MY FOREST

Forest.....
High earth you are
You are being fresher earth
but what one of you
You destroyed, you spent, you will not be made powerless
I was all wrong
I can not act quickly
I do not have any strength
Forest forgive me
I hope you do not blow up their act
Let God take all of this
And do not you grieve I'll keep you up to the end
And I will still use all my life to protect you
God if I am not able to guard
I try to keep him forever
And prosperity for mankind

The Effects of Deforestation in our World

By Erin Hunt

Many of the earth’s most delicate ecosystems have been affected by rampant and irresponsible deforestation. Although the dire effects are well known and documented by researches around the world, deforestation still persists by those who wish to flout the law. Why are forest ecosystems so valuable and what are the effects of deforestation in our world?

Among the ecosystems that currently exist, forest ecosystem have been widely recognized as one of the most efficient and delicate on earth. Forests are important ecosystems because they hold many important nutrients and help to recycle nutrients too. They are also important because they absorb and hold water thus making them a very rich and porous humus topsoil.

Deforestation happens when trees are cut down on a wide scale. This will lead to widespread disruption of a forest ecosystem. When a forest is cleared, the humus rich topsoil is left exposed leading to a number of dire consequences. The rain that falls on the exposed soil converts that rich topsoil into a sealed-off soil that is moist and muddy. It causes the soil to be washed easily into waterways. What is left behind is poor subsoil that leaves the land vulnerable to more natural erosion. In other words, deforestation leads to massive soil and land erosion.

When deforestation happens in tropical rain forests the effects are more devastating. It is because humus topsoil in tropical rain forests is known to be very thin and lacking in nutrients, so when deforestation occurs, the topsoil that is left behind is very vulnerable and will tend to wash away and erode easily. After deforestation in tropical rain forests, the only thing left is very poor nutrient, hard, clay-like subsoil that is not rich enough to sustain most forms of agriculture.

Sediments that are washed away eventually enter our drains, streams and rivers. These eroding sediments are often responsible for clogging up water channel leading to the problem of flooding. Soil erosion upsets surrounding ecosystems and has been known to be responsible for killing off the fishes and flooding reservoirs.

However despite all the ill effects, deforestation still happens around the world at alarming rates, especially in developing countries. A survey carried out by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 33.8 million trees were cleared between 1990 and 1995 in developing countries. That area would be 3 times the size of France! Why? What is happening? It is because forests are ready source of timber and wealth and after the forests are cleared, there’s room for agriculture. Most of the agriculture is directed the to the planting of cash crops and grass and other crops to support greater beef promotion.

Global warming is a threat that will affect generations to come. The atmosphere surrounding us that supports life is a God-given gift. It must be protected. We should be leaders in efforts to curb global warming, not resistant followers.

All about global warming visit my blog: http://globalwarming2009.blogspot.com/

The Effect of Deforestation

By Nathalie Fiset




Deforestation is the process of converting forested lands into non-forest sites that are ideal for crop raising, urbanization and industrialization. Because deforestation is a serious concept, there are also serious effects to the surroundings.

Effects of deforestation can be classified and grouped into effects to biodiversity, environment and social settings. Because deforestation basically involves killing trees in forests, there are so many effects that can be enumerated as results of the activity.

When forests are killed, nature basically requires people to renew the forest. Reforestation is one concept that is in the opposite direction as deforestation, but is proven to be a much harder effort than deforestation.

So the rate of deforestation has not been offset by the rate of reforestation. Thus, the world is now in a troubled state when it comes to issues concerning the environment.

Pollution is rapidly growing along with population. Forests are greatly helping reduce the amount of pollutants in the air. So, the depletion of these groups of trees is greatly increasing the risk that carbon monoxide would reach the atmosphere and result in the depletion of the ozone layer, which in turn results to global warming.

Environment change

One major effect of deforestation is climate change. Changes to the surroundings done by deforestation work in many ways. One, there is abrupt change in temperatures in the nearby areas. Forests naturally cool down because they help retain moisture in the air.

