Further heating would eventually render most places uncultivatable and unliveable. On top of these devastating changes would be health impacts. Trees clean the air by absorbing pollutants and trapping particulate matter on their leaves, branches and trunks. At least lives are saved as a result and at least , cases of acute respiratory issues are avoided. Trees help to absorb air pollution by trapping particulates in their tissues Credit: Getty Images. A sudden loss of forests everywhere could trigger a temporary spike in our exposure to zoonotic infections such as Ebola, Nipah virus and West Nile virus, he says, as well as to mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever.
A growing body of research also points to the fact that trees and nature are good for our mental wellbeing. Trees also seem to help the body recover: a famous study from revealed that patients recuperating from surgery experienced shorter hospital stays if they had a green view rather than one of a brick wall.
Trees play a vital role in many cultures - if lost, they would be deeply mourned Credit: Getty Images. The loss of trees would also be mourned on a deep, cultural level.
Trees are staples of countless childhoods and feature heavily in art, literature, poetry, music and more. They have factored into animistic religions since prehistory and play prominent roles in other major religions practiced today. Buddha attained enlightenment after sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree for 49 days, while Hindus worship at Peepal trees, which serve as a symbol for Vishnu.
In the Torah and Old Testament, God makes trees on the third day of creation — even before animals or humans — and in the Bible, Jesus dies on a wooden cross built from trees. All told, human beings would struggle to survive in a world without trees.
Urbanised, Western lifestyles would quickly become a thing of the past and many of us would die from starvation, heat, drought and floods. Crowther, on the other hand, suspects that life would only persist in a Mars-like colony, enabled by technology and entirely divorced from the existence we have always known. Join one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. What If Share using Email. By Rachel Nuwer 12th September As the Amazon fires continue to burn, Rachel Nuwer asks: how dependent are we on the survival of forests?
Deforested areas lose that ability and release more carbon. The trees also help control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle. In deforested areas, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil.
This then causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops. Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. Trees help the land to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life. Without forests, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle.
The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions. As large amounts of forests are cleared away, allowing exposed earth to whither and die and the habitats of innumerable species to be destroyed, the indigenous communities who live there and depend on the forest to sustain their way of life are also under threat.
The loss of forests has an immediate and direct effect on their lifestyle that we in the highly industrialized parts of the world, despite our own dependency on what the rainforest provides, will never know.
All rights reserved. Climate Deforestation Forests cover about 30 percent of the planet's land mass, but humans are cutting them down, clearing these essential habitats on a massive scale. What is deforestation? Find out the causes, effects, and solutions. See all of National Geographic's videos on deforestation here. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city.
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