Deforestation Solutions

Before talking about any solutions for deforestation, including tropical deforestation solutions and amazon deforestation solutions, one must understand what is deforestation, and how it is caused? The following article will create awareness about the causes, effects, and the possible deforestation solutions. So, why does deforestation happen? Let us take a look at the facts about deforestation.

Causes of Deforestation

• Historic Factors: Many factors such as war, industrialization, colonization, etc. were responsible for speedy deforestation in many countries.
• Population Growth: More people means more inhabited land. More inhabited land means more deforestation.
• Urbanization: Increase in areas occupied by the cities forces the forests to recede.
• Climate Change: If the climate of a particular area has changed drastically, then its first causality is the local vegetation. Thus, climate change, in most cases, leads to deforestation.
• Green House Effect: There are certain greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that absorb and release heat. Any imbalance leads to grave consequences.
• CO₂ Emission Increase: Much has been said on the subject of global warming, and many intend to do a lot about it, but sadly, little has been done yet. CO₂ emissions have to be capped to save the enviornment.

Effects of Deforestation

• Soil Erosion: The first effect that could be seen after significant depletion of forests is soil erosion. The roots of the trees hold the soil together. No trees means no beneficial soil.
• Ground Water Table: The water holding capacity of the soil also gets reduced when there are no trees. This is because the quality of the soil gets affected when it cannot stay in one place due to erosion. If soil is not able to retain water, then obviously the ground water levels will be reduced.
• Depletion of Biodiversity: If there is no shelter, then then there is no reason for animals to stay in that area. Forests provide shelter to animals. Deforestation takes away their shelter.
• Floods: Trees provide major obstruction to flowing water, thus allowing it to percolate. Every cut tree contributes to water not percolating into the ground, which collectively cause floods. Floods result in major wastage of usable water.
• Drought: If all the water is going away in the form of floods, or even in the form of evaporation (which, by the way, is increased in deforested areas), there wont be any water left for usage. Lack of usable water will invariably lead to drought.

Read more on causes and effects of deforestation.

Deforestation Solutions

• Reforestation: Many countries in the world have started reforestation and forestry, and East Asian nations are leading in this regard. Many East Asian countries, including China, have successfully managed to reverse deforestation.
• Legislation: By making suitable changes in the law, so that cutting trees in a forest area becomes a major crime, in my opinion, will not only lead to deforestation being controlled in a major way, bit its flow may also be reversed.
• Wildlife Sanctuaries: Sanctuaries are very important, not only to save wildlife, but to save trees as well. Sanctuaries go a long way in protecting all wildlife. More on wildlife conservation.
• Cities: All cities, let alone new cities, have to be managed properly. Their expansion has to be curtailed or at least done in a systematic manner, so that there is enough green cover, and new trees have be planted where ever possible.
• Incentive to Corporates: Tax cuts should be granted to corporations, to get them actively interested in reforestation.
• Commercial Forest Plantations: There can be special forest plantations for all the wood that is needed for the industry. This way the wood can be cut in a controlled and regulated environment.
• Water Management: Improper water management affects deforestation in a big way. If the wildlife doesn't have water, then the entire ecosystem will falter. The construction of new dams should be planned properly, so that any one area isn't deprived of water, and the other area has abundance of it.

Read more on global warming and deforestation.

The above mentioned deforestation solutions should be looked into very seriously and implemented zealously. Already, the effects of deforestation have started to manifest themselves in a big way. If major steps towards afforestation are not taken, then even the great adaptability of human beings may not be enough to cope up with the harsh climate of the future.