Sometimes, we don't know how to explain the consequences of deforestation, especially to children.
In order for children to understand one of the most essential elements of forests, they first need to understand the water cycle and how forests help regulate its effects. The natural water cycle begins with rain. Clouds release water as rain onto the land and into different bodies of water, such as lakes and rivers, allowing terrestrial ecosystems to thrive and develop properly. The water is then carried by rivers to the sea, where it joins the rest of the ocean water and then evaporates, forming new clouds that will produce more rain, thus completing the cycle.
However, there is one more factor to consider in this cycle, and this is where one of the most essential aspects of forests lies, something that children need to understand. Not all rainwater necessarily comes from the sea; there is also water on land, especially in forested areas. When it drizzles, a significant portion of that water ends up in rivers. But another portion seeps into the ground and recharges underground aquifers, thus ensuring water availability even during dry seasons. In fact, for this water to properly soak the soil and not run off quickly into the rivers, the soil needs vegetation, as the roots of forest trees allow the water to filter more effectively into the aquifers. This is one of the reasons why forests are so vital, and also why deforestation is one of the biggest problems we face today.
Consequences of deforestation for children: The water cycle and the importance of forests
Evapotranspiration is essential for understanding the consequences of deforestation. However, forests, besides helping to recharge and conserve natural aquifers in land areas, also play a vital role in cloud formation. Forests are capable of creating clouds, which is why few clouds form in barren areas. This can be very appealing to children and will also help capture their attention.
It is common knowledge that plants, like animals, breathe. However, plants release O2, while animals expel CO2. Thus, the waste products of one are useful to the other, and vice versa, closing a cycle that should be maintained in balance for the benefit of all living beings and ecosystems on the planet. At this point, you can show children that when they breathe, they emit vapor in addition to CO2 (you can demonstrate this by having them exhale into a mirror and observing the effect). This happens with all respiration, including that of plants and trees. This means that when all the trees in the forest breathe, they emit the same vapor that the children exhale into the mirror. In fact, trees release vapor through their leaves, an effect known as evapotranspiration.
The most essential aspect of evapotranspiration is that, by releasing water into the atmosphere, and by doing so in the large quantities that forests produce due to their vast vegetation, clouds are generated. In other words, all clouds don't originate solely from the evaporation of seawater; they can also be generated directly on land through the respiration of forests. These clouds function similarly to those produced over the sea, but with one key difference: they don't need to be carried by the winds to land. Therefore, they tend to release their rain back onto the same forests and lands that formed them, resulting in a shorter but highly effective water cycle for sustaining a thriving ecosystem. Thus, forests not only help us obtain fresh water through aquifers, but they also create clouds on land, meaning that deforestation threatens the natural water supply we need to live.
Oxygen loss, one of the most serious consequences of deforestation
Finally, another element we can't overlook when explaining to a child why deforestation has deplorable consequences for the ecosystem, the planet, and humanity is oxygen. Oxygen is one of the most essential gases in our atmosphere for many reasons. The first and most immediate is that it's the gas that animals, including humans, breathe, making it essential for something as simple as staying alive.
Furthermore, another important factor regarding oxygen is that it is the primary gas that counteracts CO2 (carbon dioxide), one of the main greenhouse gases and the most direct cause of climate change on our planet. Therefore, the more deforestation progresses, the less oxygen there will be in the air, and consequently, the faster climate change will develop. Conversely, the more forests we preserve and the more trees we plant, the more oxygen there will be in the atmosphere, ensuring healthier air to breathe and a more balanced climate, less affected by the greenhouse effect.
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