Cause-and-Effect Essay

English for Academic Purposes 1

What are the causes of deforestation and their effects on

biodiversity? (SDG 15: Life on land)

Kakimov Gani

Business 2

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Forests, which are rightfully considered as one of the most important

components of life on Earth, cover approximately 31% of the total land area or

4.06 billion hectares (FAO, 2022). However, forests are under the greatest

threat. Deforestation seems to be one of the main environmental problems in

the world. According to Butler (2019) over the past 12,000 years people have

intentionally destroyed over 50% of the world’s tree cover, with 15,3 billion

trees cut annually. At least 80,000 acres of forest disappear from the planet

every single day (Butler, 2019). The constant destruction of our forests

threatens our environment, from changing the climate and various ecosystems

to compromising the existence of millions of animals (Bodo et al, 2021). This

essay will discuss the main causes and effects of deforestation.

Deforestation rarely has a single direct cause, it is typically caused by a

number of processes operating simultaneously or sequentially (NASA, 2007).

According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2021)

nearly 80% of the forest loss that occurs worldwide appears to be caused by

agricultural expansion including logging and cropland expansion.

Cropland expansion is the main cause of the deforestation, accounting for

about 50 percent of it worldwide (FAO, 2022). Over the past 20 years,

agricultural expansion has increased globally, nearly doubling the yearly

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expansion rate, mostly in Africa (Potapov et al, 2019). Furthermore, Potapov

et al (2019) estimated that since 2003, the overall area of land covered by

crops has expanded by 9%, or 1 million square kilometres. Global population

growth and rising living standards appears to unwittingly cause the extension

and intensification of agricultural land use in order to meet increasing food

demands. It is supported by Bodo et al (2021) who highlighted that due to the

increased demand for food worldwide, a big amount of land is being burned or

cut every day to make room for crops. This emphasizes the critical importance

of addressing food shortages to mitigate deforestation.

Another important cause of deforestation is logging. It is one of the leading

drivers of deforestation. As the world’s population grows and more buildings

are being constructed, logging becomes more profitable (Bodo et al, 2021). An

entire multibillion dollar economy revolves around wood that is usually illegally

collected, along with related products like packaging and paper. (Hamlett,

2022). This illegal wood industry, which is estimated to be worth $51–152

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billion yearly, destroys the world's forests and plunders local communities who

depend on trees for their riches, food, and health (USAID, n.d). Recently,

using satellite mapping data to track cut trees, the researchers discovered that

between August 2019 and July 2020, logging operations removed 464,000

hectares (1.15 million acres) of the Brazilian Amazon, an area three times

larger than São Paulo (Ennes, 2021).

Since humankind cuts down forests, it faces the following consequences. The

ecosystem, the natural cycles that govern life on Earth, human communities,

and the animals that rely on trees for habitat are all impacted by deforestation.

(Hamlett, 2022). There are two main effects of deforestation: climate change

and disappearance of wildlife habitat. Loss of habitat appears to be the main

effect of deforestation on plants and animals. Forests are some of the most

diverse ecosystems on Earth, which serve as habitats for more than 80 per

cent of all creatures, including trees, plants, animals, insects, microorganisms

and carbon-sequestering fungi (UN, 2023). It is an enormous network of

connections, every component of an ecosystem depends on the others, but all

of them depend on the forests. However, this habitat is broken up and

deteriorated by deforestation, which lessens or eliminates its ability to support

other species (Hamlett, 2022). For instance: certain species are restricted to

particular forest regions, so when their habitat is destroyed, they are at risk of

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going extinct (Hamlett, 2022). Moreover, a significant amount of animal

species depends on certain plants and fruits for sustenance (Igini, 2023).

Hence, animals get weaker, more susceptible to illnesses and usually die of

malnutrition when these supplies are gone.

In addition to other consequences, there is another not less important effect of

deforestation that is called climate change. All trees have an incredible ability

to absorb carbon dioxide through a process called photosynthesis. Healthy

forests serve as extremely vital carbon sinks, with the Amazon rainforest

among the world’s most significant ones (Igini, 2023). When forests are taken

down, massive amounts of carbon that they store could be released into the

atmosphere (Hamlett, 2022). However, due to extreme pressure, tropical

forests are now releasing more carbon emissions than they can store, having

switched from being a net sink to a net source (Hamlett, 2022). As a result,

deforestation and forest degradation rate is concerning since it accounts for

around 10% of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere worldwide

(Plata-Rocha, 2021). This is equivalent to the annual emissions of

approximately 600 million cars (UCS, 2016).

