write an article on forest conservation
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Forest conservation is the practice of planting and maintaining forested areas for the benefit and sustainability of future generations. The conservation of forest also stands & aims at a quick shift in the composition of trees species and age distribution. Forest conservation involves the upkeep of the natural resources within a forest that are beneficial to both humans and the environment. Forests are vital for human life because they provide a diverse range of resources: they store carbon &act as carbon sink, produce oxygen which is vital for existence of life on the earth, so they are rightly called as earth lung, help in regulating hydrological cycle, planetary climate, purify water, provide wild life habitat(50% of the earth's biodiversity occurs in forests), reduce global warming, absorb toxic gases & noise, reduce pollution, conserve soil,mitigate natural hazards such as floods& landslides & so on. But now-a-days, forest cover is depleting rapidly due to many reasons such as an expansion of agriculture, timber plantation, other land uses like pulp and paper plantations, urbanization, construction of roads, industries, constitutes the biggest and severe threat to the forest causing serious environmental damage. Thus, there is need of public awareness. This paper offers various strategies for the conservation of forest & awareness to people, which plays a vital role for maintaining a proper balance of environment. So, we must get involved in this national task.
Forests may provide a diversity of ecosystem services including recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen, acting as a carbon sink, aiding in regulating climate, purify water, mitigating natural hazards such as floods, and serving as a genetic reserve. Forests also serve as a source of lumber and as recreational areas.
Under the growing pressure of population in the developing countries and over industrialisation, urbanisation and consumerism in the developed countries, there is large scale deforestation in the tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world.
Deforestation:
Factors Responsible for Deforestation:
(i) Rapid growth of population in the developing countries.
(ii) Extension of agricultural and grazing lands.
(iii) Rising demand for lumber, timber, paper, pulp, fuel-wood and charcoal, and other forest products.
(iv) Industrialisation, urbanisation and consumerism in the developed and developing countries.
(v) Demand of raw material for the forest-based and agro-based industries.
(vi) Demand of land for infrastructural (roads, highways, railways, airways, irrigation, electricity and telecommunication services) facilities and civic amenities.
(vii) Construction of multi-purpose dams all over the world.
(viii) Practice of shifting cultivation in the humid-tropical regions of the world.
(ix) Change in food habits
(x) High rate of poverty in the third world countries. It is said that poverty directly or indirectly leads to deforestation.
(xi) Forest fires (natural and manmade)
(xii) Acid rains
(xiii) Delayed administrative decision, and less effective implementation of forest laws, especially in the developing countries.