Deforestation and Reforestation

By Cynyr Smith

Constantly the face of the earth is changing. Some changes happen naturally, others by human hand. A main daily difference seen across the world is the felling of trees. Although this has happened seemingly harmlessly for centuries, it is in present times that the real implications of this is taking its biggest toll on the environments on our planet.

Why are trees so important for the existence of human life?

What affect does a tree cut down in a faraway country have on the environment on our own doorstep?

How can we change the global demand for deforestation to meet our materialistic needs?

How can reforestation occur to maintain sustainability and protect the existence of earth for the future?

Fig. 1

Trees- lifeblood of the world

Trees are necessary to the existence of all on earth. No trees, no life. ‘A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year’ [1]. Trees do the essential task of cleaning any polluted air so improve living conditions. They are natural carbon storages, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This helps to maintain the stability in the quality of the air that living things breathe in environments.

Trees can:
• Act like a barrier to reduce the volume of noise transmitted in a local area
• Provide shade from the heat of the sun and therefore cool rising temperatures on earth
• Be a line of defence against the effect of strong winds and protect the surrounding area. ‘A windbreak can lower home heating bills up to 30 percent’ [1]
• Balance water cycle in the atmosphere
• Secure the soil with their roots
• Be natural resources for medicines
• Be habitats for wildlife

Deforestation - destruction for dispatching

Destruction for Dispatching
Trees are a natural resource that have multipurpose uses for humans and for developing environments.

• Trees are cleared to make space that can then be occupied by humans and is constantly needed ‘with 10 billion people expected to be on the planet by 2050’ [2]
• Wood is a material used for constructing buildings and infrastructures globally
• More and more land is needed for growing crops such as soy, cocoa and coffee to feed the increasing population. Between 2001 and 2015, ‘71.9 million hectares of forest… an area more than twice the size of Germany’ [3] were cleared for these purposes
• Paper production has been dependent on the wood from cutting down trees

Fig. 2

Choking the world

Deforestation is having devastating effects as
• more carbon enters the atmosphere and poisons the air we breathe
• drought occurs more often due to lack of water retention in the land
• soil erosion occurs due to the lack of roots
• habitats of wildlife are destroyed, with some species facing extinction
• future production of medicines are at risk
• it adds to the causes of climate change
Therefore deforestation is ‘not sustainable or smart for wildlife, people or climate.’ [4]

Replanting to revive

It is evident that reforestation is necessary now and in the future. Many governments and countries have begun schemes to do so. The United Nations has announced the 2020’s as the ‘Decade of Ecosystem Restoration’ [5] which includes reforesting lands.
Some other projects are being carried out at present such as:
The Trillion Trees Initiative to be achieved globally by 2030
Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative to plant millions of trees on designated days
Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI) set up by World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) in 2017
A scheme by web search site Ecosia, founded in 2009, which uses its income to plant trees and has 20 projects in 15 countries at present
Policies by leading companies that include emphasis on reforestation procedures
Also, new research has discovered that it is beneficial to let forests to regrow naturally. ‘This approach – called proforestation – is a more effective, immediate and low cost method for removing and storing atmospheric carbon in the long term.’ [6]

Fig. 3

What Can we Do?

Every human can do their part to reduce deforestation and increase reforestation.
• Assess the products you use daily
• Buy wood and paper products with the FSC logo on them (Forest Stewardship Council) in the UK
• Buy products certified by RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil)
• Plant new trees in our local areas and support reforestation schemes globally

‘Deforestation affects us all whether we realise it or not.’ [4]

Our daily behaviours need to reflect our increased awareness so as to protect and sustain human life and environments in the future.

References:

[1] Nix, S. (2021). ‘Reasons Living Trees Are Valuable’, Treehugger, Sustainability for All [Online] Available at: https://www.treehugger.com/reasons-living-trees-are-valuable-1343514 (Accessed: 24/02/2021)
[2] Miller, B. (2015). ‘17 Important Pros and Cons of Deforestation’, Green Garage [Online] Available at: https://greengarageblog.org/17-important-pros-and-cons-of-deforestation (Accessed: 24/02/2021)
[3] Weisse, M. and Goldman E. (2021). ‘Deforestation-7 Commodities Replace an Area of Forest’, World Resources Institute. 11 February. [Online] Available at: https://www.wri.org/blog-tags/9159 (Accessed: 21/02/2021)
[4] WWF (nd.). The Effects of Deforestation. [Online] Available at: https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/effects-of/deforestation (Accessed: 20/02/2021)
[5] UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021). About the UN Decade. [Online] Available at: https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/about-un-decaded (Accessed: 02/03/2021)
[6] Dooley, K. and Mackey, B. (2019). ‘Want to Beat Climate Change? Protect Our Natural Forests’, The Conversation. 6 August. [Online] Available at: https://theconversation.com/want-to-beat-climate-change-protect-our-natural-forests-121491 (Accessed: 26/02/2021)

Image Sources:

[1] Underground Locating Services. (n d.). Tree Plantation. [image] Available at: <https://utilitylocatingservices-ryf.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Tree-Plantation.png> (Accessed: 10/03/2021)
[2] Admin. (n d.). Deforestation. [image] Available at: <http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/deforestation> (Accessed: 10/03/2021)
[3] David Hyder (n d.) [image] Available at: <https://i1.wp.com/davidhyder.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/shutterstock_1093517720-e1612033494481.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1 (Accessed: 10/3/2021)