global warming deforestation essay

November 13, 2012

Deforestation and Its Extreme Effect on Global Warming

From logging, agricultural production and other economic activities, deforestation adds more atmospheric CO2 than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world's roads

Land cleared of forest by timber industry.

Nazar Abbas Getty Images

Dear EarthTalk : Is it true that cutting and burning trees adds more global warming pollution to the atmosphere than all the cars and trucks in the world combined? — Mitchell Vale, Houston

By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world’s roads. According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), cars and trucks account for about 14 percent of global carbon emissions, while most analysts attribute upwards of 15 percent to deforestation.

The reason that logging is so bad for the climate is that when trees are felled they release the carbon they are storing into the atmosphere, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming accordingly. The upshot is that we should be doing as much to prevent deforestation as we are to increase fuel efficiency and reduce automobile usage.

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According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading green group, 32 million acres of tropical rainforest were cut down each year between 2000 and 2009—and the pace of deforestation is only increasing. “Unless we change the present system that rewards forest destruction, forest clearing will put another 200 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in coming decades…,” says EDF.

“Any realistic plan to reduce global warming pollution sufficiently—and in time—to avoid dangerous consequences must rely in part on preserving tropical forests,” reports EDF. But it’s hard to convince the poor residents of the Amazon basin and other tropical regions of the world to stop cutting down trees when the forests are still worth more dead than alive. “Conservation costs money, while profits from timber, charcoal, pasture and cropland drive people to cut down forests,” adds EDF. Exacerbating global warming isn’t the only negative impact of tropical deforestation. It also wipes out biodiversity: More than half of the world’s plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests.

One way some tropical countries are reducing deforestation is through participation in the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program. REDD essentially works to establish incentives for the people who care for the forest to manage it sustainably while still being able to benefit economically. Examples include using less land (and therefore cutting fewer trees) for activities such as coffee growing and meat and milk production. Participating nations can then accrue and sell carbon pollution credits when they can prove they have lowered deforestation below a baseline. The REDD program has channeled over $117 million in direct financial aid and educational support into national deforestation reduction efforts in 44 developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America since its 2008 inception.

Brazil is among the countries embracing REDD among other efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Thanks to the program, Brazil has slowed deforestation within its borders by 40 percent since 2008 and is on track to achieve an 80 percent reduction by 2020. Environmentalists are optimistic that the initial success of REDD in Brazil bodes well for reducing deforestation in other parts of the tropics as well.

CONTACTS : WCN, www.worldcarfree.net; EDF, www.edf.org; REDD, www.un-redd.org .

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: [email protected] . Subscribe : www.emagazine.com/subscribe . Free Trial Issue : www.emagazine.com/trial .

• ENVIRONMENT

Why deforestation matters—and what we can do to stop it

Large scale destruction of trees—deforestation—affects ecosystems, climate, and even increases risk for zoonotic diseases spreading to humans.

As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change , preserve wildlife, and support more than eight billion people , trees inevitably hold a major part of the answer. Yet the mass destruction of trees—deforestation—continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of standing trees for short-term gain of fuel, and materials for manufacturing and construction.

We need trees for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale and the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that human activities emit. As those gases enter the atmosphere, global warming increases, a trend scientists now prefer to call climate change.

There is also the imminent danger of disease caused by deforestation. An estimated 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases come from animals, and a major cause of viruses’ jump from wildlife to humans is habitat loss, often through deforestation.

But we can still save our forests. Aggressive efforts to rewild and reforest are already showing success. Tropical tree cover alone can provide 23 percent of the climate mitigation needed to meet goals set in the Paris Agreement in 2015, according to one estimate .

Causes of deforestation

Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Since 1990, the world has lost more than 420 million hectares or about a billion acres of forest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations —mainly in Africa and South America. About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise . The organization Amazon Conservation reports that destruction rose by 21 percent in 2020 , a loss the size of Israel.

Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account for more than half of all deforestation . Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest. In Malaysia and Indonesia, forests are cut down to make way for producing palm oil , which can be found in everything from shampoo to saltine crackers. In the Amazon, cattle ranching and farms—particularly soy plantations—are key culprits .

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Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also fell countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally , also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl as land is developed for homes.

Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees.

Why it matters

There are some 250 million people who live in forest and savannah areas and depend on them for subsistence and income—many of them among the world’s rural poor.

Eighty percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests , and deforestation threatens species including the orangutan , Sumatran tiger , and many species of birds. Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and retains heat at night. That disruption leads to more extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.

With wild habitats destroyed and human life ever expanding, the line between animal and human areas blurs, opening the door to zoonotic diseases . In 2014, for example, the Ebola virus killed over 11,000 people in West Africa after fruit bats transmitted the disease to a toddler who was playing near trees where bats were roosting.

( How deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans .)

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Some scientists believe there could be as many as 1.7 million currently “undiscovered” viruses in mammals and birds, of which up to 827,000 could have the ability to infect people, according to a 2018 study .

Deforestation’s effects reach far beyond the people and animals where trees are cut. The South American rainforest, for example, influences regional and perhaps even global water cycles, and it's key to the water supply in Brazilian cities and neighboring countries. The Amazon actually helps furnish water to some of the soy farmers and beef ranchers who are clearing the forest. The loss of clean water and biodiversity from all forests could have many other effects we can’t foresee, touching even your morning cup of coffee .

In terms of climate change, cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. If tropical deforestation were a country, according to the World Resources Institute , it would rank third in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions, behind China and the U.S.

What can be done

The numbers are grim, but many conservationists see reasons for hope . A movement is under way to preserve existing forest ecosystems and restore lost tree cover by first reforesting (replanting trees) and ultimately rewilding (a more comprehensive mission to restore entire ecosystems).

( Which nation could be the first to be rewilded ?)

Organizations and activists are working to fight illegal mining and logging—National Geographic Explorer Topher White, for example, has come up with a way to use recycled cell phones to monitor for chainsaws . In Tanzania, the residents of Kokota have planted more than 2 million trees on their small island over a decade, aiming to repair previous damage. And in Brazil, conservationists are rallying in the face of ominous signals that the government may roll back forest protections.

( Which tree planting projects should you support ?)

Stopping deforestation before it reaches a critical point will play a key role in avoiding the next zoonotic pandemic. A November 2022 study showed that when bats struggle to find suitable habitat, they travel closer to human communities where diseases are more likely to spillover. Inversely, when bats’ native habitats were left intact, they stayed away from humans. This research is the first to show how we can predict and avoid spillovers through monitoring and maintaining wildlife habitats.

For consumers, it makes sense to examine the products and meats you buy, looking for sustainably produced sources when you can. Nonprofit groups such as the Forest Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance certify products they consider sustainable, while the World Wildlife Fund has a palm oil scorecard for consumer brands.

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Deforestation and Global Warming

After reading about this, I was so upset. I can't understand how people could be so devious and greedy to cut down an eight hundred year old tree for money! Don't people have a conscience! Don't people have morals!

This leads me to one of the major problems that the world faces today. Deforestation . Look around. It is amazing how many tree-based products we depend on. From books, to wooden floors, to furniture, we are surrounded by them, and without these, personally, my house would look a whole lot different.

When we add these demands for tree-based products with the demands for agriculture, fuel, and land, the problem of deforestation grows each day. And as shocking as this may seem, deforestation has a huge effect on global warming.

The Greenhouse Effect

In order to understand how trees relate to global warming, you first have to understand what the greenhouse effect is.

Just like a greenhouse traps heat inside, Earth has a "natural greenhouse effect" in which some of the sun's infrared radiation is trapped to warm the planet. In the atmosphere, there are certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, ozone, and water vapor, which aid in this process by reflecting the heat back to earth. This process allows Earth to maintain a comfortable temperature. (An average of around 57 degrees Fahrenheit) If this radiation is not trapped, the average temperature on earth would drop to zero degrees Fahrenheit, (-18 degrees Celsius), and life would not be as we know it today.

In this way, these greenhouse gases are very important and central to the survival of the living organisms on Earth. The greenhouse effect is what makes Earth so unique from the other planets; we have just the right amount of greenhouse gases to make for a suitable temperature.

Yet, too much of something is not a good thing, and in this case, the excess of these greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, in our atmosphere is detrimental to life and the environment. With a plethora of these gases being released into the atmosphere by human innovations, the greenhouse effect is enhancing and this is causing the rise in temperature that we have been experiencing in the last two centuries. Since 1750, (the beginning of the Industrial Revolution), the output of carbon dioxide alone has risen about 36%, and since 1880, which marks the end of the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s temperature has risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this may not seem like an enormous increase, the effects it leaves on the environment and the organisms that live in it are damaging and deadly. Many plants and animals cannot adapt to temperature changes in their environment quickly, and this is causing many to become endangered, and for some extinct.

So how do trees and deforestation relate to global warming?

Trees play a huge role in the carbon cycle. They convert the CO2 in the air to oxygen, through the process of photosynthesis, and in this way, they can be looked at as a natural regulator of the carbon dioxide. The more trees, the less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the more oxygen.

Since we live in an age where carbon dioxide is very abundant in the atmosphere, released through man-made inventions, such as cars, factories, and power plants, it is vital, more than ever, that trees fulfill their part in the environment and take some of the excess carbon dioxide out of the air. Unfortunately, deforestation is preventing this job to be fully accomplished, and with half of all the Earth's forests gone, and four million trees cut down each year just for paper use, the amount of carbon dioxide is rising. With more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, more of the sun's radiation is being reflected back to earth, instead of space, and this is causing our average temperature to rise. In this way, deforestation is a major issue when it comes to global warming.

But, as I always say, " There is still time for change !" If we conserve our supply of trees and make recycling a higher priority, then we can reduce the number of trees that are cut down. Please do your part and recycle.

What do you have to say about the poachers in Canada who cut down that eight hundred year old tree? What are your thoughts about deforestation? What other ways can we conserve our trees?

For more reading about deforestation and its effects, visit Naseem's blog .

Picture Credit: Evan Leeson (via Flickr)

“ Emissions ” United States Environmental protection Agency April 14, 2011

"Poachers Take Ancient Red Cedar From Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park " Wildness Committee May 17, 2012

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New to Climate Change?

Forests and climate change.

Forests cover about 30% of the Earth’s land surface. As forests grow, their trees take in carbon from the air and store it in wood, plant matter, and under the soil . If not for forests, much of this carbon would remain in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), the most important greenhouse gas driving climate change.

Each year since 2000, forests are estimated to have removed an average of 2 billion metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. 1 This “carbon sink function” of forests is slowing climate change by reducing the rate at which CO 2 , mainly from fossil fuel burning, builds up in the atmosphere. Careful forest management can therefore be an important strategy to help address climate change in the future. Healthy forests also provide a host of other benefits, from clean water to habitat for plants and animals that can live nowhere else.

Deforestation, and our options to reverse it

Over the past 8,000 years, humans have cleared up to half of the forests on our planet, mostly to make room for agriculture . 2 Cutting down or burning forests releases the carbon stored in their trees and soil, and prevents them from absorbing more CO 2 in the future. Since 1850, about 30% of all CO 2 emissions have come from deforestation. 3 Deforestation can also have more local climate impacts. Because trees release moisture that cools the air around them, scientists have found that deforestation has led to more intense heat waves in North America and Eurasia. 4

There are three ways to reverse these losses: afforestation, reforestation, and the natural regeneration of forest ecosystems. Afforestation refers to planting forests where there were none before, or where forests have been missing for a long time—50 years or more. Reforestation is planting trees where forests have been recently cleared. Natural regeneration, on the other hand, does not involve tree-planting. 5 Instead, forest managers help damaged forests regrow by letting trees naturally re-seed, and through techniques like coppicing, in which trees are cut down to stumps so new shoots can grow.

Forests as a climate solution

There is no doubt that these strategies can help remove CO 2 from the atmosphere, but their impact is hard to measure. Even for China, which has done more afforestation and reforestation than the rest of the world combined, there are still large uncertainties about how much carbon these projects are storing. 6

Looking at China also shows some of the unintended consequences of large-scale tree-planting projects. In the dry northern part of the country, people have planted trees to fight desert expansion. But because the tree species that were planted were ill-suited to a dry climate, this effort has depleted water supplies and degraded soils. In the south of China, reforestation with monocultures—that is, just one species of tree—has led to loss of biodiversity. 7

Natural regeneration of forests, on the other hand, has few unintended consequences and large potential to store carbon over the coming decades. If done worldwide, natural regeneration of forests could capture up to 70 billion tons of carbon in plants and soils between now and 2050 8 —an amount equal to around seven years of current industrial emissions. Combining natural regeneration with thoughtful afforestation and reforestation is an important option for combating climate change.

Updated October 7, 2021.

1 Harris, N.L., D.A. Gibbs, A. Baccini, R.A. Birdsey, S. de Bruin, et al. (2021). " Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes ." Nature Climate Change 11, 234–240. doi:10.1038/s41558-020-00976-6 2 Ahrends, Q. P.M. Hollingworth, P. Beckschafer, H. Chen, R.J. Zomer, L. Zhang, M. Wang, J. Xu. 2017. " China's fight to halt tree cover loss ." Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences 284, May 2017. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2559 3 Le Quéré, Corrine, et al. “ Global Carbon Budget 2016 .” Earth Systems Science Data, vol. 8, no. 2, 2018. doi:10.5194/essd-8-605-2016 4 Lejeune, Q., Davin, E.L., Gudmundsson, L. et al. (2018). " Historical deforestation locally increased the intensity of hot days in northern mid-latitudes ." Nature Climate Change 8, April 2018. doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0131-z 5 IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers . In: "Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems." [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.- O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, K. Kissick, M. Belkacemi, J. Malley, (eds.)]. 6 Wang, J., L. Feng, P.I. Palmer, Y. Liu, S. Fang, H. Bosch, C. W. O’Dell, X. Tang, D. Yang, L. Liu, C. Xia. " Large Chinese land carbon sink estimated from atmospheric carbon dioxide data ." Nature 586, October 2020. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2849-9 7 Hua, F., X. Wang, X. Zheng, B. Fisher, L. Wang, J. Zhu, et al. " Opportunities for biodiversity gains under the world’s largest reforestation programme ." Nature Communications, 7(1), Sept 2016. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12717 8 Cook-Patton S.C., S.M. Leavitt, D. Gibbs, N.L. Harris, et al. " Mapping carbon accumulation potential from global natural forest regrowth ." Nature 585: 545-550, Sept 2020. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2686-x

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How to tackle the global deforestation crisis

Imagine if France, Germany, and Spain were completely blanketed in forests — and then all those trees were quickly chopped down. That’s nearly the amount of deforestation that occurred globally between 2001 and 2020, with profound consequences.

Deforestation is a major contributor to climate change, producing between 6 and 17 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2009 study. Meanwhile, because trees also absorb carbon dioxide, removing it from the atmosphere, they help keep the Earth cooler. And climate change aside, forests protect biodiversity.

“Climate change and biodiversity make this a global problem, not a local problem,” says MIT economist Ben Olken. “Deciding to cut down trees or not has huge implications for the world.”

But deforestation is often financially profitable, so it continues at a rapid rate. Researchers can now measure this trend closely: In the last quarter-century, satellite-based technology has led to a paradigm change in charting deforestation. New deforestation datasets, based on the Landsat satellites, for instance, track forest change since 2000 with resolution at 30 meters, while many other products now offer frequent imaging at close resolution.

“Part of this revolution in measurement is accuracy, and the other part is coverage,” says Clare Balboni, an assistant professor of economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). “On-site observation is very expensive and logistically challenging, and you’re talking about case studies. These satellite-based data sets just open up opportunities to see deforestation at scale, systematically, across the globe.”

Balboni and Olken have now helped write a new paper providing a road map for thinking about this crisis. The open-access article, “ The Economics of Tropical Deforestation ,” appears this month in the Annual Review of Economics . The co-authors are Balboni, a former MIT faculty member; Aaron Berman, a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Economics; Robin Burgess, an LSE professor; and Olken, MIT’s Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics. Balboni and Olken have also conducted primary research in this area, along with Burgess.

So, how can the world tackle deforestation? It starts with understanding the problem.

Replacing forests with farms

Several decades ago, some thinkers, including the famous MIT economist Paul Samuelson in the 1970s, built models to study forests as a renewable resource; Samuelson calculated the “maximum sustained yield” at which a forest could be cleared while being regrown. These frameworks were designed to think about tree farms or the U.S. national forest system, where a fraction of trees would be cut each year, and then new trees would be grown over time to take their place.

But deforestation today, particularly in tropical areas, often looks very different, and forest regeneration is not common.

Indeed, as Balboni and Olken emphasize, deforestation is now rampant partly because the profits from chopping down trees come not just from timber, but from replacing forests with agriculture. In Brazil, deforestation has increased along with agricultural prices; in Indonesia, clearing trees accelerated as the global price of palm oil went up, leading companies to replace forests with palm tree orchards.

All this tree-clearing creates a familiar situation: The globally shared costs of climate change from deforestation are “externalities,” as economists say, imposed on everyone else by the people removing forest land. It is akin to a company that pollutes into a river, affecting the water quality of residents.

“Economics has changed the way it thinks about this over the last 50 years, and two things are central,” Olken says. “The relevance of global externalities is very important, and the conceptualization of alternate land uses is very important.” This also means traditional forest-management guidance about regrowth is not enough. With the economic dynamics in mind, which policies might work, and why?

The search for solutions

As Balboni and Olken note, economists often recommend “Pigouvian” taxes (named after the British economist Arthur Pigou) in these cases, levied against people imposing externalities on others. And yet, it can be hard to identify who is doing the deforesting.

Instead of taxing people for clearing forests, governments can pay people to keep forests intact. The UN uses Payments for Environmental Services (PES) as part of its REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) program. However, it is similarly tough to identify the optimal landowners to subsidize, and these payments may not match the quick cash-in of deforestation. A 2017 study in Uganda showed PES reduced deforestation somewhat; a 2022 study in Indonesia found no reduction; another 2022 study, in Brazil, showed again that some forest protection resulted.

“There’s mixed evidence from many of these [studies],” Balboni says. These policies, she notes, must reach people who would otherwise clear forests, and a key question is, “How can we assess their success compared to what would have happened anyway?”

Some places have tried cash transfer programs for larger populations. In Indonesia, a 2020 study found such subsidies reduced deforestation near villages by 30 percent. But in Mexico, a similar program meant more people could afford milk and meat, again creating demand for more agriculture and thus leading to more forest-clearing.

At this point, it might seem that laws simply banning deforestation in key areas would work best — indeed, about 16 percent of the world’s land overall is protected in some way. Yet the dynamics of protection are tricky. Even with protected areas in place, there is still “leakage” of deforestation into other regions. 

Still more approaches exist, including “nonstate agreements,” such as the Amazon Soy Moratorium in Brazil, in which grain traders pledged not to buy soy from deforested lands, and reduced deforestation without “leakage.”

Also, intriguingly, a 2008 policy change in the Brazilian Amazon made agricultural credit harder to obtain by requiring recipients to comply with environmental and land registration rules. The result? Deforestation dropped by up to 60 percent over nearly a decade. 

Politics and pulp

Overall, Balboni and Olken observe, beyond “externalities,” two major challenges exist. One, it is often unclear who holds property rights in forests. In these circumstances, deforestation seems to increase. Two, deforestation is subject to political battles.

For instance, as economist Bard Harstad of Stanford University has observed, environmental lobbying is asymmetric. Balboni and Olken write: “The conservationist lobby must pay the government in perpetuity … while the deforestation-oriented lobby need pay only once to deforest in the present.” And political instability leads to more deforestation because “the current administration places lower value on future conservation payments.”

Even so, national political measures can work. In the Amazon from 2001 to 2005, Brazilian deforestation rates were three to four times higher than on similar land across the border, but that imbalance vanished once the country passed conservation measures in 2006. However, deforestation ramped up again after a 2014 change in government. Looking at particular monitoring approaches, a study of Brazil’s satellite-based Real-Time System for Detection of Deforestation (DETER), launched in 2004, suggests that a 50 percent annual increase in its use in municipalities created a 25 percent reduction in deforestation from 2006 to 2016.

How precisely politics matters may depend on the context. In a 2021 paper, Balboni and Olken (with three colleagues) found that deforestation actually decreased around elections in Indonesia. Conversely, in Brazil, one study found that deforestation rates were 8 to 10 percent higher where mayors were running for re-election between 2002 and 2012, suggesting incumbents had deforestation industry support.

“The research there is aiming to understand what the political economy drivers are,” Olken says, “with the idea that if you understand those things, reform in those countries is more likely.”

Looking ahead, Balboni and Olken also suggest that new research estimating the value of intact forest land intact could influence public debates. And while many scholars have studied deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia, fewer have examined the Democratic Republic of Congo, another deforestation leader, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Deforestation is an ongoing crisis. But thanks to satellites and many recent studies, experts know vastly more about the problem than they did a decade or two ago, and with an economics toolkit, can evaluate the incentives and dynamics at play.

“To the extent that there’s ambuiguity across different contexts with different findings, part of the point of our review piece is to draw out common themes — the important considerations in determining which policy levers can [work] in different circumstances,” Balboni says. “That’s a fast-evolving area. We don’t have all the answers, but part of the process is bringing together growing evidence about [everything] that affects how successful those choices can be.”

Home » Insights » What is the Relationship Between Deforestation And Climate Change?

What is the Relationship Between Deforestation And Climate Change?

Filed Under: Insights   |  Tagged: Deforestation , Climate Last updated August 12, 2018

What, exactly, is the relationship between deforestation and climate change? The Rainforest Alliance breaks down the numbers for you—and explains our innovative approach to keeping forests standing.

Among the many gifts forests give us is one we desperately need: help with slowing climate change. Trees capture greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide, preventing them from accumulating in the atmosphere and warming our planet.

When we clear forests, we’re not only knocking out our best ally in capturing the staggering amount of GHGs we humans create (which we do primarily by burning fossil fuels at energy facilities, and of course, in cars, planes, and trains). We’re also creating emissions by cutting down trees: when trees are felled, they release into the atmosphere all the carbon they’ve been storing. What the deforesters do with the felled trees—either leaving them to rot on the forest floor or burning them—creates further emissions. All told, deforestation on its own causes about 10 percent of worldwide emissions.

Healthy forests and vibrant communities are an essential part of the global climate solution. Sign up to learn more about our growing alliance.

Knowing that deforestation robs us of a crucial weapon in the battle against climate change—and creates further emissions—why on Earth would anyone clear a forest? The main reason is agriculture. The world’s exploding population has made it profitable for big business to raze forests so it can plant mega crops like soy and oil palm; meanwhile, on a much, much smaller scale, subsistence farmers often clear trees so they can plant crops to feed their families and bring in small amounts of cash.

But there’s a tragic irony to clearing rainforests for agriculture: their underlying soils are extremely poor. All the nutrient-richness is locked up in the forests themselves, so once they are burned and the nutrients from their ashes are used up, farmers are left with utterly useless soil. So on they go to the next patch of forest: raze, plant, deplete, repeat. All told, agriculture is responsible for at least 80 percent of tropical deforestation .

Not surprisingly, agriculture causes emissions, too—in fact, farm emissions are second only to those of the energy sector in the dubious contest for the emissions title. In 2011, farms were responsible for about 13 percent of total global emissions. Most farm-related emissions come in the form of methane (cattle belching) and nitrous oxide (from fertilizers and the like).

All told, deforestation causes a triple-whammy of global warming:

• We lose a crucial ally in keeping excess carbon out of the atmosphere (and in slowing global warming),
• Even more emissions are created when felled trees release the carbon they’d been storing, and rot or burn on the forest floor, and
• What most often replaces the now-vanished forest, livestock and crops, generate massive amounts of even more greenhouse gases. Taken together, these emissions account for a quarter of all emissions worldwide.

Our accounting of the ugly impacts of deforestation only considers emissions and doesn’t even touched on how the lives and traditions of forest communities are ruined when forests are razed, or how many species of plants and animals are lost, upsetting the delicate balance of ecosystems. The uptick in mosquito-borne diseases, for example, or the rapid spread of roya, an insidious plant disease that threatens our supply of coffee are all indirect consequences of deforestation and global warming.

There’s no doubt about it: the best thing we can do to fight climate change is keep forests standing. Yet the need to feed a rapidly growing global population—projected to reach 9 billion by 2050—is urgent. That’s why the Rainforest Alliance works with farmers to advance a variety of strategies , such as crop intensification (growing more food on less land), and with traditional forest-dwellers to develop livelihoods that don’t hurt forests or ecosystems . We stand more of a chance in this fight with forests standing strong.

2022 Was One Of The Hottest Years On Record. Will 2023 Be Worse?

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Original research article, the unseen effects of deforestation: biophysical effects on climate.

• 1 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
• 2 The Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA, United States
• 3 The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia

Climate policy has thus far focused solely on carbon stocks and sequestration to evaluate the potential of forests to mitigate global warming. These factors are used to assess the impacts of different drivers of deforestation and forest degradation as well as alternative forest management. However, when forest cover, structure and composition change, shifts in biophysical processes (the water and energy balances) may enhance or diminish the climate effects of carbon released from forest aboveground biomass. The net climate impact of carbon effects and biophysical effects determines outcomes for forest and agricultural species as well as the humans who depend on them. Evaluating the net impact is complicated by the disparate spatio-temporal scales at which they operate. Here we review the biophysical mechanisms by which forests influence climate and synthesize recent work on the biophysical climate forcing of forests across latitudes. We then combine published data on the biophysical effects of deforestation on climate by latitude with a new analysis of the climate impact of the CO 2 in forest aboveground biomass by latitude to quantitatively assess how these processes combine to shape local and global climate. We find that tropical deforestation leads to strong net global warming as a result of both CO 2 and biophysical effects. From the tropics to a point between 30°N and 40°N, biophysical cooling by standing forests is both local and global, adding to the global cooling effect of CO 2 sequestered by forests. In the mid-latitudes up to 50°N, deforestation leads to modest net global warming as warming from released forest carbon outweighs a small opposing biophysical cooling. Beyond 50°N large scale deforestation leads to a net global cooling due to the dominance of biophysical processes (particularly increased albedo) over warming from CO 2 released. Locally at all latitudes, forest biophysical impacts far outweigh CO 2 effects, promoting local climate stability by reducing extreme temperatures in all seasons and times of day. The importance of forests for both global climate change mitigation and local adaptation by human and non-human species is not adequately captured by current carbon-centric metrics, particularly in the context of future climate warming.

Introduction

Failure to stabilize climate is in itself a large threat to biodiversity already at risk from deforestation. Protection, expansion, and improved management of the world’s forests represent some of the most promising natural solutions to the problem of keeping global warming below 1.5–2 degrees ( Griscom et al., 2017 ; Roe et al., 2019 ). Forests sequester large quantities of carbon; of the 450–650 Pg of carbon stored in vegetation ( IPCC, 2013 ), over 360 Pg is in forest vegetation ( Pan et al., 2013 ). Adding the carbon in soils, forests contain over 800 PgC, almost as much as is currently stored in the atmosphere ( Pan et al., 2013 ). In addition, forests are responsible for much of the carbon removal by terrestrial ecosystems which together remove 29% of annual CO 2 emissions (∼11.5 PgC; Friedlingstein et al., 2019 ). Globally, forest loss not only releases a large amount of carbon to the atmosphere, but it also significantly diminishes a major pathway for carbon removal long into the future ( Houghton and Nassikas, 2018 ). Tropical forests, which hold the greatest amount of aboveground biomass and have one of the fastest carbon sequestration rates per unit land area ( Harris et al., 2021 ), face the greatest deforestation pressure ( FAO, 2020 ). Given the long half-life and homogenous nature of atmospheric CO 2 , current forest management decisions will have an enduring impact on global climate through effects on CO 2 alone. However, forests also impact climate directly through controls on three main biophysical mechanisms: albedo, evapotranspiration (ET) and canopy roughness.

The direct biophysical effects of forests moderate local climate conditions. As a result of relatively low albedo, forests absorb a larger fraction of incoming sunlight than brighter surfaces such as bare soil, agricultural fields, or snow. Changes in albedo can impact the radiation balance at the top of the atmosphere and thus global temperature. The local climate, however, is not only impacted by albedo changes but also by how forests partition incoming solar radiation between latent and sensible heat. Deep roots and high leaf area make forests very efficient at moving water from the land surface to the atmosphere via ET, producing latent heat. Thus, beneath the forest canopy, the sensible heat flux and associated surface temperature are relatively low, especially during the growing season when ET is high ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010 ; Mildrexler et al., 2011 ; Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ). This cooling is enhanced by the relatively high roughness of the canopy, which strengthens vertical mixing and draws heat and water vapor away from the surface. Higher in the atmosphere, as water vapor condenses, the latent heat is converted to sensible heat. As a result, warming that began with sunlight striking the canopy is felt higher in the atmosphere rather than in the air near the land surface. These non-radiative processes stabilize local climate by reducing both the diurnal temperature range and seasonal temperature extremes ( Lee et al., 2011 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ; Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ; Findell et al., 2017 ; Forzieri et al., 2017 ; Hirsch et al., 2018 ; Lejeune et al., 2018 ). Their impact on global climate, however, is less clear.

Despite high spatial variability, forest biophysical impacts do follow predictable latitudinal patterns. In the tropics, higher incoming solar radiation and moisture availability provide more energy to drive ET and convection, which in combination with roughness overcome the warming effect of low albedo, and result in year round cooling by forests. At higher latitudes, where incoming solar radiation is highly seasonal, the impacts of ET and surface roughness are diminished ( Anderson et al., 2011 ; Li et al., 2015 ) and albedo is the dominant biophysical determinant of the climate response. In boreal forests, relatively low albedo and low ET cause strong winter and spring warming. In the summer, higher incoming radiation and somewhat higher ET result in mild cooling by boreal forests ( Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ). In the mid-latitudes, forest cover results in mild biophysical evaporative cooling in the summer months and mild albedo warming in the winter months ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010 ; Li et al., 2015 ; Schultz et al., 2017 ). The latitude of zero net biophysical effect, the point at which the annual effect of the forest shifts from local cooling to local warming, ranges from 30 to 56°N in the literature ( Figure 1 ). These generalized latitudinal trends can be modified by aridity, elevation, species composition, and other characteristics, which vary across a range of spatial scales ( Anderson-Teixeira et al., 2012 ; Williams et al., 2021 ).

Figure 1. Latitude of net zero biophysical effect of forests on local temperature varies from 30 to 56°N. Above the line, forest cover causes local warming; below the line, forest cover causes local cooling. The thickness of the line indicates the number of studies that show forest cooling up to that threshold. Data sources as indicated.

Various mechanisms can amplify or dampen a forest’s direct effects on the energy and water balance, with climate impacts in the immediate vicinity, in remote locations, or both ( Bonan, 2008 ). Indirect biophysical effects are particularly important in the boreal region where snow-forest albedo interactions are prevalent. Low albedo forests typically mask high albedo snow, resulting in local radiative warming ( Jiao et al., 2017 ). At the larger scale this forest-induced warming is transferred to the oceans and further amplified by interactions with sea ice ( Brovkin et al., 2004 ; Bala et al., 2007 ; Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010 ; Laguë and Swann, 2016 ). In fact, indirect biophysical feedbacks appear to dominate the global temperature response to deforestation in the boreal region ( Devaraju et al., 2018 ). Future climate warming may alter the strength of such feedbacks, depending on the rate at which forests expand northward and the extent and persistence of spring snow cover in a warmer world.

In the tropics, where ET and roughness are the dominant biophysical drivers, forests cool the lower atmosphere, but also provide the water vapor to support cloud formation ( Teuling et al., 2017 ). Clouds whiten the atmosphere over forests and thus increase albedo, at least partially offsetting the inherently low albedo of the forest below ( Heald and Spracklen, 2015 ; Fisher et al., 2017 ). However, the water vapor in clouds also absorbs and re-radiates heat, counteracting some of the cloud albedo-induced cooling ( Swann et al., 2012 ). In the Amazon basin, evidence suggests that deep clouds may occur more frequently over forested areas as a result of greater humidity and consequently greater convective available potential energy ( Wang et al., 2009 ). The impact of tropical deforestation on cloud formation is modified by biomass burning aerosols ( Liu et al., 2020 ) and the net impact on global climate is unclear. Quantifying these indirect biophysical feedback effects is an ongoing challenge for the modeling community particularly in the context of constraining future climate scenarios.

