Cause & Effect of Deforestation
Causes
More land is needed to increase settlements, more roads are built to accommodate larger populations. Brazil has implemented Hydropower as a means to address increased demands for energy. The dams constructed to support Hydropwer are disrupting river connectivity and habitats of aquatic species.
Overpopulation
Cattle Ranching accounts for 80% of current deforestation rates. Approximately 450,000 square kilometers of Brazil's deforested Amazon are now cattle pastures. Deforestation from ranching releases 340 million tons of carbon every year.
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Cattle Ranching
Logging provides timber and pulp for furniture, construction and paper production. Logging operations not only cut trees down to harvest but they also clear large areas to use as roadways to accommodate their trucks and equipment.
Logging
Mining requires large areas of trees and vegetation to be cleared by burning or by use of bulldozers.
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Deforestation rates have been declining globally but in the Western Amazon they are rising due to Artisanal-scale gold mining (ASGM).
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Caballero Espejo, J.; Messinger, M.; Román-Dañobeytia, F.; Ascorra, C.; Fernandez, L.E.; Silman, M. Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 1903.
Mining
Effects
When trees die they release the carbon they had previously stored. According to Nature Geoscience, Deforestation is the second largest human caused source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Increased carbon dioxide will cause the ocean to become more acidic, risking aquatic species and ecosystems.
Acidic Oceans
Deforestation is causing an "extinction debt." Live Science explains, species that lose their habitat due to deforestation, slowing die off, they don't disappear immediately. They estimate that 80% of extinctions are expected from historical deforestation, including the Tree Ocelot, Hoary-Throated Spinetail, White-Cheeked Spider Monkey, Brazilian Tapir and Yellow-Headed Poison Frog.
Loss of Biodiversity
Trees are essential for local water cycles by assisting in the return of water vapor to the atmosphere. Trees also secure fertile soil preventing it from being swept away into nearby rivers.