comFeb Follow Facebook Twitter. The unauthorised felling cutting of forest trees for timber trade and fuel-wood should be curbed stopped immediately, conservation of forest essay. After oceans, forests are the world's largest storehouses of carbon. Nearly 80 million tones of valuable crowding is burnt as fuel for want of alternative fuel.
Analysis of Findings
Forests are one of the most important natural resources that have been gifted to mankind for their sustained existence on earth. Without question, they provide us with huge amounts of tangible and intangible benefits, without which indeed, all life, less to say human life, would fall under the risk of extinction. Hence, it is vital for us to realize this importance of forest cover, conservation of forest essay, conserve them, and ultimately work towards a sustainable way to maintain our forests and meet our needs at the same time.
In this paper, I have focused initially on the barbaric behavior of us human beings towards forests, and how they have been and are still being massacred around the globe to meet our ever-increasing and limitless wants and needs. I have also focused on why some of our conservation strategies and efforts are not working out the way they were supposed to be. In doing so, I have tried to prove that countries like Bangladesh, who are still striving to develop should focus on forest conservation. My hypothesis is that Bangladesh has the capability to both conserve its forest resources and grow economically at the same time, conservation of forest essay, and create means for poverty elevation by conserving.
In the second portion I have focused on a more comprehensive way to sustainable forest conservation, backing up my statements by expert opinions and case studies, and at the end a bit of focus was put on biodiversity importance and its conservation practices and strategies. I have also mentioned some economic, social and policy instruments that can be implemented in order to conserve forests better. Order custom essay Forest Conservation with free plagiarism report, conservation of forest essay. I have used some primary data, from specific experts on forests, but my main data sources are secondary sources, mainly the Internet and books. The full list of references is given in the work-cited portion at the end of the paper.
From the very beginning of civilization, human beings have depended heavily on forests for their survival. Cradles of civilization, places of beauty, sources of spiritual inspiration, and treasure houses of natural riches, forests are closely linked with the physical, economic, and spiritual well being of people. Man has depended on forests for lumber and furniture, medicine and cosmetics, firewood and fooddrinking water and fresh air, respite and recreation. Despite their central role in the well being of people, forests are conservation of forest essay by human actions on a scale and pace far beyond nature's capacity to adapt. Reasons such as land shortage, urbanization, agriculture, excessive and unsustainable timber extraction have led to cutting down of miles upon miles of pristine forest land.
In alone, 10, square miles in Brazil's Amazon region were deforested due to logging, ranching, conservation of forest essay, and infrastructure development. In Africa's Congo Basin, roads built into legally protected areas like national parks by illegal loggers provided access for bush meat poachers and contributed to an increase in forest fires. Although recently, the importance of forests has been realized to a degree, enough importance has not yet been put into the conservation sector so as to actually retain the remaining percentage of forest cover the world has left, conservation of forest essay. In this paper I have discussed just how much importance needs to be put on conservation of forests, why this needs to be done, how it can be done in a systematic, sustainable way, and what the aftermaths of not doing so may be.
For clarification purposes, a full list of definitions are given below so that the terms discussed in this paper are clear and not confused with other related terms. Generally a large uncultivated area of land bearing trees and undergrowth is termed as a forest. Wild animals are also associated with this term, which includes their interaction with the trees and undergrowth and their abiotic surroundings air, soil etc. S Davis defined forests as a set of land parcels, which conservation of forest essay or could have tree vegetation. These two terms are often confused with one another, but they refer to two slightly different concepts.
Preservation of anything is basically keeping it in such manner that it cannot or should not be touched or used. For instance, if a forest is being preserved it means that it is to be kept untouched and nothing is to be extracted from it. It is to be left to its own accord. On the other hand, conservation implies more towards a sustained use, or use in a sustainable fashion. As in the example given above, if a forest is declared as conserved, it means that resources may be extracted in a systematic and accounted way, so as not to compromise the conservation of forest essay ability to replenish itself in conservation of forest essay of resources, and so that it may continue its intangible functions properly.
The term refers to the existence and maintenance of a system, on its own accord, over a period of time, or that a system is able to stand and function by itself for a certain duration. This term then leads on to sustainable development, which the latest of concepts in development of a nation and its entities, conservation of forest essay. Sustainable development means the development targeted at making resources available both useful yet sustained, so as no to compromise it for future generations. Generally put, forest management is the maintenance of forests in such a way that it is protected and conserved at the same time. In other words it the system by which we make sure that we extract resources from the forest in a sustained way sustainable yields and so that the forest does not lose its credibility.
Forests come in various types and properties. They range from tropical evergreen rain forests along the equator of the earth, to temperate and boreal forests in northern America and Russia. The world's tropical forests, which circle the globe, are interestingly diverse. Ranging from the steamy jungles of the rain forests to the dry forests and savannas, they provide habitat for millions of species of plants and animals. Once covering some This is in fact the story in most parts of conservation of forest essay world. Bangladesh for instance is losing its natural forestland at an alarming rate of 3.
Miller, Although plantations have gone up in percentage during the last few years, especially strip plantations, which are a recent phenomenon in Bangladesh, especially in Dhaka, natural forests are still on the decrease. This can be seen in the table below, conservation of forest essay, as of the yearwhich also includes comparisons to Asia and the world as a whole. Covering a land area approximately the size of the United States, tropical forests are being rapidly degraded, the equivalent of the combined areas of Ohio and Indiana each year.
If we look at the table given below, we can get an estimate of what the situation really is at present. This is alarming in more than just environmental perspectives. Yet, when we look into conservation possibilities, all sides, sectors, direct and indirect reasons need to be assessed before coming to any kind of decision. Since this paper is about the conservation needs of forests, all such sectors and sides have been touched in the following sections. Before the dawn of agriculture approximately 10, years ago, forests and open woodland covered about Over the centuries, however, about one-third of these natural forests have been destroyed, conservation of forest essay.
According to a study by FAO, about million ha of tropical forests are cut each year-an area about the size of the States of Ohio or Virginia. Between andan estimated million acres 85 million ha of tropical forests were cut or cleared. In India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, conservation of forest essay, the best commercial forests are gone, and cutting is increasing in South America. Several factors are responsible for deforestation : clearing for agriculture, fuel woodcutting, and harvesting of wood products. By far the most important of these is clearing for agriculture. In the Tropics, the age-old practice of shifting, sometimes called "slash-and-burn," agriculture has been used for centuries. In this primitive system, local people cut a small patch of forest to make way for subsistence farming, conservation of forest essay.
After a few years, soil fertility conservation of forest essay and people move on, usually to cut another patch of trees and begin another garden. In the abandoned plot, the degraded soil at first supports only weeds and shrubby trees. Later, soil fertility and trees return, but that may take decades. As population pressure increases, the fallow rest period between cycles of gardening is shortened, agricultural yields decrease, and the forest region is further degraded to small trees, brush, or eroded savanna, conservation of forest essay.
Conversion to sedentary agriculture is an even greater threat to tropical forests. Vast areas that conservation of forest essay supported tropical forests are now permanently occupied by subsistence farmers and ranchers and by commercial farmers who produce sugar, cocoa, palm oil, and other products. In many tropical countries there is a critical shortage of firewood. For millions of rural poor, survival depends on finding enough conservation of forest essay to cook the evening meal. Every year more of the forest is destroyed, and the distance from home to the forest increases.
Not only do people suffer by having to spend much of their time in the search for wood, but so does the land. Damage is greatest in dry conservation of forest essay forests where firewood cutting converts forests to savannas and grasslands. Tropical forests are usually selectively logged rather than clear-cut. Selective logging leaves the forest cover intact but usually reduces its commercial value because the biggest and best trees are removed. Selective logging also damages remaining trees conservation of forest essay soil, increases the likelihood of fire, and degrades the habitat for wildlife species that require large, old trees-the ones usually cut.
In addition, logging roads open up the forests to shifting cultivation and permanent settlement. In the past, conservation of forest essay, logging was done primarily by primitive means-trees were cut with axes and logs were moved with animals such as oxen. Today the use of modern machinery--chain saws, tractors, and trucks -makes logging easier, faster, and potentially more destructive. In Bangladesh, conservation of forest essay, it is more or less the same picture, conservation of forest essay. Being a developing country which is yet striving to stand on its own feet, it is still extracting its only, and few available resources such as forests for the sake of rapid economic growth.
