Deforestation is a pressing environmental problem. Global solutions to the problem of forest loss. Final fellings

Deforestation is the process of destroying trees, vines or shrubs. It is mainly produced in order to obtain large quantities of wood, and in some cases - to regenerate and improve the forest, as well as to increase its productivity. Uncontrolled deforestation is a common cause of deforestation, which is the process of gradually converting forested areas into land such as wasteland or grassland. There are several types of forest felling: complete, sanitary, maintenance and main use fellings.

Is it possible to determine real speed deforestation?

This is quite difficult to do. The calculation of such data is carried out by the UN Agriculture and Food Company, which, as a rule, relies on official data received from the relevant ministries of the countries. Another organization, the World Bank in Peru, indicates that in Bolivia, eighty percent of harvesting is illegal, and in Colombia - about forty-two. Deforestation in Brazil and the Amazon is happening much faster than scientists thought. The rate of logging varies greatly by region. It is now highest in developing countries that are in tropical zone(Nigeria, Brazilian state of Rondonia, Mexico, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Guinea, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, Ivory Coast, Laos, Ghana and others).

How does deforestation affect the atmosphere?

Gradual deforestation contributes to the formation of more warm climate. Deforestation, which is located in the tropical zone, is responsible for approximately twenty percent of greenhouse gases. During their life, plants (trees, shrubs, grass) remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Burning and rotting trees release stored carbon into the atmosphere. To avoid this process, wood must be made into durable products and forests must be replanted.

How does deforestation affect the water cycle?

Trees feed through their roots groundwater. In this case, the water rises to the leaves and evaporates. Deforestation makes this process impossible, leading to a drier climate. Deforestation, among other things, negatively affects the ability of the soil to retain precipitation, as well as the penetration of moisture deep into the continents.

How does deforestation affect the soil?

Gradual deforestation reduces soil adhesion. This, in turn, can lead to landslides and flooding.

How does deforestation affect wildlife?

Basic negative effect from logging is to reduce the diversity of animals and flora. At the same time greatest damage applied to tropical forests.

The problem of deforestation

Deforestation is a pressing and urgent problem that exists in many countries. Uncontrolled deforestation affects climatic, environmental and socio-economic characteristics, and also significantly reduces the quality of life. Gradual deforestation leads to a decrease in timber reserves and a decrease in biodiversity. Many scientists believe that the most dire consequences of deforestation are increased

Deforestation is deforestation on the planet on a huge scale, often leading to deterioration in soil quality. Forests still cover about 30% of the earth's landmass, but areas of forest the size of Panama are destroyed every year. At the current rate of deforestation, the world rain forests will disappear within a hundred years.

Deforestation is made for many reasons, but most of them have to do with money or people's need to provide for their families. The largest driver of forest destruction is agriculture. Farmers cut down forests to get more space for sowing crops or grazing livestock. Very often, small farmers clear just a few acres of forest to feed their families, but do so by cutting and burning the forest, a process called “slash-and-burn agriculture.”

The logging industries that supply the world with wood and paper products also cut down countless trees every year. Loggers, some of them illegal, also build roads to reach more remote areas of the forest - and this leads to further deforestation. In addition, forests are still being cut down as a result of urban growth.

However, not all deforestation is intentional - some occurs due to a combination of human and natural factors, such as forest fires and overgrazing, which prevent young trees from growing.

Negative consequences

Forest destruction has many negative consequences on ecology. The most severe consequence is the loss of habitat for millions of species. 70% of all animals and plants on Earth live in forests, and most cannot survive when their home is destroyed by logging.

Deforestation is also directly related to climate change. forest soil is moist, but without the protection from sunlight that tree crowns usually provide, it dries out quickly. Trees also help maintain the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. However, without trees, many former forest lands quickly turning into barren deserts. Tree cutting leads to the disappearance of part of the forest crown, which blocks during the day sun rays and keeps it warm at night. When the canopy opens, day and night temperatures change dramatically, negatively impacting plants and animals.

