In the Merriam-Webster dictionary deforestation is defined as “the action or process of clearing of forests; also: the state of having been cleared of forests.” Deforestation is a growing problem on the planet Earth. It takes away homes for thousands of species each year and it is becoming another problem for global warming. There are many reasons why this occurs throughout the lifetime of man. Whether it is naturally, agriculturally based or timber/lumber working, all of these factors are a major reason why the forests on the Earth are slowly diminishing. Deforestation is big in the Amazon that is mainly located in Brazil, the Congo Basin that is mainly located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and on the island of Madagascar. One reason why deforestation is occurring is just based on natural causes, such as forest fires that at times are useful but other times become a problem when the happen in the wrong areas, droughts that are never good because it causes plants and animals to lose their food sources and eventually vanish. The second mainly occurs when farmers next to the forests cut down acres of trees to get more land for them to grow their crops and feed their farm animals. They usually do this because their soil will become dry and will not be useful any longer, so they chop down some trees from the forest area so that they can use the soil in there. The third big problem of why this occurs is because of lumber companies that illegally cut more wood that they are supposed to make it so that there are more trees being cut than that are being planted further causing deforestation. The Amazon is one of the major forests that are in threat of deforestation. Located in South America, the Amazon is home to 30 million people, 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish species, and over 300 reptile species. The Amazon consumes about forty percent of the land. It also holds over 100 billion tons of carbon and if it deforestation occurs all of the carbon will end up being released causing a problem for the Earth.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/
http://worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation