The present condition of world forest..

 The present condition of world forest..

 

"Here goes lumber from the Maine woods ... pine, spruce, cedar, - first, second, third, and fourth qualities, so lately all of one quality, to wave over the bear, and moose, and caribou..."

- Henry David Thoreau, 1845.

The word forest is derived from the Latin word ‘foris’ meaning “out of door”. It is large uncultivated tract of land covered by trees and underwood’s.

In other words, forest is a natural ecosystem of tree-dominated vegetational association.

The occurrence of forest indicates optimal growth conditions in the area. The ecological conditions which favour the forest growth are availability of moisture throughout the year, favourable temperature conditions during growth period and decreased biotic interference. Forests are very rich in flora and fauna.

Thus they store maximum information by way of diversity of species and life forms. The maximum energy transactions take place in the forests where nature produces maximum biomass in minimum space.

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world's land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year.

 

 

DEFORESTATION

 Current situation of forest areas

The current situation of natural resources as well as the forest resources is very critical. Deforestation is done at almost every places in the world.

The Asian region makes up about 1/4 of earth's land area, but holds almost 60% of the world's population. Tremendous population pressures throughout the region have contributed to the region's substantial forest loss. Additionally, many Asian-countries have entered a period of sustained spectacular economic growth in the past few years, resulting in the increased consumption of forest resources.

Deforestation in South America has become a major problem though the continent maintains a high percentage of the earth's ecosystem. The growing degradation is alarming. The forests including the biggest tropical rain forest, Amazon rain forest are being deforested. This a growing threat to the wildlife.
North American deforestation activity is increasing since the past century. There are however many reasons for this, such being economical political and social causes.Deforestation in Australia is increasing by every passing second. The biggest causes of deforestation are people needs from the forests. To fulfill their needs they cut, burn and destroy trees and forests. Some of the needs are urbanization, paper and etc. There are four aspects of the Australian circumstance are outlines; Ecological, Historical, economic and Political.

Europe has a vast amount of deforested area. Hungary , Romania , The U.K, Austria , Ireland , Scotland , Russia , Finland , and Poland are all deforested countries in Europe . The UK is one of the least forested countries of Europe . The average European country has 24% of its land area covered by forests.

Also this deforestation creates an effect at the Atlantica and Antartica causing global warming. so, present situation must be controlled and scientific steps must be carried out.

 Global Deforestation

1. Introduction

It is impossible to overstate the importance of humankind's clearing of the forests. The transformation of forested lands by human actions represents one of the great forces in global environmental change and one of the great drivers of biodiversity loss. The impact of people has been and continues to be profound. Forests are cleared, degraded and fragmented by timber harvest, conversion to agriculture, road-building, human-caused fire, and in myriad other ways. The effort to use and subdue the forest has been a constant theme in the transformation of the earth, in many societies, in many lands, and at most times.  Deforestation has important implications for life on this planet.

Just think, originally, almost half of the United States, three-quarters of Canada, almost all of Europe, the plains of the Levant, and much of the rest of the world were forested. The forests have been mostly removed for fuel, building materials and to clear land for farming. The clearing of the forests has been one of the most historic and prodigious feats of humanity.

Area of Forest Ecosystems (World total:~ 34 million km2)

About one half of the forests that covered the Earth are gone. Each year, another 16 million hectares disappear. The World Resources Institute estimates that only about 22% of the world's (old growth) original forest cover remains "intact" - most of this is in three large areas: the Canadian and Alaskan boreal forest, the boreal forest of Russia, and the tropical forest of the northwestern Amazon Basin and the Guyana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Columbia, etc.)

Today, forests cover more than one quarter of the world's total land area, excluding polar regions. Slightly more than 50% of the forests are found in the tropics and the rest are temperate and boreal (coniferous northern forest) zones. 

Seven countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) account for more than 60% of the total.

For millennia, humankind has influenced the forests, although much of the impact has been relatively minor. Today, the impact is enormous. Deforestation is expanding and accelerating into the remaining areas of undisturbed forest, and the quality of the remaining forests is declining.  Today we examine global patterns in deforestation, assess the human and ecological costs of forest loss, and discuss some of the steps that can help to rectify this alarming situation.

Frontier Forests of the World

Red = Frontier Forests, 8,000 years ago Green = Frontier Forests Today Pink = Current non-frontier forests

Historical trends:

Until quite recently, most of the deforestation occurred in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. By the beginning of this century, these regions had been mostly converted from the original cover. Now, deforestation in these regions has stabilized and regrowth is occurring (though second growth forests have quite different character, see below). In the last few decades, the vast majority of deforestation has occurred in the tropics - and the pace still accelerates. The removal of tropical forests in Latin America is proceeding at a pace of about 2% per year. In Africa, the pace is about 0.8% per year and in Asia it is 2% per year.

The USA has already experienced its wave of deforestation, with the exception of small areas in the west and Alaska.  Our old growth forests were mostly harvested by 1920, particularly in the East.  Pacific Northwest forests and UP Michigan forests were heavily cut after 1920 until quite recently, and harvest of old growth continues today in Southeast Alaska.  Interestingly, deforestation rates at their peak in the Midwest were ~2% annually, about the rates now seen in Amazonia.  At that rate, how much of existing forest will remain in 70 years?  Just one-fourth.  However, much forest re-growth has occurred in the eastern USA during the 20^th Century, although these second-growth forests differ in structure and composition from their predecessors.

