Growing human population has been a curse on the environment. The damages sustained by the natural resources is immense and this trend has all the signs of intensifying in the near future. Among several ways in which humans damage and exploit the nature, one that is very prominent is the damage to the flora. This has been termed as deforestation. This mindless cutting down of trees is due to the ever increasing demand for land, timbre, firewood etc by the growing population.
The forest cover is decreasing for every continent. The major cause for this depleting green cover is human wants but nature also plays a very minute role. There are countries today who have lost more than 50 percent of their forest cover. This loss of green cover leads to many problems. Some prominent ones are global warming, changing climatic regimes, floods, droughts etc. To curb the problems and increase the forest cover a global initiative has been in play to bring back the lost green cover and many obligations have been distributed to make this happen. This major initiative involves massive afforestation.
Afforestation without any doubt can be a boon to bring back what is lost. But the results are not inspiring. This is not the case with any one country, rather the program is showing similar trends world over. The cause behind this is the program not being carried out in a sensible and scientific way.
The world is divided into several climatic regions. Each region has its own unique characteristics and thus the approach should be different. There have been cases where local species have been avoided and alien species have been chosen for afforestation programs. The reasons for choosing such species are many such as more carbon sequestration ability, fast growing, wider canopy, wider root cover etc. But these choices have failed and have resulted into habitat destruction for many other species. They have invaded and have destroyed the indigenous plants which were more suited to such conditions. In other cases the mass afforested lands have degraded as these plants were not able to survive in the prevalent conditions.
Sensible approach is needed to mend these problems mentioned above. Afforestation carried out in a scientific way can be helpful. Community involvement in this afforestation program will make the program sustainable. It will also help the local people along with ensuring the survival of the saplings. The world community should approach the situation only after a proper ground study. This will ensure that duplication of program does not occur in turn saving the resources. Damage has been done and it is upon us how we tackle the upcoming future i.e whether in the current way or in a more sensible way..
The forest cover is decreasing for every continent. The major cause for this depleting green cover is human wants but nature also plays a very minute role. There are countries today who have lost more than 50 percent of their forest cover. This loss of green cover leads to many problems. Some prominent ones are global warming, changing climatic regimes, floods, droughts etc. To curb the problems and increase the forest cover a global initiative has been in play to bring back the lost green cover and many obligations have been distributed to make this happen. This major initiative involves massive afforestation.
Afforestation without any doubt can be a boon to bring back what is lost. But the results are not inspiring. This is not the case with any one country, rather the program is showing similar trends world over. The cause behind this is the program not being carried out in a sensible and scientific way.
The world is divided into several climatic regions. Each region has its own unique characteristics and thus the approach should be different. There have been cases where local species have been avoided and alien species have been chosen for afforestation programs. The reasons for choosing such species are many such as more carbon sequestration ability, fast growing, wider canopy, wider root cover etc. But these choices have failed and have resulted into habitat destruction for many other species. They have invaded and have destroyed the indigenous plants which were more suited to such conditions. In other cases the mass afforested lands have degraded as these plants were not able to survive in the prevalent conditions.
Sensible approach is needed to mend these problems mentioned above. Afforestation carried out in a scientific way can be helpful. Community involvement in this afforestation program will make the program sustainable. It will also help the local people along with ensuring the survival of the saplings. The world community should approach the situation only after a proper ground study. This will ensure that duplication of program does not occur in turn saving the resources. Damage has been done and it is upon us how we tackle the upcoming future i.e whether in the current way or in a more sensible way..
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