DEFORESTATION
Filipe Gon?alves
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THE PLANET’S SILENT “CANCER”
Currently, forests cover about 31% of our planet's land area. They ensure our survival through the complex management of air and water, resources essential to life. Forests can be found from the equator to high latitude areas and are home to a wide variety of trees, plants, animals, soils, fungi and microbes, forming ecosystems that are crucial for the balance and maintenance of life on Earth.
When forests are destroyed, these complex ecosystems are disturbed or permanently destroyed.?
The 2020 "State of the World's Forests " report, issued by the United Nations, shows that three-quarters of the Earth's freshwater comes from forested watersheds. The loss of trees drastically reduces this amount of water and deteriorates its quality. The report also reveals that more than half of the world's population depends on forested watersheds for drinking water, as well as water used for agriculture and industry.?
Deforestation also affects the way water vapor forms above the tree canopy, reducing the amount of precipitation. A 2019 study published in the journal Ecohydrology showed that areas of the Amazon rainforest that were converted to agricultural land experienced higher temperatures, both in the soil and in the air, which directly contributes to worsening drought and global warming. In comparison, forested land has evapotranspiration rates that are about three times higher, transferring more water vapor into the atmosphere.?
Trees also absorb carbon dioxide, mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions?produced by human activity. Trees play a fundamental role in carbon sequestration via the capture, storage, and chemical transformation of carbon dioxide (CO?). It is estimated that tropical forests alone are responsible for around 23% of the mitigation of excess CO?, a reduction that is crucial to offset the still exaggerated levels of emissions from industry and large cities. Now imagine the cumulative effect that all the forests on the planet together can achieve!…
Deforestation not only destroys the vegetation essential for removing CO? from the air, but it also causes direct greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states that deforestation is responsible for almost 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, due, among many other things, essentially to the machines and processes used for felling trees, clearing land, opening roads, transforming wood and culminating in fires and land clearance by fire.?
In 2022, more than 4.2 million hectares of tree cover were destroyed in Russia, followed by Brazil, with around 3.3 million hectares of tree cover lost. In total, 22.8 million hectares were lost globally in 2022. (Statista )
Since 1990, the planet has lost 420 million hectares of forest area. This means that we are losing more than 12 million hectares of forest every year.?
With this, not only are we destroying the planet's temperature balance, but we are also destroying its water balance and its ability to regenerate air.?
How long will we continue to let this happen??
The numbers in this article reflect the decrease in forest area. But the problem also extends to isolated or grouped trees in areas that are not registered as forests.?Every tree is important. Every time someone, whether in a personal capacity or on behalf of an organization, allows a tree to be felled, they are condoning this slow destruction of the planet and are feeding this “cancer” that is deforestation.?
? It is our duty and our salvation, to take care of trees and reforest, instead of deforesting.
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Articles and links related to the topic:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - State of the World's Forests de 2020:
World Resources Institute - By the Numbers: The Value of Tropical Forests in the Climate Change Equation:
Global Forest Review:
10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About: