by Heath S. (Freshman)

The removal of the trees may have a major effect on the cause of the famine. The major effect on the land where the trees were removed might be the loss of fertility. If the trees are removed during the rainy season it may be a major contributor to the loss of land through erosion. If the land is loss through erosion it will be hard to grow the crops there because the top layer will be gone. Which will leave the hard layer underneath the topsoil for the plants to try to break through. All of these reasons are the dangers to all of the population of the world. The next step in these problems are famines.

In wartime armies may destroy crops, leaving local people with out any food content. World War I and World War II disrupted food distributions and caused famines in a number of areas, including the urban centers of Vienna, Austria, and Leningrad, and the U.S.S.R. A famine in the strife-Congo in the early 1960's was resolved by the United Nations. In the early 1980's another long drought caused the resurgence of famine, not only in West Africa but also in East Africa from Ethiopia to Mozambique.

In Europe there were serious famines during the civil and religious wars during the 14th and 16th centuries. In India and China, natural disasters which include earthquakes, floods, and droughts. These have caused severe and even fatal famines. A famine in Bengal in 1769 and 1770 killed ten million people, and in China in the late 1870's more than nine million people perished during the deadly famine.

There was a major famine in Ireland around 1845-1847, it was the result of a potato blight that took the life of one million people. The blight would not have occurred if a killer fungus that took the life of all the potatoes in return too took the life of the country. When the blight occurred it made the population of North America increase because the Irish population that had the strength to leave from Ireland made the long journey to North America.