Further more, the lack of land space is forcing settlers to encroach upon forest land, in order to use it for agriculture and fisheries purposes. The poor are using forests as means for survival, and there is little the administration local governments and forest department can do to stop illegal encroachment in forests. Yet even so, as I have stated in my hypothesis, it is possible for a country like Bangladesh to conserve forests and elevate poverty at the same time, and the following sections will consist of exactly how this may be achieved, conservation of forest essay. M Khan thinks is required, and he goes on to say that the protection of the environment is an essential part of development and that this is globally recognized. In this light, when we look at the conservation efforts being made to conserve the forests of Bangladesh, it is almost immediately clear that most of the above stated conditions are not being applied.
Problems with definitions of protected areas still remain, and hence loop holes give people the chance to illegally encroach upon the land. So the question is now, what is there to be done? What steps should Bangladesh authorities take to prevent such conservation of forest essay and protect the forests we have? A simple solution is given by Dr, conservation of forest essay. Abdur Rob Khan, a well known economist and research director at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, when he was asked as to what Bangladesh can do. To do that, the first and most obvious step is to introduce participatory forestry.
The stakeholders have to be identified and given proper priority in terms of their needs and requirements. This has to be doubled. This can be done by introducing social forestry, homestead forestry and road side forestry. Once these two steps have been undertaken, we can then head on towards poverty elevation, because both these steps will not only help the nation as a whole, but also see to the needs of the local people in and around forests. Other wise, conservation may face an early death, conservation of forest essay, and we may as well lose our forests.
Abdur Rob are to great degrees true. Indeed, the only way to ensure the survival of a resource and the people associated with it is to introduce those people into its management and care. Below I have stated some of the ways to o this and also some other steps towards conserving forests.
1000 words essay
Trees are managed as a crop. Two concepts are important: renewability and sustainability. Renewability means that trees can be replanted and seeded and harvested over and over again on the same tract of land in what are known as crop "rotations. How far into the future were foresters expected to plan? As long as there were vast acres of virgin original forests remaining, this question was somewhat academic. Today, however, sustainability is a vital issue in forestry. Most of the world's virgin forests are gone, and people must rely more and more on second- growth or managed forests. Perhaps we now face, as never before, the limits to long-term productivity. In the German forest model, forestry is viewed as a continual process of harvest and regeneration.
Harvest of wood products is a goal, but a forester's principal tasks are to assure long-term productivity. That is achieved by cutting the older, mature, and slow-growing timber to make way for a new crop of young, fast-growing trees. Three examples of timber harvest-regeneration methods silvicultural systems illustrate how foresters manage stands to produce timber on a sustained basis. Individual trees or small groups of trees are harvested as they become mature. Numerous small openings in the forest are created in which saplings or new seedlings can grow. The resulting forest has a continuous forest canopy and trees of all ages.
In clear cutting, an entire stand of trees is removed in one operation. From the forester's point of view, clear cutting is the easiest way to manage a forest-and the most economical. Regeneration may come from sprouts on stumps, from seedlings that survive the logging operation, or from seeds that germinate after the harvest. If natural regeneration is delayed longer than desired, the area is planted or seeded. Clear cutting systems are often used to manage fast-growing species that require a lot of light. Resulting stands are even aged because all the trees in an area are cut-and regenerated-at the same time. Clear cutting has become controversial in recent years because it has the potential to damage watersheds and because it tends to eliminate species of wildlife dependent on old growth trees.
If clear cuts are kept small and the cutting interval is long enough, however, biological diversity may not be impaired. In Shelterwood systems, the forest canopy is removed over a period of years, usually in two cuttings. After the first harvest, natural regeneration begins in the understory. By the time the second harvest is made, enough young trees have grown to assure adequate regeneration. Shelterwood systems favor species that are intermediate in tolerance to shade. Such systems are difficult to use successfully and are the least used of the three silvicultural methods described. It seems that the obvious conclusion would be, as Dr. Rob said, that social forestry is the best option available to us at present.
This will not only enable Bangladesh to conserve its few remaining forests, but also use those forests efficiently as a tool to poverty elevation. In fact this is not the first time research on Bangladesh forests has led to such conclusions. Many experts have done similar such research and have come to find this sort of forestry as efficient means of conservation. Bangladesh yet faces many hard steps to the stage we call developed. Even now, it faces harden blockades when the question of conservation arises. Poverty, high population, land shortage, illegal encroachment, political disfucntionings and sheer ignorance of duty are just some of the barricades that hold us back from preserving the few resources we have left in this once lushly rich country.
