By Liliana Usvat
Blog 218 -365
If we do not learn for History we are going to repeat it
“The decline of the Roman Empire is a story of deforestation, soil
exhaustion and erosion,” wrote author Mr. G. V. Jacks. “From Spain to
Palestine there are no forests left on the Mediterranean littoral, the
region is pronouncedly arid instead of having the mild humid character
of forest-clad land, and most of its former bounteously rich top-soil is
lying at the bottom of the sea.”
And while deforestation wasn’t the sole cause the Roman Empire’s fall,
when combined with its corollaries of near constant resource based war,
declining agricultural productivity, increased disease and epidemics,
rebellion, a large degree of urbanization and reliance on complex
systems, it contributed very significantly.
How does deforestation cause desertification?
Since there are no trees the land is very dry and the climate is very
arid so eventually the land will be turned into a desert and keep
spreading .
Inner Mongolia, China's third largest province, is battling severe
desertification. Over-grazing, logging, expanding farms and population
pressure, as well as droughts, have turned once fertile grasslands into
sandy plains.
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.
In forestry,
the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the
logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest,
usually a sawmill or a lumber yard.
Illegal logging refers to what in forestry might be called timber theft by the timber mafia.
It can also refer to the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of
timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be
illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests;
extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of
protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed
limits.
In my Opinion all logging should be illegal.
Clearcut logging is not necessarily considered a type of
logging but a harvest or silviculture method and is simply called clearcutting
or block cutting. In the forest products industry logging companies may
be referred to as logging contractors, with the smaller, non-union
crews referred to as "gyppo loggers."
Deforestation
Deforestation occurs primarily due to: agriculture, fuel use (firewood,
charcoal, etc), timber, pasture for livestock animals, and expanding
human settlements.
And also, to a degree, due to large scale war,
throughout history fire has often been used as a way to deprive enemy
populations of necessary resources.
These areas almost always inevitably
end up as wastelands via the processes of soil erosion and
desertification, if they aren’t reforested. Many of the areas of the
world that were deforested thousands of years ago remain as severely
degraded wastelands or deserts today.
Deforestation
is the term that describes the cutting down or clearing of trees from a
wooded area. There are a number of reasons woodlands or forests are cut
down. In some cases, the trees themselves are the desired resource.
Trees have been a source of fuel for many generations and continue to be
used in this way today. They are also turned into timber for use in
building and carpentry, as well as used in the production of paper
products.
In other cases, trees are cleared because they are in
the way of progress. Forests may be cleared to make room for farmland or
for grazing land for cattle, or they may be removed to make room for
new houses, neighborhoods or expanding cities. Some deforestation is not
intentional and can result due to natural causes, such as wildfires.
Regardless of the cause, deforestation can be detrimental to the environment. A forest acts as a
carbon sink
because it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the
process of photosynthesis. When trees are destroyed, they release their
stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, which contributes to the
greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is the phenomenon whereby
atmospheric gases, like carbon dioxide, trap the sun's heat, causing the
earth's surface to warm.
Currently around 14 percent of China is covered by forests. Most of
these are in the northern, southern and mountainous central parts of the
country.
Illegal logging and slash and burn agriculture consume up to 5,000
square kilometers of virgin forest every year. In northern and central
China forest cover has been reduced by half in the last two decades.
Between the mid 1990s and mid 2000s China went from being a country that
imported much of its wood products to one of the world’s leading
exporters of furniture, plywood and flooring.
(Dust Storm China)
Chinese demand for wood is consuming foorests around the globe. The
rain forest of the Congo and Cameroon in central Africa, the Amazon
basin and the islands of Indonesia are all being heavily logged to
supply China’s growing demand for wood and its rapidly-growing furniture
industry.
(Dust Storm China)
Currently the world’s annual deforestation rate is estimated to be about
13.7 million hectares a year, that’s about the land area of Greece.
Roughly half of this area gets reforested to a degree, though new growth
forests don’t function in the same way, support the same biodiversity,
nor do they provide the many benefits that old-growth forests do.
In
addition to these numbers, forests have been becoming more and more
affected by climate change, with increasing drought, forest fires,
increased and more powerful storms, diseases, and an explosion in insect
numbers.
