DEFORESTATION

D E S T R U C T I O N O F N AT U R A L F O R E S T S F O R
DEVELOPMENTS
BENEFITS OF FORESTS

 Living off the Land

 Protection from Natural Disasters
 Purification of the Air
 Helping the Climate
EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION

Loss of Topsoil

Loss of biodiversity

Loss of Potential Discoveries

Desertification

Global Warming
SOIL EROSION AND
DESERTIFICATION
LOSS OF SOIL AND FORMATION OF
DESERT
DESERTIFICATION
 Degradation of lands (dry lands)
with is once a fertile land

 May form naturally, e.g. when

no rainfall in semi-arid areas

 Can also be speed up by

human activities

 Factors:
overgrazing by livestock
over cultivation
deforestation
poor irrigation practices
• Overgrazing – live stocks finished up all the
grassland/vegetation area; cause erosion of top
soil by wind or during flash floods

• Over cultivation – depletion of nutrients

and humus from the soil, soil lack of nutrients,
less plant will grow and thus cause further soil
erosion
D) CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change-
Mean Annual Global
Temperature 1960-2005
CLIMATE CHANGE
TERMINOLOGY
 Greenhouse Gas
 Gas that absorbs infrared radiation
 Ex: Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons and
tropospheric ozone
 Positive Feedback
 Change in some condition triggers a response that intensifies the changed
condition
 Infrared Radiation
 Radiation that has a wavelength that is longer than that of visible light, but
shorter than that of radio waves
 Greenhouse Effect
 Increase of heat in a system where energy enters (often as light), is
absorbed as heat, and released sometime later
 CLIMATE
CHANGE
 Evidence for Climate Change
 11 of the 12 years between 1995 and 2006 were
among the twelve warmest years since the mid-
1800s
 Phenological spring in N. hemisphere now comes 6
days earlier
 Warming is not due to natural causes
 Human produced greenhouse gases are most
plausible explanation
 Causes
 Greenhouse gas concentrations
increasing
 CAUSES
Increased concentration
of CO2 (right)

 Burning fossil fuels in

cars, industry and
homes
 Deforestation
 Burning of forests
GREENHOUSE
EFFECT
OTHER POLLUTANTS COOL THE
ATMOSPHERE

 Atmospheric Aerosols tend to cool the atmosphere

 Both human and natural sources

 Tiny particles that remain in troposphere for weeks or
months
 Contain many chemicals, but often contain sulfur

 Complicates models of climate change

CLIMATE MODELS
 Climate affected by:
 winds, clouds, ocean currents, and
albedo
(the ratio of the light reflected by a
planet or satellite to that received by it)
 Used to explore past climate
events
 Advanced models can project
future warming events
 Models are only as good as the
data
and law used to program them
 They have limitations
Effects of Global Climate
Change
 Ocean as CO sink - excess CO is starting to harm ocean life
2 2
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE
CHANGE- MELTING ICE AND
RISING SEA LEVELS
 Sea level rise caused in 2 ways
 Thermal Expansion
 Water expands as it warms
 Melting of land ice
 Retreat of glacier and thinning of ice at the poles

 Melting has positive feedback

 Increased melting decreases ice, which decreases albedo
leading
to further warming
MELTING ICE AND RISING SEA
LEVELS

1957

1998
 CASE-IN-POINT IMPACTS IN FRAGILE
AREAS
 Eskimo Inuit live traditional life dictated by freezing
climate
 Climate change is altering their existence
 Wildlife are smaller or displaced
 Reduced snow cover and shorter river ice seasons
 Defrosting of permafrost
 EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE-
CHANGING PRECIPITATION PATTERNS
 Some areas will get more water, some areas will
have greater droughts
 Ex: Hurricanes will likely get stronger