1. + Deforestation By: Reem and Sarah J.

2. + Deforestation is the clearance of forests by cutting and/or burning them. (Popularly known as slash and burn). The impact of deforestation on the world is damage to habitats, biodiversity loss and aridity. It also has a considerable impact on the world’s oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Regions that suffer complete deforestation typically undergo soil erosions and frequently degrade into wastelands. What is the Problem?

3. + Why is this a Problem? This is a problem because we need oxygen to breath, but because of deforestation, there will be more co2 and less oxygen. In many countries deforestation, if not taken care of, can trigger a series of extinction issues, it can also cause changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and the displacement of indigenous people (natives). Causes to deforestation are mainly man made. Our continuous population growth drives us to cut down forests to have more space for us. Other reasons may include the need of paper, and wood. Unfortunately, most of us waste paper and don’t use the three R(s) (recycle, reduce, and reuse). Natural reasons include storms and fires (caused by high temperatures and some times because of humans themselves) that cause the loss of forests and trees, as well as tornadoes and monsoons that could severe a tree from the roots up completely.

4. + Who is Affected? If this issue is not treated, and in some countries it has been, then it will affect everyone. Some regions were people live with no trees, the ground will not hold them if any rain happens to fall. The ground needs the roots of plants and trees to hold it together and stay in place, but without them, the slightest gusts of wind could remove some soil, so imagine a tornado hitting the area… People who live near forests, woods or amazons are being affected cause their home is being cut down and they would have to move. Animals that live there are evacuating, sometimes dying, because they have no more place to live, to shelter them. Deforestation is a key to global warming, and global warming is causing floods in some areas like Pakistan and killing people, taking away their shelter, food and making their water undrinkable and this is happening in many other places too. This issue affects me because my country hosts the Nile, and because deforestation supports global warming in some way, the Nile may expand and rain may fall more heavily making floods happen. People will lose their lives and their shelter. They will drown or die of hunger or thirst. The same reason affects my city, but my country (where I live) will be worse. It this persists, Qatar will sink underwater, it will disappear and go back to were it came from, the bottom of the ocean. It will no longer be above and everything that is on it from life, buildings etc.. will go under with it. The world is currently 2/3 of water and the rest is land, but that will change in the near future because some places will be flooded and some will be uninhabitable because of the lack of trees. There wont be enough space for our constantly growing population, which will be a HUGE problem.

5. + What will happen if the issue is not Addressed? If this is not addressed, then our constantly growing population won’t be able to fit on the Earth and it will be very hard to find another place for us. Much of land will be wiped out and taken by the water realm because of the limited roots of trees that help keep the earth’s soil together and many humans will probably go down with it. There might be too much CO2 in the air that we wouldn’t be able to live because of the low oxygen levels

6. + Possible Solutions We could make laws against cutting down trees, like I heard there was in Miami, USA, where you have to get proper reason or permission to cut even one tree. IF your reason is good enough, they will allow you to cut the trees, sometimes for a small fee or tax. We could have a small system or law in which every time someone cuts a tree, they must plant one in its place, this way we would always have enough. We could make people recycle, transform all trash cans into recycling bins and hire more people to separate the recyclable from the not. This way we wouldn’t be wasting or having to cut more trees to replace the resources thrown away. Another way is for a kind of global program be performed, in which everyone is required to take some time and plant at least 1 tree some where and take care of it well. With all the families on earth doing so, we would have grown a reasonable amount of trees, but that probably won’t be enough to replace the ones that are being but down, the ones that were AND the ones that would be cut down.

7. + Bibliography