Exploring the Effects of Deforestation on Communities Living Style: A Sociological Study in Indus Riverine Areas of Dera Ghazi Khan

Abstract

Deforestation is the eradication of trees, clearing of plants, or burning of forests on a large scale to accomplish all the local, regional, and global needs of the expanding population. Climate change has severely influenced both the development of human lifestyles and existence, together with food scarcity, wildlife destruction, and risky meteorological conditions problems. A total sample sizes of 225 citizens were selected from District Dera Ghazi Khan. In the first stage, 3 Tehsils of District Dera Ghazi Khan e.g. (Dera Ghazi Khan, Kot Chutta, & Taunsa,) were selected. In the second stage, 3 riverside union councils were selected from each Tehsil through a convenient sampling technique. In the third stage, 25 citizens were selected from each union council. Data was collected through an interview schedule and examined by ‘The Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ (SPSS). Obtained results indicate that deforestation increases in the community (99.1%) and climate change also happens in the community (99.1%) deforestation is one of the major causes of climate change (99.6%) and climate change is due to deforestation (100%). It was concluded that negative impact of deforestation on the local ecosystem (95.6%); deforestation caused air and water pollution in the community (99.6%); deforestation increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters in the region (96%); deforestation changes in the landscape, such as soil erosion or changes in the flow of rivers (95.5%); the forests are mitigating in climate change and preserving biodiversity (96.4%). The bivariate analysis showed that more will be deforestation vs more will be climate change; more will be negative impact on the local eco-system. So, all the hypothesis results are accepted after the analysis of the data.