Deforestation's Devastation

by Henslee R.
Published January 26, 2024

Deforestation, which means cutting down trees, is really bad for the earth .First of all, when people cut down trees to make more space for cities and roads, it leaves less oxygen for people and it destroys animal habitats. Second of all, trees absorb and store carbon dioxide. If forests are cleared, or even disturbed, they will release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10% of global warming. There's simply no way we can fight the climate crisis if we don't stop deforestation. Third, forests are vital for the health of our planet. They provide food and shelter for so much of life on Earth – from fungi and insects to tigers and elephants, trees keep our planet healthy and safe for all beings. 

According to Climate Transform’s “The History of Deforestation”, 2,000 years ago 80 percent of Western Europe was forested; today the figure is 34 percent. In North America, about half of the forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down from the 1600s to the 1870s for timber and agriculture. China has lost great expanses of its forests over the past 4,000 years and now just over 20 percent of it is forested. Much of Earth’s farmland was once forests. In 2015, an estimated 50 percent of the planet's wild forests had gone, and the destruction of forests has continued since. If the trend is not stopped, we will only have 10 percent of the world’s original forests left by 2030, a short six years from now.

Deforestation also threatens the world’s biodiversity. Tropical forests are home to great numbers of animal and plant species. When forests are logged or burned, it can drive many of those species into extinction. Some scientists say we are already in the midst of a mass-extinction episode. More immediately, the loss of trees from a forest can leave soil more prone to erosion. This causes the remaining plants to become more vulnerable to fire as the forest shifts from being a closed, moist environment to an open, dry one.