ABSTRACT
There is no more powerful or straightforward reason for wanting to conserve the tropical rain forests than that their removal would destroy one of the planet’s most valuable ecosystems and a priceless part of our natural heritage. But we can go further than this, and point to the threat that deforestation and logging pose to the rich biological diversity of tropical rain forests, which are thought to contain half of all the world’s species of plants and animals. Problems also arise because of the soil degradation, changes in water flows and increased sedimentation of rivers, reservoirs and irrigation systems caused by deforestation and logging. Finally, owing to the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere after the burning of cleared vegetation, deforestation contributes to the greenhouse effect that is expected to lead to climate change on a global scale that could be felt by everybody in the world within decades. This chapter looks at these three major environmental effects of deforestation and logging.
