DEFORESTATION IN VILLAS DEL PINAR SAN CRISTOBAL
The local level is where deforestation has the most immediate effect in my community. With forest loss, the local community loses the system that performed valuable but often under-appreciated services like ensuring the regular flow of clean water and protecting the community from flood and drought. The forest acts as a sort of sponge, soaking up rainfall brought by tropical storms while anchoring soils and releasing water at regular intervals. This regulating feature of tropical rainforests can help moderate destructive flood and drought cycles that can occur when forests are cleared.
When forest cover is lost, runoff rapidly flows into streams, elevating river levels and subjecting downstream villages, cities, and agricultural fields to flooding, especially during the rainy season. During the dry season, such areas downstream of deforestation can be prone to months-long droughts which interrupt river navigation, wreak havoc on crops, and disrupt industrial operations.
In my neighborhood people have been cutting trees to build more houses. If they keep doing this the temperature will keep on rising and there will be more humidity, all for the price of a few more houses.
When forest cover is lost, runoff rapidly flows into streams, elevating river levels and subjecting downstream villages, cities, and agricultural fields to flooding, especially during the rainy season. During the dry season, such areas downstream of deforestation can be prone to months-long droughts which interrupt river navigation, wreak havoc on crops, and disrupt industrial operations.
In my neighborhood people have been cutting trees to build more houses. If they keep doing this the temperature will keep on rising and there will be more humidity, all for the price of a few more houses.
Causes of deforestation
- The demand for food products and the need to chop trees to grow crops.
- Need of wood for industries and goods like furniture.
- Need for paper.
- Construction of houses, roads, malls, etc.
Effects of deforestation
- Climate imbalance
- Increase of global warming
- Soil erosion
- Floods
- Wildlife extinction
Solutions to deforestation
- Laws against the felling of trees
- Planting new trees in areas in which they were removed and wherever there is space.
“If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human.”
― Maggie Stiefvater
― Maggie Stiefvater