Second is the long process of global climate change. As mentioned above, deforestation has been found to contribute to global warming or that process when climates around the world become warmer as more harmful rays of the sun comes in through the atmosphere.

The ozone layer is a mass of oxygen or O3 atoms that serves as shield in the atmosphere against the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Because ozone is made up of oxygen atoms, oxygen react with carbon monoxide. Such reaction would use up oxygen atoms.

It follows that when there are more carbon monoxide atoms going to the atmosphere, the volume of oxygen would decline. Such is the case of ozone depletion.

The third effect to the environment would be on the water table underneath the ground. Water table is the common source of natural drinking water by people living around forests.

Water table is replenishing. That means, the supply of water underground could also dry up if not replenished regularly. When there is rain, forests hold much of the rainfall to the soil through their roots.

Thus, water sinks in deeper to the ground, and eventually replenishing the supply of water in the water table. Now, imagine what happens when there is not enough forests anymore. Water from rain would simply flow through the soil surface and not be retained by the soil.

Or other than that, the water from rain would not stay in the soil longer, for the process of evaporation would immediately set in. Thus, the water table is not replenished, leading to drying up of wells.

Effect to biodiversity

Forests are natural habitats to many types of animals and organisms. That is why, when there is deforestation, many animals are left without shelters. Those that manage to go through the flat lands and residential sites are then killed by people.

Through the years, it is estimated that there are millions of plant and extinct animal species that have been wiped out because they have been deprived of home. Thus, biodiversity is significantly lowered because of the savage deforestation practices of some people.

Wildlife advocates have been constantly reminding that several wild animals left in the world could still be saved if deforested forests would only be reforested and the practice of slash and burn of forests would be totally abandoned.

Social effects of deforestation

Deforestation is hardly hitting the living conditions of indigenous people who consider forests as their primary habitats. Imagine how they are rendered homeless when forests are depleted. These natives would be forced to live elsewhere, and are usually left to becoming mendicants in rural and urban areas.

Overall, effects of deforestation cannot be offset by the contribution of the practice to development. While it is logical that progress is very much needed by mankind, it must also be noted that nature knows no defeat. Destruct it and it would certainly retaliate, one way or another.

Depletion of Forest Resources

By Zak Miller

INTRODUCTION

Echo systems around the world help sustain life for millions of species. Echo systems that are mainly forests provide a home for a large majority of the species alive. Therefore the trees in these forests are considered to be the most important species. Although it is true, that most species are not able to sustain without each other.

There are many benefits that we get from our forests. Some of these include cleaner drinking water, a home for plants and animals, economic growth, clean air, recreational opportunities, reassuring future. Another benefit we get from trees is called oxygen. If there were no trees to give us oxygen to breath, we would not be able to live. So if you need one good reason why a forest should exist, staying alive is a pretty good reason.

CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM

Forests have many resources that people can use to raise their living standards. One example is the wood for building houses. Certain wood materials last a long time, they keep the house warm and make it easy to manufacture homes. Unfortunately the world is overpopulating and the demand for a higher standard of living is constantly on the rise. Therefore the demand for more resources is growing to levels that cannot be sustained. Since forests provide a large portion of the world’s resources, many forests are cut down or burned.

The cause for cutting down forests is directly associated with the high demand for wood to manufacture paper products and lumber for other manufacturing. We practically use wood for everything. It is used in home building, marine products, furniture and the list seems like it’s endless. Just look around yourself right now and chances are you will find a product within your reach that is made of wood. Not only is wood a good building material, but it also has great aesthetic qualities. Most people appreciate a nice wooden dining table set or classic wooden rails on a staircase. Unfortunately we don’t always take in to account how many trees need to be cut down so we can have these luxuries in our lives.

