**2.3 Dimensions of deforestation**

Human activities tend to justify deforestation as good actions because it support livelihoods. However, as depicted on **Figure 2**, below, deforestation comes with its attendant environmental and socio-economic consequences. The rationale for deforestation includes: shortages of food, shortages of wood, mass destruction of wildlife and high wildlife migration rate, alteration of vegetation cover and structure, damage and loss of flora and fauna essential for recreation and tourism, desertification, disturbed water cycle, soil erosion, flooding, landslides, and land degradation, reduced atmospheric moisture, destruction of biodiversity, hardening of iron-rich soils to form laterite, changes and imbalances in nutrient cycle and energy, declined pollination, increased poverty levels, decline in soil fertility, decline of medicinal herbs production, decline in income generation, water loss as well as loss of natural flood and erosion control [2–7, 22]. All these activities contribute to deforestation.
