The Lungs of the Earth (Indonesian Economy)
Introduction
What are the lungs of the Earth? - Forest. Trees inhale carbon dioxide, in the process of photosynthesis giving out oxygen for human and animals to breathe. Most of the living creatures need oxygen to survive. Forest provide natural resources, inspire wonders and places for recreation. It is a home for the plants and animals also there are many species of them which are still undiscovered. Forest also protects the villages from natural disasters such as flood, neutralizes the pollution of the water, lessens the soil erosion to prevent floods in the nearby river, source of economy and provides thousands of species of herbs that may cure illnesses. Despite many benefits for having forests, people take advantage of it for their personal interests. A huge destruction had caused to the world, therefore measurement has to be taken immediately.
Forest sector’s Development in Indonesia
Exporting goods from Indonesia
The diversity of trees from soft wood to hard wood is found in the forest in Indonesia. The local people utilize their natural resources (wood) for construction, furniture and handcrafted goods to generate more revenues. Other than exporting goods to the world, they are also made use of it for personal benefits.
Indonesia is one of the largest wood exporters in the world, especially through the export of timber. Forest in Indonesia has contributed greatly to the domestic economy. The government implemented the “Basic Forestry Law” in the year 1967 to support both economic growth and crisis. The government tried to attract foreign investors by establishing specific strategies.
Foreign investors from Japan, Korea, Philippines and Malaysia were interested on the forestry...
... middle of paper ...
...n, communities, and villagers) have to play a part for preventing the peat fires especially in the districts and subdistricts of Riau. http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Picture6.png Illegal loggers and land clearing for small farmers
Oil Palm plantation development, timber, and large holder of certified logging companies are closely related to forest fires. Trees are sometimes being destroyed in the fastest and cheapest way. Everything is uncontrollable when the forest in on fire, spreading through the communities and even vanishing established crops.
It is harder than expected to monitor the entire forest. These are the few factors: Lack of manpower to patronize the whole area, nearly impossible to monitor the intruders along the forest boundary, and illegal loggers may slip in to the forest to obtain the valuable resources without being detected.
Fire plays a huge role in natural forests. The let it burn policy allows natural fires to burn unless, they threaten people, property, or endangered species. This policy allows the years and years of kindling that has fallen and piled up on the forest floor to burn up in smaller fires, instead of having huge devastating fire like the ones that burning for months in 1910 and 1988. When the west was first settled, forests were thinned by lumber companies that logged the trees and burned the logging debris, and by ranchers looking to increase pasture land. The last herder coming out of the mountains would set a fire to ensure good forage for the next year.
Fires kill plants and trees leaving wildlife without homes and food. Large fires cause lots of smoke and air pollution.
Prescribed fire is a controlled burn of an area done by a team of experienced or educated people in a grassland or forested area. This type of burn is intended to help the health of plant and animal species and restore them to their native state. When certain areas that need to be burned so often do not get burned, they can be a hazard to the ecosystem in which it presides. A forest can get over grown and thick which will create more fuel for a wildfire that can destroy a forest community. In grassland a controlled burn, or prescribed burn, can help eliminate invasive species that can take over grasslands that are harmful to the more desirable plants. This type of fire can be seen as harmful and a disaster by many people, but it has great benefits on the areas in which it is done.
As people of the twenty-first century, we are all too familiar with the frequent occurrence of wildfires in our nation’s forests. Each year millions of acres of woodlands are destroyed in brutal scorches. It has been estimated that 190 million acres of rangelands in the United States are highly susceptible to catastrophic fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). About a third of these high-risk forests are located in California (www.sfgate.com). These uncontrollable blazes not only consume our beautiful forests but also the wildlife, our homes and often the lives of those who fight the wildfires. The frequency of these devastating fires has been increasing over the years. In fact, in the years 2000 and 2002, it has been reported that the United States has faced its worst two years in fifty years for mass destruction fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). The increased natural fuels buildup coupled with droughts have been a prevailing factor in contributing to our wildfires and unhealthy forests (www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2004/pr040303_forests.html). Due to the severity of these wildfires, several regulations and guidelines have been implemented to save our forests. In fact, the President himself has devised a plan in order to restore our forests and prevent further destruction of our woodlands.