Another major direct cause for forest depletion is simply burning forests for farmland. This is more common with countries that are undeveloped and have tropical rainforests. Many poor farmers in these countries burn or cut small portions of tropical forests so they can have room for farming and cattle. But the big scale problem is created when huge corporate farms burn thousands of square acres a year. They need this much room so they can provide farming on a much larger scale to compete in the world market for food. The reason forests are burned for the farmland is due to the rich minerals fertility of the soil.

Unfortunately even the large scale farmers in undeveloped countries are not educated on how they can maximize their results when reusing the soil. Therefore the soil is used up and left as a desert while the farmers burn more forest to make another farm. The Amazon rainforest which is the largest in the world has fallen victim to such deforestations. This forest is located in South America where countries are having tough financial times. Brazil’s market is a third of all the Latin countries included. Yet “Brazil's foreign debt, except in the most implausible of positive economic circumstances, is simply unsustainable in the years ahead” (CRF.org 2002). Economical pressure on a country is another big cause that will force a country to deforestation such as the case in Brazil. Basic Science and Remote Sensing Initiative (BSRSI) show data that between 1978 to 1988 230,000 square miles, nearly the size of Texas was affected by deforestation (bsrsi.msu.edu). That is 16.5% of the whole rainforest in the Amazon.

The next example shows the cause of deforestation for farming. According to The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), "Between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent" and by 2003 "For the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production-80 percent of which was in the Amazon-was largely export driven." As more roads are built to provide access to forests in undeveloped countries more deforestation is evident.

EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM

As mentioned earlier, we get a large portion of our oxygen from vegetation such as trees. Since most trees live in forests it is important to realize the negative impact deforestation may have on our air quality. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas that has an impact on the greenhouse effect. There is a cycle between CO2 producers such as cars and CO2 consumers such as plants. Together they create the “Global Carbon Cycle”. The plants and soil of tropical forests hold 460-575 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide (McKane et al. 1995). From 1850 to 1990, deforestation worldwide released 122 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with the current rate being between 1.6 billion metric tons per year (Skole et al. 1998). In comparison, all of the fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) burned during a year release about 6 billion tons per year. Therefore deforestation even when compared to all the other pollution plays a significant role in Global Warming and clean air.

Another extent of the problem with deforestation is a decrease in biodiversity. Biodiversity is important for Ecosystem sustainability, agriculture, medicine, recreation, aesthetic and commercial value. There are about 5 to 80 million species that live on this earth (Lawton and May 1995). Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the world, but are home to more than half of the species living in the world. After a forest is cut down, many species cannot live without it and possibly go extinct. Since we depend on these species for many resources, their extension will rob us of their benefits. Perhaps we might destroy the next cure for AIDS by deforestation and not know it.

FUTURE

The negative impacts of deforestation are getting noticed internationally. Many countries are taking steps to reduce the problem for a more sustainable earth. Unfortunately financial gain and high competition still exists with deforestation, and for some it’s the only way of survival. Many people are not educated about the long term results their actions may cause. Because of these reasons deforestation is still a reality around the world in many countries.

With more international involvement, countries will take effective steps to bring deforestation to sustainable levels. But there is still a great deal of work to be done. For some forests it is still not too late to bring them back quicker. Other forests that have been clear-cut might take centuries to grow to the original state. Areas where pesticides were used it is possible that the echo system was damaged and may take a long time to grow again. Many forests were replaced by large banana plantations. These plantations use pesticides that kill many species that are vital for an echo system to sustain. Erosion caused by deforestation may bring more water pollution in the future and may affect agriculture in the area. Other reasons for deforestation are simply to provide room for paved roads, residential and commercial development that are caused by urban sprawl. These types of developments permanently destroy forests. Deforestation is a serious threat to life’s future on our planet. It has major effects on our global climate. It leads to the loss of millions of species that are important in sustaining a living earth.

SOLUTIONS

As we discussed the causes for deforestation, we realize how these causes are very different. Because the causes are often controlled by a countries economy, overpopulation and many other social reasons, it is impossible to find one solution to deforestation. Although there are many solutions, it will take time and cooperation of many different groups of people and organizations to make the solutions work.