It not as though we are not conserving. Indeed, plantations have come up across the country in what seems hopeful ways. It seems that there is yet hope for us and our forests. Shatchari, Modhupur, Lawachara, Medakochapia are some bright names in our success books concerning plantation forestry. Yet I raise the question to the jury, is this what we really want for us? Do we really want to see some time in the future that the country is devoid of its natural forests and has only plantations left? Plantations, Strip plantations, mono-cultures, botanical gardens are very good in terms of forest cover, but if we lose all our natural forests, what would happen to all the hundreds of species of animals and birds that we have?
We would lose them forever. Will it be possible for us to conserve them to? The case stands for the rest of the world as well. Tropical forests are being deforested at a football field size a day. Very soon, perhaps sooner than we think, we will lose what we have left to the greed of a few ignorant people. Will it not shame us to think that we human beings will be responsible of wiping out all other species just for the sake of our comfort? Is this not a question of ethics? It remains to be seen as to how Bangladesh, less to say the rest of the world acts to save its forests, yet perhaps it is not wise to just sit and wait for some miracle to happen. It is time we put on our thinking caps and stepped out into the field, and tried our best to see to that we leave the few natural pristine forests remaining at peace with themselves.
on Forest Conservation. After oceans, forests are the world's largest storehouses of carbon. Absorbing harmful greenhouse gasses that produce climate change. Providing clean water for drinking, bathing, and other household needs Protecting watersheds and reducing or slowing the amount of erosion and chemicals that reach waterways Providing food and medicine Serving as a buffer in natural disasters like flood and rainfalls. Forest Conservation Forest Conservation. Forest conservation as the name suggests is the preservation and the protection of forests. Importance of Forests. Let us take a look at why forests are so very important to us and our environment.
Ways to Conserve the Forest. While deforestation cannot be avoided completely, we must look to control it. Solved Question for You. Restriction on wind turbines or other economically viable technologiesInability to use ATVs, snowmobiles, or other recreational vehiclesNo access to inspection records of your propertyConfidentiality breaches such as a public petition for structures or other land uses without your consent. Importance of Conservation of Forest Forests are necessary elements in the earth. We need to conserve them because if forests are destroyed, animals and other creatures of the forests will come out to human settlements searching for a place to stay. This essay was written by a fellow student.
You can use it as an example when writing your own essay or use it as a source, but you need cite it. Explore how the human body functions as one unit in harmony in order to life. Forest Conservation. Free Essays - PhDessay. com, Feb 07, Accessed January 7, com , Feb The poaching of an endangered species of animals and birds should be made a punishable offence or a breach. Such laws should not remain on paper only, they should be enforced strictly. Even if some type of wild animals and birds are in abundance today, their indiscriminate killing or indiscriminate hunting should not be allowed by the forest authorities or the governments.
The natural habitats of untamed animals and birds should be preserved or conseve by establishing National Parks and Sanctuaries throughout the country or state within the near forest places and take care of the animals. The Government Department connected with the conservation of wildlife should conduct a periodic survey or a list of animal species population in all the forests, National Parks and Sanctuaries to have a knowledge of the population of all species of wild animals and birds, so that these animals can be helped or prevented by the forest experts in the times of distress like floods and famines and other conditions.
Special attention should be paid to the conservation of endangered species of wild animals and birds and take care of them to re-establish their species to prevent their extinction altogether. The unauthorised felling cutting of forest trees for timber trade and fuel-wood should be curbed stopped immediately. This is because depletion of forests or cutting down of forests destroys the natural habitat of wild animals and birds, and exposes them to the cruelty of man as well as nature. In the case of Government authorised felling of forest trees, for every acre acre is a unit of land area of forest cut down, an equal area of land should be planted with saplings of trees to make up for the loss in the long run.
Conservation of Forest and Wildlife Essay. i The Case of Khejri Tree. ii The Chipko Andolan. Ecological considerations have not been of high priority in many developing countries. Fortunately awareness of ecological consequences has been growing rapidly, and environmental considerations would increasingly affect the forest development policies and strategy all over the world. Large areas of the hills of North-East India, Orissa, M. This is a serious threat to the ecological balance of these areas resulting in the rapid destruction of flora and fauna in the hill regions and accentuating soil erosion and floods. It is both a way of life and an aspect of culture of these people. The only way in which shifting cultivation could be controlled is by agro-forestry practices.
