Deforestation and Over Hunting: Causes and Effects on Life Cycle

Deforestation Definition

Deforestation is a process of destruction of forests. A number of agents are responsible for the removal of forests. These are

fires, drought, or animals. the principal agent of deforestation is the man himself. Human is cutting forests to colonize the forests areas or to establish cities. Forests are cut to prepare more agricultural lands or getting wood.

Deforestation and its Ill Effects on Mankind

Sometimes there is slow forest degradation and sometimes sudden and catastrophic clear-cutting for urban development. it can be the result of the deliberate removal of forests for wood, agriculture, or urban development.

Bad Effects of Deforestation

1. Deforestation has many bad effects on human life. With the destruction of the forests, the process of cleaning the air and production of the oxygen are badly affected.
2. Forests are major agents of evaporation and rainfall. With deforestation, rainfall is decreased.
3. By cutting the forests, pollution is increasing as the hazardous gases are not completely absorbed by plants.
4. With deforestation, carbon dioxide is increasing which causing global warming.
5. With the reduction in the area of forests, soil emission is taking place resulting in floods that destroy crops and human life.
6. Deforestation has badly damaged wildlife and reduced recreation sites.

Try Also: Difference Between Evaporation And Condensation

Deforestation affects the amount of water in soil and moisture in the atmosphere. When there are no trees to keep soil in place, there are more chances of soil erosion. Heavy rainfall washes soil into rivers.

Essential nutrients are washed out of the soil. Rivers become choked up with mud and silt, which can cause floods. The salted water gets stored in dams and it reduces their water storage capacity.

Deforestation also contributes to decreased transpiration, which lessens could formation. This ultimately reduces the sources of rain.

Forests support considerable biodiversity. The utilization of forest products, including timber and fuelwood, has played a key role in human societies. Today, developed countries continue to utilize timber for building houses and wood pulp for making paper.

The forest products industry is a large part of the economy in developed and developing countries. Short-term economic gains made by the conversion of forests to agriculture often leads to loss of long-term income.

Forests extract carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air, thus contributing to biosphere stability. Forests are also valued for their aesthetic beauty and tourist attraction. These important aspects of forests are also harmed due to deforestation. In Pakistan too, it is a great threat to biodiversity. In the province KPK, the closed-canopy forests are shrinking at approximately 1% per year.

Over Hunting

Over-hunting has been a significant cause of the extinction of hundreds of species and the endangerment of many more such as whales, ibex, urial, and markhor, etc. commercial hunting, both legal and illegal, is the principal threat.