वन संवर्धन काळाची गरज

 महाराष्ट्रात १९७२ नंतरचा सर्वात भिषण दुष्काळ सध्या जानवू लागला आहे. दुष्काळ हा निसर्ग निर्मित नसून मानवाच्या नियोजन शून्य कृतिचा परिणाम आहे असे बोलले जात आहे. दुष्काळ निवारण आणि महाराष्ट्राचा समृध्द शाश्वत विकास करण्यासाठी वनलागवडीच क्षेत्र वाढविणे गरजेचे आहे. महाराष्ट्रात अनेकदा वृक्षलागवडीचे कार्यक्रम राबविले गेले, त्यावर मोठ्याप्रमाणात निधी खर्च झाला परंतू वन लागवडीचे क्षेत्र किंवा जंगल क्षेत्र म्हणावे तेवढे वाढू शकले नाही हे खेदाने नमूद करावे लागते.
राज्याच्या एकूण भौगोलिक क्षेत्राच्या २०.३ टक्के क्षेत्र वन विभागाच्या ताब्यात आहे. त्यापैकी ५० टक्के क्षेत्रावर जंगल आहे. बीड जिल्ह्याचा विचार केला तर जिल्ह्यात एकूण २५५३८ हेक्टर जंगल व्याप्त क्षेत्र आहे. हे एकूण भौगोलिक क्षेत्राचा विचार केल्यास फक्त २.३९ टक्के एवढे असून महाराष्ट्रातील जंगल व्याप्त क्षेत्रापेक्षा खूपच कमी आहे. पर्यावरणाचा समतोल राखण्यासाठी जंगलव्याप्त क्षेत्र ३३ टक्के असणे गरजेचे आहे. या महत्वाच्या वन संपत्तीचे संरक्षणाअभावी महाराष्ट्रातील वृक्षतोड आणि जंगलावरील अनाधिकृत अतिक्रमण यामुळे राज्यात आवर्षण, तापमान वाढ, क्लायमेट चेंज, पाणी टंचाई, दुष्काळ सासारखे संकट वाढत आहे किंबहूना वाढले आहे. याकडे त्वरीत गांभीर्याने न पाहिल्यास येत्या काही वर्षात महाराष्ट्रात वाळवंट होण्यास वेळ लागणार नाही.
वृक्ष आणि वन याच महत्व संत तुकाराम महाराजांनी चारशे वर्षापूर्वी त्यांच्या ‘वृक्षवल्ली आम्हा सोयरे वनचरे’ या अभंगाच्या माध्यमातून सांगीतले आहे. त्यासाठी प्रत्येकाने एक झाड लावून त्याच्या संवर्धनाची जबाबदारी स्वीकारली तर महाराष्ट्रात भेडसावू लागलेले संभाव्य धोके रोखण्यात मानवाला यश मिळेल आणि त्यातूनच चिरंतन शाश्वत विकासाचे स्वप्न प्रत्यक्षात उतरू शकेल. त्यासाठी महाराष्ट्राच्या वन विभागाने सकारात्मक पावले टाकण्याची आवश्यकता आहे.
गेल्या काही वर्षापूर्वी महाराष्ट्रातील डोंगरपट्यावर वृक्षलागवडी झाल्या असत्या आणि त्याच्या संवर्धन, संरक्षणाची जबाबदारी आपल्या राज्यकत्र्यांनी घेण्याचे प्रयत्न केले असते तर आजची दुष्काळाची परिस्थिती उद्भवली नसती. परंतू विकास आणि समृध्दतेची दृष्टी नसलेल्यामुळे आहे त्या वनक्षेत्राचा भाग कमी होवू लागला आहे. वाढते औद्योगीक क्षेत्र आणि त्याच्या अतिक्रमणामुळे आजून किती वृक्षतोड होवून वनक्षेत्राला आपल्याला मुकावे लागेल हे सांगता येणार नाही. वनसंपदा आणि नैसर्गिक साधनसंपत्ती ही जीवसृष्टीला लाभलेली देणगी आहे. जंगलसंपदा ही मानवी संपत्ती आहे तेंव्हा ‘वनश्री हीच धनश्री। वृक्ष लावू घरोघरी।।’ हा ध्यास प्रत्येकाने घेणे गरजेचे आहे

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औद्योगीकीकरण व प्रदुषणामुळे आज मानवी समाजापुढे अनेक समस्या उभ्या राहू लागल्या आहेत. वृक्षतोडीमुळे तापमानात वाढ होते आहे त्यामुळे बाष्पीभवनाचे प्रमाण वाढत आहे परंतू पर्जन्यवृष्टी मात्र त्याप्रमाणात होत नाही म्हणून जमिनीवर पाण्याचेसाठे आणि भूगर्भातील पाणी पातळी वाढत नाही ही समस्या आपण समजून घेण्यात का? कमी पडत आहोत हे सरकारने आत्मचिंतन करावे आणि वनसंवर्धन व संरक्षण यासाठी प्रभावी उपाय योजना करण्याची काळजी घेण्यात यावी.
ताडोबा व्याघ्रप्रकल्प, पश्चिमघाट, आणि देशातील इतर वनक्षेत्र यात होणारी घट कमी करुन जंगलाचे क्षेत्र वाढविणे आवश्यक आहे हे ओळखून वृक्षारोपन, सामाजिक वनीकरण या योजनांची अंमलबजावनी करून महाराष्ट्रातील डोंगरपट्टा आणि पडीक वनजमीन क्षेत्रावर मोठ्याप्रमाणात वृक्षलागवड हाती घेवून तीचे रक्षण करण्याची जबाबदारी घेण्यासाठी व्यापक प्रमाणात वृक्षदिंडी, प्रचार मोहिम राबवने आवश्यक आहे तरच वनीकरणाचे, निसर्गाचे संवर्धन आणि रक्षण होईल हीच काळाची गरज आहे हे लक्षात घ्यावे.