One popular solution that has been in effect for a few decades is forest conservation. We can work internationally, regionally, and locally with organizations to develop policy and influence industries to help ensure a sustainable future for forests. Conservation helps protect, manage, and restore the world's most important forests by identifying threats and developing solutions to them.

Decrease the amount of products that are made as a result of deforestation. For example, using materials other than wood to build homes, furniture and other common products made of wood. Encourage recyclable materials so people don’t go back to wood again. Switching from wood to other materials will decrease the demand/supply for wood.

Implement more efficient farming methods to encourage the reuse of land.

Educate people around the world about the negative impacts of deforestation, and what can be done to prevent it. Help finance more educational programs. Help countries make the right economic decisions.

Sign international treaties and make laws/regulations to control annual deforestation.

Import meat and dairy products from markets that do not cause deforestation.

The solution that I believe will be very effective is the second one. As far as cutting down trees, this is a very workable solution. We have too many products that are made of wood today. As economies grow around the world, the middle class will also grow. This middle class will demand more and more products that are made of wood. The American middle class is obsessed with wood products and we don’t even realize it. A large portion of our homes are built from wood, and so is our furniture. Most cabinets alone require so much wood. If we like wood products so will the rest of the world.

The solution is to take the majority of the wood products and find alternative materials to them. This of course is not as easy as it sounds, but it is very doable. Once it is done, it will extremely decrease the demand for wood, therefore reducing deforestation. With such high advances in technology we can travel in space and replace hearts. Therefore it is possible to make materials that are safe for the environment and replace wood. Maybe even make materials that share most of the properties that wood has. We can even invent materials that imitate wood like the “burled wood” in our cars today. This “burled wood” in most cars isn’t even wood anymore, it is some kind of a plastic and a pattern to imitate the look of the wood. Speaking of the auto industry, I can’t believe how advanced our cars have become. These are cars that we drive everyday. Yet we live in new houses that were built with an ancient method of wood and nails. I think that is ridiculous. Perhaps the solution to replace wood with alternative materials will also lead to more efficient assembly methods and a safer environment. And most importantly the first solution is changing our attitude to help prevent deforestation.

The Depletion of Forest Resources is a huge problem with challenging solutions, let us work as a team around the world to help solve these issues.

Amazon Rainforest - Deforestation

By Ned Hall


Main and most important reason why tropical rainforests need to be preserved is the fact that they're enabling life on Earth. Not only they're absorbing carbon dioxide and creating oxygen in the process, they're also regulating temperature and are producing important nutrients like nitrogen and phosphor and are protecting watersheds from erosion of salt as well. Tropical rainforests can be also quite helpful on field of pharmacology and new medication researching because between thousands of different plants that have their habitat here and perhaps they're even hiding potential cure for menaces of the modern world like cancer and AIDS.

But what about their destruction, can this process be stopped? Between 1970 and now, Brazil lost more than 600,000 sq km (232 000 sq miles) of Amazon rainforest which is very disturbing information. Through this article main reasons for such deforestation will be presented and methods that could mean preservation of Amazon rainforest will be pointed out. First let's point out the main reasons that are causing this high amount of deforestation.

Most important deforestation factor is clearing forest area for cattle pasture and it causes 60-70 % of total deforestation. Since cattle breeding is very profitable business and doesn't require high maintenance expenditures and gives very solid profit, it's very clear why such big percent of Amazon forest is being destroyed because of cattle pasture. Increasing number of cattle needs more area on which they can pasture and because of this reason forests are often being replaced by savannas and other coarse grasses.