Oil Sands and Deforestation Canada
Oil
sands, also known as tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen –
extremely heavy, semi-solid crude oil that is mixed with silica sand,
clay minerals and water. The largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the
world is found here in the Athabasca deposit.
The UK Guardian Newspaper and Greenpeace
recently reported that Canada’s boreal forest – a continuous belt of
coniferous trees separating the tundra to the north and temperate
rainforest and deciduous woodlands to the south – is being flattened and
destroyed in order to extract oil from the tar sands.
- See more
at:
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/#sthash.5naixe0A.dpuf
Destruction
of Boreal Forest Near Athabasca Oil Sands, Canada - See more at:
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/#sthash.5naixe0A.dpuf
The
UK Guardian Newspaper and Greenpeace recently reported that Canada’s
boreal forest – a continuous belt of coniferous trees separating the
tundra to the north and temperate rainforest and deciduous woodlands to
the south – is being flattened and destroyed in order to extract oil
from the tar sands.
The striking photographs show how
Canada’s magnificent boreal forest is being destroyed by the rush to
extract oil from the tar sands just below the surface.
- See more
at:
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/#sthash.5naixe0A.dpuf
Oil
sands, also known as tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen –
extremely heavy, semi-solid crude oil that is mixed with silica sand,
clay minerals and water. The largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the
world is found here in the Athabasca deposit.
The UK Guardian Newspaper and Greenpeace
recently reported that Canada’s boreal forest – a continuous belt of
coniferous trees separating the tundra to the north and temperate
rainforest and deciduous woodlands to the south – is being flattened and
destroyed in order to extract oil from the tar sands.
- See more
at:
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/#sthash.5naixe0A.dpuf
Oil
sands, also known as tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen –
extremely heavy, semi-solid crude oil that is mixed with silica sand,
clay minerals and water. The largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the
world is found here in the Athabasca deposit.
The UK Guardian Newspaper and Greenpeace
recently reported that Canada’s boreal forest – a continuous belt of
coniferous trees separating the tundra to the north and temperate
rainforest and deciduous woodlands to the south – is being flattened and
destroyed in order to extract oil from the tar sands.
- See more
at:
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/#sthash.5naixe0A.dpuf
Desertification
Desertification is the process by which fertile land is transformed into
desert, usually as a result of deforestation, drought, and agriculture
use/practices.
Desertification played a significant role in the collapse
of many large empires and civilizations; such as the Roman Empire,
Carthage, the Harappan civilization, and Greece.
Most of the
desertification that these civilizations experienced was as a result of
agriculture, deforestation, and associated changes in aridity and the
climate.
These factors all combine to create a warmer and drier climate and may result in
desertification,
which is the transformation of once fertile land into desert.
Deforestation is not the only cause of desertification. Land can turn
dry and barren due to drought, shifts in the climate or aggressive
agricultural or grazing practices.
All of these causes, along
with deforestation, lead to the loss of vegetation in the area. Without
the vegetation, soil erosion accelerates and water does not easily
absorb into the ground. The soil becomes dry and deplete of moisture and
groundwater reserves go unfilled. The soil is left unfertile and barren
with nothing to do but bake in the hot sun.
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was caused by a combination of poor agricultural
practices, drought, and deforestation. Before being converted to
farmland the region had been primarily grasslands with some larger
vegetation. The limited tree cover that had been present before
wide-scale settlement was mostly cut down with settlement.
“During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the
soil in place, it dried, turned to dust, and blew away with the
prevailing winds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky, reaching all
the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. Much
of the soil ended up deposited in the Atlantic Ocean, carried by
prevailing winds.
In this days time happen again in USA
SEATTLE — A massive, dramatic dust storm more often associated with the
Southwest blew through Eastern Washington and north Idaho on Tuesday August 12 2014,
evening in advance of thunderstorms, lightning and rain
This is Holland River Now. It does not support a barge of 80 tons for transportation. That is what deforestation does to the land.
The land was bought by town of Aurora that at least leave some shrubs on
the river banks to protect the drinking water of Aurora.
Cutting old trees is still going on in the name of forest management.
All trees older that 10 years old are cut 
Lock how young is the forest. It is not OK. A forest needs old trees to learn how to protect against cold and fungus and beetles.
Most of the forest is in the ownership of the government that is using the wood to make paper and send flyers that are thrown right away in the garbage.
