what can we done to save Forest?
Answers
Explanation:
Ten Ways to Preserve Our Forests
- Protect More Ancient Forests. ...
- Use Ecoforestry in All Secondary Forests. ...
- Support Canada's National Forest Strategy. ...
- Ban the Import of Illegally Logged Timber. ...
- Use Less Paper and Wood. ...
- Eat Less Beef. ...
- Invest in Rainforest Communities. ...
- Support the Activists.
Explanation:
1. Protect More Ancient Forests
Eight thousand years ago, large areas of the world were covered with ancient forest. As we started to farm, we cut them down for firewood, to build houses, and then to make ships, and charcoal for our growing industries. Today, as the world’s demand for timber and paper continues to grow, almost 80% of the original ancient forests have been logged or degraded, and we are losing an additional 13 million hectares a year, an area the size of Greece. As we lose the forest, we also lose the habitat for many species, including human tribes.
2. Use Ecoforestry in All Secondary Forests
In Switzerland, they banned clearcut logging centuries ago, when they recognized how it destroyed the soil. Here in Canada, however, clearcutting is still practiced quite widely. In 73 countries around the world, including Canada, a new standard of socially responsible, ecologically sensitive forestry is being embraced by some companies, landowners, and First Nations that protects the forests while their trees are being harvested, and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). With good ecoforestry, the forest will yield more timber of higher commercial value over the long term, while protecting the forest’s ecosystem.
3.Ban the Import of Illegally Logged Timber
For every mahogany tree in the tropics that is found and illegally cut down, a bulldozer smashes its way through 60 other trees, all for that lovely shine that looks so good on the furniture when the guests come to visit. Greenpeace estimates that 90% of the timber produced in the Amazon is of illegal origin, fuelled by bribes, corruption, and intimidation. The World Bank estimates that the global trade in illegal timber is worth $15 billion a year, with the US as the largest consumer, spending $3.8 billion a year. One of the solutions is to develop strong federal legislation, banning its import, to discourage illegal logging in forest areas where timber harvesting is strictly prohibited.
4.Use Less Paper and Wood
If you buy it, they will log. The more we buy, the more they log. To reduce our demand, we can avoid using paper napkins, plates, cups, and bags. We can buy paper made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, or from hemp, and be sure to recycle all our waste paper. We can try to buy FSC certified wood when we need timber, or seek out recycled lumber from house deconstructions. We can remember that wood and paper are not just “stuff”: they are made from the living fabric of our planet, home to a myriad creatures. 11% of the lumber that is cut each year in the US is used to make 400 million wooden pallets, that end up in bonfires or in the landfill. That much timber could build 300,000 houses. We should ban all wood waste from our landfills, and encourage the careful deconstruction of unwanted houses, instead of demolition.
5. Eat Less Beef
North America’s insistent demand for hamburgers, steak, and dog food sends a very clear message to the farmers of Central America, and Brazil, who clear the forest to make way for their cattle ranches. In Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, for every cow, 2.5 acres of forest disappear; for every quarter pound hamburger from a cleared rainforest, fifty-five square feet of rainforest is destroyed. A vegan, who eats no meat, fish, or dairy products, needs 1/6th of an acre for his or her annual food needs. A vegetarian needs half an acre. A meat-eater needs three acres, and increasingly, some of this comes from cleared rainforests. We can scoff our steaks, or we can keep our rainforests; but it seems we can’t have both.
6.Invest in Rainforest Communities
Nearly 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been deforested, and forest scientists are saying that if it reaches a 40% level of deforestation, the forest will enter a process of desertification that is irreversible. The Rainforest Action Network, based in San Francisco, has a “Protect-an-Acre” program which provides funding to help forest peoples gain legal recognition of their territories. It also helps them to develop locally-based economic alternatives, and resist intrusions by the loggers and oil companies, who are after their land. This is a very specific initiative that you can support now, that will have a specific impact.
7.Support the Activists
In 1993, when the BC government announced that it would allow forest companies to log 62% of the forest in Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, there was such an uproar that 12,000 citizens attended a summer long road blockade, and 850 people were arrested for peaceful civil disobedience. The protests worked, though not fully; the government backed off, and endorsed an ecosystem-based approach that has reduced the amount of logging taking place. Without activism, nothing happens. The destructive logging continues, and the world’s forests continue to fall.