If you walk up to somebody of the street and ask them, “What is the biggest problem our world is facing?” They would probably answer with something like “corruption”, or “poverty”. However, something that people never seem to mention as a major problem, is “deforestation”. Usually, the reason for this is simply because they are unaware of how much of an effect deforestation is having on our world.

The accurate definition of deforestation is “the clearing or thinning of forests by humans” (Pimm). You might be asking yourself now, “Okay, destroying the environment is definitely a bad thing, but surely it is not affecting our world that much? If the effects were that severe, then why would people do it?” The thing is, even if we like it or not, at the moment, our world right now depends on using massive amounts of resources. However, there are things we can do, but first, you must be aware of the raw facts of deforestation.

Today, only 6.2 million square kilometers of forests remain in the world, compared to the 16 million square kilometers that the world originally had. According to National Geographic, about 2.3 square kilometers of forests were cut down between the years 2000 and 2012, and  even “the world’s rainforests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation”. While 30 percent of Earth is still covered by forests, each year, worldwide, an amount of land that is about half the size of half of England is lost to deforestation.

Land is not the only thing that is lost due to deforestation. According to Britannica, about 50,000 plant and animal species go extinct every year, which translates to around 137 species daily. Most of these species go extinct due to the loss of rainforests, and according to the predictions of National Geographic, more than 40% percent of all species in Southeast Asia will be wiped out during the 21st century due to deforestation. Also, trees hold down and extract water in the ground using their roots. If those trees are removed, there is nothing to release that groundwater into the atmosphere. Consequently, this interrupts the hydrological cycle, which results in a much drier environment compared to before. Without trees, the land is also much more susceptible to erosion, which causes more natural disasters such as landslides, which both destabilize the land and can be fatal to people living in that area.

There are reasons why we are causing so much deforestation, and they are many. The main reason, is agriculture. Farmers looking to grow their livestock and animals usually do so by using the “slash and burn” technique. This technique clears out a large area very quickly; however, this technique is not only wasteful, but it also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Logging companies also cut wood in a very large scale in order to make wood and paper products. Another huge cause of deforestation, which is not caused by us, but can be prevented by us, are wildfires. They occur quite often in the nature due to thunderstorms, or due to a small fire spreading by the trees.

Unfortunately, the loss of plants and animals is not the only effect of losing land to deforestation. Deforestation is also one of the main causes of the increased greenhouse effect, being responsible for about 20 percent of its emissions, which, in turn, is the leading cause of global warming.

Tropical rainforests, which are among the biggest victims of deforestation, are also responsible for producing around 30% of Earth’s freshwater, which is already a resource that many humans desperately need. Destroying this land will result in a drastically lowered amount of freshwater being produced, which means that it will become even less than 3% of all water in the world. All of these events are also responsible for the increase in deserts and droughts in the world. Rainforests are also important because about 80% of all known species can be found in rainforests.

Deforestation also has an effect on the world’s economy; the developed world uses enormous amounts of wood to create paper and to build homes. In the developing world, most countries rely on products made available by illegal deforestation, and many private farms rely on getting resources and land from the forest to grow their livestock and create their homes, and in many cases, that deforestation is excessive and illegal.

However, all is not lost. We are not too late to make a change; there are many things that we all can do to improve the situation of deforestation. First of all, governments must enforce recycling rules, so that the materials that have been used before can be used once again to make products that are once again useful to us, instead of burying recyclable materials in landfill sites. Also, fossil fuel usage is something that can be greatly reduced so that the greenhouse effect does not become as severe, and the best part is that this is something that we can all help for it to become a reality. More environmentally friendly transportation must be utilized, such as electric and fuel cell cars, bicycles, and energy generators that work with the force of the wind, or dams that spin the generators with the power of the flowing river. Another alternative is the solar panel, which uses the power of the Sun to generate power.

Deforestation and global warming are two problems that our planet cannot afford to ignore. Our time to fix things is very limited, and we must take action as soon as possible. The good news is that large scale efforts are already being made; electric transportation is becoming more and more accessible and affordable, wind, water, and solar power is becoming more and more mainstream, and government regulations are becoming more and more strict on the usage of fossil fuels. However, everybody’s help is needed, including yours. Will you be a part of the revolution to help stop the end of our beloved planet?