Showing posts with label Reforestation in Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reforestation in Europe. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2015

Reforestation in Europe

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 311 - 365

There are many forests in Europe, most of which are used for commercial logging purposes and which are no longer left to develop in a natural way. In particular this interference includes the cultivation of trees at an accelerated pace and the introduction of non-indigenous species to an area.
Nature is used and abused in my opinion and not treated with respect it deserves for sustaining life.

The result of this are forests which are lacking in variety, or monospecific forests. In a joint venture, Naturefund and Michelin campaigned for natural reforestation across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Beech trees in Germany

Michelin and Naturefund have together planted around 25,000 Beech trees in the Spessart region. In this area, on a slope close to the city of Bad Orb, a Spruce forest extends over a total of 24 hectares.
Droughts, storms and Bark beetles have caused some damage to the Spruce trees which are not local to this area. It is rather the hardier Beech tree which occurs naturally here and which is considerably more resistant to such conditions.
Therefore in barren areas, Beech trees are being planted with the aim that Beech forests will become established and will last long into the future.

Austria

In Austria, together with the local government forestry department, we have begun a project to plant rare and almost extinct tree varieties.
This includes the very rare wildfruit Sorbus tree, as well as Yew trees and a very rare type of Oak tree that is indigenous to Austria. In total around 3,000 trees have been planted.

Within the last 100 years, Europe has experienced two World Wars, the end of communism, the emergence of the European Union and a series of other transformative political and economic developments. A team of scientists has now been able to visualize the impact of historical events in maps that show the growth and decline of settlements, forests and croplands.
"More than 100 years ago, timber was used for almost everything: as fuel wood, for metal production, furniture, house construction. Hence, at around 1900 there was hardly any forest areas left in Europe. Especially after World War II, many countries started massive afforestation programs which are still running today," Fuchs told The Washington Post.
As a result, Europe's forests grew by a third over the last 100 years. At the same time, cropland decreased due to technological innovations such as motorization, better drainage and irrigation systems: Relatively fewer area was needed to produce the same amount of food. Furthermore, many people migrated from rural to urban areas, or overseas.
Fuchs' fascinating conclusion: Forests and settlements grew at the same time and Europe is a much greener continent today than it was 100 years ago. A closer look at different regions and countries reveals Europe's recovery from the deforestation of past centuries.
Denmark
Today, forest area covers 11% of total area in Denmark. Forests smaller than two hectares make up 35% of the Danish forest estates, but they only make up 2% of the forest area. 70% of the forest area is privately owned. The development shows that the number of forest estates larger than 20 hectares and smaller than 250 hectares has increased. 
Finland

78% of the land area is forest area. During the last 70 years, the structure of Finnish forests has changed significantly. They have now a more even-aged structure. Scotch pine is the most common tree species with 45% of growing stock. 62% of the forest area is owned by private, non-industrial owners and 8% by private industry. The state owns 25% of the forest area. 
Conclusion
Deforestation caused by humans is mainly related to coal production (through the burning of wood) and the expansion of agricultural lands (primarily in the tropics). Currently, 13 million hectares of forest disappear every year, an area the size of Portugal. 
While in Europe more trees are planted than are cut down, Africa has the highest rate of deforestation in the world with 0.5% of its forests disappearing each year.
The differences in behavior relating to forests can be explained by how forests are utilized. In Europe, the forest is mainly harvested in a way to maintain durable development because forests are viewed as a source of economic development. Preservation ensures sustainable harvest of available resources.
In Africa for example, the forest is used by the villagers to make carbon (an essential resource for their daily life), and viewed as potential and lucrative agricultural land. It is therefore destroyed to satisfy their daily energy needs and to create space for crops.

Agroforestry


A farmer who has a single field of cotton or grain has a source of immediate income, but it is limited.
Planting fruit trees in the middle of his field with a hedge all around it, allows him to continue to earn his traditional annual income while waiting for the trees to bear fruit, which will be more profitable in the market than his original products.  In addition, the hedges will protect his fields from foraging animals and improve the soil quality as well as increase his overall crop yield.
Agroforestry provides a solution for both challenges: ensuring the durability of newly planted trees and improving the living conditions for villagers.   
In order for this to succeed, we must provide all the resources needed to start up the project and the farmers must be trained to plant the trees and use them in a sustainable way.
Planting a tree is universally recognized as a a strong, symbolic gesture and there are many reasons to believe that things will move in the right direction.  After all, for the Earth to return to the same amount of forest cover as in the year 1950, we have to plant or protect 15 billion trees, only 2 trees per person ! 
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