SAVE PLANET: AVOID DEFORESTATION

Deforestation, clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest .The term deforestation can be misused when applied to describe a tree harvesting way in which all trees in an area are removed. Moreover, biodiversity after regeneration harvest often mimics that found after natural disturbance, as well as biodiversity loss after naturally happening rainforest destruction.

Deforestation happens for many reasons: trees are cut down to be used or sold as timber or fuel while clean land is used as plantations of commodities, settlements and meadow for livestock. The deletion of trees without necessary reforestation has caused in damage to biodiversity, loss aridity and habitat. It has adverse effects on bio sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In war deforestation has also been used to deprive the enemy of cover for its forces and also vital means. Current cases of this were the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya in the Malayan Emergency and the United States military in Vietnam in the Vietnam War. Disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale. In numerous countries, deforestation, both human induced and naturally occurring is a current matter. Deforestation causes extinction, desertification, changes to climatic conditions and displacement of populations as observed through current environments and in the past through the fossil record. More than half of all land animal and plant species in the world live in tropical forests.

By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world’s roads. According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), trucks and cars account for about 14 percent of worldwide carbon releases, whereas most experts point upwards of 15 percent to deforestation.

The cause that logging is so bad for the climate is that when trees are cut down they release the carbon they are storing into the air, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from further sources and adds to global warming therefore. The upshot is that we should be doing as much to prevent deforestation as we are to reduce automobile usage and increase fuel efficiency

According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), 32 million acres of tropical rainforest were cut down every year among 2000 and 2009—and the pace of deforestation is simply increasing. “Unless we change the current system that results forest destruction, forest clearing will put additional 200 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in upcoming eras.

C0₂ and ethane contribute to the greenhouse result. According to World Rainforest Movement, twenty-five percent of our drugs comes from the forestry. Trees take up water from their roots and then expel it into the air as moisture.This moisture then gets changed into clouds that will bring rain. If we have less trees, the atmosphere will be drier. With less trees, our soil does not have as far support and much silt is released into the waters, causing in more flooding and loss of soil. And, what happens to the wildlife that make a home in our forest? Where do they go?

To keep our woodlands and forests, the wild life that live in them, the waters ,the soil, , the  air that we all breathe, and for all humanity’s health and well-being, we need to  use paper products sparingly and sensibly ; and without doubt we must make sure to recycle paper products.

Try to visualize the earth without our trees, not just because of the things above, however also for the beauty of environment. Practically all of us have walked down a road with the sun beating ruthlessly down on us and desired silently that there were some trees beside that road. There are so numerous things related with trees that affect our senses as well, like the sounds of the wind blowing over the leaves, the sound of the branches swaying in the wind and the ever so sweet chirping of the sparrows at dawn and dusk. Really can we visualize a world without our trees? No, absolutely not. So we must all join hands to stop deforestation, each in our little way. The world did happen before the making of paper. A lot of things like paper facial tissues, kitchen towels, can be avoided if only we are not so obsessed with the word disposable. So go for that which is recyclable and reusable instead. Our trees are our legacy given to us by our ancestors, it’s the legacy we must leave our own.

• Written by Naveed Mushtaq, **Zoraiz Tanveer and *** Nasir Ahmed Khan, *, ** Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics (PBG), *** Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad