Rainforests play a wide range of essential purposes in the weather and climate of a large percentage of the planet. The vital roles rainforests play in the planet’s environment make them among the most critical resources. Irrespective of these vital purposes the rainforests play on the global climate, many disasters have plagued them and affected the effectiveness of the forests achieving these vital roles. Having disasters such as wildfires and deforestation plaguing the rainforest, the future of life on the planet is in danger. Deforestation is by far the most severe problem facing rainforests in the world today. Protecting the rainforests will require serious measures to be taken against deforestation.
Deforestation is a destructive process carried out mainly by people and has been practiced for thousands of years. Although the process has been practiced for decades, it has intensified in the last two decades to the point where it is significantly affecting the planet’s health. It could seem that deforestation should affect the areas where it is mainly practiced, but the truth is the opposite. Irrespective of the geographical location of rainforests, their effects spanned the whole globe. By definition, deforestation is an intentional process where mainly people clear significant areas of forest land. Even though sometimes clearing areas of land with forests is necessary, systematic and over-clearance of forested land is a devastating and damaging process with catastrophic consequences.
Rainforests are majorly located in the planet’s tropical areas and collectively cover over 11% of the land of the globe. This percentage translates to over 1.8 billion hectares of land. This area of land has shrunk and still is shrinking at an alarming rate due to deforestation. Over four and a half billion hectares of rainforest have fallen victim to deforestation. There are rising concerns among scientists that the lost rainforest area in the Amazon, which on average is about 16% of the original size, will result in significant natural disasters if 25% or more of the forests are deforested. Among the disasters that can result from deforestation are global warming, soil erosion and mudslides, drought, and floods. Furthermore, deforestation of rainforests significantly reduces the oxygen produced by these trees and increases the supply of carbon dioxide, consequently affecting all living organisms (Butler, 2019). Collectively, the trees in the rainforests hold carbon dioxide weighing over 210 gigatons. Cutting down tree in the rainforest releases the carbon dioxide held in these trees to the atmosphere, which can have devastating effects.
There are many reasons why deforestation is carried out all over the world. People generally carry out deforestation for purposes such as logging, creating land for ranching and mining purposes, and generating wood for the construction of houses and roads, among other uses. Most parties involved in the deforestation of rainforests are corporations that use the land or wood for the purposes listed above (Abman & Lundberg, 2020). Though total eradication of rainforest deforestation is almost impossible, measures can be taken to reduce the depletion of these forests to negligible levels. The practical application of these measures can translate to the planet’s survival.
One of the solutions to the rainforest deforestation problem lies in the parties causing the problem: corporations. The marketplace, i.e., corporations using trees and their products, must implement policies that significantly reduce deforestation. The business laws of supply versus demand will force suppliers of tree-based products to adhere to the demands of the corporations that purchase the suppliers’ products. Enforcement of strict zero-deforestation standards by corporations will force both internal and external stakeholders in these corporations to conform to their standards.
The companies that must adopt these standards are companies that have suppliers of products such as paper, timber, soy, and palm oil, among others. Although this solution is simple in theory, its application is more complicated than it seems. To make this solution effective, a third-party organization must oversee all the corporations that use tree-based products. Moreover, the existing organizations with these goals have to be promoted and funded to increase their effectiveness. Organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Rainforest Action Network must be empowered by the law and people through funding and publicizing to achieve their goals effectively (Siikamaki et al., 2019). So far, more than a third of the Amazon rainforest has been protected to curb deforestation and its dangers to the global climate. Collectively, nearly 50% of indigenous territories have been put under protection. Increased efforts to protect the rainforests can raise these percentages even higher. For this and all other possible solutions to succeed, the cooperation of the masses is necessary.
Deforestation of rainforests can be effectively combated with reforestation and afforestation. These are two of the most effective solutions of all, relatively speaking. These are the most effective solution because they do not constrict the use of trees as sources of many necessary resources, and they also allow for participation from the general population. Reforestation requires that those who cut down trees replace them by planting seedlings of the same or different variety as those they have cut. This not only combats the deforestation problem but also encourages the people involved in the practice to become more ethical. Afforestation, on the other hand, encourages those in urban or even rural areas to plant trees to replace the trees cut in their region or other areas (Hu et al., 2021). This solution is more ideal than others as it includes the participation of anyone in the world who is willing to combat the problem. In terms of efficiency and applicability, reforestation and afforestation are the best solutions to the deforestation problem.
Many solutions exist for the problem of rainforest deforestation. Almost all of these solutions are feasible when implemented effectively. However, so far, many of these solutions have yet to be implemented successfully worldwide. First, more funds are needed to protect all the rainforests in the world effectively. The rainforests occupy a large percentage of the land of the world. Protecting these forests would require a lot of funds which are not available for that use (Moutinho et al., 2016). Secondly, many people do not view deforestation of rainforests as a real threat to the world’s climate. This is because the problem has yet to produce consequences that affect most of the world’s population. The more severe consequences of deforestation will not present themselves for at least a decade. Moreover, deforestation does not register as a real threat because most people have more pressing matters in their lives.
Irrespective of geographical population, ethnicity, gender, wealth status, and educational background, among other factors, deforestation affects all of the world’s population negatively. Some solutions, such as reforestation and afforestation, only require a few resources on the actor’s part, but few people take part in these measures. It is imperative that everyone who can plant trees in areas available to them do so, as the future of life on the planet depends on it. This is not a problem that will only affect some people but will affect all living organisms in the world. The future of this planet depends on what every abled person on the planet does today to prevent deforestation.
References
Abman, R., & Lundberg, C. (2020). Does Free Trade Increase Deforestation? The Effects of Regional Trade Agreements. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 7(1), 35–72. doi: 10.1086/705787
Butler, R. A. (2019). Consequences of deforestation. Mongabay: Menlo Park, CA, USA.
Hu, Y., Zheng, W., Zeng, W., & Lan, H. (2021). The economic effects of clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation project: Evidence from China. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 13(2), 142-161.
Moutinho, P., Guerra, R., & Azevedo-Ramos, C. (2016). Achieving zero deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: What is missing?. Elementa, 4, 000125.
Siikamaki, J. V., Krupnick, A. J., Strand, J., & Vincent, J. (2019). International willingness to pay for the protection of the Amazon rainforest. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (8775).
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