Infographic: The Alarming Truth Behind Deforestation

The infographic, as you can see, is called The Alarming Truth Behind Deforestation, and a quick look shows that is certainly is an alarming truth. It clearly illustrates the current state of the world’s rainforests and the damage that has been done to them so far. So what is the current state? Let’s have a look.

How bad is deforestation now?

As you can see from this infographic deforestation is significant in a number of countries. In El Salvador, 4 percent of the rainforests has been destroyed while in Honduras the figure is a frightening 29 percent! That’s nearly a third of all the rainforests in the country gone, and deforestation continues.

How has this happened?

So how have things reached this stage and what are the causes of this deforestation? The infographic visualises these problems too. Agriculture is a considerable problem, with small-scale agriculture causing 25 percent of damage and larger scale causing 15 per cent of deforestation. According to this infographic, though, the main problem is cattle ranching, accounting for a shocking 45 percent of cases. Perhaps it will make people think twice about that beef burger.

Facts about deforestation

Morgan’s illustration also looks at some important rainforest facts that we should all be aware of. For instance, 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every single day to make room for cattle ranching. They are not even logging the trees to make use of them, they are simply being burned because that’s the quickest way to achieve their goal.

Why do we need the rainforest?

This piece also explains just why the rainforests are so important. They are essentially the lungs of the planet, releasing around 40 percent of the world’s oxygen. They are the Earth’s lungs, which is why it is so vital to saving them, so the Earth has any future at all.

Credit/Author’s Bio:

Environmentalist Morgan Franklin is keenly interested in deforestation and the effects it has on the world’s rainforests, their inhabitants and the planet as a whole. For this reason, he was more than happy to be asked by eco2greetings to create an infographic based on his research into the subject.