6757721 Forest Conservation B

FOREST CONSERVATION

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CONSERVATION FOREST CONSERVATION WATER CONSERVATION SOIL CONSERVATION DIAGRAMS RELATED WITH FOREST CONSERVATION • WRITTEN BY:-

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Conservation, sustainable use and protection of natural resources including plants, animals, mineral deposits, soils, clean water, clean air, and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Natural resources are grouped into two categories, renewable and nonrenewable. A renewable resource is one that may be replaced over time by natural processes, such as fish populations or natural vegetation, or is inexhaustible, such as solar energy. The goal of renewable resource conservation is to ensure that such resources are not consumed faster than they are replaced. Nonrenewable resources are those in limited supply that cannot be replaced or can be replaced only over extremely long periods of time. Nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels and mineral deposits, such as iron ore and gold ore. Conservation activities for nonrenewable resources focus on maintaining an adequate supply of these resources well into the future.

• Natural resources are conserved for their biological, economic, and recreational values, as well as their natural beauty and importance to local cultures. For example, tropical rain forests are protected for their important role in both global ecology and the economic livelihood of the local culture; a coral reef may be protected for its recreational value for scuba divers; and a scenic river may be protected for its natural beauty.

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Conservation conflicts arise when natural-resource shortages develop in the face of steadily increasing demands from a growing human population. Controversy frequently surrounds how a resource should be used, or allocated, and for whom. For example, a river may supply water for agricultural irrigation, habitat for fish, and water-generated electricity for a factory. Farmers, fishers, and industry leaders vie for unrestricted access to this river, but such freedom could destroy the resource, and conservation methods are necessary to protect the river for future use.

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Conflicts worsen when a natural resource crosses political boundaries. For example, the headwaters, or source, of a major river may be located in a different country than the country through which the river flows.

• METHODS OF CONSERVATION • Recycling Aluminum Cans In an effort to conserve nonrenewable natural resources, many industries and individuals recycle waste aluminum. At this collection point, the Alcoa Recycling Company in New Jersey processes aluminum cans into large bales.Photo Researchers, Inc./Hank Morgan/Science Source • • The challenge of conservation is to understand the complex connections among natural resources and balance resource use with protection to ensure an adequate supply for future generations. In order to accomplish this goal, a variety of conservation methods are used. These include reducing consumption of resources; protecting them from contamination or pollution; reusing or recycling resources when possible; and fully protecting, or preserving, resources.

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CURRENT TYPES OF CONSERVATION ISSUES

Environment: The Good News Polluted waterways. A thinning ozone layer. Oppressive smog. Is the earth doomed forever to a hopelessly toxic environment? Maybe not. Environmental scientist Norman Myers believes the tide of contamination turned in the last decades of the 20th century. In a 1997 article he reports on the good news. Myers cites the lowering cost of alternative energies, such as solar and wind power; an automobile that might someday go coast to coast on a tank of gas; international cooperation to clean up the Mediterranean Sea; and most significantly, increasing awareness of how to clean up the planet—and keep it that way. open sidebar There are a variety of basic conservation methods used to protect global natural resources. Although each resource has a unique set of conservation problems and solutions, all resources are interconnected in a complex and little-understood web. Scientists have learned that damaging one thread of the web may weaken the entire structure. It is important that this connectivity be addressed in the search for solutions to resource shortages. It would be impractical to work toward the conservation of soil, for instance, without considering the needs and effects of nearby water and vegetation resources (see Environment).

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Forest Conservation

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Slash-and-Burn Deforestation The deforestation technique of slash and burn, utilized extensively to clear large areas of forest for agricultural and other purposes, causes an enormous amount of environmental damage. The large amounts of carbon dioxide given off into the atmosphere during burning adds to the greenhouse effect. The removal of all trees and groundcover destroys animal habitats and greatly accelerates erosion, adding to the sediment loads of rivers and making seasonal flooding much more severe.Oxford Scientific Films/Sean Morris Expand

The Role of Forests Forests provide habitat for a wide variety of plants and animals and perform many other important functions that affect humans. Photosynthesis is the chemical process in the leaves that uses sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce energy-supplying sugars for the tree. In the process the foliage gives off pure oxygen for breathing. The forest canopy (the treetops) and root systems provide natural filters for the water we use from lakes and rivers. When it rains the forest canopy intercepts and re-distributes precipitation that can cause flooding and erosion, the wearing away of topsoil. Some of the precipitation flows down the trunks as stemflow, the rest percolates through the branches and foliage as throughfall. The canopy is also able to capture fog, which it distributes into the vegetation and soil. Forests also increase the ability of the land to store water. The forest floor can hold as much as five times its weight in water and a tree contains water in its roots, trunk, stems, and leaves. Because of all this stored moisture, forests help to maintain an even flow of water in rivers and streams in times of flood or drought. The roots of the trees and other vegetation hold the soil in place and control erosion from wind and rain, preventing flooding and clouding of streams and rivers.© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Expand

Clear-cutting Clear-cutting is a forestry harvesting technique in which all the trees in a given area are removed. The advantages of this technique include the eventual production of trees of approximately the same age and height, which are easy to harvest using mechanized equipment. The disadvantages include the elimination of old growth forest and animal habitat, excessive erosion, and an unappealing landscape. In an effort to conserve forest resources, the timber industry is modifying clear-cutting techniques to include the complete use of all harvested trees and the replanting of clear-cut areas.Oxford Scientific Films/Mike Birkhead Expand Forests provide many social, economic, and environmental benefits. In addition to timber and paper products, forests provide wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, prevent soil erosion and flooding, help provide clean air and water, and contain tremendous biodiversity. Forests are also an important defense against global climate change. Through the process of photosynthesis, forests produce life-giving oxygen and consume huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the atmospheric chemical most responsible for global warming. By decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, forests may reduce the effects of global warming.

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Soil Conservation

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Deforestation and Erosion After the lush vegetation of a rain forest is removed, an area rarely recovers. This deforested Costa Rican stream valley is eroding away because there is no longer a good root system to anchor the topsoil or decaying plant matter to replenish its nutrients. If the cycle continues, the area may eventually resemble a desert.Photo Researchers, Inc./S.E. Cornelius

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Soil, a mixture of mineral, plant, and animal materials, is essential for most plant growth and is the basic resource for agricultural production. Soil-forming processes may take thousands of years, and are slowed by natural erosion forces such as wind and rain.

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Water Conservation

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Polluted River in the United Kingdom The pollution of rivers and streams with chemical contaminants has become one of the most critical environmental problems of the 20th century. Waterborne chemical pollution entering rivers and streams comes from two major sources: point pollution and nonpoint pollution. Point pollution involves those pollution sources from which distinct chemicals can be identified, such as factories, refineries or outfall pipes. Nonpoint pollution involves pollution from sources that cannot be precisely identified, such as runoff from agricultural or mining operations or seepage from septic tanks or sewage drain fields. It is estimated that each year 10 million people die worldwide from drinking contaminated water.Oxford Scientific Films/Ben Osborne

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Clean freshwater resources are essential for drinking, bathing, cooking, irrigation, industry, and for plant and animal survival. Unfortunately, the global supply of freshwater is distributed unevenly.