| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Reforestation Picking Up in Many Parts of the World |
| 2007-04-10 |
| According to the last report by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reforestation is showing some progress on our planet. In spite of the 32 million acres of forest that disappear each year, reforestation campaigns led by "more than one hundred countries" have been fruitful. "Numerous countries have shown their political will for improving forest management by revising policy and legislation and by strengthening their forestry institutions," said Davic Harcharik, FAO's adjunct general director in a release dated March 13. "Increasing attention is given to the conservation of the earth, water, biological diversity, and other environmental resources." He added, "Nevertheless, the countries that face the most serious challenges in attaining sustainable forest management are those caught in extreme poverty and civil turmoil." Reforestation Re-Establishes Balance Despite the disappearance of 32 million acres each year, reforestation allows for the reestablishment of a balance to the yearly loss which is now only 18 million acres. This factor brings stability between increases and decreases in forestation. Reforestation is a tendency towards improvement in which the FAO rejoices. Insects, Disease Threaten Forests Forest area has increased in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Pacific. On the contrary, however, the situation is worrisome in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Africa has lost more than 9 percent of its forests in the space of 15 years. Bush fires are a principal cause. They are often started by people with the goal of clearing out land or by pyromaniacs. Lightning may also be a common cause of forest fires. According to the FAO, the world lost 3 percent of its forests between 1995 and 2000. Forests are also exposed to other threats such as insects, disease, and invasive species. Rapid transportation, the ease of global travel, and expanding international commerce have facilitated the propagation of these harmful threats. The report points out that the management strategies tend to limit forest parasites, especially in developed countries. |
| Posted by:Shineting Angomoth2245 |
| #5 I live in a city with over two million trees. Two hundred years ago, the area was arid plains. There are more trees in Denver than ever grew there naturally. Most of the deforestation in the world today is done to grow food or to make money. It's done in areas where the methods of growing food is primitive, and other sources of income are non-existant. Free enterprise, recognition of personal property rights, and representative government would do wonders for forestation, and just about every other problem in the world. Case in point: There are more trees in Israel than there are in either the Gaza/West Bank or Lebanon. Israel is one-third the size of Jordan, and produces three times as much food. Israel exports food, the Palestinian Authority has to import it, yet the two exist in the same climatic conditions. The problem is how people live and are governed, not what's available. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-04-10 23:39 |
| #4 See, right in paragraph 4, they blame Bush fires. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-04-10 22:40 |
| #3 Reforestation / forest management is, along with fisheries management, one of those environmental initiatives over which man has almost total control. We burn or cut the trees down, we can plant them again. There is an obvious cause and effect here. Same with the fish. Totally opposite situation from "Global Warming". |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-04-10 17:52 |
| #2 The May, 2007, Popular Mechanics arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and it has a good article on deforestation and tracking where lumber is coming from, both legally and illegally (90% of Peru's illegally harvested lumber goes to the U.S.). Unfortunately, the article is not (yet?) posted on their site, but it's worth a read. |
| Posted by: Dar 2007-04-10 17:25 |
| #1 I've long wondered why the US government has never carried out forestation projects on the Indian Reservations. Granted while many of these areas were never forested to begin with, with some creative science, varieties of trees could be introduced that would survive and prosper. By agreement, the tribes would manage their new forests with an eye to improving their standard of living, even if it just made their Reservation more tourism friendly. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-04-10 17:16 |