DEFORESTATION

Lecture 2 28th April 2010

What are forests?

Biotic Components
Community of plants and animals Microorganisms

Abiotic Components
Soil Water Climate

And interrelationship of all these components constitute ecosystem of forests. A forest is considered an area with at least 10 per cent tree canopy cover.

Some facts about forests

The total forest area of the world is just below 4 billion

hectares, nearly 30 %of Earths area.

Russia contains the largest forested area, followed by Brazil, Canada, and the United States. 47 % of the worlds forests are in the tropics, 33 % in the boreal zone (far north), 11 % t in the temperate zones, and 9 % in sub-tropical areas. Tropical rainforests cover an area larger than Europe.

 According to the United Nations Environment Programmes Global

Biodiversity Outlook, about 60 per cent, and possibly closer to 90 per cent, of all species are found in tropical forests.

Over 1 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods.

Around 60 million indigenous people depend on forests. A third of the worlds people use biomass fuels, mainly firewood, for cooking and heating. The worlds rainforests are home to half of life on earth. The Amazon is the richest biodiversity hotspot in the world, holding about a quarter of land species.

 About 13 million hectares of tropical forests are destroyed each

year, an area nearly twice the size of Belgium. Tropical and temperate forests absorb around a ton of CO2 per hectare per year from the atmosphere. Due to the depth of peat, one hectare of tropical peat forest can store 3000 to 6000 tons of carbon per hectare Deforestation and forest degradation releases about 1.7 billion tons of carbon annually, about 20 percent of global carbon emissions.

Total emissions from deforestation in 2008-2012 are expected to

equal 40 billion tons of CO2.

Why forests are important?

Other than for their beauty, forests are highly responsible in keeping and sustaining global ecosystems. In fact, much of the quality of life we enjoy, we owe to the forests. It is also the home of more than half of all creatures and organisms in this planet. From food to life-saving medicines, forests give mankind a variety of gifts that contribute much to our quality of life.

Importance of Forests
Earth Purifiers Habitats Economic Benefits Recreational areas Watersheds

Forests as Earth's air purifiers

Forests are often known as Earth's lungs.(specially Amazon forests) Green plants absorb and carbon dioxide during the photosynthesis release oxygen into

atmosphere in return.
Carbon guzzlers (absorb CO2 emitted as a result of animal and human respiration, burning of fossil fuels, volcanoes, other human induced activities) Oxygen is also a by product of photosynthesis

Forests as Habitat
Natural home to biodiversity Rainforests covering 6% of the planet's surface, these lush green, often tropical masses contain around 50% of plant and animal species on this planet. In 1 km2 of rainforest, you can often find more types of life than can be found in an equivalent 1,000 km2 in colder, more northern climates. Originating and supporting food chains A forest is home to many types plants, which are the food source for many

types of animals, which are, in their turn, also sources of food for other
animals.

Economic Benefits
It is estimated that forest products contribute about 1% of world

gross domestic product (GDP).

The annual turnover of timber and other wood products from forests is valued at more than US$200 billion.(FAO,UN Programme) Apart from that, non-timber products like rubber, cotton, medicinal products, food and so on represent significant economic value. Even more important is fuel wood and fodder, especially in developing nations, where people depend on wood almost entirely for their household energy.

Recreational Uses
Popular destinations for recreation

In many parts of the world, state forests have regulations regarding

hunting and fishing. Acts as Watershed

The forests play a vital role as watersheds.

The bulk of the earth's rainfall is received by mountains, thus forming the headwaters of the land's water distribution channels. As a result, the mountain forests influence the quantity and quality of this precious freshwater resource

 Water supply dependence

Currently, about a third of the world's largest cities (33 out of 105) source a significant proportion of drinking water directly from protected forest areas. These cities include:
New York Jakarta Tokyo Mumbai Rio de Janeiro Los Angeles Barcelona Nairobi, and Melbourne.

TYPES OF FORESTS
Classified on the basis of climate
Tropical Temperate Boreal or Taiga

Tropical
Include rain forests (high rainfall and humidity) Occur near equator Tropical rain forests are found in Central and South America, Africa, South-East Asia, Brazil, Zaire, Indonesia.

Dry Tropical forests are present in India, Kenya, Zimbabwe and

Egypt. A major characteristic of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are present (rainy and dry).

 The Canopy in tropical forests is multi-layered and continuous, allowing little light penetration.

Most ecologically rich of all forest types (60% of known

species of plants, 40 % of birds, and 80% of insects) Quick regeneration (long growing season and 12 hrs day period) Most threatened because of logging

Timber harvesting by short contracts so no consideration to

reforestation.

Temperate Forests
Occur in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and western and central Europe. Moderate climate and a growing season of 140-200 days during 4-6 frost-free months distinguish temperate forests.

