DEFORESTRATION

INTRODUCTION:

Forests is an important source for fulfilling individuals' requests and needs. Along these lines, without a doubt people would attempt to adventure woodland resources.This procedure of abusing backwoods is called deforestation. The freedom of woods done by the people keeping in mind the end goal to address their issues is known as deforestation.

At the end of the day, deforestation is the way toward clearing the forest by chopping down the trees for satisfying diverse requests. Forest has an indispensable part in addressing individuals' needs. Along these lines individuals typically chop down the trees of the woods without having appropriate learning.

Deforestation can result to desertification. Forest is the primary wellspring of vitality, crude materials, grain, creature environment, tourism etc. These sources additionally give the people some of their fundamental needs. Individuals who are unemployed, take cutting trees as business open doors. Furthermore the feeble arrangements, tenets and directions of government results in deforestation.

Here in the Philippines, Between 1990 and 2000, Philippines lost an average of 262,500 hectares of forest per year. The amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.48%. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change decreased by 20.2% to 1.98% per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Philippines lost 32.3% of its forest cover, or around 3,412,000 hectares. Measuring the total rate of habitat conversion (defined as change in forest area plus change in woodland area minus net plantation expansion) for the 1990-2005 interval, Philippines lost 7.9% of its forest and woodland habitat.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas: Philippines has some 1196 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Of these, 45.8% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 14.7% are threatened. Philippines is home to at least 8931 species of vascular plants, of which 39.2% are endemic. 5.1% of Philippines is protected under IUCN categories I-V.

Objectives:

As a Bedan we need to make open mindfulness on the impacts of deforestation and to inquire about on approaches to diminish negative effects to the earth, through using blog.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION:

 

Urban Construction

            Forests are cleared to make way for the expansion of urban areas. Trees are cut down for lumber that is usedfor building materials, furniture, and paper products which creates a major impact on forest life. This results in loss of forest area and massive deforestation. 

Agriculture
            Sometimes, forests are cleared to provide space for growing crops, building farms, ranches and other lands for agricultural purposes.   

Grazing Land    
            Forests are cut down in order create land for grazing cattle. Huge herds of animals require food and forests are cleared out to make way for grazing lands.        






Use for Fuel      
            Trees are cut down to be used as firewood or turned into charcoal, which are used for cooking and heating purposes.           




Commercial Purposes  
            Deforestation can also be caused by clearing forests for oil and mining exploitation, making highways and roads, slash and burn farming techniques, wildfires, and acid rain. Forest fires can occur naturally or in most cases are deliberate attempts by man to clear huge forests. These forests can still recover, but usually the cleared land is used for construction and agriculture purposes. This leads to loss of forests and loss of habitat for the local wildlife.




Illegal Logging 
            Many government agencies are fighting illegal logging to protect the forests. However, any type of logging legal or illegal leads to deforestation. Trees are cut down indiscriminately by logging companies, to fulfil the demands of the wood market. This does not give a chance to the local wildlife and trees to regenerate and sustain themselves which leads to loss of wildlife forever.        

Effects on Wildlife and Human Society

Erosion
           

When the soil is exposed to the sun upon deforestation, it becomes very dry and infertile due to the loss of nutrients. When there is rainfall, it washes away the rest of the nutrients, which flow with the rainwater into waterways.

Replanting trees may not help in solving the problems caused by deforestation. By the time the trees mature, the soil will be totally devoid of essential nutrients. As a result, the land will not be suitable for cultivation and will become useless. Large tracts of land will be rendered permanently impoverished due to soil erosion.        

Disruption of the Water Cycle   

            Trees help maintain the water cycle in various ways. They absorb water through their roots, which is then released into the atmosphere. A large part of the water that circulates in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, remains inside the plants.

When these trees are cut down, the climate will get drier in that particular area. The groundwater tables are affected and will soon get depleted. The trees help in prevention of running off of water and help the soil absorb the flowing water. When there are no trees, water just runs off, leaving no chance for the groundwater tables to absorb more water which will eventually lead to reduction in water resources.  



Loss of Biodiversity      

            Tropical rainforests only take up to 6 percent of the surface area of the Earth, where about 80-90 percent of the entire species of the world exist. Due to massive deforestation, about 50 to 100 species of animals are being lost each day. This leads to the extinction of animals and plants on a massive scale. The animals not only lose their habitat and protective cover, but they are also pushed to extinction.

