First case study: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-costa.html
Costa Rica has one of the highest deforestation rates in the Americas due to loss of cultural diversity, biodiversity, and carbon storage capacity. 89% of the country is not a National Park, so it is unprotected. Therefore, it was said that by 2010, all of the rainforests or at least 89% of them would be gone. Wood is definitely of high value and is used in so many different ways, so this natural resource would not be good and would cause so many other problems for the environment. It causes issues with animals and their habitats, the landscape, and the air quality. The quality of life basically goes down because of deforestation and it just happens to be happening quicker in Costa Rica.
Second case study: http://www.irinnews.org/report/83508/afghanistan-deforestation-marches
Nangarhar, a province in Afghanistan, has lost 90% of its forests since 1989. Because of this deforestation, the ecosystem has been severely damaged because of it. In 2006, the president banned tree-felling, but yet, deforestation still occurs, illegally. Also due to deforestation, it has created landslides, flash floods, and even droughts. Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in the world, and does not have the sufficient resources or institutional means to ensure that deforestation won’t occur or that forests will be better managed. This relates to the module, as well as the previous paragraph because it is an example of how development in different countries has negative impacts on the environment.
Where my hometown is, King of Prussia, there have been so many new stores built, and so many trees cut down. Through the development of all of these new stores, we have lost so much land. Just like in Costa Rica and Afghanistan, the chopping of trees happens for numerous reasons but effects the environment we live in. My hometown is super busy now, and there aren’t really a lot of parks, only Valley Forge National Park. That is protected unlike the ones that get cut down. It is so hard, especially in this time period where everyone wants new things and to be more advanced, but then it negatively effects the environment. Unfortunately, no one can really control it because there are no laws that state that people can’t cut down trees.
Hi Caitlyn! My name is Neil Karmaker. You can find my blog post here: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bC1
Wow, the projected 89% and already 90% deforestation in these areas are incredibly scary figures. It is so shameful that these beautiful landscapes are continuously suffering to sustain the development of Costa Rica and Afghanistan. Unfortunately once these landscapes are gone, they will most likely never come back, as long as humans are occupying the land.