Forest production of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC), which affect both biogeochemical and biophysical processes, further complicate quantification of the net climate impact of forests. BVOC and their oxidation products regulate secondary organic aerosols (SOA), which are highly reflective and result in biophysical cooling. SOA also act as cloud condensation nuclei, enhancing droplet concentrations and thereby increasing cloud albedo, which leads to additional biophysical cooling ( Topping et al., 2013 ). On the other hand, SOA can also cause latent heat release in deep convective cloud systems resulting in strong radiative warming of the atmosphere ( Fan et al., 2012 , 2013 ). Furthermore, through impacts on the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, BVOC increase the lifetime of methane and lead to the formation of tropospheric ozone in the presence of nitrogen oxides ( Arneth et al., 2011 ; McFiggans et al., 2019 ). The persistence of ozone and methane (both greenhouse gases) results in a biogeochemical warming effect. The net effect of forest BVOC at both local and global scales remains uncertain. Current evidence, from modeling forest loss since 1850, suggests that BVOC result in a small net cooling, if indirect cloud effects are included ( Scott et al., 2018 ). The strongest effect is in the tropics, where BVOC production is highest ( Messina et al., 2016 ).

An improved understanding of the combined effects of forest carbon and biophysical controls on both local and global climate is necessary to guide policy decisions that support global climate mitigation, local adaptation and biodiversity conservation. The relative importance of forest carbon storage and biophysical effects on climate depend in large part on the spatial and temporal scale of interest. Local surface or air temperature may not be sensitive to the incremental impact of atmospheric CO 2 removed by forests growing in a particular landscape or watershed. In contrast, local temperature is sensitive to biophysical changes in albedo, ET and roughness. At regional and global scales, where the cumulative effects of forests on atmospheric CO 2 become apparent in the temperature response, we can usefully compare these impacts. Estimates of the relative impact of biophysical and biogeochemical (e.g., carbon cycle) processes on global or zonal climate have been provided primarily by model simulations of large-scale deforestation or afforestation ( Table 1 ). These studies generally show that CO 2 effects on global temperature are many times greater than the biophysical effects of forest cover or forest loss. In models depicting global or zonal deforestation outside the tropics, however, global warming from CO 2 release offsets only 10–90% of the global biophysical cooling. The global CO 2 effects of total deforestation in the tropics greatly outweigh the global biophysical effects ( Table 1 ). With the exception of Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré (2010) , these studies have estimated the net contribution of biophysical processes, without isolating the individual biophysical components. Here, we provide a new analysis of CO 2 -induced warming from deforestation by 10° latitudinal increments ( Supplementary Information 1 ). We then compare the CO 2 effect with the only published determination of biophysical effects by latitude ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010) to clarify the potential net impact of forest loss in a particular region on local and global climate.

Table 1. Forest effects on global temperature in modeling experiments from biogeochemical (CO 2 ) versus biophysical impacts (albedo, evapotranspiration and roughness as well as changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation, snow and ice, and clouds).

Materials and Methods

In the scientific literature, biophysical impacts have been quantified using a number of different methods. In situ observational data, including weather station and eddy flux measurements, have shaped our understanding of the direct biophysical impacts of forests on the surface energy balance. With the advantage of high temporal resolution, they allow for process level investigation of forest biophysical impacts and attribution of temperature changes to particular biophysical forcings, both radiative (albedo) and non-radiative (ET and roughness) ( Lee et al., 2011 ; Luyssaert et al., 2014 ; Vanden Broucke et al., 2015 ; Bright et al., 2017 ; Liao et al., 2018 ). Remote sensing techniques have recently been used to extrapolate to larger scales, providing a global map of forest cover effects on local climate ( Li et al., 2015 ; Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ; Bright et al., 2017 ; Duveiller et al., 2018 ; Prevedello et al., 2019 ). However, in contrast to in situ approaches which generally measure near surface air temperature (generally but not always at 2 m), remote sensing studies have investigated the response of land surface temperature (i.e., skin temperature) which is 0.5–3 times more sensitive to forest cover change ( Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ; Novick and Katul, 2020 ).

Generally, both in situ and remote sensing analyses have adopted a space-for-time approach where differences in surface climate of neighboring forest and non-forest sites are used as proxies for the climate signal from deforestation/afforestation over time. This approach assumes that neighboring sites share a common background climate and that any temperature differences between them can be attributed solely to differences in forest cover. Consequently, large-scale biophysical feedback effects are ignored. New observation-based methodologies have been devised to investigate impacts from ongoing land use change rather than estimating climate sensitivities to idealized forest change ( Alkama and Cescatti, 2016 ; Bright et al., 2017 ; Prevedello et al., 2019 ), however, they too measure only local biophysical impacts.

Numerical modeling of paired climate simulations with contrasting forest cover is necessary to investigate the net climate response to forest cover change, including both local and non-local impacts. Model simulations have focused on idealized scenarios of large-scale deforestation/afforestation which are more likely to trigger large-scale climate feedbacks than more realistic incremental forest cover change. Discrepancies between observed and modeled results may be due in part to the influence of indirect climate feedbacks that are not captured by observations ( Winckler et al., 2017a , 2019a ; Chen and Dirmeyer, 2020 ). Unfortunately, model resolution is currently too coarse to guide local policy decisions. Modeling results are also plagued by a number of uncertainties associated with the partitioning of energy between latent or sensible heat ( de Noblet-Ducoudré et al., 2012 ). The predicted impacts of similar land cover changes are model specific and can vary in sign, magnitude, and geographical distribution ( Devaraju et al., 2015 ; Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015 ; Garcia et al., 2016 ; Laguë and Swann, 2016 ; Stark et al., 2016 ; Quesada et al., 2017 ; Boysen et al., 2020 ) and therefore must be viewed with caution. In this paper, we synthesize all types of observational data from the literature to illustrate the biophysical impacts of forests on local climate. However, given that local impacts have been extensively explored and summarized in the past ( Anderson et al., 2011 ; Perugini et al., 2017 ), and because we wish to include indirect effects and feedbacks, we rely predominantly on modeling studies and our own calculations to elucidate the role of forests at different latitudes in shaping climate.

Effects on Global Temperature From Deforestation by 10° Latitude Band

We combined published data on biophysical effects of deforestation by latitude with our own analysis of CO 2 effects from deforestation by latitude to compare the relative strength of biophysical factors and CO 2 (the dominant biogeochemical factor) affecting global climate. Most modeling experiments available in the literature involve total deforestation at all latitudes, and the ocean feedbacks prove very strong ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010) . Here, we consider land-only effects within a given 10° latitudinal band as this scale of impact is more indicative of the effects of regional or more incremental change on global temperature than the combined land/ocean effects. Finer scale, more realistic forest loss scenarios would not trigger massive cooling through albedo effects on the oceans. Area-scaled, land-only biophysical effects from deforestation provide the most realistic comparison with the effects of carbon stored by forests, and released through deforestation, at a given latitude. The biophysical response was derived from the results of Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré (2010) who simulated total deforestation and decomposed the temperature response, by 10° latitude bands, into the fraction due to albedo, evapotranspiration, roughness and a non-linear response (see Supplementary Table 1 ).

The biogeochemical response was estimated by accounting for the CO 2 effect of deforestation, using existing biomass data and known equilibrium temperature sensitivity to doubled CO 2 . The principal input to our analysis is a 2016 global extension of the 500-m resolution aboveground carbon density (ACD) change (2003–2016) product applied by Walker et al. (2020) to the Amazon basin. It is based on an approach to pantropical ACD change estimation developed by Baccini et al. (2017) . The pantropical product combined field measurements with colocated NASA ICESat GLAS spaceborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to calibrate a machine-learning algorithm that produced estimates of ACD using MODIS satellite imagery. This approach was modified for application to the extratropics, principally the temperate and boreal zones but also extratropical South America, Africa and Australia, using 47 allometric equations compiled from 27 unique literature sources for relating field-based measurements of aboveground biomass to airborne LiDAR metrics ( Chapman et al., 2020 ). These equations were used to predict ACD within the footprints of GLAS LiDAR acquisitions in each region with the result being a pseudo-inventory of LiDAR-based estimates of ACD spanning the extratropics. This dataset was then combined with the pantropical dataset first generated by Baccini et al. (2012) to produce a global database of millions of spatially explicit ACD predictions. This database was used to calibrate six ecoregional MODIS-based models for the purposes of generating a global 500-m resolution map of ACD for the year 2016. Additional details on these methods can be found in Chapman et al. (2020) .

The total aboveground carbon (GtC) was summed for each 10° latitude band and converted to CO 2 (GtC*44/12 = GtCO 2 , Supplementary Information 1 ). The mass of CO 2 was converted to ppm CO 2 in the atmosphere (2.12 Gt/ppm). The derived CO 2 concentration was reduced by 23% to account for ocean uptake ( Global Carbon Project, 2019 ). We assumed that no uptake occurred on land, as the carbon stock in vegetation was completely removed in our experiment to match what occurred in Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré (2010) . Next, we calculated the global temperature response to the increase in atmospheric CO 2 due to the CO 2 released by completely deforesting each 10° latitudinal band using the equilibrium temperature sensitivity derived from general circulation models. Given the accepted value of 3°C (±1.5°C) for a doubling of atmospheric CO 2 (an increase of 280 ppm) (IPCC, 2013), we determined that temperature sensitivity is equivalent to 0.107°C (±0.054°C) for every 10 ppm increase in atmospheric CO 2 content.

To determine the global temperature response to deforestation of a given band, we calculated the area-weighted values for each biophysical response within each latitude band. The area encompassed by 10° of latitude increases toward the equator. Thus, to determine the contribution of a given band to a global temperature response, scaling by the surface area within the band was essential. We used average temperature responses over the land only to avoid the strong bias associated with ocean feedbacks from global scale implementation of deforestation.

For the global analysis, we also determined the contribution of BVOC to global temperature change for deforestation of each 10° of latitude. Scott et al. (2018) described the warming from deforestation due to BVOC in relation to the amount of cooling due to changes in albedo. For the tropics, the BVOC effect on global temperature was 17% of the albedo effect. For the temperate zone, it was 18% and for the boreal, it was 2% of the albedo effect. We applied these scalars (with an opposite sign) to the albedo figures for each 10° latitude band.

Effects on Regional (Local) Temperature From Deforestation by 10° Latitude Band

To analyze the effect of deforesting 10° of latitude on the temperature within that latitude zone (‘local’ effect), we did not scale by area within the band. Rather we assessed the average temperature change across the band, locally felt, as reported in the original study. The CO 2 effect was calculated as above and then scaled to reflect the sensitivity of a given latitudinal band to a global forcing. Only the CO 2 emitted by the latitudinal band itself was considered when determining the locally felt effects of CO 2 in a given band. Our experimental design involved global deforestation and all emitted CO 2 would have had an effect in a given band, but the point of the analysis was to isolate the temperature change caused by forests in a given latitude. We determined the latitudinal sensitivity to warming in response to added CO 2 from a re-analysis of global 2 m temperature data (CERA-20C) obtained from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/cera-20c . We compared average temperatures from 1901 to 1910 and 2001–2010, by latitude on land only (inadequate land only data for 50–60S and 80–90N; for those, we do not report a locally felt CO 2 effect). Then we divided the temperature change for each latitude band by the change in global temperature over the same period. We scaled the effect of CO 2 emitted by a given 10° latitude band by this sensitivity to represent the influence of non-linear responses such as polar amplification (see Supplementary Information 1 and Supplementary Table 2 ).

Biophysical Effects of Deforestation on Local Climate: A Broader Context

Our analysis is the first to compare regional scale biophysical and CO 2 impacts from regional scale deforestation but the literature is replete with data on local biophysical impacts. The results for local biophysical effects (100s of m to 100s of km) agree with our results at the regional scale (below). Figures 2 , 3 synthesize local biophysically-driven temperature responses to deforestation, as indicated by forest/no-forest comparisons or forest change over time, from the scientific literature. Satellite and flux tower data indicate that surface temperatures in tropical forests are significantly lower than in cleared areas nearby. On an annual basis, local surface cooling of 0.2–2.4°C has been observed (mean 0.96°C, Figure 2 and Supplementary Information 2 ). In the temperate zone, satellite studies of land surface temperature (which is more sensitive than the temperature of the air at 2 m) have shown biophysical cooling from forest cover, or biophysical warming from deforestation (0.02–1.0°C, mean of 0.4°C; see Figure 2 and Supplementary Information 2 ). Both in situ and satellite data generally indicate an average annual cooling of under 1°C from boreal deforestation ( Figure 2 ). Across latitudinal zones, warming from deforestation is generally greater during the day, and during the dry (hot) season ( Figure 3 ).

Figure 2. Local average annual temperature change in response to deforestation (black symbols) or afforestation (green symbols) as determined by comparing neighboring forested and open land (space for time approach) or measuring forest change over time in the tropics, temperate and boreal zones, by (A) in situ or (B) satellite based land surface temperature measurements (0 m, triangles) or air temperature measurements (2 m, circles). See Supplementary Information 2 for data sources.

Figure 3. Local temperature change in response to deforestation by season and time of day in the various climate zones as determined by comparing neighboring forested and open land (space for time approach) or measuring forest change over time. Warm/dry season response, averaged over the entire diurnal cycle, in red shading and cold/wet season response in blue shading. Daytime response, averaged over the entire annual cycle, in yellow shading and nighttime response in gray shading. See Supplementary Information 3 for data sources.

CO 2 -Induced Warming Versus Biophysical Effects on Regional (Local) Temperature From Deforestation by 10° Latitude Band

As expected, the regionally felt effect of regionally (10° band) produced CO 2 is very small compared to any individual biophysical effect or the sum of all non-CO 2 effects ( Figure 4 ). These results indicate that the net impact of all non-CO 2 effects is negligible between 20 and 30N. Beyond 30N the local biophysical response to deforestation is cooling. In the broader literature, this latitude of net zero biophysical effect on local temperature is generally between 30 and 40N ( Figure 1 ).

Figure 4. Effect of complete deforestation on local annual temperature by climate factor, averaged across the land surface within a 10° latitudinal band. Complete deforestation was implemented globally and analyzed by 10° latitudinal bands ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010) . The CO 2 effect was determined from total aboveground biomass in each 10° band after Walker et al. (2020) and scaled by CERA-derived sensitivity by latitude. Inset distinguishes the sum of all local biophysical effects from local CO 2 effects.

Biophysical Effects on Global Temperature From Deforestation by 10° Latitude Band

For most latitudinal bands, the strongest biophysical effect of deforestation is cooling from albedo changes. In the tropics, however, the warming effect of lost roughness is comparable to or greater than the albedo effect ( Figure 5A ). Adding the warming from lost evapotranspiration, the net biophysical effect from tropical deforestation is global warming, as much as 0.1°C contributed each by latitudes 0°–10°S and 0°–10°N. The net biophysical effect of intact tropical forest, therefore, is global cooling; slightly more cooling if BVOCs are also considered (see Figure 5B ). Roughness effects are generally greater than evapotranspiration effects across latitudes providing a strong counterbalance to albedo effects ( Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010 ; Burakowski et al., 2018 ; Winckler et al., 2019b ; Figure 5A ). Albedo almost balances the combined effect of roughness, evapotranspiration, BVOC and non-linear effects between 20 and 30°N resulting in close to zero net biophysical effect on global temperature ( Figure 5B ). From 30–40°N and northward, albedo dominates, and the net biophysical effect of deforestation is cooling.

Figure 5. Effect of complete deforestation on global temperature by 10° band of latitude. (A) Contribution to global temperature change by climate forcing factor. Biophysical factors are from Davin and de Noblet-Ducoudré, 2010 , area-weighted. BVOC effects are estimated relative to albedo effects based on Scott et al., 2018 . CO 2 effect is based on aboveground live biomass for each 10° latitudinal band following Baccini et al., 2017 and Walker et al., 2020 . (B) Net biophysical and BVOC effect versus CO 2 effect. (C) Cooling or warming effects of deforestation by 10° latitudinal band (BVOC included). “Forests as mountains” map of aboveground biomass carbon in woody vegetation ca. 2016 courtesy of Woodwell Climate Research Center and shaded to indicate where deforestation results in net global warming. See Supplementary Information 1 for details.

