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Afforestation

Afforestation is the establishment of forests in areas where there were previously no trees. It can help increase carbon capture, biodiversity, and reforestation efforts in areas impacted by issues like desertification. Deforestation is the removal of forests, which occurs for reasons like agriculture, livestock grazing, and fuel/building materials. It has negative environmental impacts including loss of habitat, biodiversity, and carbon storage. Between 2000-2012, over 2 million square km of forests were cut down globally.

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192 views

Afforestation

Afforestation is the establishment of forests in areas where there were previously no trees. It can help increase carbon capture, biodiversity, and reforestation efforts in areas impacted by issues like desertification. Deforestation is the removal of forests, which occurs for reasons like agriculture, livestock grazing, and fuel/building materials. It has negative environmental impacts including loss of habitat, biodiversity, and carbon storage. Between 2000-2012, over 2 million square km of forests were cut down globally.

Uploaded by

Sathiya Priya
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Afforestation

Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where


there was no previous tree cover.

Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in programs of


afforestation to create forests, increase carbon capture and carbon sequestration, and help to
anthropogenically improve biodiversity. In the UK, afforestation may mean converting the
legal status of some land to royal forest. Gap dynamics is the pattern of plant growth that
occurs following the creation of a forest gap, a local area of natural disturbance that results in
an opening in the canopy of a forest. Gap dynamics are a typical characteristic of temperate
and tropical forests, and have a wide variety of causes and effects on forest life.

Sometimes special tools, such as a tree planting bar, are used to make planting of trees easier
and faster. In some places, forests need help to reestablish themselves because of
environmental factors. For a example, in arid zones, once forest cover is destroyed, the land
may become dry and inhospitable for the growth of new trees . Other factors include
overgrazing by livestock, especially animals such as goats, cows, and over-harvesting of
forest resources. Together these may lead to desertification and the loss of topsoil; without
soil, forests cannot grow until the long process of soil creation has been completed - if
erosion allows this. In some tropical areas, forest cover removal may result in a duricrust or
duripan that effectively seal off the soil to water penetration and root growth. In many areas,
reforestation is impossible because people are using the land. In other areas, mechanical
breaking up of duripans or duricrusts is necessary, careful and continued watering may be
essential, and special protection, such as fencing, may be needed.

Several new studies suggest that forests attract rain and this may explain why drought is
occurring more frequently in parts of the world such as western Africa. A new study by Carol
Rasmussen, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory gives the first observational evidence that the
southern Amazon rain forest triggers its own rainy season using water vapor from plant
leaves. The finding helps explain why deforestation in this region is linked with reduced
rainfall [2] A study by Douglas Sheil and Daniel Murdiyarso hypothesis suggests that forest
cover plays a much greater role in determining rainfall than previously recognized. It explains
how forested regions generate large-scale flows in atmospheric water vapor[3] Makarieva
and Gorshkov have developed a hypothesis to explain how forests attract moist air and
increase rainfall in area covered by trees.
Deforestation

Deforestation, clearance, or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where


the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use.[2] Examples of deforestation include
conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation
occurs in tropical rainforests.[3] About 31 percent of Earth's land surface is covered by
forests.[4]

Deforestation occurs for multiple reasons: trees are cut down to be used for building
or sold as fuel (sometimes in the form of charcoal or timber), while cleared land is used as
pasture for livestock and plantation. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has
resulted in habitat damage, biodiversity loss, and aridity. It has adverse impacts on
biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation has also been used in war to
deprive the enemy of vital resources and cover for its forces. Modern examples of this were
the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency
and the United States military in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. As of 2005, net
deforestation rates have ceased to increase in countries with a per capita GDP of at least
US$4,600.[5][6] Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and
frequently degrade into wasteland.

Disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management, and deficient environmental laws are
some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale. In many countries,
deforestation–both naturally occurring and human-induced–is an ongoing issue.[7]
Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and
displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the
fossil record.[8] More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in
tropical forests.[9]

Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometres (890,000 sq mi) of forests around the
world were cut down.[10] As a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres (2.4
million square miles) remain of the original 16 million square kilometres (6 million square
miles) of forest that formerly covered the Earth.[10] An area the size of a football pitch is
cleared from the Amazon rainforest every minute, with 136 million acres (55 million
hectares) of rainforest cleared for animal agriculture overall.

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