Look around …. March 18, 2009

                                                     

 

…Generally

              Speaking… 

  DEFORESTATION is the result of an imbalance between natural resources and the need of the populations.
Before discussing this important subject, it is necessary to remember that developed countries (Notably those of ancient civilizations such as Europe) have witnessed periods of very strong deforestation. Up until the end of the fourteenth century, the forests of Europe, which covered the majority of the region, have been the object of massive destruction .

It is only recently that European forests have witnessed a phase of growth and improvement. Practically all the cultivated areas in Europe originate from more or less ancient deforestation. This is important when understanding the actual evolution of those countries in development and their relationship with their forested areas, and equally in avoiding certain judgments.

In fact, deforestation is only very rarely attributed to uncall for malevolence. It responds to a necessity: either of economic development, or of survival. It can also be in certain regions, the extensions of urban zones…

http://www.cimage-ltd.com/eng/deforest_e.html

March 23, 2009

 

CAUSES OF THE DEFORESTATION IN THE WORLD: March 19, 2009

Ø     Fires

Fire has always been an element present in many forestry ecosystems. Natural causes of fire exist such as lightening and volcanic eruptions. The area subjected to natural fires has been very important and can cover millions of hectares. However the lapse of time is generally long between successive fires, permitting the ecosystem to recover and reconstitute itself.
Large fires have always ravaged the surface of the earth. In the North of China, 1.33 million ha went up in flames in 1987; more than 3.5 million ha were burnt in Kalimantan (Borneo) between 1982 and 1983 ; in 1988, 400.000 ha were destroyed by fire in the United States in yellow stone national park.

 

 

 

 

  Recently in 1993, considerable damage was done by an enormous fire in Australia.

Ø    The importance of human factor:

The main causes of contemporary fires and anthropogenic:

 

·         This is the case with the recurrent fires in the European Mediterranean zone, or those fires provoked in tropical humid zones, which have their goal the clearing of land for agriculture.

 

·         In dry tropical zones with mixed broadleaved forests and rich undergrowth, human populations have always used fire to make way for grazing and agriculture.

 

·         In Europe, figures gathered by the FAO permit one to establish the area of forest burnt annually between 1980 and 1988, i.e. some 585.000 ha. During the same period North America lost some 3.5 million hectares of forest to fires. That percentage attributed to human causes being around 97% in Europe, 91% in the United States and 66% in Canada.

Ø  Developing countries

 

·  In  developing countries or in natural regions which are less densely populated, one must accept that a part of the wooded surface will be burnt.

This practice is due to an agro- silo -pastoral culture which includes positive elements and is therefore difficult to condemn. Solutions cannot be looked for without taking into account the subsistence requirements of those populations concerned.

http://www.cimage-ltd.com/eng/deforest_e.html

 

 

 

·      Degradation of humid tropical forests – principle causes

 

Source: Coyte, (1990), cited by Gauthier (J.) in AFOCEL. – The emergence of new forestry potentials in the world – Collogue AFOCEL, tenth world forestry congress. – Grenoble, 1991.

The countries where the phenomenon of deforestation is most evident are those undergoing rapid population growths. This population development implies two types of harmful needs to the durability of forests in the absence of specific developments.

v  A growing need for wood, especially firewood for developing countries, then wood for construction

v  A growing need for agricultural land, in able to assure the subsistence of populations.

Slowing Deforestation Rates May Net Billions March 18, 2009

The burning of these forests by farmers who are clearing their land makes up 20 percent of our world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
These reductions would represent approximately 300 million tones of unreleased carbon dioxide emissions each year. This is roughly the same amount of heat-trapping gases that are emitted by a country the size of Turkey in one year. Even small improvements can generate large amounts of revenue and can also create effective emission reductions.

 

 

One of the most challenging aspects of the plan is to design a fair system. Nations like Guyana or Suriname, for example, have been quite successful in maintaining their forest cover and nations like Costa Rica and Chile, have been diligent to slow or altogether stop deforestation. Obviously nations like these would stand to gain little from this proposal.

There were other issues like how to judge the rate of deforestation or how to create controls to ensure that protecting one forest does not lead to clearing another different one. There are also some poor countries that would benefit from this proposal but that lack the necessary controls needed to regulate their land use.

Because of increased public awareness of these issues, the UN is optimistic that a system can be created that will address and improve the deforestation rates around the world.

The UN is pushing for reduced emissions from deforestations to be a part of a new climate treaty that is being formulated to go beyond 2012. The purpose of this treaty is to help avert and avoid more droughts, heat waves, rising oceans, and future disease outbreaks. Perhaps coal-fired power plants or cement factories might have to begin to pay to emit carbon dioxide.

 

The negative consequences of deforestation - March 18, 2009

Unfortunately, the negative consequences of deforestation far outweigh its positive effects. Here are a few of them:

1. Exposing soil theat and rain. When forests are cleared, soil cover, which consists mainly of vegetation, is removed as well. This exposes the bare soil to extreme conditions produced by the sun’s heat and rainwater.

2. Flooding. Deforestation can result to watersheds that are no longer able to sustain and regulate water flows from rivers and streams. Trees are highly effective in absorbing water quantities, keeping the amount of water in watersheds to a manageable level. The forest also serves as a cover against erosion. Once they are gone, too much water can result to downstream flooding, many of which have caused disasters in many parts of the world.

3. The displacement of indigenous communities and their traditional way of life. This encroachment ignores their rights as much as it takes away the resources that their ancestors have bestowed upon them.

4. The loss in the number of biodiversity. This is probably the most serious consequence of deforestation.

Each year, as deforestation continues, much of the wilderness from which we benefit and would have continued to benefit from will be lost forever.

As a result, we and all the other creatures on this planet suffer greatly from the consequences of our actions.

 

…And then?????

The Earth is losing not a Fortune that

Can be Compensate!!!!

Earth needs helps

 

 

 

 

For more information now go to: http://www.solutionstoearthdestruction.com http://www.stopearthdestruction.com/Consequence-Of-Deforestation.html Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nathalie_Fiset

 

Global deforestation finally being reversed in some countries March 18, 2009

 

 

Thursday, November 16, 2006 by: Ben Kage, citizen journalist

 

Thursday, November 16, 2006 by: Ben Kage, citizen journalist

 

 

“From the new data, it seems possible that we could reverse a global trend that many people thought was irreversible,”

 said one of the lead authors, Pekka Kauppi of the University of Helsinki.

The scientists analyzed information from national databases and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiziation and calculated that the forests had expanded in 22 of the 50 most forested countries during the past 15 years.

Brazil and Indonesia still had serious problems with deforestation, and the cutting in these countries means that the global trend is still leaning toward deforestation overall.

“On a global level, deforestation will be reversed if we maintain this trend, which has involved a lot of different factors: a shift to highly productive agriculture in some places, as well as people like you and me reading newspapers on the Internet, so that forest is not destroyed,” said Jesse Ausubel, an environmental researcher at Rockefeller University in New York.

The research team was comprised of scientists in Europe, the United States and Asia, and reported that the reversal of deforestation was good news in the face of growing concern about global warming, as forests tend to act as pollution

 

 

 

 

Half the Amazon Rainforest to be Lost by 2030 March 13, 2009

… Well!!!

You should always think of finding ways in order to help the trees … things are going badly and the earth is entering the DANGER ZONE L

The report, “Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire,” concludes that 55 percent of the world’s largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching in the next 22 years. Another 4 percent may be damaged by reduced rainfall caused by global warming. This is anticipated to destroy up to 80 percent of wildlife habitat in the region.

By 2100, the report adds, global warming may cause rainfall in the Amazon to drop by 20 percent and temperatures to increase by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). This combination will increase the occurrence of forest fires, further accelerating the pace of deforestation.rainforest and is a key stabilizer of global climate. The report notes that losing 60 percent of it would accelerate the pace of global warming, affecting rainfall as far away as India.“The Amazon is on a knife-edge,” said WWF-UK forests head Beatrix Richards, “due to the dual threats of deforestation and climate change.”At the international negotiations currently underway in Bali, governments must agree a process which results in ambitious global emission reduction targets beyond the current phase of Kyoto,” she said. “Crucially, this must include a strategy to reduce emissions from forests and help break the cycle of deforestation.”

The Amazon contains more than half of the planet’s surviving

WWF warned that the “point of no return” for the Amazon rainforest, from which ecological recovery will be impossible, is only 15-25 years in the future, much sooner than has previously been supposed.

 

She called for the countries discussing global climate change at an international conference in Bali to take the importance of forests into account.

“