Rising mercury level over the years and deficient monsoon are results of mass deforestation and other human actions which damaged the environment. Human enrichment and uncontrolled cutting of trees have greatly contributed to global warming.
Planting trees could rearrange to-do-lists for fighting climate change. A new study finds planting trees on 0.9 billion hectares of land could trap about two-thirds the amount of carbon released by human activities since the start of the industrial revolution.
The planet has much tree-friendly land available for use. Without knocking down cities or taking over farms or natural grasslands, reforested pieces could add up to a new tree.
How planting trees help to fight climate change?
Planting help fight climate through the natural process of photosynthesis, trees absorb CO2 and other pollutant particulates, then store the carbon and emit pure oxygen.
Trees help clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink and provide habitat to over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Forests provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people, key ingredients in 25% of all me dicine comes from the trees.
Six pillars that explain why trees are so important
Air - Tress is like the vacuum of our planet. Through their left and bark, they suck up harmful pollutants and release clean oxygen for us to breath in urban environments.
Trees absorb pollutant gases like nitrogen oxides, ozone, and carbon monoxide caused by deforestation and fossil fuel combustion trap heat in the atmosphere, healthy, strong trees act as carbon sinks: absorbing atmospheric.
Healthy, strong trees act as carbon sinks: absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and reducing the effects of climate change.
Also read,
Water – Trees play a key role in capturing rainwater and reducing the risk of natural disasters like floods and landslides. Theory intricate root systems act like filters, removing pollutants and slowing down the water’s absorption into the ground.
This process prevents harmful waterside erosion and reduced the risk of over-saturation and flooding.
According to the United Nations, mature evergreen trees can intercept more than 15,000 liters of water every year.
Biodiversity – A single tree can be home to hundreds of species of insect, fungi, moss, mammals, and plants. Depending on the kind of food and shelter they need, different forests animals require different types of habitat. Without trees, forest creatures would have nowhere to call home.
Health – Trees help reduce stress, anxiety and allow us to reconnect with nature. Shade provided by tree coverage helps protect skin from the ever-increasing harshness of the sun.
Climate – Trees help cool the planet by sucking in and storing harmful green gases, like carbon-dioxide, into their trunks, branches, and leaves and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.
In cities, trees can reduce the overall temperature by up to eight degrees Celsius. With more than 50% of the world’s population living in cities – a number expected to increase to 66% by the years 2050 – pollution and overheating are becoming a real threat.
Fortunately, trees can absorb up to 150 kg of carbon dioxide per year, making cities a healthier, safer place to live.
Social Impact
From arborists to loggers, to researchers, to the job opportunities provided by the forestry industry and endless.
Humans don’t just rely on trees for work; sustainable tree farming provides timber to build homes and shelter, and wood to burn for cooking and heating food-producing trees provide fruit, nuts, berries, and leaves for consumption by both humans and animals, and guarantee health and nutrition.
Severe impact of deforestation on climate
According to the World Bank Forests still cover about 30% of the worlds; and areas, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 502, 00 square miles it means 1.3 million square kilometers of forest.
Since humans started cutting down forests 46% of trees have been cut, according to a 2015 study in the journal Nature. About 17% of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise.
Causes –
Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account more than half of all deforestation. Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest.
In Malaysia and Indonesia, forestry is cut down to make way for producing palm oil, which can be found in everything from shampoo to saltines.
Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also fell countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting legally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl as land is developed for homes.
Not all deforestation is intentional. Some are caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees.
Tropical tree cover alone can provide 23 percent of the climate mitigation needed over the next decade to meet goals set in the Paris Agreement in 2015, according to one estimate.
Developing countries cut more trees
Developing nations are faced with a two-edged sword in the field of energy. On the one hand, the rising price of oil has reduced the potential for fossil fuel energy and eroded foreign exchange reserves in oil-importing countries. At the same time, deforestation may be causing increased prices or shortages of fuels such as fuel wood and charcoal.
A cross-national analysis confirms the most frequently cited causes of deforestation. Deforestation in 39 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia is significantly related to the rate of population growth over the period and to wood fuels production and wood exports.
It is indirectly related to agricultural expansion and not related to the growth of per capita GNP.
Results indicate that in the short term, deforestation is due to population growth and agricultural expansion, aggravated over the long term by wood harvesting for fuel and export.
What latest report says?
According to the ecologist Tom Crowther – boosting tree planting can be helpful for gaining some time to fight climate change. The study used satellite images to see how densely tree grow naturally in the various ecosystem.
The Swiss team came up with their forecasts by using a dataset of nearly 80,000 forests and combining that with Google Earth Engine, which allowed them to make a predictive model of tree cover.
However, even if the trees are planted pronto, their effects won't be immediate.
"It will take decades for new forests to mature and achieve this potential," Crowther said. "It is vitally important that we protect the forests that exist today, pursue other climate solutions and continue to phase out fossil fuels from our economies in order to avoid dangerous climate change."
The study was published in the journal science in July 2019.
No comments:
Post a Comment