CO 2 -Induced Warming Versus Biophysical Effects on Global Temperature From Deforestation by 10° Latitude Band

From 30°S to 30°N, the biophysical effect of deforesting a given 10° latitudinal band is about half as great and in the same direction as the CO 2 effect: global warming. Biophysical warming is around 60% as great as warming from released CO 2 in the outer tropics (20°S–10°S and 10°N–20°N) and about 35% as great in the heart of the tropics (10°S–10°N). Biophysical cooling due to deforestation from 30°N to 40°N offsets about 40% of the warming associated with carbon loss from deforestation; from 40°N to 50°N biophysical effects offset 85% of CO 2 effects ( Figure 5B ). Above 50°N, biophysical global cooling is 3–6 times as great as CO 2 induced global warming. The net impact of deforestation (effects of CO 2 , biophysical processes and BVOC combined) is warming at all latitudes up to 50N ( Figure 5C ). Thus, from 50S to 50N, an area that encompasses approximately 65% of global forests ( FAO, 2020 ), deforestation results in global warming ( Figure 5C ).

All Forests Provide Local Climate Benefits Through Biophysical Effects

Ignoring biophysical effects on local climate means casting aside a powerful inducement to promote global climate goals and advance forest conservation: local self-interest. The biogeochemical effect of forests tends to dominate the biophysical effect at the global scale because physical effects in one region can cancel out effects in another. Nevertheless, biophysical effects are very important, and can be very large, at the local scale (e.g., Anderson-Teixeira et al., 2012 ; Bright et al., 2015 ; Jiao et al., 2017 ; Figures 2 – 4 ). The role of forests in maintaining critical habitat for biodiversity is well known, but new research on extinction confirms the role of forests in maintaining critical climates to support biodiversity. Changes in maximum temperature are driving extinction, not changes in average temperature ( Román-Palacios and Wiens, 2020 ). Deforestation is associated with an increase in the maximum daily temperature throughout the year in the tropics and during the summer in higher latitudes ( Lee et al., 2011 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ). Of course deforestation also increases average daytime temperatures in boreal, mid-latitude and tropical forests ( Figure 3 ). The biophysical effects of forests also moderate local and regional temperature extremes such that extremely hot days are significantly more common following deforestation even in the mid- and high latitudes ( Vogel et al., 2017 ; Stoy, 2018 ). Historical deforestation explains ∼1/3 of the present day increase in the intensity of the hottest days of the year at a given location ( Lejeune et al., 2018 ). It has also increased the frequency and intensity of hot dry summers two to four fold ( Findell et al., 2017 ). Local increases in extreme temperatures due to forest loss are of comparable magnitude to changes caused by 0.5°C of global warming ( Seneviratne et al., 2018 ). Forests provide local cooling during the hottest times of the year anywhere on the planet, improving the resilience of cities, agriculture, and conservation areas. Forests are critical for adapting to a warmer world.

Forests also minimize risks due to drought associated with heat extremes. Deep roots, high water use efficiency, and high surface roughness allow trees to continue transpiring during drought conditions and thus to dissipate heat and convey moisture to the atmosphere. In addition to this direct cooling, forest ET can influence cloud formation ( Stoy, 2018 ), enhancing albedo and potentially promoting rainfall. The production of BVOCs and organic aerosols by forests accelerates with increasing temperatures, enhancing direct or indirect (cloud formation) albedo effects. This negative feedback on temperature has been observed to counter anomalous heat events in the mid-latitudes ( Paasonen et al., 2013 ).

Some Forests Provide Global Climate Benefits Through Biophysical Effects

Disregarding the biophysical effects of specific forests on global climate means under-selling some forest actions and over-selling others. The response to local forest change is not equivalent for similar sized areas in different latitudes. According to Arora and Montenegro (2011) warming reductions per unit reforested area are three times greater in the tropics than in the boreal and northern temperate zone due to a faster carbon sequestration rate magnified by year-round biophysical cooling. Thus, considering biophysical effects significantly enhances both the local and global climate benefits of land-based mitigation projects in the tropics (see Figures 4 , 5 ).

Constraints on Forest Climate Benefits in the Future

Climate change is likely to alter the biophysical effect of forests in a variety of ways. Deforestation in a future (warmer) climate could warm the tropical surface 25% more than deforestation in a present-day climate due to stronger decreases in turbulent heat fluxes ( Winckler et al., 2017b ). In a warmer climate, reduced snow cover in the temperate and boreal regions will lead to a smaller albedo effect and thus less biophysical cooling with high latitude deforestation. In addition to snow cover change, future rainfall regimes will affect the response of climate to changes in forest cover ( Pitman et al., 2011 ) as rainfall limits the supply of moisture available for evaporative cooling. Increases in water use efficiency due to increasing atmospheric CO 2 may reduce evapotranspiration ( Keenan et al., 2013 ), potentially reducing the local cooling effect of forests and altering atmospheric moisture content and dynamics at local to global scales. Future BVOC production may increase due to warming and simultaneously decline due to CO 2 suppression ( Lathière et al., 2010 ; Unger, 2014 ; Hantson et al., 2017 ). The physiological and ecological responses of forests to warming, rising atmospheric CO 2 and changing precipitation contribute to uncertainty in the biophysical effect of future forests on climate.

Forest persistence is essential for maintaining the global benefits of carbon removals from the atmosphere and the local and global benefits of the physical processes described above. Changing disturbance regimes may limit forest growth and regrowth in many parts of the world. Dynamic global vegetation models currently show an increasing terrestrial carbon sink in the future. This sink is thought to be due to the effects of fertilization by rising atmospheric CO 2 and N deposition on plant growth as well as the effects of climate change lengthening the growing season in northern temperate and boreal areas ( Le Quéré et al., 2018 ). Free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) experiments often show increases in biomass accumulation under high CO 2 but results are highly variable due to nutrient limitations and climatic factors ( Feng et al., 2015 ; Paschalis et al., 2017 ; Terrer et al., 2018 ). Climate change effects on the frequency and intensity of pest outbreaks are poorly studied, but are likely to be significant, particularly at the margins of host ranges. Warmer springs and winters are already increasing insect-related tree mortality in boreal forests through increased stress on the tree hosts and direct effects on insect populations ( Volney and Fleming, 2000 ; Price et al., 2013 ).

Climate also affects fire regimes. In the tropics, fire regimes often follow El Niño cycles ( van der Werf et al., 2017 ). As temperatures increase, however, fire and rainfall are decoupled as the flammability of forests increases even in normal rainfall years ( Fernandes et al., 2017 ; Brando et al., 2019 ). Fire frequency is also increasing in some temperate and boreal forests, with a discernable climate change signal ( Abatzoglou and Williams, 2016 ). Modeling exercises indicate that this trend is expected to continue with increasing damage to forests as temperatures rise and fire intensity increases ( De Groot et al., 2013 ).

In addition to changes induced by warming, continued deforestation could severely stress remaining forests by warming and drying local and regional climates ( Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015 ; Costa et al., 2019 ; Gatti et al., 2021 ). In the tropics, a tipping point may occur, potentially resulting in a shift to shorter, more savannah-like vegetation and altering the impact of vast, previously forested areas on global climate ( Nobre et al., 2016 ; Brando et al., 2019 ). Some of these processes are included in climate models and some are not. The gaps leave considerable uncertainty. Nevertheless, a combination of observations, models, and theory gives us a solid understanding of the biophysical effects of forests on climate at local, regional and global scales. We can use that knowledge to plan forest-based climate mitigation and adaptation.

Mitigation Potential of Forests: Byond the Carbon/Biophysical Divide

If instead of focusing on the contrast between biophysical and biochemical impacts of forests and forest loss, we focus on the potential of forests to cool the planet through both pathways, another picture emerges. By our conservative estimate, through the combined effects on CO 2 , BVOC, roughness and evapotranspiration, forests up to 50°N provide a net global cooling that is enough to offset warming associated with their low albedo. Given the most realistic pathways of forest change in the future (not complete deforestation of a 10° latitudinal band, or an entire biome), global climate stabilization benefits likely extend beyond 50°N. For the 29% of the global land surface that lies beyond 50°N, forests may warm the planet, but only as inferred from assessing the effects of complete zonal deforestation with all the associated, and powerful, land-ocean feedbacks spawned by largescale forest change in the boreal zone. Forests above 50°N, like forests everywhere, provide essential local climate stabilization benefits by reducing surface temperatures during the warm season as well as periods of extreme heat or drought. Indeed, they also reduce extreme cold.

Creating a fair and effective global arena for market-based solutions to climate change requires attention to all the ways that forests affect climate, including the biophysical effects. Future metrics of forest climate impacts should consider the effects of deforestation beyond CO 2 . Only recently have modelers begun to include BVOC. Doing so means that the albedo of intact forests (or the atmosphere above them) is higher due to the creation of SOA and subsequent cloud formation. Modeled deforestation thus results in less of a change in albedo, reducing the biophysical cooling effect. Similarly, accounting for the ozone and methane effects of BVOC reduces the biogeochemical warming from deforestation ( Scott et al., 2018 ). In addition, especially in the tropics, deforestation reduces the strength of the soil CH 4 sink ( Dutaur and Verchot, 2007 ). While a small change relative to the atmospheric pool of CH 4 (the second most important greenhouse gas), the loss of this sink is equivalent to approximately 13% of the current rate of increase in atmospheric CH 4 ( Saunois et al., 2016 ). We already have the data ( Figure 5 ) to begin conceptualizing measures to coarsely scale CO 2 impacts of forest change by latitude. Finer resolution of latitude, background climate (current and future) and forest type would improve any such new, qualifying metric for the climate mitigation value of forests.

The role of forests in addressing climate change extends beyond the traditional concept of CO 2 mitigation which neglects the local climate regulation services they provide. The biophysical effects of forest cover can contribute significantly to solving local adaptation challenges, such as extreme heat and flooding, at any latitude. The carbon benefits of forests at any latitude contribute meaningfully to global climate mitigation. In the tropics, however, where forest carbon stocks and sequestration rates are highest, the biophysical effects of forests amplify the carbon benefits, thus underscoring the critical importance of protecting, expanding, and improving the management of tropical forests. Perhaps it is time to think more broadly about what constitutes global climate mitigation. If climate mitigation means limiting global warming, then clearly the biophysical effects of deforestation must be considered in addition to its effects on atmospheric CO 2 . We may further consider whether mitigation is too narrow a scope for considering the climate benefits provided by forests. Climate policy often separates mitigation from adaptation, but the benefits of forests clearly extend into both realms.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/ Supplementary Material , further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

DL conceived the presented idea. All authors helped perform the computations, discussed the results, and contributed to the final manuscript.

Financial support from the University of Virginia and the Climate and Land Use Alliance grant #G-1810-55876.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Frances Seymour, Michael Wolosin, Billie L. Turner, Ruth DeFries, and the reviewers for feedback on this manuscript and to the University of Virginia and the Climate and Land Use Alliance grant #G-1810-55876 for financial support.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.756115/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords : forest, biophysical effects, temperature, climate policy, deforestation/afforestation

Citation: Lawrence D, Coe M, Walker W, Verchot L and Vandecar K (2022) The Unseen Effects of Deforestation: Biophysical Effects on Climate. Front. For. Glob. Change 5:756115. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2022.756115

Received: 10 August 2021; Accepted: 02 March 2022; Published: 24 March 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Lawrence, Coe, Walker, Verchot and Vandecar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Deborah Lawrence, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Global Patterns and Drivers of Forest Loss and Degradation Within Protected Areas

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What is the role of deforestation in climate change and how can 'Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation' (REDD+) help?

What is the scale of deforestation and its role in climate change?

Deforestation refers to the purposeful clearing or thinning of trees and forests. When deforestation occurs, much of the carbon stored by trees is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change.

In the last decade, the largest amounts of deforestation occurred across the humid tropics, mostly in Africa, followed by South America. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that around 420 million hectares of forest were lost between 1990 and 2020 (or 178 million hectares net, i.e. taking into account afforestation and the natural expansion of forests). The annual rate of deforestation has since slowed but was still 10 million hectares per year between 2015 and 2020 .  The most important driver of deforestation is the global demand for agricultural commodities: agribusinesses clear huge tracts of forest and use the land to plant high-value cash crops like palm oil and soya, and for cattle ranching.

Land use change, principally deforestation, contributes  12–20%  of global greenhouse gas emissions. Forest degradation (changes that negatively affect a forest’s structure or function but that do not decrease its area), and the destruction of tropical peatlands, also contribute to these emissions. As a result of deforestation and degradation, some tropical forests now emit more carbon  than they capture, turning them from a carbon ‘sink’ into a carbon source. For example, the south-eastern part of the Amazon Rainforest is now considered a net carbon source by scientists.

Where does ‘REDD+’ come in?

Scientists have recognised the value of protecting forests in tackling climate change. In response, policymakers have developed a family of policies – collectively known as ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation’ (REDD) – to provide a financial incentive to governments, agribusinesses and communities to maintain and possibly increase, rather than reduce, forest cover. The plus in ‘REDD+’ refers to “the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries”. Under REDD+, incentives for forest protection are offered to countries, communities and individual landowners in exchange for slowing deforestation, and carrying out activities that promote reforestation and sustainable forest management. Where local people are properly involved in the REDD+ process it may also help alleviate rural poverty. The principles of REDD+ were further reinforced in the  Paris Agreement  on climate change.

REDD+ policies operate through a variety of mechanisms, including those administered by the United Nations ( UN-REDD  ) and the World Bank (the  Forest Carbon Partnership Facility  ). REDD+ finance is also considered in the international climate change negotiations, remains a key component of international climate finance discussions, and is often channelled through the voluntary carbon markets and via activities implemented by for- and non-profit organisations.

How fair, effective and efficient is REDD+?

While experts have demonstrated how REDD+ has the potential to reduce CO 2  emissions, it is not without its problems. For example, some question the fairness of a scheme that focuses on reducing emissions caused by some of the world’s poorest people while emissions continue to rise in richer countries. Some developing countries may be wary of foreign interference in their land use policies. Researchers also highlight operational concerns – such as the difficulty in monitoring and measuring deforestation rates, or attributing changes in deforestation to REDD+ finance. Variations in local circumstances and institutional capacities mean that not all countries that have tropical forests possess the capabilities to address these challenges.

How much REDD+ finance has been pledged?

Estimates of the global cost of REDD+ vary greatly, but at least  US$15 billion  would be needed annually to address tropical deforestation across the world. Current funding remains far off this mark: according to a 2020 review , between 2015 and 2019 an average of US$220 million a year of funding was approved. The Amazon Fund, with US$720 million of approved projects, remains the largest dedicated REDD+ fund.

Without sufficient finance, it can be difficult to protect forests, as alternative land uses (such as for palm oil) can offer more immediate and guaranteed cash returns. Consequently, many experts have called for a scaling up of commitments and finance flows , although some have argued that even if large-scale REDD+ finance does materialise it may still struggle to compete with other land uses – especially as and when commodity prices rise.

Whatever becomes of REDD+ in the future, experts agree it should focus first on areas that can most efficiently provide CO 2  reductions (such as tropical peat swamp forests) while also offering the potential for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation.

This Explainer was updated in February 2023 by Charles Palmer, Natalie Pearson and Georgina Kyriacou. The original was reproduced from:  What’s REDD and will it help tackle climate change? ,  a collaboration between the Grantham Research Institute and the Guardian, © The Guardian 2012, used under a  Creative Commons No Derivative Works licence .

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We're a long way from ending deforestation, but we can still stop it

Time to change direction on deforestation. Image:  REUTERS/Mick Tsikas

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Nancy harris, katie reytar.

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Stay up to date:, climate change.

• In 2014, governments, companies, NGOs and Indigenous groups committed to 10 goals to protect trees, under the New York Declaration on Forests.
• The goals intended to halve deforestation by 2020, and stop it by 2030.
• But assessments have concluded we're actually further from stopping deforestation now than we were six years ago.
• Despite the challenges, the goals can still be achieved with the right measures.