Taungya cultivation, Agrisilvi culture is practiced in India to grow forest crops in conjunction with agricultural crops where there is great pressure on land in North U. and Kerala. A notable example of agro-forestry practice is the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines which has initiated the shifting cultivators to grow Albizzia falcatoria for pulp aided by the World Bank through the Development Bank of the Philippines. A similar measure, modified to our local conditions, would help in the ecological balance in the hills. Government of India through the I. have rightly constituted a Task Force on agro-forestry for the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Barak region.
To do this, dedicated experienced people are needed to handle these cases and to make the cultivators accept the concept of a settled way of life. Since independence we have lost million hectares of forest land. The installation of more thermal plants and planning of nuclear power plants as well as utilization of solar energy should be encouraged and natural forests saved. Forests form the backbone for many wood and pulp industries which consume power and if forests are lost the power cannot be commissioned.
Nearly, million tons of fuel wood is consumed per year out of which only 20 million tones come from recorded sources. This indicates the alarming rate at which the tree growth is depleted on the countryside. Nearly four million tons of fuel is reported to be needed for cremation in the country. Nearly 80 million tones of valuable crowding is burnt as fuel for want of alternative fuel. Bio gases and other agricultural residues valuable as raw material for pulp industries are burnt. In order to rationalize the usage of these materials energy plantations are badly needed. Such energy plantation as Casuarinas and Eucalyptus could be seen raised by people around Bangalore and Keral in Karnataka. The extensive plantations raised by Government have been earmarked to industries and the common man continues to feel the pinch of shortage of fuel wood.
Large area in India are subjected to mining. In , mines were working in India of which were non-coal mineral mines and were coal mines, all employing nearly 7,45, persons. The pollution and health hazards consequent on the open mining methods, as well as the slime disposal of underground mines pose a big problem. Ecological measures are badly needed to prevent soil wash, prevention of noise and dust and other forms of pollution. A far reaching development was that of Kudremukh Iron Ore Co. The Bababudangiri Iron Ore Project has tried to inbuilt the environmental measures within the project cost. Extensive implementation of social forestry would mean the improvement in climatic conditions, betterment of the environment, and building up of enormous potential for energy resources without detriment to the present resources and providing employment to thousands.
The large scale cultivation of bamboo, a much sought after material both by the rich and the poor, would add to increased resources. Treated bamboos offer excellent raw material for housing of low-income groups. In the matter of conservation of wild life our country has done a commendable work in total banning of shooting and initiating establishment of sanctuaries and National Parks including the prestigious Project Tiger which has also produced encouraging results. The conservation of other species like crocodiles and reptiles and fish which are threatened of extinction need to be stepped up.
Crocodile farming has been an outstanding success in places like Bangkok, and India should step up such projects. A more intensive vigilance is needed to protection of wild life especially around project areas. Our elephant population has been dwindling, though reports of rampage by elephants are made out in such a way as to make people believe that their number has increased. In reality it is the other way and man has encroached on their habitat and they are perforce to head into the agricultural fields for food. In recent years a pernicious practice has developed where the herd are followed with or without the help of the local tribals and males are killed for ivory. It is found that there has been a gradual reduction in the number of male animals in elephant herds.
The Karnataka-Kerala-Tamil Nady complex has been the home of these pachyderms. The submergence of large chunks of forests has deprived these animals and other wild life undisturbed habitat. Against this background, it was proposed nearly ten years ago to develop an integrated National Park called Jawahar National Park including Bandipur, Mudumalai sanctuaries of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu of the area abutting these in Kerala. But it is unfortunate that some considerations have come in the way of integrating these three areas. When this is done there can be no better effort in conservation of wild life and with the interest the Prime Minister has in this it is hoped it will materialize. Even the Rhinos have to get a better deal than what they are getting now. The denudation in the Himalayan Region and consequential floods calls for an international programme of watershed management aided by all the adjacent countries — Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bangla Desh and Bhutan.
Controlled forestry policy backed by political will, with a long-range view and not a primitive outlook towards forest, is needed today. Our forest policy should, therefore, result in a large share of resources being allocated to rural a forestation programme directly benefiting the large percentage of the people. These could create enormous employment opportunities. Technology and expertise is not lacking in our country for handling these challenges and for providing clear habitat, water and air to our people. Otherwise we could not be able to conserve our resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment