Today, 52% of all the land used for food production is moderately or severely impacted by soil erosion. In the long term, the lack of healthy, nutritious soil can lead to low yields and food insecurity.Deforestation Affects and Contributes to Climate Change

Deforestation also has a very strong contribution to climate change. Why? Let’s remember trees absorb and store CO2 throughout their lives. If we speak about tropical forests, they hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon, according to WWF. And what’s worrying is that the destruction of these trees has two big negative side-effects. 

The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature. Deforestation results in a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for many inhabitants.
In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as valuable carbon sinks. 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. The level of immediacy is exponentially greater for indigenous peoples.

The governments of nations with rainforests in their borders often attempt to evict indigenous tribes before the actual clear-cutting begins. This is one of the pre-emptive effects of deforestation.

Some causes of Loss of Biodiversity are,

- Climate change

- Pollution

- Destruction of habitats

- Invasive alien species

- Overexploitation of naturalness environment 
Problems of Biodiversity loss are,
- Extinction of species 
The alteration and destruction of habitats puts thousands of species in danger of extinction
- Threat to human beings
Biodiversity loss endangers human well-being by affecting soil and water, which are fundamental to food production.
- Proliferation of pests 
For example, imbalances in ecosystems can lead to the emergence of pests that damage crops.
-  Increase in CO2 emissions
The capacity of forests and oceans to absorb CO2 decreases if their ecosystems are adversely affected.
Solutions for Biodiversity Loss are,
SDG 14 aims to sustainably manage and protects marine, coastal, terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems, address the effects of ocean acidification and regulate fishing while promoting sustainable fisheries.
SDG 15 seeks to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, halt and reverse land degradation, combat desertification and stop biodiversity loss.

In plants, we make the distinction between cisgenesis and transgenesis within genetic modification. Cisgenesis is the transfer of genetic material derived from a related plant. For example, Wageningen UR has utilised this method to use genes from wild potato plants to make consumer potatoes more resilient to phytophthora. Transgenesis is the transfer of genetic material from non-related species.

Today, 52% of all the land used for food production is moderately or severely impacted by soil erosion. In the long term, the lack of healthy, nutritious soil can lead to low yields and food insecurity.Deforestation Affects and Contributes to Climate Change

Deforestation also has a very strong contribution to climate change. Why? Let’s remember trees absorb and store CO2 throughout their lives. If we speak about tropical forests, they hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon, according to WWF. And what’s worrying is that the destruction of these trees has two big negative side-effects.The construction of human infrastructures has also been driving deforestation. More specifically, 10% of deforestation can be attributed to new infrastructures that serve the current human lifestyle in four main ways: transportation, transformation and energy generation.

On one hand, roads, rails, ports or airports have been built to move all sorts of goods – from cereals and fruits to spices, minerals or fossil fuels – either directly to trade centers or to transformation sites. So while at first there were only fruit trees, roads soon arrived to allow transporting fruit to other regions. And while some goods were and are collected manually, others such as coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, but also meat, dairy or spirits, required the construction of large extraction, transportation and/or transformation infrastructures.

 

Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive
5.Continue to Recycle more

You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

6.Change light 
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 

Narwhal in the ocean