According to National Geographic, [1] deforestation is a modern day plague and precisely why the GB GROUP took it upon itself to plant 800 palm trees in the island of Ile-à-Cabrits, more famously known as Ibo Beach in Haiti this year. Furthermore, the GB Group will plant 400 more trees and bring running water to the island for irrigation in 2012. The GB GROUP would like to share alarming facts on the effects of deforestation below and hopes each will be inspired to contribute in any way in order to truly preserve the world we all share.

• Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but areas the size of Panama are lost each and every year.
• The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.
• The most dramatic impact of deforestation is a loss of habitat for millions of species.
• Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.
• Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
• Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.
• Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests mean larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.

<http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/>.