overall South
America
-
region
of Southeast Asia
lost 4800 square
miles per year
during 1970s - 1980s
-
estimation
of lost of 28
hectares forest a
minute in early
1990s
-
during
the past 30 years,
the global forest is
experiencing
tropical forest
deforestation rate
of 20%, including
30% of Asia's
forests.
-
lost
of 137 species each
day
|
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©2001, Team C0111040, ThinkQuest.