Thousands upon thousands of acres are lost in forest fires every year. We always hear about the dramatic losses caused by forest fires and are often concerned by them. There are so many horrible effects from fires and most of them affect so many people. Studies have shown that out of all of the different methods to decrease fire damage, prescribed burns are the most affective. Many people would argue that they are not as affective because they cause so many health problems. Although that is a very important view and may seem valid, those health issues are not as extreme as one might think. People should look at the majority of the benefits form prescribed burns and they will see how affective and important they are. Prevention is the key to society these days and is definitely an important factor in saving lives. If more lives can be saved as well as land and wildlife, prescribed burns may be the better way to go about forest fires. Although, prescribed burns are better for the environment in order to prevent drastic forest fires, severe damage to timber and extreme death of wildlife; some people feel it affects the health of a firefighter too much and it causes too many long term effects.
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter (drug war facts, Page 1).
Forests are basically a complex mix of living things such as animals, trees, shrubs, plants, fungi, and many more, as they cover about 40% of Canada’s land. As forests play an important role in this complex community, as we need those to survive to build shelter, food for animals, and most important is fresh air.
Another solution is tourism. Ecotourism programs are available for those who adopt so that they may see their land and experience the true beauty of the forests. By touring the land, one prevents actions such as poaching, illegal wood harvesting and burning, and drug-runners with secret airstrips in the north jungle.
Deforestation is a widely used term, but one with different meanings. Disturbance deforestation refers to all man made disturbances that alter a forest, these are the most common. This argumentative essay discusses the positive and negative aspects of deforestation. In the first part of the essay the pro arguments of deforestation will be discussed. For example, the issue of Global population and how forests are being used, land use and the ways forests contribute, wood use, forest growth, destruction and the reasons for cutting down the trees. The second half of the essay will cover the issues that are harmful to the environment because of deforestation. Many environmental issues take place everyday; a big question that arises, is if the global economy will ever finds middle on the issue of forest thinning. If deforestation was used only in the most crucial of times, the world might become a better place.
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.
Timber and especially hardwoods like mahogany and ebony are being felled at an alarming rate to satisfy the needs of the swiftly developing world. Another problem for the forest areas of the world is the type of agriculture used by some peasant farmers known as "slash & burn". This method of farming involves the burning of trees to add to the initial supply of nutrients in the soil. Over time this supply slowly wares down and so the farmer once again moves onto another plot of trees to slash and burn.
One reason that the Rainforest is being cut down is for logging, according to Source 3 logging accounts for 10% of rainforest deforestation. The timber from logging is often used for paper, tables and and sometimes fuel. The rainforest has remained untouched for many years before companies came for wood, because of this there are large amounts of unspoilt plants and
Wildfires are catastrophic disasters that destroy everything in their path. “A wildfire (also known as forest fire, grass fire, vegetation fire, etc) is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wild land areas, but which can also consume houses or agricultural resources.” (Wildfire.) The causes of wildfires are mostly intentional, negligence or accidents and natural causes. Wildfires have three distinct phases: Initiation, propagation, and extinction. This phenomenon affects our ecosystem, such as air and earth. In addition, people who witness this kind of catastrophe in the lower cases they lose belongings as houses or cars, but they can also lose their lives. There are many campaigns that help prevent these phenomena, but they need the help of the entire community. It is very important take care of not cause an accident. Wildfire is a phenomenon very common on these days causing a terrible damage to our environment and we have to prevent its expansion through our help, cooperation and prudence...
Today deforestation is all over the world and it is increasing. Our forests are disappearing at a very fast rate. Most people, when they think of deforestation, think of the Amazon Rain Forest. However, this is not the only place that deforestation occurs. Deforestation also occurs in East Asia, Indonesia and the Congo. China has only 2% of its forests left. Some of the last of the world’s rainforests are in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Amazon. Deforestation is a big problem. It not only affects the world around us, bu...
The Forest fire is occurring very frequently nowadays, reasons for it are a heavy increase in global warming and an increase in temperature.