list warious ways to conserve forest
Answers
Where geographical conditions permit vegetation to take the form of trees, the forest is one of the major forms of the natural landscape.
The forest resources are valuable as an integral part of the ecosystem, from the commercial point of view, and as providers of shelter to wildlife. Today forests provide the raw materials for over 5,000 products worth about 23 million dolllars
They support industry which employs 1.3 million people. In fact, forests are still the natural habitats of several species of plants and animals, as well as of several tribal groups of the world. But, the most unfortunate setback came in the form of commercial exploitation, which resulted in mass destruction of forest cover year after year.
Originally, over two-fifth of the land area of the earth, exclusive of the Polar Regions, or about 1,200 million hectares was covered with natural forests. But, now more than one-third of this area has been robbed by man of its natural protective cover and has been turned into barren land.
The history of the exploitation of forests is as old as man himself, but during earlier times it was balanced through a natural growth process because at that time forest cutting was done for personal or community use only. But with the expansion of agriculture, forest lands have been cleared.
More destruction has been done after industrial revolution and urbanisation. During the colonial period commercial exploitation began and this was the main cause of the depletion of forests.
The commercial use of forests nowadays has reached such an extent that it has become a threat to the environment in the form of:
(i) Increase in temperature,
(ii) Lesser precipitation,
(iii) Increased rate of soil erosion,
(iv) Increase in frequency and volume of floods,
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(v) Loss of soil productivity,
(vi) Extinction of several species,
(vii) Non-availability of several essential forest products, and
(viii) Imbalance in ecosystem.
The harmful effects of deforestation are so much that all over the world people and authorities have realised that forest resources must be conserved properly in order to protect the ecosystem.
The forest is a national resource and a social asset. It yields a great social profit which lies wholly outside the realm of business. But, at present, most of the forests of the world are so over-used that experts predict dire calamities in the not-too-distant future and irreparable damage on a catastrophic scale. If properly used and put on a sustained yield basis, it will be one of man’s greatest resources and for this; conservation of forest is the only alternative.
Methods of Forest Conservation:
The following steps should be taken for the conservation of forests:
Regulated and Planned Cutting of Trees:
One of the main reasons of deforestation is commercial felling of trees. According to an estimate, about 1,600 million cubic metres of wood have been used for various purposes in the world. Although trees are considered as perennial resource, when exploited on a very large scale, their revival cannot be possible.
Therefore, cutting should be regulated by adopting methods like:
(i) Clear cutting,
(ii) Selective cutting, and
(iii) Shelter wood cutting.
The clear cutting method is useful for those areas where the same types of trees are available over a large area. In that case, trees of same age group can be cut down in a selected area and then marked for replantation.
In selective cutting only mature trees are selected for cutting. This process is to be followed in rotation. Shelter wood cutting is where first of all useless trees having been cut down followed by medium and best quality timber trees.
The time gap between these cuttings is helpful in re-growth of trees. In regulated cutting only one-tenth of the forest area is selected for use and rotational system is always followed for their protection.
The forest can be managed in such a way that a timber crop may be harvested indefinitely year after year without being depleted. This technique is called the ‘sustained yield’ method adopted by many countries of the world.
Control over Forest Fire:
Destruction or loss of forest by fire is fairly common; because trees are highly exposed to fire and once started it becomes difficult to control. Sometimes, the fire starts by natural process, i.e., by lightning or by friction between trees during speedy winds, while in most cases it is started by man either intentionally or unintentionally.
According to an estimate, during the period from 1940 to 1950, in the US alone, fires consumed an average of 21.5 million acres of timber yearly and as many as 1,175,664 cases of forest fires occurred during 1955 to 1964 period.
2.control over forest fire.
reforestation and afforestation.
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