Damage due to reduction of forest cover and deforestation is of enormous proportion. Forests provide many environmental benefits for all living beings and touch upon nearly all aspects of human activities. Forests influence the rainfall through a recycling of moisture back into the atmosphere through transpiration. Deforestation breaks this natural water cycle. It affects rainfall, wind velocity, temperature and carbon dioxide concentration greatly, and thus, influences the gaseous composition of the atmosphere.
Soil erosion due to deforestation leads to reduction in the area of cultivable land and at the same time poses a threat of flash floods. It also changes the course of rivers. On e of the consequences of deforestation is scanty rainfall, erratic rainfall, and drought. All these have serious consequences on agricultural output. This may lead to malnutrition, starvation, diseases, and death.
As an example of the undesirable effects caused due to deforestation, we can take the area of Cherrapunji in Meghalaya. This area used to have a large and dense forest cover and used to record the highest rainfall in the country. But in recent years there has been such a relentless deforestation of this area that only a few trees have been left standing. This has resulted in the adverse changes in the climate. The rainfall in this area has become erratic.