Question

Forests cover about 31% of the land on Earth. Sadly, that number is decreasing at a rapid rate. Deforestation, which is human-driven and natural loss of trees, is one of the main causes of this depletion. A natural loss of trees might come from a fire, for example, but deforestation done by humans is more common and involves removing trees to make room for something else. This can include clearing land for farming or using the wood from trees for fuel, construction, or manufacturing. Despite these potential economic benefits, deforestation should be stopped because forests are too important for people, animals, and the environment.

Write 3-5 sentences explaining what the key concept of the paragraph is and how the author develops the key concept.

Answer 1

The key concept is that deforestation — the human-driven and natural loss of trees — is reducing the world’s forests and should be stopped because forests are vital for people, animals, and the environment. The author develops this by giving a statistic (forests cover about 31% of land and that this is shrinking) and defining deforestation, including natural causes like fire and distinguishing more common human causes. They list concrete human activities that drive deforestation (clearing land for farming; using wood for fuel, construction, or manufacturing) to show the economic pressures. Finally, the author contrasts those potential benefits with the overall importance of forests to argue that cutting them down should end.