Flooding and Drought 

            Forests can function to absorb and store great amounts of water quickly when there are heavy rains. When forests and trees are cut down, this regulation of the flow of water is disrupted, which leads to alternating periods of flood and then drought in the affected area, leading to increased risks for people living nearby.

Climate Change           

Trees act as a storage place for carbon, since they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is then used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up trees. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the carbon that is stored in them as carbon dioxide. This, in turn, leads to greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.      

Solution / Prevention

Several measures are being implemented to help reduce the effect of deforestation. Methods include research in farming, forest management, reforestation, and forest plantations.

 

Farming

New methods for farming such as high-yield hybrid crops, greenhouse, autonomous building gardens, and hydroponics are being developed for more intensive farming.

Forest Management

Since it has long been known that deforestation can cause environmental damage enough in some cases to cause societies to collapse, several forest management strategies have been implemented in several countries throughout centuries.

In Tonga, paramount rulers developed policies designed to prevent conflicts between short-term gains from converting forest to farmland and long-term problems forest loss would cause, 

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Tokugawa Japan, the shoguns developed a highly sophisticated system of long-term planning to stop and even reverse deforestation of the preceding centuries through substituting timber by other products and more efficient use of land that had been farmed for many centuries.

In sixteenth century Germany, landowners also developed silviculture to deal with the problem of deforestation. However, these policies tend to be limited to environments with good rainfall, no dry season and very young soils (through volcanism or glaciation). This is because on older and less fertile soils trees grow too slowly for silviculture to be economic, whilst in areas with a strong dry season there is always a risk of forest fires destroying a tree crop before it matures.

Reforestation

In China, every capable citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 were required by the government in the past to plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in other forest services to support reforestation. The government claims that at least 1 billion trees have been planted in China every year since 1982. It is no longer required today, but March 12 of every year has become the Planting Holiday in China.

In western countries, increasing consumer demand for wood products that have been produced and harvested in a sustainable manner are causing forest landowners and forest industries to become increasingly accountable for their forest management and timber harvesting practices.

The Arbor Day Foundation's Rain Forest Rescue program is a charity that helps to prevent deforestation. The charity uses donated money to buy up and preserve rainforest land before the lumber companies can buy it. The Arbor Day Foundation then protects the land from deforestation. This also locks in the way of life of the primitive tribes living on the forest land. Organizations such as Community Forestry International, The Nature Conservancy, World Wide Fund for Nature, Conservation International, African Conservation Foundation and Greenpeace also focus on preserving forest habitats.

Forest Plantations

As suggested by forestry writers Botkins and Sedjo, high-yielding forest plantations can meet the world’s demand for wood. Calculation shows that plantations yielding 10 cubic meters per hectare annually could supply all the timber required for international trade on 5 percent of the world's existing forestland. By contrast natural forests produce about 1-2 cubic meters per hectare, therefore 5 to 10 times more forest land would be required to meet demand.

Ways to prevent deforestation:

(a) Use Recycled Items: E.G. Notebook papers, books, toilet paper, and shopping bags. By using recycled items, and being conscientious to not wasting resources, demand for new raw material to substitute these items can be reduced.

(b) Tree care: Includes reforestation - For every tree that is cut down, ensure that another tree is planted in its place.

(c) Farming practices: Rotating crops - Instead of using different portions of land each year, use same portion of land to plant different crops. It is effective in maintaining soil fertility. Farmers can also adopt other options, such as high-yield hybrid crops and hydroponics, relying on a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil.

(d) Coals: Use coals in place of firewoods for the fireplace during winter.

(e) Cutting back on palm oil: In countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, there is an increase in the cut down of trees to generate palm oil used in everyday products.

(f) Support conservation organisations: Support them through donation of time, money, or actions. 

Authors:

The makers of this site are from an oganization called the students for social change, that aims to promote an advocacy for environmental awareness. The members are Clarisse Concepcion, Lorenzo artinez,Carlo Flores & James Campecino.

Credits:

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/archive/Philippines.htm

http://dehp-grp11-ns103.blogspot.com/2012/01/cause-and-effects-of-deforestation-on.html