Deforestation & its impact

About 30% of the land area is covered in Forests. It is our means to survive, sustain and develop, be it in terms of essential oxygen, food, livelihood, fresh water, medicine or shelter. Unfortunately for us, every year, an estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization).

Among the many causes for deforestation, such as forest fires, unsustainable logging for timber, the leading cause is Agriculture and ranching for cattles. For agriculture land, lack of trees spells disaster in the making as when there are no trees to hold the soil, there is an increased danger of soil erosion, extreme floods or droughts.



As per WWF, “some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year—equivalent to 48 football fields every minute”. This loss percolates into the destruction of ecological balance. Half of the tropical forests are already destroyed and massive number of species are already extinct or are on the verge of extinction, such as Rhinoceros, Tigers and Orangutans.