Because the growing season is shorter, temperate forests

regenerate more slowly than tropical forests. Temperature varies from -30 C to 30 C. Canopy is moderately dense and allows light to penetrate, resulting in well-developed and richly diversified understorey vegetation and stratification of animals.

Boreal Forests
Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest terrestrial biome.

Boreal (meaning northern) forests can be found in areas with

shorter, warm summers and long winters Boreal forests are found in Europe, Asia, Siberia, and North

America.
Two-thirds of the boreal forests are in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada.

Because of the cold climates, plant life in the boreal forest is sturdy,
consisting mainly of evergreens and other resilient vegetation.

 The forest canopy is so dense that little light reaches the forest floor, thus the vegetation on the forest floor is thin.

The forests consist mostly of evergreen conifers with

needle-like leaves, such as pine (Pinus), fir (Abies), and spruce (Picea). There are also deciduous genera such as birch (Betula) and poplar (Populus).

DEFORESTATION
Permanent clearing of forest lands for all forms of agriculture and for other land uses. Currently deforestation is occuring at an alarming rate i.e. 12 million hectares of forests are cleared annually. 0.18% per year in 2000-2005.

Causes of Deforestation
Primary causes of deforestation vary. Asian forests are threatened by:
Commercial logging Agricultural Expansion

African forests are in danger because of

Fuel wood Collection Overgrazing of cattle Logging

In Latin America, forests clearance is associated with

Cattle ranching Population settlement schemes Development projects Commercial Logging

Subsistence Agriculture
Accounts for 48% of deforestation Rapid population growth and widespread poverty Unsustainable method for the survival of subsistence

farmers and landless poor.

Inequitable distribution of land intensifies this situation in many places. E.g. in Brazil, 5% of the farmers own about 70% of the land.

Forest burned for Agriculture in Mexico

Commercial Logging
The cutting down of trees for lumber that is used for building materials, furniture, and paper products. Selective logging -- where only the most valuable trees are felled -doesn't help matters, as one falling tree can bring down dozens of surrounding trees and thin the forest's protective canopy The consumption of tropical lumber has risen 14 folds since 1950. 21% of the tropical deforestation is the result of commercial logging.

Developing countries borrow huge loans from developed countries for

economic growth and are sometimes forced to sell their forests at lower price than market.

 Globally 5.9 million hectares are logged annually in the tropics. These supply 30 % of the worlds log export. In Eastern Brazil, native forests are cleared to plant Eucalyptus to

fire steel mills.

Native forests of Africa and Brazils Atlantic forest (worlds rare and diverse forest) are logged for planting eucalyptus which is used for fuel wood, pulp, timber etc. Timber harvesting usually involves building of network of roads

which exposes forests to

Exotic pests and diseases Increase soil erosion Open up forests to miners, ranchers and poor farmers.

Commercial Logging

Cattle Ranching and Agriculture for Export

12% of deforestation is due to cattle ranching In Latin America, more than 20 million hectares of tropical forests are replaced during last 2 decades.

After clearing the forest, cattles can graze for about 610 years after which savannas take over the land. Tropical forests are also cut and converted to grow crops to meet the global demands.

 Products like beef, banana, coeffe, tea, medicines and hardwood come to industrialized world from tropics. Veit Nam has been severly deforested (80% of its forests) due to cultivation of banana, coeffe and rubber plantation.

Fuel Wood Collection

Dry tropical forests are cleared at an alarming rate primarily for fuel. Nearly half of the people of world depend on wood for cooking. Pakistan once had Juniper tree forest in Ziarat as the single largest Juniper forest in the world. But they are lost due to fuel wood cutting.

Many mangrove forests in West Africa, Central America, India and

Pakistan have been cleared for fuel wood collection.

Acid rains
Death of trees due to pollution
Acid rains have cause damage to one third of forests in Germany. Also in Central Europe and acute in Poland.

Forest Fires
Caused due to negligence Ill will

The positive consequences of deforestation

Community Build ups Forests make way for residential houses, office buildings and factories. Governments are able to build roads to make trade and transport easier and therefore more convenient to residents. Conversion of forest land to productive land for agricultural uses.

The negative consequences of deforestation

Unfortunately, the negative consequences of deforestation far outweigh its positive effects. Here are a few of them:
Loss of Biodiversity Soil Erosion & Degradation Flooding Climate change Displacement of Indigenous People

Loss of Biological Diversity

Loss of biological diversity on an unprecedented scale. As a result of deforestation, we are losing between 50 and 100 animal and plant species each day.

Inevitably, the loss of species lead to a loss of genetic

resources. Many of these species now facing the possibility of extinction are of enormous potential to humans in many areas; especially medicine (tropical plants contribute 25% of worlds medicine) .

 Destruction of biodiversity may lead to lost opportunities and lost solutions to future problems. In tropics, species of plants and animals are highly localized so can be destroyed without clearing a very large area. Tropical deforestation affects organisms of temperate

region also. (Migration of birds from North America to

Central America declined). Tropical deforestation is almost an irreversible process as land cannot regenerate forests with original species diversity.

