Effects of Deforestation

The subject of deforestation and the effects that it has on the environment have been heavily debated for a long time; particularly over the last few years. Governments and large lumber companies see large profits in the mass deforestation of forests and state that their actions are having few, if any, harmful effects on the environment. Most people disagree with this and think that the environmental effects are devastating and will become irreversibly disastrous in …

…such as the Brazilian Amazon Basin (Dunbar, 1993). Forests are an important part of maintaining the earth's biological and ecological diversity as well as major factors in the economic well being of many areas. If we can maintain a balance between the two and continue the reforestation efforts, the negative environmental affects could be greatly reduced. Regardless, the negative environmental affects do exist and the severity of them will be debated for many years to come.