Deforestation means cutting down of trees due to various reasons, such as increasing population and the acute demand for development of flats and buildings, agriculture, constructing industries and for laying roads and railway lines, and for firewood, for manufacture of paper and synthetic fibers.
Deforestation has resulted in soil erosion on a massive scale. With no trees to hold the soil in place, rain takes away the fertile topsoil from the land. The rainwater runs off the surface of the land so rapidly that it is unable to seep in to the ground. This results in the lowering of the water table in the area. If there are dams in the area, they get silted up rapidly, as there are no roots to hold the soil together and prevent erosion.
Deforestation also destroys the wildlife of the area. Animals are forced out into the open and end up being easy targets for poachers and hunters. In turn the animals start attacking human habitations in search of food.
Wildfires are another cause for the destruction of forests and scrubland. A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire that occurs in forests or bush lands. The places that are affected frequently by the wildfire are: Indonesia, USA, Australia and Greece. In the wildfire that took place in Indonesia from mid-1077 to May 1998, more than eight million hectares of forest were burned. Indonesia has lost half of its forest cover in the last thirty years. These fires were started by humans who want to clear the land for growing cash crops.
The second largest wildfire that affected California, Zaca, burnt thousands of acres of land in a couple of days.
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