Trees also play an important role in absorbing greenhouse gases, which lead to global warming. How less forests, the more greenhouse gases will enter the atmosphere, and the faster and more serious the consequences of global warming will be.

Solutions to the problem

The fastest solution to deforestation is to stop logging. Although in recent years The rate of logging has decreased slightly; financial realities will not allow us to completely abandon logging.

A more feasible solution is good forest management to ensure there are no clearcuts and forest environment will remain untouched. Logging must necessarily be accompanied by the planting of a sufficient number of young trees that will replace old stands that have been cut down. The number of new forest plantations increases every year, but total quantity still constitutes a tiny part of the entire forested area of the planet.

It's hard to overestimate. It's not for nothing that there are trees. They as a whole constitute a single ecosystem that affects life various types, on the soil, atmosphere, water regime. Many people have no idea what kind of disaster deforestation will lead to if it is not stopped.

The problem of deforestation

IN at the moment the problem of cutting down trees is relevant for all continents of the earth, but this problem is most acute in countries Western Europe, South America, Asia. Intensive destruction of forests leads to the problem of deforestation. An area cleared of trees turns into a poor landscape and becomes unsuitable for life.

To understand how close the disaster is, you should pay attention to a number of facts:

more than half have already been destroyed, and it will take a hundred years to restore them;
now only 30% of the land is occupied by forests;
Regular cutting down of trees leads to an increase in carbon monoxide in the atmosphere by 6-12%;
Every minute, an area of forest that is the size of several football fields disappears.

Causes of deforestation

Common reasons for cutting down trees include:

wood has high value as a building material and raw material for paper, cardboard, and the manufacture of household items;
forests are often destroyed in order to expand new agricultural land;
for laying communications and roads

In addition, a large number of trees suffer as a result, which constantly occur due to improper handling of fire. They also occur during the dry season.

Illegal deforestation

Quite often, cutting down trees occurs illegally. Many countries around the world lack institutions and people who can control the process of deforestation. In turn, entrepreneurs in this area sometimes commit violations, annually increasing the volume of deforestation. It is also believed that wood supplied by poachers who do not have a permit to operate also enters the market. There is an opinion that the introduction of a high duty on timber would significantly reduce the sale of timber abroad and, accordingly, would reduce the number of trees cut down.

Deforestation in Russia

Russia is one of the leading wood producers. Together with Canada, these two countries contribute about 34% of the total material exported to the world market. The most active areas where trees are cut down are the territory of Siberia and Far East. As for illegal logging, everything is resolved by paying fines. However, this does not contribute in any way to the restoration of the forest ecosystem.

The main result of cutting down trees is deforestation, which has many consequences:

climate change;
environmental pollution;
ecosystem change;
destruction of a large number of plants;
animals are forced to leave their usual habitats;
deterioration of the atmosphere;
deterioration in nature;
destruction of the soil, which will lead to;
emergence of environmental refugees.

Permit for deforestation

Companies that cut down trees must obtain a special permit for this activity. To do this, you need to submit an application, a plan of the area where the felling is taking place, a description of the types of trees that will be cut down, as well as a number of papers for coordination with various services. In general, obtaining such permission is difficult. However, this does not completely rule out the illegality of deforestation. It is recommended that this procedure be tightened while the planet's forests can still be saved.

Sample permit for deforestation

What will happen to the planet if all the trees are cut down?

The forest expanses of Russia seem almost limitless. But even on such a scale, man is in the process economic activity, manages to inflict damage on them. Felling for the purpose of timber harvesting is becoming widespread in some places. Such intensive and unreasonable use gradually leads to the fact that the forest fund begins to deplete. This is noticeable even in the taiga zone.

The rapid destruction of forests leads to the disappearance of unique flora and fauna, as well as to the deterioration of the ecological situation. This especially affects the composition of the air.

Main causes of deforestation

Among the main reasons for deforestation, the first thing worth noting is the possibility of its use as a building material. Also very often, forests are cut down for the purpose of development or use of land for agricultural land.

This problem became especially acute at the beginning of the 19th century. With the development of science and technology, most of the cutting work began to be performed by machines. This made it possible to significantly increase productivity and, accordingly, the number of trees cut down.

Another reason for massive deforestation is the creation of pastures for farm animals. This problem is especially relevant in tropical forests. On average, grazing one cow will require 1 hectare of pasture, which is several hundred trees.

Why should forestlands be preserved? What does deforestation lead to?

A forest is not only trees and shrubs and grasses, but also hundreds of different living creatures. Deforestation is one of the most common environmental problems. With the destruction of trees in the biogeocenosis system, the ecological balance is disrupted.

Uncontrolled destruction of forests leads to the following negative consequences:

Some species of flora and fauna are disappearing.
Species diversity is decreasing.
The amount of carbon dioxide () begins to increase in the atmosphere.
Soil erosion occurs, which leads to the formation of deserts.
In places with high level groundwater begins to become swamped.

Interesting! More than half of all forest areas are tropical forests. Moreover, they are home to about 90% of all known animals and plants.

Statistics on deforestation in the world and in Russia

Deforestation is a global problem. It is relevant not only for Russia, but also for a number of other countries. According to statistics on deforestation, about 200 thousand km 2 of forests are cut down around the world every year. This leads to the death of tens of thousands of animals.

If we consider data in thousand hectares for individual countries they will look like this:

Russia - 4.139;
Canada - 2.45;
Brazil - 2.15;
USA - 1.73;
Indonesia - 1.6.

The problem of deforestation least of all concerns China, Argentina and Malaysia. On average, about 20 hectares of forests are destroyed on the planet in one minute. This problem is especially acute for tropical zone. For example, in India, over the past 50 years, the forested area has decreased by more than half.

In Brazil large areas forests were cut down for development purposes. Because of this, the populations of some animal species have declined greatly. Africa accounts for approximately 17% of the world's forest reserves. In terms of hectares, this is about 767 million. According to the latest data, about 3 million hectares are cut down here every year. Over the past centuries, over 70% of forests in Africa have been destroyed.

Deforestation statistics in Russia are also disappointing. Especially a lot of trees are being destroyed. coniferous species. Massive deforestation in Siberia and the Urals contributed to the formation of a large number of wetlands. It is worth noting that most logging is illegal.

Forest groups

All forests on the territory of Russia according to their environmental and economic importance can be classified into 3 groups:

This group includes plantings that have a water protection and protective function. For example, these could be forest belts along the banks of reservoirs or wooded areas on mountain slopes. This group also includes forests that perform sanitary, hygienic and health-improving functions, national reserves and parks, natural monuments. The forests of the first group account for 17% of the total forest area.
The second group includes plantings in areas with high population density and a well-developed transport network. This also includes forests with an insufficient timber resource base. The second group accounts for about 7%.
The largest group accounts for 75% of its share in the forest fund. This category includes plantings for operational purposes. Due to them, the needs for wood are met.

The division of forests into groups is described in more detail in the “Fundamentals of Forest Legislation”.

Types of fellings

Timber harvesting can be carried out in all forest groups without exception. In this case, all fellings are divided into 2 types:

main use;
care

Final fellings

Final felling is carried out only in plantations that have reached the period of maturity. They are divided into the following types:

Solid. With this type of logging, everything except the undergrowth is cut down. They are carried out in one go. Restrictions on their implementation are imposed in forests that have environmental and ecological significance, as well as in nature reserves and parks.
Gradual. With this type of felling, the tree stand is removed in several stages. At the same time, trees that interfere with the further development young animals, damaged and sick. Typically, between 6 and 9 years pass between cuttings. In the first step, about 35% of the total tree stand is removed. At the same time, the bulk consists of overmature trees.
Selective. Their main purpose is the formation of highly productive plantations. During them, diseased, dead, windfall and other inferior trees are cut down. All thinnings are divided into the following types: clarification, clearing, thinning and passing. Depending on the condition of the forest, thinning may also be clear cutting.

Legal and illegal logging

All deforestation work is strictly regulated Russian legislation. In this case, the most important document is “ Felling ticket" To complete it you will need the following documents:

A statement indicating the reason for the felling.
Plan of the area highlighting the area allocated for felling.
Taxation description of cut down plantings.

A logging ticket will also be required when exporting already harvested wood. Its price is proportional to the cost of compensation for use natural resources. Cutting down trees without the appropriate documents is classified as illegal logging.

Responsibility for it is provided for in Article 260 Part 1. It is applicable only in cases where the amount of damage exceeds 5,000 rubles. For smaller violations, administrative liability is applicable. It implies the imposition of a fine in the amount of 3,000 to 3,500 rubles on citizens and from 20 to 30 thousand on officials.

Consequences of deforestation

The consequences of deforestation are a long-term problem. Deforestation affects the entire ecosystem. This is especially true for the problem of purifying and saturating the air with oxygen.

Also, according to recent studies, it has been found that massive logging contribute to global warming. This is due to the carbon cycle that occurs on the surface of the Earth. At the same time, we should not forget about the water cycle in nature. Trees take an active part in it. Absorbing moisture with their roots, they evaporate it into the atmosphere.

Soil erosion is another problem associated with deforestation. Tree roots prevent erosion and weathering of the top fertile layers of soil. In the absence of a tree stand, wind and precipitation begin to destroy the upper humus layer, thereby turning fertile lands into a lifeless desert.

The problem of deforestation and ways to solve it

One of the ways to solve the problem of deforestation is to plant trees. But she will not be able to completely compensate for the damage caused. The approach to this problem must be comprehensive. To do this, you must adhere to the following directions:

Plan forest management.
Strengthen protection and control over the use of natural resources.
Develop a system for monitoring and accounting of the forest fund.
Improve forest legislation.

In most cases, planting trees does not cover the damage caused. So, for example, in South America and Africa, despite all the measures taken, the forest area continues to decline inexorably. Therefore, to reduce the negative consequences of logging, it is necessary to take a whole range of additional measures:

Increase planting area annually.
Create protected areas with a special forest management regime.
Dedicate significant efforts to preventing forest fires.
Deploy recycling wood

Forest protection policy in different countries may differ significantly. Some impose restrictions on use, while others simply increase the volume of restoration plantings. But absolutely new approach developed for this problem Norway. She plans completely stop cutting down.

This country has officially announced that the so-called “zero deforestation” policy will be implemented on its territory. Over the years, Norway has actively supported various forest protection programs. For example, in 2015, it allocated 1 billion rubles to Brazil to preserve the Amazon rain forests. Investments from Norway and a number of other countries have helped reduce deforestation by 75%.

From 2011 to 2015, the Norwegian government allocated 250 million rubles and other tropical country- Guyana. And as of this year, Norway has officially announced “zero tolerance” for logging. That is, it will no longer purchase forest products.

Environmental experts say that paper can also be produced by recycling waste. And other resources can be used as fuel and building materials. To this statement the state pension fund Norway responded by withdrawing from its portfolio all shares of enterprises associated with damage to the forest fund.

According to the fund wildlife, every minute forests with an area comparable to the area of 48 football fields disappear from the surface of the Earth. This also significantly increases the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Forests play a very important role in the life of our planet. Without them, life would be practically impossible. But what exactly are the functions of green areas? What happens if forests die?

Plot for Hollywood

A happy American family living in a small cozy house with a garden somewhere near east coast The United States suddenly discovers that it has become unusually hot during the day and unusually cold at night.

The garden is slowly being invaded by ever-increasing hordes of insects.

Finally, one morning with a clear sky and warm weather The nearest river suddenly overflows its banks, and soon the entire area is flooded with water.

Fortunately, we are not threatened with a complete sudden disappearance of forests, but extremely unfavorable events, even catastrophic ones, will occur even if a small part of them dies. And the process has already started. To understand what is happening, we need to remember what the role of forests is in the Earth’s ecosystem.

