How does deforestation contribute to the greenhouse effect?

There are two main effects of deforestation on global warming: 1) the "slash and burn" technique used to clear the forest releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and 2) destruction of living trees reduces the amount of photosynthesis, a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the plants as carbon. Carbon dioxide is one of the major gases contributing to global warming, and increasing its concentration will affect the amount of warming that occurs.

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