Forest for people
Forests support essential and important biodiversity and help people keep global warming at bay.
Human impact on the forest is not only very strong, but also extremely diverse. This influence can be divided into two main groups. The negative impact reduces the biodiversity, quality and quantity of forests. Positive impact on the forest is an attempt to reduce one's own negative impact on the forest.
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Loss of forests.
Deforestation.
Forests are such a valuable natural resource that it is difficult to overestimate their importance. The area of forests around the world is steadily decreasing, the main reason for this is human activity. Indiscriminate deforestation, and most importantly, their poor restoration leads to the transformation of millions of hectares of fertile land into a desert. This leads to the extinction of many species of flora and fauna. Deforestation has a significant impact on climate change.
Now there are about 7.6 billion people living on the planet. The population will increase, which means that the demand for wood will grow.
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Allocation of land: for industrial construction, for the construction of housing, roads, power lines, for agricultural land. Leads to global deforestation. For the production of consumer goods, wood is also needed.
Humanity uses more than 20 million hectares of forest annually. We are destroying the ecosystem of the earth. The process of deforestation is an urgent problem in many countries.
Russia ranks first in deforestation. Only officially harvested about 1.2 million hectares per year. The same amount of forest is being cut down illegally in Siberia and the Far East. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, 800 thousand hectares a year are destroyed illegally. Most likely this figure is much higher.
On the African continent, 80% of the forest has been cut down over the past 100 years. 3.9 million hectares are destroyed every year. The disastrous situation in Brazil and Peru with the forests of the Amazon. About a million hectares are cut down there per year. Also on the North American continent in Canada and the United States of America, about 2.5 million hectares per year are cut down in a compartment.
Fires.
Deforestation is not the only cause of damage to forests. Many forests are destroyed by fire. 85% of fires are caused by humans. The main reason is violation of fire safety rules. A fire that has not been extinguished, a match, a cigarette, burning dry grass, broken glass, which has the properties of a lens in the sun.
Fires often cover vast territories. In July 2019. The area of forest fires in Siberia reached 1 million 603 thousand hectares, 232 outbreaks were recorded. According to the Ministry of Forestry, from 9 thousand to 30 thousand forest fires are registered in Russia per year. The damage to forestry in Russia alone ranges from $ 50 to $ 100 million per year.
Also in 2019. there was the strongest fire in Australia. As a result of this fire, people and a huge number of animals died. 6.5 million hectares of forest were destroyed. And there are many such examples. The UN News Center reports that fires destroy over 350 million hectares of land every year.
Acid rain.
Acid rain is all types of precipitation in which there is a decrease in the pH value (Ph.).
Emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere during the operation of industrial enterprises, factories, and other harmful industries. They lead to air pollution by combustion products, such as hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, heavy metal oxides. Interacting with water, they create an acidic environment.
Such rains cause serious harm to plants and animals. As a result, forest degradation occurs. Under the influence of harmful chemical compounds, trees lose their immunity, fall ill with various diseases.
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Their photosynthesis process is reduced, and they die. Conifers are especially affected. The greatest damage to forests occurs in large parts of Europe, the United States and Canada.
Pollution.
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People violating any rules, take out construction and household waste, creating unauthorized dumps in the forest. After outdoor recreation, they leave trash behind. These are mainly disposable plastic dishes, bags, bottles. The decomposition period of plastic can be several hundred years.
After logging, a lot of wood waste remains. A favorable environment for the reproduction of pests is created. In such rubble, it is very difficult for young growth to break through and the forest will not be able to recover naturally. Waste must be disposed of.
In addition to contamination with pesticides, which was mentioned in the section "Acid rain", there is radioactive contamination.
In connection with the expanding use of atomic energy by humans, its importance is growing.
Major accidents have occurred at nuclear power plants in many countries: Chernobyl (Ukraine), Fokushima-1 (Japan), Three Mile Island (USA), Windskell (Great Britain), and the Mayak chemical enterprise, Russia.
After such man-made disasters, large areas of forests are exposed to radioactive contamination.
Radioactive substances are capable of migrating and accumulating in various elements of the environment. Thus, accumulating in the soil, radionuclides through the root path enter plants, wood, and fungi. This process becomes the main contamination of plants. The food of forest inhabitants is infected. With forestry products: mushrooms, berries, nuts, medicinal herbs, radionuclides enter the food of people.
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With a high level of radioactive contamination, the forest is completely destroyed.
Creation of forests.
Afforestation and Reforestation.
Reconstruction of forests at sites of felling and fires. Creation of artificial forests. Breeding of valuable tree species. Improving the composition of tree species in existing forests. All this is reforestation.
In Russia back in 1853. Karl Turmer, invited by Count Uvarov, begins to grow artificial forest stands from highly productive crops of mixed composition of conifers.
In our time, especially in recent years, the governments of most countries have adopted many bills on forest restoration.
In Russia, within the framework of the national project "Ecology", a federal project "Conservation of Forests" was created. In 2020, the state allocated 6.6 billion rubles for this project. Of this money, it is planned to spend 3.2 billion rubles only on the purchase of forest fire equipment and equipment. Thanks to this, a lot of work has been done to recreate forest areas in Russia. In the Irkutsk region, Tyumen region, Chuvashia, Crimea, Yakutia, Smolensk and Ulyanovsk regions. In total, 26 regions have fulfilled the targets for planting forests and harvesting seed material. About 1 million hectares of forest have been restored throughout the country.
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Humanity has already realized its mistake and is now trying to do everything to save forest resources. In this regard, in recent years, the work of reforestation activities has intensified around the world.
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In Europe, the area of protected forests is growing by about 500 thousand hectares per year. In total, 39 million hectares of forests have been granted protection status. Protected forests are important for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, for the protection of landscapes and the maintenance of the recreational functions of forests.
Reforestation is actively underway in the regions. Different approaches are used. In southern Europe, they went through plantation forestry. By growing forests like agricultural crops, which greatly contributes to the intensification of forestry. In Northern Europe, forests are restored mostly naturally, keeping trees for sowing and fertilizing the soil. In Western Europe, artificial coniferous forest plantations are being created.
The most important principles of forestry in Finland are sustainability and bringing nature closer to its original appearance, thus ensuring both the economic benefits and social sustainability of forestry, minimizing changes in the natural cycle. Also in the country there is such a concept as family forestry, since the forests that are privately owned by the family are inherited by the next generation. The state provides support to private forest owners. And 52% of the total forest area is owned.
An interesting experience appeared in the USA. Reforestation after a fire by hand is a laborious and idol process. The American company Drone Seed has developed a technology that allows drones to plant new trees in the burnt wasteland - this saves time, effort and money.
In the south of Israel, since the mid-50s, they have been engaged in afforestation in desert areas. The plantings have been extremely successful, and the newly grown forests delight and surprise locals and tourists from around the world.
In the past 20 years, Israel has been transforming its forestry. They abandoned monocultural coniferous forests, which are very sensitive to climate change. And they create sustainable multifunctional forests with a wide species diversity of planted tree species.
Now in the world many public and private organizations are being created to recreate forests. In March 2003, the Global Partnership for Forest Landscape Restoration was established. It includes 25 countries, various organizations, volunteers. The private project "Sisters of the Trees" consists of volunteers. They plant 2.2 million trees annually in Madagascar, India, Kenya, Nepal, Cameroon. A great example to follow.
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Organization of tree nurseries,
nature reserves,
wildlife preserves, forest parks.
Active reforestation requires a large amount of planting material. For this, tree nurseries are created in many countries. According to the duration of their activity, forest nurseries are divided into temporary and permanent. Temporary forest nurseries are nurseries organized for a period not exceeding 5 years. Such nurseries are most often organized directly in the forest on a small area within 1 hectare.
Permanent forest nurseries are nurseries established for a period of more than 5 years. They are subdivided by area size. The largest are basic, their area can be more than 25 hectares. Such nurseries make it possible to concentrate, mechanize and automate the whole range of works on growing planting material, providing them with several owners of the forest fund.
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Many countries around the world are now focusing on private reforestation. Forest owners have a direct interest in recreating their forest land. The more trees are planted, the more produce will be obtained. First of all, these are European countries: Finland, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway. The largest number of tree nurseries that grow planting material not only for themselves, but also for export, are located in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Poland. In China, private forests are created in the most inconvenient places - wastelands, mountain slopes, sandy hills. In sparsely wooded countries, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, private reforestation is also encouraged.
A very interesting experience in the USA, there is a forest farm located in Morrow County, Oregon. It is owned by the GreenWood Tree Farm Fund. The forest farm is located on an area of 10,117 hectares and consists of tens of thousands of hybrid poplars. They are all roughly the same size, height and thickness. The trees grow neatly in even rows at equal distances from each other. This timber farm is just one of the many enterprises of GreenWood
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Resources, which operates in North and South America and China. Lumber is sold to many different countries. The largest buyers are China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico.
Reserves are created to protect especially valuable natural complexes. They are of exclusively national and global importance. The goal is to preserve biological diversity and maintain a protected area in its natural state. Scientific research is also conducted there. The purpose of which: the development of scientific foundations for nature protection, environmental forecasting, the study of natural processes and constant monitoring of them.
Within the framework of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (reserves) was created. The network is designed to develop a balanced interaction between nature and man. Find methods for sustainable development of the environment. The international network of nature reserves serves to exchange knowledge and experience between countries. Educational and research programs are being created, monitoring is carried out and joint decisions are made. The network includes over 700 biosphere reserves in 120 countries around the world.
Wildlife reserves are also a protected natural area. Only it can include both the entire natural complex and some part of it, only plants or only animals, or individual historical-memorial or geological objects. They serve to preserve and restore natural balance and natural resources.
For tourism and recreation, forest parks and national parks are being created around the world. Forest parks are usually located in the area of large metropolitan areas for the recreation of urban residents.
National parks are whole natural complexes where protected objects and regulated tourism are harmoniously combined. For close acquaintance with rare landscapes, unique plants, animals and birds, as well as monuments of nature and architecture.
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Conclusion.
The influence of humanity on our forests is very strong indeed. We can both destroy and turn our land into a blooming garden. In order to preserve our forest resources for ourselves and our descendants. The forest must be treated very carefully.
It is necessary to use forest resources rationally. Apply scientifically based calculation to the distribution of the forest fund. Increase reforestation and reduce the number of fellings. Strictly protect the forest from illegal loggers. Establish complex wood processing with full use of waste. Partially replace wood with other modern materials. It is very important to find a compromise between the industrial demand for timber and the conservation of forest landscapes.