Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere Give two reasons why

Deforestation increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because when trees are burned carbon dioxide is released, carbon dioxide is also, released when trees are decomposed by microorganisms. Cutting down trees also, reduces the amount of carbon dioxides taken up by the photosynthesis and trapped in the wood and carbon dioxide is greenhouse gas therefore, Trees play a huge role in the carbon cycle. They convert the CO2 in the air to oxygen, through the process of photosynthesis. 6CO2 + 6H2O  C6H12O6 + 6O2

Therefore, cutting down trees increases the carbon dioxide with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a lot of heat will escape on the atmosphere causing our average temperature to rise and this will cause climate change. Deforestation

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But when we burn coal, oil, and natural gas for fuel, too much carbon enters the atmosphere at one time. The carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases are contributing to global warming because they trap more of the Sun's energy in the Earth's atmosphere therefore, this causes global warming.
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If an earthquake’s epicentre is near a forest, it may knock trees down. When this happens, it allows sunlight to penetrate the canopy, which allows the growth of different types of plants. Tress reduce the amount of carbon dioxide on the earth by changing the carbon dioxide into oxygen therefore, if tress fall down, the amount of carbon dioxide will increase causing global warming. if earthquakes are on the seafloor then they affect the plates there - sediment changes and gas release. Plus, large quakes can create tidal waves/tsunamis which will affect a landmass if they reach

Updated May 16, 2018

By Jeri Curley

Each year, 46 to 58 million square miles of forest are lost due to deforestation -- the removal of trees from the land by man-made and natural events. Deforestation is caused by land-clearing for urban development and agriculture, tree harvest for wood products, and forest fires. The loss of trees has an adverse affect on the air.

Deforestation has an adverse affect on air by reducing the amount of oxygen and increasing the amount of carbon dioxide as well as contributing to global warming.

Trees and plants, in general, produce energy for growth using a process known as photosynthesis. Using light, water and carbon dioxide, a plant produces energy in the form of sugar and releases oxygen into the air. Forests cover approximately 30 percent of the land on earth and sustain nearly 80 percent of the world's terrestrial organisms. It is estimated that one acre of trees in urban forests can produce enough oxygen for eight people and remove 188 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air.

Oxygen comprises only about 21 percent of air's chemical component. Yet, it is extremely important to life on earth. Living organisms, from single-celled animals to humans, use oxygen to produce the energy required to sustain them. Since trees are larger plants, their production of oxygen is significant. It is estimated that tropical rainforests, produce 40 percent of the earth's oxygen even though they cover only about 6 percent of the land. Rainforests in the Amazon have declined by 17 percent in the last 50 years as a result of deforestation.

Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that help to hold heat in the atmosphere. Trees remove some of this carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis and store that carbon in their tissues and in the soil. This process is known as carbon sequestration. Since the industrial revolution began in the mid-1700s, more greenhouse gases have been released than removed from the air. In 2011, forests in the United States removed only about 14 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted into the air. Deforestation reduces the removal component of this cycle, further increasing the carbon dioxide in the air. This results in an increase in temperature, an effect known as global warming.

Not only does deforestation contribute to global warming by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air but it also directly increases the temperature radiating from the land. The forest canopy shades the ground, absorbs the sun's rays for photosynthesis, and reflects about 12 to 15 percent, cooling the land beneath. This holds moisture in the soil that carries nutrients through the roots into the plant. Plants then release water vapor into the air through their leaves in a process known as transpiration. A single leaf can release more water into the air than its own weight. Water vapor in the air accumulates and falls as rain, cooling the land and carrying nutrients back to the plants. Without forests, the land would radiate and reflect heat back into the air, adding to global warming. It is estimated that trees in tropical rainforests lower the temperature by 3.6 to 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit. In the past century, the average temperature around the world has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

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

Forests and trees store carbon. When they are degraded or completely cleared, e.g. by fire – a process referred to as deforestation – this stored carbon has the potential to be released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change.

In the last decade, the largest amounts of deforestation occurred across the humid tropics. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that around 129 million hectares of forest – almost equivalent to the area of South Africa – were lost between 1990 and 2015. Overall, the annual rate of net loss has slowed: from 0.18% in the 1990s to 0.08% (3.3 million hectares a year) from 2010 to 2015. But the area lost in 2016 was 51% higher than in the previous year, primarily due to forest fires. Other significant causes of deforestation include the clearance by agribusinesses of huge tracts of forest to make way for monoculture farms producing high-value cash crops like palm oil and soya, and for cattle ranching.

Deforestation contributes up to 10% of the carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activity, according to 2013 figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This figure rises to 15% if forest degradation (changes that negatively affect a forest’s structure or function but that do not decrease its area), and tropical peatland emissions are included. Tropical forests now emit more carbon than they capture, due to deforestation and degradation, so that they are no longer a carbon ‘sink’, according to a study published in 2017 using satellite data from 2003–14.

What is ‘REDD+’, how does it work and what are its aims?

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. 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 CO2 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?

REDD+ finance to developing countries is still fairly limited in scale. This is a major barrier to the scaling up and hence the effectiveness of REDD+ to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation. Estimates of the global cost of REDD+ vary greatly but at least US$15bn would be needed annually to address tropical deforestation across the world. Current funding remains far off this mark, with Norway alone currently providing 61% of the total, having pledged just under $2.5bn to REDD+ funds from 2008–16. With limited finance available, it can be difficult to protect forests, as alternative land uses (such as palm oil) can offer more immediate and guaranteed cash returns.

Consequently, many experts have called for a scaling-up of commitments and finance flows – though some have argued that even if large-scale REDD+ finance does materialise it may still struggle to compete with other land uses, especially as commodity prices continue to rise.

Whatever becomes of REDD+ in the future, experts agree it should focus first on areas that can most efficiently provide CO2 reductions (such as tropical peat swamp forests) while also offering the potential for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation.

This FAQ was updated in January 2018. The original FAQ was a reproduction of the following article: What’s REDD and will it help tackle climate change? © The Guardian, 2012, used under a Creative Commons No Derivative Works licence.