In 2014, the future of forests looked bright. Governments, companies, non-governmental organizations and Indigenous groups committed to ten ambitious goals under the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). This major international declaration aims to protect forests, driven by the understanding that halting deforestation is essential to mitigating climate change and maintaining other benefits of forests. These goals include halving deforestation by 2020 and stopping it by 2030, while restoring an area of degraded land larger than the size of India.

Have you read?

The african country that inspired more and more countries to plant billions of trees.

This year’s assessment of progress on the NYDF firmly concludes that deforestation is not slowing enough to achieve this goal. In fact, by some measures, we are further from stopping deforestation now than we were six years ago. On top of that, limited data is making it difficult to fully assess progress on forest restoration. Although this reality presents a steep uphill battle, rapidly accelerating actions to end deforestation and restore forests offer hope that the 2030 goals can still be achieved.

We’re Headed in the Wrong Direction to End Deforestation

Two independent datasets show that the world is not on track to halt deforestation. Global Forest Watch data — created using a globally standardized remote sensing methodology — indicates that annual tropical primary forest loss has actually increased by 41% since the NYDF was signed, and annual global deforestation has increased between 55% and 64%. The United Nations Forest Resources Assessment 2020 also indicates insufficient progress toward the NYDF goals. This aggregation of country-reported statistics on forest change shows a slight drop in deforestation since 2000, but nowhere near the amount required to achieve the 2020 or 2030 targets.

Despite the differences between the two datasets, they share a key message: the world failed to halve deforestation by 2020 and, as a result, is not on a trajectory to stop it by 2030.

Each year, the world loses about 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of forest area — equivalent to 27 soccer fields per minute. Every year that deforestation is not reduced as quickly as possible will require even larger reductions in the following years to achieve our goal. In the meantime, deforestation will continue to cause emissions, the loss of forest benefits and the curtailment of Indigenous rights. If the past 19 years are any indication, the necessary decrease in forest loss seems unlikely in the next decade. Although unlikely, the world can’t afford to not attempt reaching this goal.

Why is progress so slow?

The issue largely arises from the disparity between the commitments made and the actions taken to meet them. Goals two through four of the NYDF track specific contributing factors to global deforestation, while goal five outlines restoration targets. In each of these categories, actions fell short of what is needed.

Goal 2 : Ending Deforestation from Agricultural Commodities

Forest clearing for new agricultural land is the largest cause of deforestation. However, removing deforestation from supply chains is happening unevenly. Even where commitments exist, implementation and consequences are hard to trace through complex supply chains. Last year, nearly one-third of 350 major companies with supply chains at risk of causing deforestation did not report anything about their activities to stop deforestation. Some sectors are progressing faster than others — 81% of Indonesian palm oil exports in 2018 came from companies with no-deforestation pledges, while just 32% of Brazilian beef exports in 2017 were produced under a commitment.

Goal 3 : Reducing Deforestation from Other Sectors

Although mining and infrastructure like roads and dams are not globally major causes of deforestation, they can heavily impact forests at local scales. Companies in these sectors generally provide even less information than the agricultural sector on what they are doing to prevent deforestation. For example, a recent World Bank report could not identify any mining operations that comprehensively addressed and mitigated their environmental risks, and financial institutions are generally not providing data on the extent to which their mining and infrastructure investments align with their sustainability principles. The forest impacts of these sectors are expected to intensify as the demand for mined materials increases, and as infrastructure projects bring farmers, loggers and poachers to forest frontiers.

Goal 4 : Support Alternatives for Basic Needs

Efforts are increasing to find ways to meet the basic needs of communities, such as fuelwood and food, without further deforestation. However, these efforts aren’t happening at the necessary scale and are generally not addressing the root causes of poverty, limiting their effectiveness. For example, programs that seek to take pressure off forests by improving the agricultural productivity of smallholders’ existing farms often fail to invest in underlying conditions to secure farmer livelihoods such as land tenure, public services and market access, alongside improvements in governance to ensure forest protection measures are respected. But some governments, like Malawi ’s, have begun doing that hard work and helping communities manage their forests sustainably while planting fast-growing trees to meet immediate demand for firewood.

Goal 5 : Restore Forests

For restoration, the shortcomings can be linked to a lack of investment at scale and a dearth of globally consistent data. Restoring 350 million hectares will require billions of dollars . Funders have committed $4 billion through the AFR100 Initiative in Africa and Initiative 20x20 in Latin America. Even that is not enough to reach the NYDF’s goal, though there are dozens of successful projects in each region. The Great Green Wall in Africa’s Sahel, for example, faces a $4.3 billion yearly funding gap through 2030. There is also no systematic and independent way to track where or how much of that funding has reached projects, though reports indicate that governments, private investors and entrepreneurs are starting to incentivize, finance and scale up their work.

This underscores the importance of developing a global method that consistently tracks where those trees are growing and that complements existing tree cover loss data. That approach will need to work inside the forest and outside it on farms and pasture, where restoration has the most benefits for people . Regional pilots of this method in Central America and Southeast Asia , conducted as part of the 2019 and 2020 NYDF Progress Assessments, are promising. But understanding tree cover gain and loss together — and assessing the overall health of forests — will require improved data and techniques .

Transforming commitments into real action

While the latest NYDF report is stark in its message, new initiatives that can turn the tide are gaining momentum. The growth of zero-deforestation commitments shows that motivation to halt deforestation still exists across governments, companies, financial institutions and civil society. And innovative restoration programs like the more than 50 private-sector projects aligned with Initiative 20x20 and the growing Land Accelerator network , whose entrepreneurs are helping 120,000 farmers produce more sustainably, are boosting funding for forest protection and restoration.

Moving forward will require coordinated effort, improving transparency, employing environmental safeguards, reducing consumption of high-deforestation goods and increasing ambition and financing from companies and governments alike. Growing investments and commitments to protecting and restoring forests must pair with equivalent action. Failing to do so will seal the fate of forests for years to come.

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Deforestation Essay

The deliberate clearance of forested terrain is known as deforestation. Forests have been cleared throughout history and into the present era to make room for agriculture and animal grazing as well as to obtain wood for fuel, manufacture, and construction. Our best opportunity to protect the rights of forest communities and preserve wildlife is to stop this destruction. Here are a few sample essays on the topic ‘Deforestation’.

100 Words Essay On Deforestation

200 words essay on deforestation, 500 words essay on deforestation.

Deforestation is the conversion of a forested area to land that is not forested. Deforestation can refer to natural or man-made causes. When speaking about natural causes, it typically refers to the result of a wildfire. On the other hand, man-made causes of deforestation are almost always the result of logging, both legal and illegal. Since ancient times, forests have played a significant role in human history. They are used for a variety of daily tasks, including producing paper, building ships, housing, and heating fuel. For us and our future generations to enjoy and live a healthy, tranquil existence in a clean environment free of pollution, forests are considered essential.

Deforestation is the large-scale clearance of forests through plant logging or forest fires to satisfy individual requirements. Deforestation can refer to the natural loss of trees, as well as the potential destruction of forests due to the practices of people. The management of the environment's natural equilibrium and the welfare of the entire human race depend greatly on forests. But despite knowing the negative repercussions on society and the environment, people constantly cut down trees. The most common cause of deforestation is the conversion of forested land to agricultural land or other uses.

Agricultural expansion is a major driver of deforestation in many developing countries. In Latin America, for example, small farmers clear forests to create new pastureland or cropland to support their families and communities. In some cases, large-scale commercial agriculture operations drive deforestation. For example, cattle ranching and soybean production are responsible for much of the Amazon rainforest deforestation. Other causes of deforestation include illegal logging, forest fires, and the building of roads and other infrastructure projects in or near forests. The consequences of deforestation are far-reaching and affect both people and the environment. Deforestation can lead to soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. It also negatively impacts the livelihoods of people who depend on forests for their food, shelter, and income.

Deforestation is the process of converting a forested area to unforested land. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. The most common cause of deforestation is conversion of forest land to farms, ranching and urbanization. Other causes include mining, logging and the burning of forests to clear land for palm oil plantations. The effects of deforestation are vast and devastating. It contributes to global warming, as trees play a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Deforestation also increases soil erosion, destroys habitats and decreases biodiversity. Additionally, it can lead to flash flooding and mudslides.

Causes of Deforestation

Clearing For Agriculture | Forested land is cleared for crops or pasture. This is the primary cause of deforestation in many countries, including Indonesia, India, and Brazil.

Cutting Trees For Timber | Trees are cut down for lumber and wood products. This is a major cause of deforestation in most of the countries.

Building Roads And Other Infrastructure | Roads and other forms of development require the clear-cutting of trees and other vegetation. This can lead to deforestation in areas where this development takes place.

Forest Fire | Both natural and human-caused fires can contribute to deforestation. In some cases, forested areas are purposefully set on fire in order to clear the land for other uses.

Effects Of Deforestation

Loss Of Habitat | Deforestation can lead to the loss of habitat for animals, as well as plants. This can threaten species with extinction and disrupt ecosystems. Climate Change | Deforestation can contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Additionally, trees play an important role in regulating the climate, so the loss of trees can further contribute to climate change.

Soil Erosion | Without trees to help anchor the soil, deforestation can lead to soil erosion. This can cause problems with flooding and make it difficult to grow crops or grasses in the affected areas.

How To Prevent Deforestation | There are many ways to prevent deforestation.

One way is to support responsible forestry practices that ensure trees are sustainably harvested. Another way is to reduce your consumption of products that contribute to deforestation, such as palm oil. You can also support organisations working to protect forests. By making wise decisions every day, you can contribute to the effort to safeguard forests. We can all contribute to the campaign to safeguard forests by using less, eliminating single-use packaging, eating sustainably, and choosing goods made of recycled or ethically harvested wood.

Deforestation is caused by a variety of factors, including logging, agriculture, and mining. The effects of deforestation are far-reaching and devastating, impacting both the environment and the people who live in it. Deforestation can lead to soil erosion, decreased water quality, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. It also contributes to poverty and social conflict. To prevent deforestation, we must work to protect forests and promote sustainable land use practices. Governments must play a role if we are to reduce deforestation. To live in a future free from severe climate disruption, we need world leaders to support ambitious national and international forest conservation policies based on the most recent scientific research.

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Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Geotechnical engineer

The role of geotechnical engineer starts with reviewing the projects needed to define the required material properties. The work responsibilities are followed by a site investigation of rock, soil, fault distribution and bedrock properties on and below an area of interest. The investigation is aimed to improve the ground engineering design and determine their engineering properties that include how they will interact with, on or in a proposed construction. 

The role of geotechnical engineer in mining includes designing and determining the type of foundations, earthworks, and or pavement subgrades required for the intended man-made structures to be made. Geotechnical engineering jobs are involved in earthen and concrete dam construction projects, working under a range of normal and extreme loading conditions. 

Cartographer

How fascinating it is to represent the whole world on just a piece of paper or a sphere. With the help of maps, we are able to represent the real world on a much smaller scale. Individuals who opt for a career as a cartographer are those who make maps. But, cartography is not just limited to maps, it is about a mixture of art , science , and technology. As a cartographer, not only you will create maps but use various geodetic surveys and remote sensing systems to measure, analyse, and create different maps for political, cultural or educational purposes.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Product Manager

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Operations manager.

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Bank Probationary Officer (PO)

Investment director.

An investment director is a person who helps corporations and individuals manage their finances. They can help them develop a strategy to achieve their goals, including paying off debts and investing in the future. In addition, he or she can help individuals make informed decisions.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

An expert in plumbing is aware of building regulations and safety standards and works to make sure these standards are upheld. Testing pipes for leakage using air pressure and other gauges, and also the ability to construct new pipe systems by cutting, fitting, measuring and threading pipes are some of the other more involved aspects of plumbing. Individuals in the plumber career path are self-employed or work for a small business employing less than ten people, though some might find working for larger entities or the government more desirable.

Construction Manager

Individuals who opt for a career as construction managers have a senior-level management role offered in construction firms. Responsibilities in the construction management career path are assigning tasks to workers, inspecting their work, and coordinating with other professionals including architects, subcontractors, and building services engineers.

Urban Planner

Urban Planning careers revolve around the idea of developing a plan to use the land optimally, without affecting the environment. Urban planning jobs are offered to those candidates who are skilled in making the right use of land to distribute the growing population, to create various communities. 

Urban planning careers come with the opportunity to make changes to the existing cities and towns. They identify various community needs and make short and long-term plans accordingly.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Naval Architect

A Naval Architect is a professional who designs, produces and repairs safe and sea-worthy surfaces or underwater structures. A Naval Architect stays involved in creating and designing ships, ferries, submarines and yachts with implementation of various principles such as gravity, ideal hull form, buoyancy and stability. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Veterinary Doctor

Pathologist.

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Speech Therapist

Gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

Hospital Administrator

The hospital Administrator is in charge of organising and supervising the daily operations of medical services and facilities. This organising includes managing of organisation’s staff and its members in service, budgets, service reports, departmental reporting and taking reminders of patient care and services.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Videographer

Multimedia specialist.

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Linguistic meaning is related to language or Linguistics which is the study of languages. A career as a linguistic meaning, a profession that is based on the scientific study of language, and it's a very broad field with many specialities. Famous linguists work in academia, researching and teaching different areas of language, such as phonetics (sounds), syntax (word order) and semantics (meaning). 

Other researchers focus on specialities like computational linguistics, which seeks to better match human and computer language capacities, or applied linguistics, which is concerned with improving language education. Still, others work as language experts for the government, advertising companies, dictionary publishers and various other private enterprises. Some might work from home as freelance linguists. Philologist, phonologist, and dialectician are some of Linguist synonym. Linguists can study French , German , Italian . 

Public Relation Executive

Travel journalist.

The career of a travel journalist is full of passion, excitement and responsibility. Journalism as a career could be challenging at times, but if you're someone who has been genuinely enthusiastic about all this, then it is the best decision for you. Travel journalism jobs are all about insightful, artfully written, informative narratives designed to cover the travel industry. Travel Journalist is someone who explores, gathers and presents information as a news article.

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

Merchandiser.

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Metallurgical Engineer

A metallurgical engineer is a professional who studies and produces materials that bring power to our world. He or she extracts metals from ores and rocks and transforms them into alloys, high-purity metals and other materials used in developing infrastructure, transportation and healthcare equipment. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

ITSM Manager

Information security manager.

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

Business Intelligence Developer

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 view all topics  > Climate change

Humans are causing global warming

Essay on Global Warming

The last few decades have been monumental when it comes to technological development. Humans have developed systems and machines that make our lives easier. Especially during the early modern period from the early 16th century to as far as the late 18the century, also commonly referred to as “The Scientific Revolution” or “The Enlightenment”, modern technology leapt ahead in development in such a short time frame compared to all of history.

However, with the development of society, there has been a severe detriment to the quality of Earth’s environment. One of the most massive threats to the condition of the planet is climate change. Inadequate research and reckless misuse of natural resources are some of the core reasons for the deteriorating condition of the planet.

To understand the concept of Global Warming and its causes and effects, we need to take an in-depth look into many factors that affect the temperature of the planet and what that means for the future of the world. Here is an objective look at the topic of Global Warming and other important related topics.

What is Climate Change?

Ever since the industrial and scientific revolution, Earth is slowly being used up for its resources. Moreover, the onset of the exponential increase in the world’s population is also very taxing on the environment. 

Simply put, as the need for consumption of the population increases, both the utilisation of natural resources and the waste generated from the use of said resources have also increased massively. 

One of the main results of this over the many years has become climate change. Climate change is not just the rise or fall of temperature of different areas of the world; it is also a change in the rain cycles, wind patterns, cyclone frequencies, sea levels, etc. It affects all major life groups on the planet in some way or the other.  

What is Global Warming?

Global Warming is often considered an effect of Climate change. Global Warming is the rapid increase in the temperature of the Earth’s environment that is causing many life-threatening issues to arise.

Global Warming is a dangerous effect on our environment that we are facing these days. Rapid industrialization, increase in the population growth and pollution are causing a rise in Global Warming. Global Warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the earth's surface during the last century. One of the reasons why Global Warming is dangerous is because it disturbs the overall ecology of the planet. This results in floods, famine, cyclones and other issues. There are many causes and results of this warming and is a danger for the existence of life on earth.

The sign of Global Warming is already visible with many natural phenomena happening around globally, affecting each living species.

Here is some data that can help to give a more precise understanding of the reality of Global Warming in the last few years:

On average, the world’s temperature is about 1.5°C higher than during the start of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s. That may not seem a lot to you, but that is an average estimate. This number is only increasing. Many parts of the world face far more severe changes in temperature that affect the planet’s overall health.

In 1950, the world’s CO 2 emissions were at 6 billion tonnes which had quadrupled in volume until 1990, just 40 years later to 22 billion tonnes. Not only that, unchecked CO 2 emissions today have reached a whopping 35 billion tonnes.

The most evident causes of Global Warming are industrialization, urbanization, deforestation, and sophisticated human activities. These human activities have led to an increase in the emission of Greenhouse Gases, including CO₂, Nitrous Oxide, Methane, and others.

Causes of Global Warming

A variety of reasons causes Global Warming. Some of which can be controlled personally by individuals but others are only expected to be solved by communities and the world leaders and activists at the global level.

Many scientists believe the main four reasons for Global Warming, according to recent studies, are:

Greenhouse gases

Deforestation

Per capita carbon emissions

Global Warming is certainly an alarming situation, which is causing a significant impact on life existence. Extreme Global Warming is resulting in natural calamities, which is quite evident happening around. One of the reasons behind Global Warming is the extreme release of greenhouse gases stuck on the earth surface, resulting in the temperature increase.

Similarly, volcanoes are also leading to Global Warming because they spew too much CO₂ in the air. One of the significant causes behind Global Warming is the increase in the population. This increase in the population also results in air pollution. Automobiles release a lot of CO₂, which remains stuck in the earth.

This increase in the population is also leading to deforestation, which further results in Global Warming. More and more trees are being cut, increasing the concentration of CO₂.

The greenhouse is the natural process where the sunlight passes through the area, thus warming the earth's surface. The earth surface releases energy in the form of heat in the atmosphere maintaining the balance with the incoming energy. Global Warming depletes the ozone layer leading to the doom's day.

There is a clear indication that the increase in Global Warming will lead to the complete extinction of life from the earth surface.

Solution for Global Warming

Global Warming can not be blamed on individuals; however, it can be tackled and maintained from worsening starting at the individual level. Of course, industries and multinational conglomerates have higher carbon emissions levels than an average citizen. Still, activism and community effort are the only feasible ways to control the worsening state of Global Warming.

Additionally, at the state or government level, world leaders need to create concrete plans and step programmes to ensure that no further harm is being caused to the environment in general. 

Although we are almost late in slowing down the Global Warming rate, it is crucial to find the right solution. From individuals to governments, everyone has to work upon a solution for Global Warming. Controlling pollution, population and use of natural resources are some of the factors to consider. Switching over to the electric and hybrid car is the best way to bring down the carbon dioxide.

As a citizen, it is best to switch over to the hybrid car and to use public transport. This will reduce pollution and congestion. Another significant contribution you can make is to minimize the use of plastic. Plastic is the primary cause of Global Warming taking years to recycle.

Deforestation is another thing to consider that will help in controlling Global Warming. Planting of more trees should be encouraged to make the environment go green.

Industrialization should be under certain norms. The building of industries should be banned in green zones affecting plants and species. Hefty penalties should be levied on such sectors contributing towards Global Warming.

Effects of Global Warming

Global Warming is a real problem that many want to prove as a hoax for their political benefit. However, as aware citizens of the world, we must make sure only the truth is presented in the media.

Various parts of the environment, both flora and fauna, are directly adversely affected by the damages caused by Global Warming. Wildlife being in danger is ultimately a serious threat to the survival of humanity as we know it and its future.

The effect of Global Warming is widely seen in this decade. Glacier retreat and arctic shrinkage are the two common phenomena seen. Glaciers are melting in a fast way. These are pure examples of climate change.

Rise in sea level is another significant effect of Global Warming. This sea-level rise is leading to floods in low-lying areas. Extreme weather conditions are witnessed in many countries. Unseasonal rainfall, extreme heat and cold, wildfires and others are common every year. The number of these cases is increasing. This will indeed imbalance the ecosystem bringing the result of the extinction of species.

Similarly, marine life is also widely getting affected due to the increase in Global Warming. This is resulting in the death of marine species and other issues. Moreover, changes are expected in coral reefs, which are going to face the end in coming years.

These effects will take a steep rise in coming years, bringing the expansion of species to a halt. Moreover, humans too will witness the negative impact of Global Warming in the end.

FAQs on Global Warming Essay

1. What Global Warming will Cause?

Global warming will have a massive impact on our earth in the end. Flood, extreme weather conditions, famine, wildfire and many more will be the result. There will be hotter days, which will also increase the wildfire and famine. In the past years, many meteorological bureaus have added purple and magenta to the forecast.

Another impact of global warming will be rising sea levels. Increased ocean temperatures will lead to the melting of glaciers and ice caps. Increase in the sea level will lead to floods in many low-lying areas.

The overall ecosystem of nature will be an imbalance. This will affect nature in the long-term.

2. Why Does Global Warming Happen?

There are many reasons for the cause of global warming. There are certain gases in the atmosphere called greenhouse gases. The energy then radiates from the surface; the greenhouse gases trap longwave radiation. We humans have added to the atmospheric blanket of greenhouse affecting the living species. Warming of air, oceans, and land is how global warming happens.

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Essay on Global Warming

• Updated on  
• Nov 23, 2023

Being able to write an essay is an integral part of mastering any language. Essays form an integral part of many academic and scholastic exams like the SAT , and UPSC amongst many others. It is a crucial evaluative part of English proficiency tests as well like IELTS , TOEFL , etc. Major essays are meant to emphasize public issues of concern that can have significant consequences on the world. To understand the concept of Global Warming and its causes and effects, we must first examine the many factors that influence the planet’s temperature and what this implies for the world’s future. Here’s an unbiased look at the essay on Global Warming and other essential related topics.

This Blog Includes:

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Since the industrial and scientific revolutions, Earth’s resources have been gradually depleted. Furthermore, the start of the world’s population’s exponential expansion is particularly hard on the environment. Simply put, as the population’s need for consumption grows, so does the use of natural resources , as well as the waste generated by that consumption.

Climate change has been one of the most significant long-term consequences of this. Climate change is more than just the rise or fall of global temperatures; it also affects rain cycles, wind patterns, cyclone frequencies, sea levels, and other factors. It has an impact on all major life groupings on the planet.

Also Read: World Population Day

What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century, primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels . The greenhouse gases consist of methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and chlorofluorocarbons. The weather prediction has been becoming more complex with every passing year, with seasons more indistinguishable, and the general temperatures hotter. The number of hurricanes, cyclones, droughts, floods, etc., has risen steadily since the onset of the 21st century. The supervillain behind all these changes is Global Warming. The name is quite self-explanatory; it means the rise in the temperature of the Earth.

Also Read: What is a Natural Disaster?

According to recent studies, many scientists believe the following are the primary four causes of global warming:

• Deforestation 
• Greenhouse emissions
• Carbon emissions per capita

Extreme global warming is causing natural disasters , which can be seen all around us. One of the causes of global warming is the extreme release of greenhouse gases that become trapped on the earth’s surface, causing the temperature to rise. Similarly, volcanoes contribute to global warming by spewing excessive CO2 into the atmosphere.

The increase in population is one of the major causes of Global Warming. This increase in population also leads to increased air pollution . Automobiles emit a lot of CO2, which remains in the atmosphere. This increase in population is also causing deforestation, which contributes to global warming.

The earth’s surface emits energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat, keeping the balance with the incoming energy. Global warming depletes the ozone layer, bringing about the end of the world. There is a clear indication that increased global warming will result in the extinction of all life on Earth’s surface.

Also Read: Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation, and Wildlife Resources

Of course, industries and multinational conglomerates emit more carbon than the average citizen. Nonetheless, activism and community effort are the only viable ways to slow the worsening effects of global warming. Furthermore, at the state or government level, world leaders must develop concrete plans and step-by-step programmes to ensure that no further harm is done to the environment in general.

Although we are almost too late to slow the rate of global warming, finding the right solution is critical. Everyone, from individuals to governments, must work together to find a solution to Global Warming. Some of the factors to consider are pollution control, population growth, and the use of natural resources.

One very important contribution you can make is to reduce your use of plastic. Plastic is the primary cause of global warming, and recycling it takes years. Another factor to consider is deforestation, which will aid in the control of global warming. More tree planting should be encouraged to green the environment. Certain rules should also govern industrialization. Building industries in green zones that affect plants and species should be prohibited.

Also Read: Essay on Pollution

Global warming is a real problem that many people want to disprove to gain political advantage. However, as global citizens, we must ensure that only the truth is presented in the media.

This decade has seen a significant impact from global warming. The two most common phenomena observed are glacier retreat and arctic shrinkage. Glaciers are rapidly melting. These are clear manifestations of climate change.

Another significant effect of global warming is the rise in sea level. Flooding is occurring in low-lying areas as a result of sea-level rise. Many countries have experienced extreme weather conditions. Every year, we have unusually heavy rain, extreme heat and cold, wildfires, and other natural disasters.

Similarly, as global warming continues, marine life is being severely impacted. This is causing the extinction of marine species as well as other problems. Furthermore, changes are expected in coral reefs, which will face extinction in the coming years. These effects will intensify in the coming years, effectively halting species expansion. Furthermore, humans will eventually feel the negative effects of Global Warming.

Also Read: Concept of Sustainable Development

Sample Essays on Global Warming

Here are some sample essays on Global Warming:

Global Warming is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere and is a result of human activities that have been causing harm to our environment for the past few centuries now. Global Warming is something that can’t be ignored and steps have to be taken to tackle the situation globally. The average temperature is constantly rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the last few years. The best method to prevent future damage to the earth, cutting down more forests should be banned and Afforestation should be encouraged. Start by planting trees near your homes and offices, participate in events, and teach the importance of planting trees. It is impossible to undo the damage but it is possible to stop further harm.

Also Read: Social Forestry

Over a long period, it is observed that the temperature of the earth is increasing. This affected wildlife , animals, humans, and every living organism on earth. Glaciers have been melting, and many countries have started water shortages, flooding, and erosion and all this is because of global warming. No one can be blamed for global warming except for humans. Human activities such as gases released from power plants, transportation, and deforestation have increased gases such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere. The main question is how can we control the current situation and build a better world for future generations. It starts with little steps by every individual. Start using cloth bags made from sustainable materials for all shopping purposes, instead of using high-watt lights use energy-efficient bulbs, switch off the electricity, don’t waste water, abolish deforestation and encourage planting more trees. Shift the use of energy from petroleum or other fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Instead of throwing out the old clothes donate them to someone so that it is recycled. Donate old books, don’t waste paper.  Above all, spread awareness about global warming. Every little thing a person does towards saving the earth will contribute in big or small amounts. We must learn that 1% effort is better than no effort. Pledge to take care of Mother Nature and speak up about global warming.

Also Read: Types of Water Pollution

Global warming isn’t a prediction, it is happening! A person denying it or unaware of it is in the most simple terms complicit. Do we have another planet to live on? Unfortunately, we have been bestowed with this one planet only that can sustain life yet over the years we have turned a blind eye to the plight it is in. Global warming is not an abstract concept but a global phenomenon occurring ever so slowly even at this moment. Global Warming is a phenomenon that is occurring every minute resulting in a gradual increase in the Earth’s overall climate. Brought about by greenhouse gases that trap the solar radiation in the atmosphere, global warming can change the entire map of the earth, displacing areas, flooding many countries, and destroying multiple lifeforms. Extreme weather is a direct consequence of global warming but it is not an exhaustive consequence. There are virtually limitless effects of global warming which are all harmful to life on earth. The sea level is increasing by 0.12 inches per year worldwide. This is happening because of the melting of polar ice caps because of global warming. This has increased the frequency of floods in many lowland areas and has caused damage to coral reefs. The Arctic is one of the worst-hit areas affected by global warming. Air quality has been adversely affected and the acidity of the seawater has also increased causing severe damage to marine life forms. Severe natural disasters are brought about by global warming which has had dire effects on life and property. As long as mankind produces greenhouse gases, global warming will continue to accelerate. The consequences are felt at a much smaller scale which will increase to become drastic shortly. The power to save the day lies in the hands of humans, the need is to seize the day. Energy consumption should be reduced on an individual basis. Fuel-efficient cars and other electronics should be encouraged to reduce the wastage of energy sources. This will also improve air quality and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is an evil that can only be defeated when fought together. It is better late than never. If we all take steps today, we will have a much brighter future tomorrow. Global warming is the bane of our existence and various policies have come up worldwide to fight it but that is not enough. The actual difference is made when we work at an individual level to fight it. Understanding its import now is crucial before it becomes an irrevocable mistake. Exterminating global warming is of utmost importance and each one of us is as responsible for it as the next.  

Always hear about global warming everywhere, but do we know what it is? The evil of the worst form, global warming is a phenomenon that can affect life more fatally. Global warming refers to the increase in the earth’s temperature as a result of various human activities. The planet is gradually getting hotter and threatening the existence of lifeforms on it. Despite being relentlessly studied and researched, global warming for the majority of the population remains an abstract concept of science. It is this concept that over the years has culminated in making global warming a stark reality and not a concept covered in books. Global warming is not caused by one sole reason that can be curbed. There are multifarious factors that cause global warming most of which are a part of an individual’s daily existence. Burning of fuels for cooking, in vehicles, and for other conventional uses, a large amount of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and methane amongst many others is produced which accelerates global warming. Rampant deforestation also results in global warming as lesser green cover results in an increased presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas.  Finding a solution to global warming is of immediate importance. Global warming is a phenomenon that has to be fought unitedly. Planting more trees can be the first step that can be taken toward warding off the severe consequences of global warming. Increasing the green cover will result in regulating the carbon cycle. There should be a shift from using nonrenewable energy to renewable energy such as wind or solar energy which causes less pollution and thereby hinder the acceleration of global warming. Reducing energy needs at an individual level and not wasting energy in any form is the most important step to be taken against global warming. The warning bells are tolling to awaken us from the deep slumber of complacency we have slipped into. Humans can fight against nature and it is high time we acknowledged that. With all our scientific progress and technological inventions, fighting off the negative effects of global warming is implausible. We have to remember that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our future generations and the responsibility lies on our shoulders to bequeath them a healthy planet for life to exist. 

Also Read: Essay on Disaster Management

One good action in a day is to combat the heat.

Global Warming and Climate Change are two sides of the same coin. Both are interrelated with each other and are two issues of major concern worldwide. Greenhouse gases released such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere cause Global Warming which leads to climate change. Black holes have started to form in the ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. Human activities have created climate change and global warming. Industrial waste and fumes are the major contributors to global warming. Another factor affecting is the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and also one of the reasons for climate change.  Global warming has resulted in shrinking mountain glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, and the Arctic and causing climate change. Switching from the use of fossil fuels to energy sources like wind and solar. When buying any electronic appliance buy the best quality with energy savings stars. Don’t waste water and encourage rainwater harvesting in your community. 

Also Read: Essay on Air Pollution

Writing an effective essay needs skills that few people possess and even fewer know how to implement. While writing an essay can be an assiduous task that can be unnerving at times, some key pointers can be inculcated to draft a successful essay. These involve focusing on the structure of the essay, planning it out well, and emphasizing crucial details. Mentioned below are some pointers that can help you write better structure and more thoughtful essays that will get across to your readers:

• Prepare an outline for the essay to ensure continuity and relevance and no break in the structure of the essay
• Decide on a thesis statement that will form the basis of your essay. It will be the point of your essay and help readers understand your contention
• Follow the structure of an introduction, a detailed body followed by a conclusion so that the readers can comprehend the essay in a particular manner without any dissonance.
• Make your beginning catchy and include solutions in your conclusion to make the essay insightful and lucrative to read
• Reread before putting it out and add your flair to the essay to make it more personal and thereby unique and intriguing for readers  

Relevant Blogs

Ans. Both natural and man-made factors contribute to global warming. The natural one also contains methane gas, volcanic eruptions, and greenhouse gases. Deforestation , mining , livestock raising, burning fossil fuels, and other man-made causes are next.