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In conclusion, this essay has discussed the main causes and effects of

deforestation. Many efforts are being made worldwide to tackle the problem.

Nevertheless, deforestation still seems to be one of the greatest threats. It is

important to support global and regional efforts to maintain forest ecosystems

as their social, economic and environmental functions play crucial role

especially for developing countries and the tropics. Furthermore, to protect our

ecosystems and lessen the negative effects of deforestation, strict

conservation laws and international collaboration are necessary. Working

together globally and making sure we follow rules to protect nature are key

steps to keep our environment safe and healthy.

Reference list:

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Bodo T., Gimah B.G., and Seomoni K.J. (2021) ‘Deforestation and Habitat

Loss: Human Causes, Consequences and Possible Solutions’, Journal of

Geographical Research, 4(2), pp. 22-30. Available at:

https://journals.bilpubgroup.com/index.php/jgr/article/download/

3059/2908/24736. (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

Butler, R.A. (2019) Deforestation. Available at:

https://rainforests.mongabay.com/08-deforestation.html. (Accessed: 29

November 2023).

Ennes J. (2021) Illegal logging reaches Amazon’s untouched core, ‘terrifying’

research shows. Available at: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/illegal-

logging-reaches-amazons-untouched-core-terrifying-research-shows/.

(Accessed: 28 November 2023).

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2020) Global Forest

Resources Assessment 2020 – Key Findings. Rome. Available at:

https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/global-deforestation-slowing-but-

rainforests-under-threat-fao-report-shows-030522/en#:~:text=Cropland

%20expansion%20(including%20oil%20palm,grazing%2C%20accounting

%20for%2038.5%20percent. (Accessed: 18 November 2023).

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2022) Global Forest

Resources Assessment. Key Findings. Available at:

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https://www.fao.org/3/ca8753en/ca8753en.pdf. (Accessed: 25 November

2023)

Hamlett C. (2022) What are the causes and effects of deforestation? Available

at: https://sentientmedia.org/effects-of-deforestation/. (Accessed: 25

November 2023).

Igini M. (2023) How does deforestation affect the environment? Available at:

https://earth.org/how-does-deforestation-affect-the-environment/. (Accessed:

28 November 2023)

NASA Earth Observatory (2007) Causes of deforestation: direct causes.

Available at:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Deforestation/deforestation_update

3.php#:~:text=The%20single%20biggest%20direct%20cause,results%20from

%20multiple%20direct%20factors. (Accessed: 24 November 2023).

Plata-Rocha, W., Monjardin-Armenta, S.A., Pacheco-Angulo, C.E., Rangel-

Peraza, J.G., Franco-Ochoa, C., and Mora-Felix, Z.D. (2021) ‘Proximate and

underlying deforestation causes in a tropical basin through specialized

consultation and spatial logistic regression modeling’, Land Journal, 10(186),

pp. 1-18. Available at:

https://mdpi-res.com/land/land-10-00186/article_deploy/land-10-00186-v2.pdf?

version=1614158478. (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

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Potapov P., Turubanova S., Hansen M. C., Tyukavina A., Zalles V., Khan A.,

Song X., Pickens A., Shen Q., and Cortez J. (2021) ‘Global maps of cropland

extent and change show accelerated cropland expansion in the twenty-first

century’ NatureFood Journal, pp. 19-28. Available at:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00429-z. (Accessed 28

November 2023).

Union of Concerned Scientists (2016) What’s driving deforestation? Available

at: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/whats-driving-deforestation. (Accessed:

18 November 2023).

United Nations (2023) Sustainable Goal 15 Life on Land. Available at:

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/. (Accessed: 18

November 2023).

USAID (n.d.) Illegal logging and deforestation. Available at:

https://www.usaid.gov/biodiversity/illegal-logging-and-deforestation.

(Accessed: 20 November 2023).