Second great cause of deforestation is also connected with agriculture but this time with farms. Since most population in Brazil is still very much oriented on agriculture, large areas of forests are being cleared in order to leave more space to cultivable areas, where especially poor farmers are being stimulated by government politics to settle and work on these areas. Since farmers use fire in this process, whole procedure has its negative effect doubled, because not only forests areas are being destroyed but also large quantities of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are being released in atmosphere having negative impact on whole biosystem and polluting air we breathe.

Large growth of cultivable areas is also connected with advanced production of soybean because Brazilian scientists have discovered new sorts of soybean and soybean is very expensive and very appreciated on world market and Brazil has such rapid growth with soybean production that according to some predictions soon will go even past the USA which at this moment holds first place in soybean production. Although many people would think that logging is main cause for such huge deforestation that's not true because it causes only 2-4 % of total deforestation. Tropical rainforests are presenting large source of expensive wood among which special place has precious ebony and that's the reason why illegal logging is so much expanded and profitable business, namely because of high prices of this wood.

Just for example of that in September 2003, 17 people were arrested under incrimination that they destroyed 10 000 hectares of forest area and this is just small drop in the sea of illegal logging. Last factor that causes deforestation is infrastructure building, especially of roads and dams and it makes about 2-4 % of total deforestation.




Famous example of this politic is building of Trans-Amazonian Highway which had its purpose not only in connection between distant places but also in opening of new areas to farmers and easier exploiting of wooden riches. After this famous project was done, deforestation has gone to a whole new level and this presents a real example how building of infrastructure can cause complete ecological chaos. But can these factors be prevented or could they be at least slowed down until the level that could be more tolerable to environment?

There's still hope but only under this conditions.

First of all, former forest areas should be rehabilitated which is not that difficult process if at least small part of former biosystem is saved. Rehabilitation also needs higher productivity of cultivable areas and intellectual approach to agriculture by using modern methods and by influencing on farmers and their ecological conscience which often brakes down the whole procedure. Number of protected forest areas should also be increased and for that strong and systematic politic is needed.

Laws should be very precise and very strict with huge punishments for its offenders, not only fines but also jail sentences for more severe lawbreaking. But the most important thing is to influence on ecological conscience of all people by trying to present them negative consequences of deforestation that could easily cause catastrophic effect to all life on Earth and result in even more expressed climate changes. Only fast intervention on all fields can have success, because humanity needs to find the right way while it still can. To make harmony between ecology and economy is very difficult task but by no means impossible.

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Rainforest Plants,Momordica " Bitter Melon"

By Tony Mandarich

Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Momordica
Species: charantia

Common Names: bitter melon, papailla, melao de sao caetano, bittergourd, balsam apple, balsam pear, karela,

General Description: Bitter melon is a herbaceous tendril-bearing vine that bears small leaves, yellow flowers and fruity gourds shaped like cucumbers. The light green fruit is eight to 12 inches long and ridges punctuate the fruit's exterior. The flesh is thin and surrounds a cavity of seeds and pith. Before the fruit ripens, seeds and pith are white. In this state, they are not bitter and for culinary purposes, are removed before cooking.

Location: Bitter melon grows in tropical areas, including parts of the Amazon, east Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, and is cultivated throughout South America as a food and medicine.

Uses: When fully ripe, the pith becomes sweet and turns red. It can be eaten at this time; the fruit of the melon cannot, however, because it becomes tough as it ripens. Ripened sweet Bitter Melon pith is used extensively in salads in Southeast Asia.

As it ripens, this fruit becomes bitter. Therefore, the fruit is most often eaten green. Some miniature species are like small pickles and may be served as stuffed vegetables.

Bitter melon has also been used for numerous medical conditions by shaman in tropical rainforests for centuries. Infections, cancer, leukemia, and diabetes have all been treated with it over the years.

Highly touted in internet marketing circles as a cure for diabetes and psoriasis, supporters believe it has impressive curative properties. Unfortunately, there is no solid research to support these claims. However some research documents improvement in both diabetes and psoriasis following use of Bitter Melon.

Disclaimer: The statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Any reference to medicinal use is not intended to treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease.