النهار

Forests have been animals’ natural habitats for as long as we can remember, and the phenomenon we are faced with nowadays will not only endanger these forests, but also the whole ecosystem which includes plants and animals. This phenomenon is known as deforestation, in which trees and other plants are eradicated and destroyed for urban utilisation of the land. This is a portrayal of what’s happening in Lebanon, since the population is on the rise and new building, compounds, educational centres and factories are being built and employed.

Two common depictions of deforestation are either burning the land or cutting and slashing down trees for the land to become unproductive. As mentioned earlier, this in fact is very harmful to some species since they might go extinct and vanish; plants will be burnt and the food chain that exists between plants, animals and us humans will start to fade. Animals depend on each other and on plants for survival, and without plants and animals, humans will also fail to exist and persist.

Lands are being destructed in big cities such as Beirut and Jbeil due to more inhabitants residing in them, thus more buildings are required to take in all the people. Moreover, people nowadays tend to reside in family oriented, and less crowded municipalities and cities like Al Koura in North Lebanon; therefore, the waning greenery there is also being destroyed. Lands are becoming barren and infertile which in turn increases pollution and global warming.

In my opinion, everyone should be committed to try to reduce deforestation as much as possible by initiating planting campaigns and taking part in them. The first step towards having a healthy ecosystem is balancing deforestation with reforestation. The Government in Lebanon should also set legal rules and regulations regarding cutting trees in order to reduce the rate. Any illegal forest activity must be banned.