Forests play a huge role in keeping the earth’s climate resilient because they act as carbon “sinks” slowing down the effects of global warming.
After oceans, forests are the most efficient sources of precipitation.
Forests also provide habitats to diverse animal species. Forested landscapes not only provide a home to terrestrial biodiversity but also to birds of the air as well as a number of insect species. In addition to this, tropical rainforest waters – including rivers, creeks, lakes, and swamps – are home to the majority of freshwater fish species.
Forests also are the source of livelihood for many human settlements.
Forests take in carbon dioxide. But, they also clean the air of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide – all huge contributors to air pollution. It is important to note that forests play a huge role in the carbon cycle on our planet. When forests are cut down, carbon absorption ceases and the carbon stored in the trees is released into the atmosphere as CO2 if the wood is burned or even if it is left to rot after the deforestation process.
Deforestation intensifies the frequency & impact of floods.
The forest acts as a sort of sponge, soaking up rainfall brought by tropical storms while anchoring soils and releasing water at regular intervals.
Deforestation leads to floods and this loss of trees is making the devastating problem of flooding even worse because the water holding capacity of the soil is dependent on the number of trees.
The loss of ground cover due to deforestation results in flash floods during heavy rainfall.
When there is heavy rainfall, the rainwater does not seep down into the ground and is not absorbed by the trees. Hence, it leads to flooding.
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.
Trees are cut down to extract timber, typically used to build low-quality homes and low-quality furniture, and pulp, a crucial resource for the production of paper, which is used FOR PRINTING FASHION MAGAZINES, TOILET PAPER, FLYERS, BOOKLETS, DIRECTORIES WITH NOT WORKING LAWS and HUGE NUMBER OF UNNECESSARY DOCUMENTS.
Protecting the world’s forests, just like a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, is essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate catastrophe. Forests, in addition to their importance in maintaining biodiversity, play an irreplaceable role in global carbon regulation, absorbing one-third of human-caused carbon emissions from the atmosphere annually and storing this carbon long-term in their soil and vegetation. Preserving primary forests, which are forests that have never been impacted by significant human disturbance, is particularly critical. These forests, which are rapidly disappearing, hold unique value for the climate and biodiversity. Once gone, they are irreplaceable on any meaningful human timescale. Once they disappear, the planet will become lifeless.