Hungry years

Deforestation occurs both due to natural causes and as a result of human activities. For Russia, this problem is not yet very relevant - our forests have a greater restoration potential than, say, tropical ones, therefore, in place of the cleared tracts, if the bare areas are not built up or plowed up, new ones most often grow.

The plowing and development of forests in Russia is now also not the most widespread phenomenon, although the threat of clearing a significant amount of natural plantings for development purposes has become more noticeable in recent years “thanks to” new forest legislation.

What happened before? Historians are well aware of the fact that in 1891 an unprecedented famine broke out in Russia, literally shaking the empire. The reason was crop failure caused by severe drought, which primarily affected forest-steppe and steppe areas. And throughout XIX century There have been many such hungry years in our country. Nevertheless, it was the famine of 1891 that served as the impetus for events in a wide variety of spheres of public life.

The disaster of 1891 confronted the Russian government with the need to find out what the causes of these phenomena were. The answer given by the young talented geologist V.V. Dokuchaev, was revolutionary for those times: disastrous droughts occur as a result of environmental degradation of territories caused by deforestation and environmentally hazardous agricultural practices. The largest climatologist of that time, A.I., shared the same opinion. Voeikov.

As a result, a familiar to almost everyone appeared forest belt system in sparsely forested regions of Russia. Unfortunately, in some regions there are still not enough of them, and in the forest zone there are many open unused places where forests once grew. They should be planted again.

Regulation of temperature and hydrological conditions

Back in the 20s of the last century, L.S. Berg noted:

“A lot has been written on the issue of the influence of forests on climate... Undoubtedly, extensive forests should have a certain effect on the temperature of the surrounding areas... how the forest affects the precipitation that has already fallen. Inside the forest itself, the amount of rain reaching the soil is less than in the field, because a significant part of the precipitation remains on the leaves, branches and trunks, and also evaporates. According to observations in Austria, in dense spruce forest Only 61% of precipitation reaches the soil, in beech 65%. Observations in the Buzuluksky pine forest of the Samara province showed that 77% of all precipitation reaches the soil... The importance of forests for the process of snow melting is enormous. Its effect is threefold: firstly, the forest prevents the blowing of snow and thus acts as a keeper of its reserves; then, by shading the soil, the trees prevent the snow from melting quickly. Secondly, by delaying air movement, the forest slows down the exchange of air above the snow. And the latest observations show that snow melts not so much due to the absorption of the radiant energy of the sun, but due to contact with significant masses of warm air rushing over the snow. By maintaining snow cover for a long time, the forest regulates water flow in rivers in spring and early summer. Forests are of particular importance in countries with long and snowy winters, for example in Russia."

Thus, already at the beginning of the twentieth century it was well known vital role green area as a regulator of temperature and hydrological regimes.

The forest significantly influences the distribution and accumulation of summer and especially winter precipitation. On the one hand, it maintains the groundwater level, reduces surface runoff water, on the other hand, it enhances the processes of plant transpiration, condenses more water vapor, which increases the frequency of summer precipitation.

That is, the role of forests in the water and soil regime of the area is diverse and depends on species composition woody plants, their biological features, geographical distribution.

Dust storms

The death of forests can cause severe erosion processes, which have also been known for a long time and can be talked about for quite a long time. The same Dokuchaev considered deforestation one of the reasons for the occurrence of dust storms. And this is how he described one of the cases dust storm in Ukraine in 1892:

“Not only was the thin snow cover completely torn off and carried away from the fields, but also the loose soil, bare of snow and dry as ash, was thrown up by whirlwinds at 18 degrees below zero. Clouds of dark earthen dust filled the frosty air, covering the roads, sweeping over gardens - in some places trees were carried to a height of 1.5 meters - laying down in shafts and mounds on the streets of villages and greatly impeding movement along railways: we even had to tear the railway stops away from the snowdrifts of black dust mixed with snow.”