Ans. The government and the general public can work together to stop global warming. Trees must be planted more often, and deforestation must be prohibited. Auto usage needs to be curbed, and recycling needs to be promoted.

Ans. Switching to renewable energy sources , adopting sustainable farming, transportation, and energy methods, and conserving water and other natural resources.

We hope this blog gave you an idea about how to write and present an essay on global warming that puts forth your opinions. The skill of writing an essay comes in handy when appearing for standardized language tests . Thinking of taking one soon? Leverage Edu provides the best online test prep for the same via Leverage Live . Register today to know more!

Digvijay Singh

Having 2+ years of experience in educational content writing, withholding a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Science and a strong interest in writing educational content for students enrolled in domestic and foreign study abroad programmes. I believe in offering a distinct viewpoint to the table, to help students deal with the complexities of both domestic and foreign educational systems. Through engaging storytelling and insightful analysis, I aim to inspire my readers to embark on their educational journeys, whether abroad or at home, and to make the most of every learning opportunity that comes their way.

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This was really a good essay on global warming… There has been used many unic words..and I really liked it!!!Seriously I had been looking for a essay about Global warming just like this…

Thank you for the comment!

I want to learn how to write essay writing so I joined this page.This page is very useful for everyone.

Hi, we are glad that we could help you to write essays. We have a beginner’s guide to write essays ( https://leverageedu.com/blog/essay-writing/ ) and we think this might help you.

It is not good , to have global warming in our earth .So we all have to afforestation program on all the world.

thank you so much

Very educative , helpful and it is really going to strength my English knowledge to structure my essay in future

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Global warming is the increase in 𝓽𝓱𝓮 ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ🌎 ᴀᴛᴍᴏsᴘʜᴇʀᴇ

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Combination of the climate crisis and continued deforestation may result in significant damage to the animal world

A new study by Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the University of Colorado (CU) states that the combination of global warming and extreme heat events, alongside the continued expansion of deforestation in the world, may be devastating for many species of animals, especially those that know how to climb trees. As part of the study, the researchers focused on lizards and showed that following the effects of climate change, they will seek refuge from the hot ground by spending a lot of time on trees. However, due to human-related activities, such as deforestation, urbanization and the expansion of agricultural lands at the expense of natural lands, the availability of trees in the areas where the lizards live will decrease, and this may lead to the collapse of many populations.

The research was conducted under the leadership of doctoral student Omer Zlotnick from the laboratory of Dr. Ofir Levy at the School of Zoology, the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at TAU and in collaboration with Dr. Keith Musselman from CU. The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change .

The researchers explain that the climate crisis and global warming force animals to look for more comfortable places to stay in order to escape the extreme heat, just as we look for a shady area on a hot day. For animals that know how to climb, trees can serve as a comfortable and pleasant refuge. One of the reasons for this is that the farther you get from the ground, the lower the air temperature gets and the stronger the wind. Therefore, on hot days for example, animals can climb up the tree to escape from the hot ground. The importance of trees, then, is expected to increase as the climate warms. The problem is that in many places in the world the density of trees is actually decreasing, mainly due to phenomena such as deforestation and the expansion of the use of trees for various purposes such as construction, etc. This creates a situation where, on the one hand, due to climate change, the animals will depend more on trees for their survival, while on the other hand, the destruction of habitats will lead to a decrease in the availability of trees.

Doctoral student Omer Zlotnik: "As part of the research, we wanted to examine what the combined effect of these two processes would be on animals. Specifically, we focused on lizards, because they are very dependent on their environment to maintain a normal body temperature and a lack of comfortable places to stay can affect them dramatically. In the study, we used a computer simulation to simulate where the lizard should be, in the sun, in the shade or on the tree, every minute, for 20 years, under the climate conditions that existed in the past and under those that are expected in the future. Using the simulation, we examined how populations of lizards would be affected by climate change when trees are available, and how their situation would change following the felling of trees in their habitat."

The results of the study showed that, in general terms, climate change is actually going to benefit many lizard populations. In most places, the expected warming will allow lizards to be active longer throughout the day and throughout the year, as there will be fewer times when it is too cold for them to come out of their burrows. However, when climate change occurs at the same time as the felling of trees, the trend is likely to reverse, so that many lizard populations may collapse. In areas with a warm climate, climate change, even if no trees are cut down, is expected to harm lizard populations, and cutting down trees will make the situation even worse.

"What's really interesting about lizards is that they just need to be able to move a short distance around the tree trunk to get to a very different climate and habitat environment," said Keith Musselman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and CU Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "These microhabitats are particularly important when we think about how we modify our natural environment and make conservation decisions."

Dr. Ofir Levy concludes: "Our research focused on lizards, but it actually demonstrates a broader problem that is relevant to many species of animals. Our results demonstrate that trees are crucially important to the ability of animals to cope with climate change, and in many cases their availability can be, for the animals, the difference between crawling and collapsing. Our research proves how important it is to preserve forested areas and trees in general, especially in light of the changing climate. As part of the research, we also provide more practical tools for decision makers, such as the height or density of trees required in different areas. We hope that this research will be used to build more effective programs for the conservation and restoration of natural areas, so that we can provide the animals with what they need to survive."

• Endangered Animals
• Global Warming
• Environmental Awareness
• Environmental Issues
• Global warming
• Deforestation
• Global warming controversy
• Attribution of recent climate change

Story Source:

Materials provided by Tel-Aviv University . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Omer B. Zlotnick, Keith N. Musselman, Ofir Levy. Deforestation poses deleterious effects to tree-climbing species under climate change . Nature Climate Change , 2024; 14 (3): 289 DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-01939-x

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Essay on Deforestation

Deforestation is cutting down a large number of trees and clearing out forest areas. The various reasons behind these human activities are increasing the space for human usage like logging or wood extraction, agricultural expansion, infrastructure expansion etc. Deforestation is harmful to the environment because it causes a lot of carbon emissions and alters the natural ecosystem. It also contributes to global warming and climate change because plants release the stored carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when they are cutting down. The deforestation essay urges us to learn the causes, effects and preventive measures of deforestation.

Deforestation is a severe problem, and we must stop cutting down precious trees. Trees are destroyed to make way for urban development and the cultivation of crops. To expand the land area and construct buildings, production houses and manufacturing plants, we are cutting down trees, and the government is trying its best to avoid deforestation. The process of deforestation also increases the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change on the planet. Once the kids have understood the causes and effects of this issue, you can engage them in writing an essay on deforestation by referring to BYJU’S deforestation essay pdf.

Table of Contents

Causes of deforestation, effects of deforestation, preventive measures to avoid deforestation.

Deforestation is a global phenomenon, and one of the leading causes of deforestation is the expansion of cities. People want to live in cities, but they often don’t realise how dangerous this can be to the environment and contributes to environmental pollution . Let us learn the causes that have led to deforestation and destroying the planet by reading the deforestation essay in English.

Other causes of deforestation are urbanisation, farming and a massive population explosion at a global level. As the population increases at a tremendous rate, the space for people to live is shrinking. Hence, people destroy forests to create living space, roads and excellent infrastructure.

As our wants and greed have increased, it has destroyed the environment. Mining is one of the main causes of deforestation and is destroying mother Earth . Another cause of deforestation is wood harvesting or logging for domestic fuel (charcoal).

As we have learned about the causes of deforestation, let us move on to the next segment – the effects of deforestation by reading the deforestation effects essay.

Deforestation has had many adverse effects on the planet. Significant effects of deforestation are climate change, soil erosion, global warming , wildlife extinction and underground water depletion. Besides, there are other consequences such as flooding, shrinking wildlife habitats, and reduced water quality. The essay on deforestation explains the negative effects of deforestation on the Earth.

The decrease in trees and vegetation can lead to an increase in the emission of greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution . Moreover, trees are essential and provide habitats for countless species, and they lose their habitats because of these human activities. They also store large amounts of carbon that can be used as a renewable energy source. When forests are destroyed, carbon is released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and global warming.

After learning about the adverse effects of deforestation by reading BYJU’S deforestation effects essay , let us move on to learn how to prevent deforestation.

To maintain the ecological balance, we need to take preventative measures to avoid deforestation. Deforestation can be eradicated by taking the necessary steps to save Earth . The government has to take strict action against deforestation and encourage people to plant more trees. This certainly helps in resolving the after-effects of the loss of trees. In addition, we can start growing plants at home and help our environment heal from the loss of trees and forests .

To conclude, deforestation is a major concern. Hence, we all must join hands in eradicating this issue and help our planet retain its ability to thrive. Provide the little ones with a deforestation essay pdf, and for more kids learning activities, visit BYJU’S website.

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500+ Words Essay on Deforestation For Students

Deep within the lush heart of the Amazon rainforest, the relentless rhythm of chainsaws echoes through the canopy, signaling a destructive force that is rapidly altering the face of our planet. Deforestation, the large-scale clearing of forests, is a global crisis that threatens not only the delicate ecosystems that sustain life but also the very future of our world. In this blog, you will get essay writing tips for Essays on Deforestation.

Table of Content

Causes of Deforestation

Effects of deforestation, precautions and solutions, 500+ words essay on deforestation.

The underlying causes of deforestation are complex and multifaceted, driven by a combination of human activities and economic pressures. One of the primary drivers is agricultural expansion, as vast swaths of forestland are cleared to make way for crops and grazing lands. The demand for commodities such as palm oil, soybeans, and beef has fueled the rapid conversion of forests into monoculture plantations and pastures.

Another significant contributor to deforestation is illegal logging, driven by the insatiable demand for timber and the lucrative profits that can be derived from this illicit trade. Poverty and lack of economic opportunities in rural areas also play a role, as communities turn to unsustainable practices like slash-and-burn agriculture to eke out a living.

Furthermore, the construction of roads, mining operations, and infrastructure development projects often encroach upon forested areas, leading to further destruction and fragmentation of these vital ecosystems.

The consequences of deforestation are far-reaching and devastating, impacting not only the environment but also the well-being of countless species and human communities.

One of the most alarming effects of deforestation is its contribution to climate change. Forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing and storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When these forests are cleared, the stored carbon is released back into the air, exacerbating the greenhouse effect and accelerating global warming.

Deforestation also poses a grave threat to biodiversity. Forests are home to an astounding array of plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. As their habitats are destroyed, these species face the risk of extinction, irreversibly diminishing the planet’s rich tapestry of life.

The loss of forests has severe implications for indigenous communities and local populations who rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods, food, and traditional practices. Deforestation disrupts the delicate balance of these communities, often leading to displacement, loss of resources, and cultural erosion.

In addition, deforestation can have far-reaching impacts on water cycles and soil stability. Without the protective canopy of trees, the land becomes more susceptible to erosion, leading to sedimentation and degradation of water sources. This, in turn, can exacerbate the risk of floods and droughts, further compounding the environmental and social challenges.

Addressing the issue of deforestation requires a multifaceted approach that involves stakeholders at all levels, from governments and international organizations to local communities and individuals.

One crucial step is the implementation of stringent laws and regulations to protect forests and promote sustainable land management practices. Governments must prioritize the enforcement of these laws and hold accountable those who engage in illegal logging or unsanctioned deforestation activities.

Furthermore, there is a pressing need to support and incentivize sustainable agriculture and forestry practices. This can include promoting agroforestry systems, which integrate trees and crops on the same land, as well as encouraging the cultivation of crops that do not require extensive land clearing.

Efforts must also be made to empower and engage local communities in conservation efforts. By recognizing the traditional knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples, and involving them in decision-making processes, we can foster a sense of ownership and stewardship over these invaluable natural resources.

On a global scale, initiatives such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) aim to provide financial incentives to developing countries that implement policies and measures to protect their forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Consumer awareness and responsible consumption play a pivotal role in addressing deforestation. By making informed choices and supporting products and companies that prioritize sustainable practices, we can collectively reduce the demand for goods that contribute to deforestation.

Reforestation and restoration efforts are also critical in mitigating the impacts of deforestation. Organizations and governments must prioritize the planting of new trees and the restoration of degraded landscapes, helping to replenish the invaluable ecosystem services provided by forests.

With each resounding crash of a felled tree, the world’s forests are diminishing at an alarming rate, stripped away by the insatiable appetite of human activities. Deforestation, the large-scale clearing of forested areas, is a grave environmental crisis that demands immediate attention and action.

The primary driver behind deforestation is the expansion of agricultural land, as vast swaths of forests are cleared to make way for crops, grazing pastures, and plantations. The demand for commodities such as palm oil, soybeans, and beef has fueled this destructive process, leading to the rapid conversion of once-thriving ecosystems into monoculture landscapes.

Another significant contributor to deforestation is illegal logging, driven by the lucrative profits that can be derived from this illicit trade. Poverty and lack of economic opportunities in rural areas also compel communities to engage in unsustainable practices like slash-and-burn agriculture, further exacerbating the problem.

The consequences of deforestation are far-reaching and devastating. Forests act as essential carbon sinks, absorbing and storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When these forests are cleared, the stored carbon is released back into the air, exacerbating the greenhouse effect and accelerating global warming, which in turn contributes to more extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels.

Furthermore, deforestation poses a grave threat to biodiversity. Forests are home to an astounding array of plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. As their habitats are destroyed, these species face the risk of extinction, irreversibly diminishing the planet’s rich tapestry of life.

The loss of forests also has severe implications for indigenous communities and local populations who rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods, food, and traditional practices. Deforestation disrupts the delicate balance of these communities, often leading to displacement, loss of resources, and cultural erosion.

Addressing the issue of deforestation requires a multifaceted approach that involves stakeholders at all levels. Governments must prioritize the implementation and enforcement of stringent laws and regulations to protect forests and promote sustainable land management practices. Efforts must also be made to support and incentivize sustainable agriculture and forestry practices, such as agroforestry systems that integrate trees and crops on the same land.

Moreover, consumer awareness and responsible consumption play a pivotal role in reducing the demand for goods that contribute to deforestation. By making informed choices and supporting products and companies that prioritize sustainable practices, we can collectively drive positive change.

Ultimately, the preservation of our forests is not just an environmental imperative; it is a moral obligation to safeguard the intricate web of life that sustains our planet. As we confront the realities of deforestation, we must summon a renewed sense of urgency and collective action, recognizing that the fate of our forests, and ultimately our own fate, is inextricably intertwined with the health of our planet.

Also Read: 500+ Words Essay on Air Pollution 800+ Words Essay on My Dream For Students 500+ Words Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English

Deforestation is a global crisis that demands our immediate attention and collective action. The consequences of our actions today will echo through generations to come, shaping the very future of our planet. It is our responsibility to serve as stewards of these vital ecosystems, ensuring that the majestic forests that grace our world are preserved for the benefit of all life.

By addressing the underlying drivers of deforestation, implementing sustainable land management practices, empowering local communities, and fostering global cooperation, we can begin to reverse the tide of destruction. It is a daunting task, but one that is essential for the survival of countless species, the preservation of invaluable cultural heritage, and the maintenance of the delicate balance that sustains life on Earth.

The time to act is now. Let us embrace the challenge with unwavering determination, recognizing that the fate of our forests, and ultimately our own fate, is inextricably intertwined. Together, we can forge a path towards a greener, more sustainable future, where the majestic canopies of our forests continue to flourish, providing sanctuary, sustenance, and hope for generations to come.

Essay on Deforestation- FAQs

What is deforestation in a paragraph.

Deforestation is the deliberate clearing of wooded areas. Throughout history and into the present, woods have been cleared to create way for agriculture and animal grazing, as well as to obtain wood for fuel, manufacture, and construction.

How do you write an introduction to deforestation?

Deforestation is gradually becoming one of the most serious environmental issues in the world. Humans frequently deforest for land development, roads, and railroads, as well as for economic reasons. Every year, almost eighteen million acres of forest are lost, having severe consequences.

Why deforestation is a problem?

The loss of trees and other vegetation can lead to climate change, desertification, soil erosion, less harvests, flooding, higher greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, and a variety of other issues for Indigenous people. Deforestation happens for a variety of reasons.

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Opinion Guest Essay

An Idyll on the Shores of a Toxic Lake

Supported by

Text by Jaime Lowe

Photographs by Nicholas Albrecht

Ms. Lowe is the author of, most recently, “Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires.” Mr. Albrecht is a photographer based in Oakland, Calif.

• March 29, 2024

There are two ways to experience the town of Bombay Beach, Calif., as a visitor: gawk at the spectacle or fall into the vortex. Thousands of tourists cruise through each year, often without getting out of their cars, to see decaying art installations left over from an annual mid-March gathering of artists, photographers and documentarians known jokingly as the Bombay Beach Biennale. When I went to the town for the first time in 2021, I was looking for salvation in this weird desert town on the Salton Sea south of Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park. I dropped in, felt vibes and left with stories. I stared at the eccentric large-scale art, posted photos on Instagram of ruin porn and a hot pink sign on the beach that said, “If you’re stuck, call Kim.” I posed in front of a mountain of painted televisions, swung on a swing over the edge of the lake’s retreating shoreline and explored the half-buried, rusted-out cars that make up an abandoned ersatz drive-in movie theater. On that trip, it felt as if I were inside a “Mad Max” simulation, but I was only scratching the surface of the town.

I returned in December to try to understand why Bombay Beach remains so compelling, especially as extreme weather — heat, hurricanes and drought — and pollution wreak ever more intense havoc on it. Summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit, tremors from the San Andreas Fault strike regularly, bomb testing from nearby military facilities can be heard and felt, and the air is so toxic from pesticide use, exhaust fumes, factory emissions and dust rising from the retreating Salton Sea that one study showed asthma rates among children in the region are three times the national average. By the end of the decade, the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland body of water, at about 325 square miles, may lose three-quarters of its volume; in the past 20 years, the sea’s surface area has shrunk about 38 square miles .

But people who live in Bombay Beach stay because the town offers a tight-knit community in the midst of catastrophe. Though its residents contend with environmental adversity on a daily basis, they’re also demonstrating how to navigate the uncertain future we all face — neglect, the fight for scarce resources, destruction of home, the feeling of having no place to go. They are an example of how people can survive wild climate frontiers together.

The 250 or so town residents live in the low desert on the east shore of the Salton Sea, which formed in 1905 when the then-flush Colorado River spilled into a depression, creating a freshwater lake that became increasingly saline. There used to be fish — mullet and carp, then tilapia. In the 1950s and ’60s, the area was marketed as a tourist destination and was advertised as Palm Springs by the Sea. More tourists visited Bombay Beach than Yosemite. There were yacht clubs, boat races and water skiing. It became a celebrity magnet: Frank Sinatra hung out there; so did the Beach Boys and Sonny and Cher.

Eventually, as agricultural runoff kept accumulating in a body of water with no drainage, it became toxic and created a lake with salinity that is now 50 percent greater than that of the ocean. In the 1980s, dead fish washed up on the sand, car ruins rusted in the sun, tires rotted on the shore. Tourism vanished. But some in the community hung on. One way to define Bombay Beach is through environmental disaster, but another way is as an example of how to live through disaster and how to live in general.

Candace Youngberg, a town council member and a bartender at the Ski Inn, remembers a very different Bombay Beach. When she was growing up in the 1980s, she’d ride bikes with neighborhood children and run from yard to yard in a pack because there were no fences. But over time, the town changed. With each passing year, she watched necessities disappear. Now there’s no gas station, no laundromat, no hardware store. Fresh produce is hard to come by. A trailer that was devoted to medical care shut down. In 2021, 60.9 percent of Bombay Beach residents lived below the poverty line, compared with the national average of 12.6 percent.

As painful as it was to witness the town of her youth disappear and as deep as the problems there go, Ms. Youngberg admits that adversity bonded those who stayed. She wanted to return Bombay Beach to the version of the town she remembered, to recreate a beautiful place to live year-round, not just in winter, not just during the art season, not just for the tourists posing in front of wreckage. She wanted people to see the homes, the town, the community that once thrived thrive again. With the art came attention and the potential for more resources. She got on the Bombay Beach Community Services District, a town council, and started to work toward improvements like fixing the roads and planting trees to improve air quality.

It might just be that Bombay Beach is a small town, but when I visited last winter, there was something that felt more collaborative, as though everybody’s lives and business and projects overlapped. I’m not sure the community that’s there now started out as intentional, but when fragmented groups of people come together as custodians of an enigmatic space, responsible for protecting it and one another, community is inevitable. Plus, there’s only one place to socialize, one place to gossip, one place to dance out anxiety and only about two-thirds of a square mile to wander. Whether you like it or not, your neighbors are your people — a town in its purest form.

When I was there, I walked the streets with Denia Nealy, an artist who goes by Czar, and my friend Brenda Ann Kenneally, a photographer and writer, who would shout names, and people would instantly emerge. A stranger offered a handful of Tater Tots to Czar and me in a gesture that felt emblematic: Of course a complete stranger on an electric unicycle would cruise by and share nourishment. I was given a butterfly on a stick, which I carried around like a magic wand because that seemed appropriate and necessary. I was told that if I saw a screaming woman walking down the street with a shiv in her hand, not to worry and not to make eye contact and she’d leave me alone; it was just Stabby. There was talk of the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on the beach, the weekly church sermon led by Jack the preacher (who is also a plumber), a potluck lasagna gathering.

Last year Ms. Kenneally created a trash fashion show/photo series for the Biennale in which she created couture designs out of trash collected from the beach, enlisted regulars in town to model the outfits, then photographed them. (She exhibited a similar series at this year’s festival as well.) The work was a way to showcase the people and the place. Jonathan Hart, a fireworks specialist who slept on the beach, posed like a gladiator; a woman who normally rode through town with a stuffed Kermit the Frog toy strapped to her bike was wrapped in a clear tarp and crown, looking like royalty emerging from the Salton Sea. The environment was harsh, the poses striking. Each frame straddled the line between glamour and destruction but also showcased a community’s pride in survival. Residents were undaunted by the armor of refuse; in fact, it made them stronger. The detritus, what outsiders might think of as garbage, became gorgeous. The landscape that is often described as apocalyptic became ethereal and magical. And that’s because it is.

On my second day, we went down to the docks at noon, and I found myself sitting on a floral mustard couch watching half a dozen or so people taking turns riding Jet Skis into the sun. The sun was hot, even though it was the cool season. Time felt elastic. Mr. Hart told me that he and some friends had fixed up the water scooters to give everyone in town the chance to blow off some steam, to smile a little. It had been a rough couple of months in the region. In preparation for Hurricane Hilary, which hit Mexico and the southwestern United States last August, 26 volunteers made 200 sandbags and delivered them door to door. Neighbors helped secure as many structures as possible.

Most media outlets reported that the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm because that’s the weather system that hit Los Angeles, but it was close to a hurricane in Bombay Beach, with winds hitting 60 miles per hour, and most properties were surrounded by water. Roofs collapsed or blew away entirely. “When faced with something like that, they were like, ‘Boom, we’re on it,’” Ms. Youngberg told me. They were together in disaster and in celebrating survival.

It reminded me of the writer Rebecca Solnit’s book “A Paradise Built in Hell,” which considers the upside to catastrophe. She finds that people rise to the occasion and oftentimes do it with joy because disaster and survival leave a wake of purposefulness, consequential work and community. Disasters require radical acts of imagination and interaction. It seemed that because Bombay Beach lived hard, surviving climate catastrophes like extreme weather on top of everyday extremes, it celebrated even harder. It seemed that in Bombay Beach there’s enough to celebrate if you just get through the day, gaze at the night sky and do it all again in the morning.

A lot of the residents who live there now arrived with trauma. Living there is its own trauma. But somehow the combination creates a place of care and physical and emotional presence. People experience life intensely, as one. It’s a town that is isolated, but in spite of a loneliness epidemic, it doesn’t seem so lonely to be there. I felt unexpected joy in what, from everything I’d read from afar, was a place that might as well have been sinking into the earth. I felt so safe and so happy that if we had sunk into the earth together, it wouldn’t have felt like such a bad way to go.

On my last night in Bombay Beach, I went to the Ski Inn, a bar that serves as the center of all social activity. I’d been in town for only two days, and yet it felt as if I’d been to the Ski Inn a million times, as if I already knew everyone and they knew me. A band was playing, we danced and drank, and I forgot about the 8 p.m. kitchen cutoff. The chef apologized, but he’d been working since 11:45 a.m. and had already cleaned the grill and fryer. He’d saved one mac and cheese for the bartender, and when she heard I hadn’t eaten, she offered to split it with me, not wanting me to go hungry or leave without having tried the mac and cheese.

Bombay Beach is a weird place. And this was an especially weird feeling. I had been instantly welcomed into the fold of community and cared for, even though I was a stranger in a very strange land.

I realized I didn’t want to leave. There were lessons there — how to live with joy and purpose in the face of certain catastrophe, how to exist in the present without the ever presence of doom. Next time, I thought, I’d stay longer, maybe forever, and actually ride a Jet Ski.

Jaime Lowe is a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan and the author of, most recently, “Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires.” Nicholas Albrecht is a photographer based in Oakland, Calif. His first monograph, “One, No One and One Hundred Thousand,” was the culmination of a multiyear project made while living on the shores of the Salton Sea.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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80 Best Global Warming Essay Topics and Ideas

Table of Contents

Do you need unique global warming essay topics and ideas? If yes, then you are at the perfect spot. For students like you, in this blog, we have compiled a list of interesting essay ideas on global warming. Additionally, we have also explained how to choose a good topic and prepare a brilliant global warming essay.

Global warming is one of the major issues that have been in this world since the pre-industrial period due to human activities. Mainly, because of global warming, the earth experiences a lot of negative effects such as the increasing sea levels, changing weather, and biodiversity threat. Furthermore, all these effects create a big impact on the social and economic status of a country.

Usually, when it comes to preparing a global warming essay, you may choose to write about different aspects of global warming and its causes and effects. Some themes you may consider for your essay examination on global warming are carbon dioxide emissions, industrialization, deforestation, sustainable practices, environment conservation efforts, and so on. Continue reading this blog and get exclusive global warming essay ideas.

Know How to Choose a Global Warming Essay Topic

The topic you select will guarantee the success of your essay. So, put some effort into identifying the right global warming essay topics. The following are the steps that will help you spot the best topic for your global warming essay.

• First, determine the area or theme of your interest. For your global warming essay, you may choose any theme like industrialization, climate change, conservation strategies, etc.
• Next, in the selected theme, search and gather numerous global warming essay ideas to focus on. For data collection, you may refer to already published research papers, magazines, and journals.
• Analyze all the collected ideas and narrow down the list based on its scope of discussion and sources availability.
• Review the shortlisted ideas and pick one ideal topic that meets your essay writing guidelines.
• Before finalizing the topic, discuss it with your instructors and get their feedback.

Also Read: 75+ Top Global Issues Research Paper Topics

Steps for Writing a Global Warming Essay

Do you wonder how to write a global warming essay? If yes, then follow these steps.

• Identify a perfect topic for your global warming essay on any relevant theme that you are more interested in.
• On the chosen topic, conduct in-depth research and gather necessary ideas for discussion. When performing research, you may take support from relevant credible sources such as journals, articles, magazines, etc.
• Organize all the gathered ideas and come up with a neat global warming essay outline containing essential elements such as the introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Elaborate on the outline and create an informative global warming essay as per the provided essay writing guidelines. Remember, in your essay, you should make sure to present the arguments with valid facts, statistics, and evidence.
• Lastly, after you finish writing the essay, proofread it multiple times. The final draft of the essay that you are about to submit should be original, accurate, and flawless.

List of Global Warming Essay Topics and Ideas

Are you searching for the best global warming essay prompts? Take a look at the list published below. In the list, we have shared outstanding global warming essay ideas that are worth discussing.

Simple Global Warming Essay Topics

• Prepare an essay on the history of global warming.
• Discuss the long-term consequences that global warming may have for humanity.
• Explain the difference between climate change and global warming.
• Discuss the impact of global warming on plants.
• Write an essay on volcanic activity and global warming.
• Examine the social consequences of increasing temperature.
• Explain what natural disasters may result from global warming.
• Write about the technologies that can reduce global warming.
• Discuss the basic mechanism behind greenhouse gases.
• Analyze the impact of global warming on oceans.

Best Global Warming Essay Ideas

• Examine the consequences of global warming on the soil.
• Analyze the impact of surface-level ozone distortions on ecology.
• Discuss the anthropogenic factors of climate change.
• Examine how clouds amplify global warming.
• Analyze the natural factors that drive global warming.
• Explain the correlation between solar radiation and global warming.
• Discuss the future threats of global warming.
• Analyze the effects of global warming on marine wildlife.
• Examine the impact of fluorinated gases on the ecosystem.
• Discuss the impact of global warming on Arctic permafrost.
• Explain the difference between the greenhouse effect and global warming.
• Discuss the influence of global warming on oil prices.
• Examine the impact of global warming on the flowering season.
• Take a look at the pros and cons of carbon dioxide removal in global warming.
• Explain how global warming affects the composition of flora and fauna.

Top Global Warming Essay Topics

• Write about the theoretical models that can be used to research global warming.
• Examine the influence of environmental research on global warming.
• Discuss the effects of water vapor on global warming.
• Prepare an essay on global warming laws.
• Explain the biological repercussions of global warming.
• Analyze the effect of global warming on the American communities.
• Explain the relevance of Arctic warming to global warming.
• Discuss the impact of global warming on social change.
• Examine how global warming brings infectious diseases.
• Discuss the implications of global warming for future climate policies.
• Take a look at the socioeconomic consequences of global warming.
• Analyze the effects of urbanization on global warming in cities.
• Discuss the impact of fast fashion on global warming.
• Examine the relation between human population size and global warming.
• Examine how car emissions affect global warming.

Excellent Global Warming Essay Questions

• Examine renewable energy potential in combating global warming.
• Discuss the public health concerns due to global warming.
• Write an essay on global warming and tourism.
• Discuss the contribution of deforestation to global warming.
• Write about the world heritage sites that are under threat from global warming.
• Analyze the correlation between global warming and biodiversity threat.
• Discuss the relationship between desertification and global warming.
• Analyze ecological footprint in the context of global warming.
• Examine the carbon budget and global warming of existing models.
• Explain how global warming affects the world’s water supply.
• Analyze the influence of global warming on atmospheric circulation patterns.
• Write about heat waves and global warming.
• Analyze the impact of global warming on tropical cyclone intensity.
• Write about global warming and capitalism.
• Discuss the threat of global warming to food security.

Latest Global Warming Essay Topics

• Discuss the influence of global warming on polar vortex patterns.
• Examine the link between global warming and vector-borne diseases.
• Discuss the cause-effect relationship between global warming and carbon dioxide emissions.
• Write about the input of the transport industry to global warming.
• Explain the role of global warming in expanding desert areas.
• Discuss the economic aspects of global warming and climate change.
• Explain what accelerates and counteracts global warming.
• Examine how the public engages with global warming.
• Analyze the spatial economic impact of global warming.
• Explain how global warming affects tropical rainforests.
• Investigate the biological consequences of global warming.
• Write about global warming and decreased crop production.
• Explain how global warming affects polar bears.
• Examine the principle behind iron seeding oceans in resolving global warming.
• Discuss the effects of global warming on coastal cities.

Also Read: 90 Latest Global Issues Essay Topics and Ideas

Outstanding Global Warming Essay Topics

• Explain the prospects of the Kyoto Protocol.
• Suggest some promising ideas to prevent global warming.
• Analyze the factors that affect the temperature of the Earth.
• Examine the consequences of rising temperature at the Ocean’s surface.
• Discuss the impact of Aerosol production on air temperatures.
• Examine the link between Earth’s rotation and increasing air temperatures.
• Analyze the impact of greenhouse gases.
• Explain the key features of climate theories.
• Analyze the impact of pollution on the marine ecology.
• Discuss the role of hydropower usage in halting climate change.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, by now, you will have selected a topic for your global warming essay. In case, you need any other amazing global warming essay topics or if you need global warming essay writing help from an expert, call us quickly.

At greatassignmenthelp.com, we have the finest essay writers with strong knowledge of global warming to provide the best essay writing services that include topic selection, writing, and editing. By using, their expertise they will assist you in composing a high-quality and plagiarism-free global warming essay as per your requirements. Most importantly, by getting our global warming assignment help , you can complete your work ahead of the deadline, gain more knowledge of the subject, and achieve top grades.

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