The Causes and Effects of Deforestation

In “deforestation Rates in Malaysia”(n.d.), it was shown that 63.6% or about 20,890,000 hectares of Malaysia is forested. Among this forested area, 18.3% or roughly 3,820,000 hectares are classified as primary forest. The coverage of the forest in Malaysia is still considering high as compare to other developed countries like Japan and Singapore. However, the rate of deforestation is getting higher and higher for these past few years. If this problem do not control very well, the effects by deforestation will become more significant.



There are many causes and effects of deforestation that everyone needs to know in order to protect the nature efficiently. Firstly, the main cause of deforestation in Malaysia is the increasing population. The Malaysia government’s population policy stated that Malaysia is aimed to achieve total population of 70 million people by year of 2100. This policy encourages more families to have more children. As the result, many forests need to be cleared to build more housing estates to satisfy the need of people. The increase in population also leads to the process of urbanization. More and more lands are cleared for this purpose.

Secondly, the deforestation problem is also caused by the forest conversion for plantation especially palm oil plantation. Ron Mahabir (2007) stated that agriculture is the main contributor to the economies growth of Malaysia in the past few decades.Recently, new invention of palm oil to new fuel source has benefited palm oil industry in Malaysia as this country is one of the main palm oil exported country in the world. As a consequence, the price of the palm oil is getting higher and higher for these past years and it is still strongly believe by everyone that the price will still keep increasing for next few years. More and more plantation companies like Sime Darby are prefer to develop the palm oil plantation rather than others form of plantation. For example, the palm oil plantation in Johor has increased very rapidly and most of the forests along the North-South Highway are cleared to become palm oil estates. There is also high demand of palm oil as cooking oil and ingredient in food. The consumption of palm oil is getting more and more popular because of it’ s low cost of production as compare to other vegetable oils and it’s low cholesterol.

One of the main effects caused by deforestation is soil erosion. When the forests have been cut down, most of the important nutrients are washed out from the land and they are exposed to erosion. The soil will lack of nutrients and the land is not suitable for the plants to survive. Morgen (2006) stated that many trees are cut down for the sake of money which caused Bangladesh suffers from severe floods that sacrifice many lifes every few years. The same case happened in Malaysia. The tragedy of Genting Highland land slide in June 1995 caused 21 deaths and 22 injuries ("East-West Highway," n.d. ). This is all because of the unbalanced development of the area and preserving the nature. Vijayan (2007) stated that a series of floods also hit the southern part of Malaysia like Johor, Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan in year 2006 and 2007 .This is because of the soil erosion as a result of deforestation. Everyone learns how important to preserve our nature from this tragedy.

In addition, global warming is the most common effect of deforestation. Henson (2006) stated that the canopy of the trees traps moisture so that the air can evaporate slowly and cool down the temperature of the land. Trees are very useful in cooling down the temperature of the Earth. They absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen which is needed by every human beings. If large areas of forest are being burning up, they will release huge amounts of carbon dioxide adding the load to the atmosphere. It might take many years for the nature to balance the content of the gases through the steady growth of secondary forests that pull carbon dioxide out of the air. The unwanted carbon dioxide trapped the hot air and acted as an insulator on the atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change.

In a nutshell, the main causes of the deforestation are increasing of population and forest conversion while the main effects of it are soil erosion and global warming. There are still many existing problems that human society needs to overcome to preserve our mother nature. A long-term plan that involves the whole world should be established to prevent the nature being destroyed again. Solving this problem involves a long process, but it is worth to inculcate the spirit of saving our world! Everyone has the responsible to take care our badly sick Earth!


References:

Deforestation Rates in Malaysia (n.d.). Retrieve March 10,2008,from
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/stats/Malaysia.htm

East-West Highway.(n.d.). Retrieve March 16, 2008,from
http://www.malaysiasite.nl/cameronhighway.html

Henson R. (2006). Climate Change. New York : Rough Guides.

Mahabir R. (2007,August 14). 2006 Malaysia Palm Oil Market Summary. Retrieve March 11,2008 from
http://asiacleantech.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/2006-malaysian-palm-oil-marketsummary/

Morgen B. (2006). Planet Earth : A Journey from Pole to Pole. London : Sandcastle.

Vijayan M. (2007,December 12). Johor's 3rd flood fatality. The Star Online. Retrieved April 7,2008,from
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.aspfile=/2007/12/12/nation/20071212120559&sec=nation