Climate change - Research Paper Example

1). The current discourse hereby asserts that deforestation is a human activity that contributes immensely to climate change and; since it is within man’s control, it could be abated and mitigate the impact of climate change. In the article written by Docksai (2013), the author acknowledged that in the simplest means, climate change could be addressed by merely focusing on the need for more trees. From statistics provided on the top 10 countries with the highest deforestation, it was revealed that Brazil topped the list with 3,446,000 hectares of forest area that was allegedly cut.

This was seconded by Indonesia with 1,447,800 hectares of forest area cut; followed by Russia (532,200 hectares) and Mexico (395,000 hectares). The United States is also included in the list with 215,200 hectares of forest area cut (Compare Infobase Ltd., 2013). Evidently, the extensive amount of forest area that had been cut through deforestation has significantly affected the world’s climate. The reasons for cutting trees in forest areas have been identified to be diverse and mostly linked to financial pursuits.

According to the National Geographic, the primary reason for deforestation is actually agriculture. Trees from forests were reportedly cut to provide greater land for purposes of planting crops; as well as grazing livestock (National Geographic Society, 2013). Other causes of deforestation were disclosed to either be intentional which include logging and making way for urbanization; or uninentional such as natural causes like wildfires. The effects of deforestation were mostly noted as skewing in the negative side: the destruction of natural habitat for living species; soil erosion leading to flash floods; and of course, climate change.

Trees were noted to be agents of absorption for greenhouse gases. Likewise, trees were commonly known as serving as canopies that apparently block the rays of the sun from piercing through the land; and therefore keeps the forest soil moist. At night, these trees were also revealed to hold the heat that was apparently preserved during the day and prevents the heat from entering the atmosphere (National Geographic Society, 2013). With a great amount of lost trees, the heat pierces through the land and dries it immensely; and also allows greater levels of greenhouse gases to be expelled to the atmosphere resulting to climate change.

After having identified the causes and effects of deforestation, it is crucial to acknowledge that the solution is clear and identifiable; since man could control the rate of cutting of forest trees and could design policies to prevent further devastation. As asserted, the quickest solution to the dilemma is to prevent the cutting of forest trees at such an alarming rate. Likewise, another solution that was noted included the effective management of forest resources. This allegedly entails balancing the cutting of appropriately selected forest trees to be immediately replaced by new trees (National Geographic Society, 2013).

It should be emphasized, however, that the number of replanted trees should significantly exceed the number of trees that were cut due to deforestation. This method had already been implemented by Brazil, the number one country to have been identified to have deforested their land (Compare Infobase Ltd., 2013). According to Docksai (2013), Brazil “hit a milestone in 2012: Forest loss that year, at 4,500