Soil Erosion & Degradation

Poor nutrient contents of tropic has limited their potential uses for which they are cleared. When forests are cut down, essential nutrients

are washed out of the soil all-together. (Soil

Erosion)

As of now, about 80% of the soils in the humid

tropics are acidic and infertile.

 When there are no trees to keep the soil in place, the soil becomes ripe for erosion. It dries and cracks under the suns heat. Once the soil temperature exceeds 25 0C, volatile nutrient ingredients like nitrogen can be lost, further reducing the fertility of the remaining soil.

 Furthermore, rainfall washes remaining nutrients into rivers.

Erosion washes away many minerals. This means that replanting trees will not necessarily help to solve the

problems of deforestation; Because essential nutrients are continuously

stripped off. Eventually, cultivation in the forest regions will be impossible, and the land

will be useless.
The soil erosion will lead to permanent impoverishment of huge land areas.

So people living in forests will move some other place for their survival .
Deforestation rate should be decreases.

Flooding
Serious consequence of deforestation Clearing the forest dramatically increases the surface runoff from rainfall because

greater proportion of the rain reaches the ground (lack of

vegetation not sucking up the excess rainfall) Increased surface run-off increased the sediment load in rivers (185 tons of top soil/hectare due to 1 storm)

 Shortens the life of dams and reservoirs due to silting Affects coastal fisheries and coral reefs ( negative

effects on business) Widespread deforestation in Nepal and Himalayas caused increased flooding in Indian Rivers Gangas and Brahmputra.

Climate Change
Alteration of local and global climates through disruption of: The carbon cycle: Forests act as a major carbon store in the form of CO2. Clearing or burning of forests results in release of carbon as CO2. increased

atmospheric CO2 concentration.

CO2 is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Gradual increase in earths temperature

Changes in weather patterns, increased sea levels etc.

Deforestation contributes 6-17% of all CO2 releases caused by people.

The water cycle

Trees draw ground water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). In Amazonia over half of all the water circulating through the region's ecosystem remains within the plants. With removal of part of the forest, the region cannot hold as much water. The effect of this could be a drier climate.

Displacement of Indigenous People

Deforestation results in the displacement of indigenous communities and their traditional way of life. Governments usually ignore the fact that native people are

utilizing the resources available in the forests.

Indigenous peoples are hardly included in economic and political decisions that directly affect their lives.

They are forced off the land by developers and killed

through diseases.

 Indigenous Brazilian population has reduced from 1 Million in 1900 to 200,000 . In Africa, native pygmies are threatened Malaysian Penans, native of Sarawak state are

endangered.

Mitigation Measures
Sustainable forest management

Pests and disease controls in managed forests

Reduce funds for crop plantation, ranches and roads in areas of old grown forests Tree farming, ranching and crop plantation on degraded tropical forest lands Reduction in poverty and flow of landless poor to forests Foreign aids should be provided to tropical countries for protecting forest areas.

 Long term logging concessions (40-50 years) Increased tree plantation (fast growing species like bamboos, poplar, eucalyptus etc.) Reduce fuel wood use, use alterntaives In clear forests, low intensity harvesting of fruits, trees, nuts, rubber etc. to maximize conservation.

Efforts to Reduce Deforestation

UN Climate Change Conference (Dec, 2007) in Indonesia. More than 180 countries agreed to the Bali Roadmap. The roadmap includes specific measures to reduce deforestation -- for tropical rainforests in particular. UN and WB has initiated programs to curb deforestation under the name Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).

 Besides the U.N., there also are dozens of nonprofits

working to combat deforestation. A few well-known organizations include:

Conservation International -- teaches local farmers how

to maximize their existing land, rather than clear new areas The World Wildlife Fund -- works to shape policies and teams with communities to preserve forests Rainforest Action Network -- uses advertising campaigns to

call attention to the rainforests

 The Environmental Defense Fund -- provide financial

incentive to private landowners (such as farmers) who practice land conservation The Sierra Club -- works to protect and restore U.S. forests Amazon Watch -- defends the rights of indigenous people and communities faced with industrial development The Nature Conservancy -- has developed several

initiatives to advance conservation

 New movements in forest protection have sprung up over the years. They include: Eco-forestry -- where only carefully selected trees are cut down and are transported with minimal damage to the area; the forest ecosystem is preserved while commercial timber extraction is still permitted Green business -- focuses on recycled paper and wood products, wood alternatives and environmentally responsible consumerism Land use planning -- advocates environmentally friendly development techniques, such as reduction of urban and suburban spread out. Community forestry -- where concerned citizens come together to manage and participate in keeping their local forests viable and sustainable

ASSIGNMENT
One page summary of what is happening in Pakistan with respect to deforestation?