2.0 Deforestation
2.1 Introduction
Forests are areas where trees are dominant vegetation. They include closed canopy forests, where leaves and twigs of adjacent trees touch, and open woodlands, where only some leaves and twigs of adjacent trees overlap. Deforestation is the irreversible destruction of native forests and woodlands. Today there is much concern with the sustainability of the planet’s biological resources, particularly our forests. However, we seems to be destroying them by harvesting them faster than they can regrow. For example, between the year 1840 to 1920, 19 million acres of white pine forest were logged in the state of Michigan alone in the United States. Those who started logging believed that they would never run out …show more content…
However, it is now concentrated in the developing world, which lost approximately 494 million acres from 1980 to 1995. Many of these forests are in the tropics, mountain regions, or high latitudes, places difficult to exploit before the advent of modern transportation and machines. The problem is especially serious in the tropics because they have high human population growth. For example, fire-related deforestation rose sharply in Indonesia in 1997. Estimates of forests destroyed in 1997 range from 370,500 to 741,000 acres. Other areas where tropical deforestation is a major concern include the Amazon basin, western and central Africa, and Southeast Asia and the Pacific regions, including Borneo, the Philippines, and …show more content…
Forests are a global resource, so logging forests in one country can affects other countries. For example, since 1950, erosion due to deforestation has caused the loss of 1.4 billion acres of soil worldwide. Heavier flooding in India’s Ganges Valley has caused $1 billion a year in property damage and is blamed on the loss of large forested watersheds in other countries. Nepal, one of the most mountainous countries in the world, lost more than half its forest cover between 1950 and 1980. This cutting destabilizes soil, increasing the rate of landslides, amount of runoff, and sediment load in streams. Mmnay Nepalese streams feed rivers that flow into India. The loss of forest cover in Nepal continues at a rate of about 247,000 acres per year. Reforestation efforts replace less than 37,050 acres per year. If present trends continue, little forest land will remain in Nepal, thus permanently impacting India’s flooding
2.1 Introduction
Forests are areas where trees are dominant vegetation. They include closed canopy forests, where leaves and twigs of adjacent trees touch, and open woodlands, where only some leaves and twigs of adjacent trees overlap. Deforestation is the irreversible destruction of native forests and woodlands. Today there is much concern with the sustainability of the planet’s biological resources, particularly our forests. However, we seems to be destroying them by harvesting them faster than they can regrow. For example, between the year 1840 to 1920, 19 million acres of white pine forest were logged in the state of Michigan alone in the United States. Those who started logging believed that they would never run out …show more content…
However, it is now concentrated in the developing world, which lost approximately 494 million acres from 1980 to 1995. Many of these forests are in the tropics, mountain regions, or high latitudes, places difficult to exploit before the advent of modern transportation and machines. The problem is especially serious in the tropics because they have high human population growth. For example, fire-related deforestation rose sharply in Indonesia in 1997. Estimates of forests destroyed in 1997 range from 370,500 to 741,000 acres. Other areas where tropical deforestation is a major concern include the Amazon basin, western and central Africa, and Southeast Asia and the Pacific regions, including Borneo, the Philippines, and …show more content…
Forests are a global resource, so logging forests in one country can affects other countries. For example, since 1950, erosion due to deforestation has caused the loss of 1.4 billion acres of soil worldwide. Heavier flooding in India’s Ganges Valley has caused $1 billion a year in property damage and is blamed on the loss of large forested watersheds in other countries. Nepal, one of the most mountainous countries in the world, lost more than half its forest cover between 1950 and 1980. This cutting destabilizes soil, increasing the rate of landslides, amount of runoff, and sediment load in streams. Mmnay Nepalese streams feed rivers that flow into India. The loss of forest cover in Nepal continues at a rate of about 247,000 acres per year. Reforestation efforts replace less than 37,050 acres per year. If present trends continue, little forest land will remain in Nepal, thus permanently impacting India’s flooding