During a dust storm in 1928 in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine (where, by that time, a significant part of the forests had already been destroyed and the steppes were plowed), the wind lifted more than 15 million tons of black soil into the air. Black earth dust was carried by the wind to the west and settled over an area of 6 million km2 in the Carpathian region, Romania and Poland. The thickness of the chernozem layer in the steppe regions of Ukraine after this storm decreased by 10–15 cm.

Dust storm in southern Australia

History knows many such examples, and they occur in the most different regions- in the USA, North Africa(where, as some believe, forests once grew in place of the Sahara), on the Arabian Peninsula, in Central Asia etc.

Biodiversity

By the beginning of this century, the wording in describing the global significance of forests had changed slightly, although the essence remained the same, and new points were added. For example, the concept of “biodiversity” arose. "Biological diversity", according to international convention, “means the variability of living organisms from all sources, including, but not limited to, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are part; this concept includes diversity within species, between species and ecosystem diversity.”

This convention was adopted international community in 1992 as a response to the catastrophic decline in biodiversity on the planet, and above all in tropical forests.

About 70% of all species of living organisms live in forests. Other estimates range from 50 to 90% in tropical rainforests, including 90% of the species of our closest primate relatives. 50 million species of living beings have no other place to live than the rainforest.

Why do we need to preserve biodiversity? There is a purely pragmatic answer to this question. Huge mass biological species, including small ones (insects, mosses, worms) and especially in tropical forests, has been studied very little or has not yet been described at all by scientists. Genetically, each species is unique, and each species may be the carrier of some yet undiscovered beneficial properties for humanity, for example, food or medicinal properties. Thus, more than 25% of all currently known medicinal products were obtained from tropical plants, for example a substance such as taxol. How many of them are not yet known to science and how many could be lost forever along with the species that carry them?

Thus, the extinction of any species can lead to the irreparable loss of an important resource. In addition, each species is of interest to science - it may turn out to be an important link in the evolutionary chain, and its loss will complicate the understanding of evolutionary patterns. That is, any type of living organism is information resource, perhaps not yet used.

Greenhouse effect

The Earth's forest cover is its main productive force, the energy base of the biosphere, the connecting link of all its components and the most important factor in its sustainability.

Important to know

Forest is one of the planetary accumulators of living matter, holding a number of chemical elements and water, which actively interacts with the troposphere and determines the level of oxygen and carbon balance. About 90% of the total phytomass of land is concentrated in forests and only 10% in other ecosystems, mosses, grasses, and shrubs. The total leaf surface of the world's forests is almost 4 times greater than the surface of our entire planet.

Hence the high absorption rates solar radiation and carbon dioxide, oxygen release, transpiration, and other processes that influence the formation of the natural environment. When destroying green areas on large territory accelerates biological cycle a number of chemical elements, including carbon, which enters the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. A greenhouse effect occurs.

Live filter

Forests are capable of actively transforming chemical and atmospheric pollution, especially gaseous ones, Moreover, coniferous plantations, as well as some types of deciduous trees (linden, willow, birch) have the greatest oxidizing ability. In addition, the forest has the ability to absorb individual components of industrial pollution.

Quality drinking water, stored in reservoirs, largely depends on forest cover and the condition of plantings drainage basin. This is especially important if, on agricultural land located near water supplies, large quantities pesticides and fertilizers are used. Pollutants dissolved in water may be partially retained by forest soils.

There is a well-known example of the city of New York, in the vicinity of which in the mid-1990s, the reduction of forest area, development, intensification of agriculture and the development of the road network led to sharp decline quality of drinking water. The city authorities were faced with a choice: build new wastewater treatment plants worth $2–6 billion and spend up to $300 million annually on their maintenance, or invest in improving the protective functions of forests and other ecosystems of water protection zones. The choice was made in favor of the second option, including for economic reasons. Significant funds were used to purchase land along rivers and streams to prevent further development, as well as to pay farmers and forest owners for their use of environmentally responsible management practices in water protection zones. This example demonstrates that good management forest ecosystems may turn out to be significantly more cost-effective than purely technical solutions.

Forests are dying

It would seem that we have more than enough reasons for the “whole world” to defend every piece of the forest. But the lessons of past centuries and this century have not yet been learned.

Every year the area of green areas decreases by approximately 13 million hectares. Now natural plantings occupy only about 30% of the land area, despite the fact that in the past they were distributed over much larger territory. Before agriculture and industrial production, the forest area was more than 6 billion hectares. Since prehistoric times, the area under forests has been reduced by about half on average across all continents.

Most of the tracts were cut down to create agricultural land, while another smaller part was occupied by rapidly growing settlements, industrial complexes, roads and other infrastructure. Over the past 40 years, forest area per capita has decreased by more than 50%, from 1.2 hectares to 0.6 hectares per person. Currently, according to FAO (Food and Agronomy Organization of the United Nations), about 3.7 billion hectares are covered by forest.

European forests have suffered the most from intense human activity. In Europe, there are currently virtually no primary (primary) forests left. They have been replaced by fields, gardens and artificial forests.

In China, 3/4 of all arrays were destroyed.

The US has lost 1/3 of all its forests and 85% of its primary forest stands. In particular, in the eastern United States, only a tenth of the plantings that existed there in the 16th–17th centuries have survived.

Only in some places (Siberia, Canada) forests still predominate over treeless areas, and only here there are still large tracts of relatively untouched northern forests.

What to do?

We have already passed half the way to the complete destruction of forests. Will we turn it around? What to do? The most common answer is to plant forests. Many people have heard about the principle “as much as you cut down, plant as much.” This is not entirely true.

It is necessary to plant forests primarily in those regions where deforestation processes are intense, and in those places where the forest can grow, but for some reason has disappeared and will not recover on its own in the foreseeable future.
It is necessary not only to plant trees to replace those cut down, but also to cut them down so that the natural potential for forest restoration is preserved. Simply put, in almost every forest that is subject to industrial logging, there is quite viable undergrowth - young trees of the same species that make up the forest canopy. And it is necessary to cut in such a way as not to destroy them and preserve the conditions for their life. This is quite possible with modern technologies. Most best way felling - while maintaining natural forest dynamics. IN in this case the forest generally almost “does not notice” that it is being cut down, and a minimum of measures and costs for reforestation are required. Unfortunately, the experience of such logging both in Russia and in the world is small.

The answer to many questions is sustainable forest management, without crises, disasters and other shocks.

Sustainable development (as well as sustainable forest management) is development that meets the needs of life current generation people without depriving future generations of this opportunity.

In its work, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) pays a lot of attention to the implementation of sustainable forest management both in Russia and in the world.

But this is a topic for a separate article. Let us only note that currently sustainable forest management in the best possible way correspond international systems voluntary forest certification, which are already quite widespread in Russia.

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In conclusion, let’s try to answer the question: what can I personally do to prevent forests from disappearing? Here's what:

1. Save paper.

2. Under no circumstances allow arson in the forest: first of all, do not set fire to dry grass and do not allow others to do this; If you find grass burning, either try to eliminate it yourself, or, if this is not possible, call the fire department.

3. Buy products from responsibly managed forests. In Russia, these are, first of all, certified products.

4. And finally, just go to the forest more often to learn to understand and love it more.

It’s better that we never know what will happen if the forests disappear!

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For reference:

Taxol – antitumor drug; Previously, it was obtained only from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, but now they have learned how to obtain it synthetically; in addition, it can be obtained by biotechnological methods.

Phytomass – the total mass of living matter of all plants.

See: Ponomarenko S.V., Ponomarenko E.V. How can we stop the environmental degradation of Russian landscapes? M.: SoES, 1994. 24 p.

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Tree names often have very interesting story origin. They are often formed from the surname or first name of a famous person.

Not only the tree itself is symbolic, but also its parts - branches, trunk, roots, shoots. We invite you to exciting journey into the mythological past of the tree.