Destruction of forests from fires. Environmental problems

The fate of the woodlands

The forest is a multilevel biosocial system where countless elements co-exist and influence each other. These elements are trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and other flora, birds, animals, microorganisms, soil with its organic and inorganic constituents, water and microclimate. The planet's forests are a powerful source of atmospheric oxygen (1 hectare of forest releases 5 tons of oxygen per year into the atmosphere). It should not be thought that only tropical rainforests are globally important. On the territory of Russia there is a unique forest area - the Siberian taiga, which supplies oxygen not only to its region, but also to North America (where about 95% of its own forests were destroyed). The oxygen produced by forests and other components of the Earth's vegetation cover is important not only in itself, but also in connection with the need to preserve the ozone screen in the Earth's stratosphere. Ozone is formed from oxygen under the influence of solar radiation. Its concentration in the stratosphere is steadily decreasing under the influence of chlorofluorinated hydrocarbons (refrigerants, plastic components, etc.). Despite the currently internationally adopted restrictive and prohibitive measures (for example, the Montreal Protocol on organochlorine compounds), which, moreover, are not universally implemented, ozone will continue to be destroyed over a number of years by compounds already released into the atmosphere, slowly rising into the stratosphere . This contributes to the growth of the "ozone hole", which, spreading from the South Pole, reached the latitude of Tierra del Fuego and "covered" in 2000 the settlement of Punta Arrenas (Chile).

Giving life-giving oxygen that counteracts the formation of the “ozone hole”, forests also absorb carbon dioxide, turning it into biomass during photosynthesis (100 m 2 of forest absorb 400 kg of CO2 per year). Industry emits significant amounts of this gas, one of the main culprits of the "greenhouse effect", which threatens global warming (already begun), the shift of the planet's agricultural zones to the poles, the swamping of land areas with permafrost, the melting of glaciers, the flooding of coastal cities, more and more frequent cataclysms (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.). Forests also absorb noise, soften seasonal temperature fluctuations, slow down strong winds, and contribute to precipitation. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has already shortened the rainy season, threatening to have catastrophic consequences for agriculture. One could go on listing reasons why the planet's forests are vital to us.

However, we should, of course, be motivated to preserve forests not only by pragmatic considerations. Forest conservation is part of a broader biocentric program for biodiversity conservation. Only the tropical rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia contain about 1.7 million species of plants and animals.

The forest takes us to the world of beauty (it has a bio-aesthetic value), in it we are imbued with the grandeur of wildlife, we enjoy at least a landscape relatively unpolluted by civilization. Moreover, forest plantations artificially planted on the site of clearings (often of a park type), with all the diligence of their creators, are often completely dependent on human care likeness of natural, virgin forests.

Sadly, forests have been destroyed in recent decades at a rate of about 1 hectare per day, and forest restoration on each hectare requires 15-20 years. During the existence of civilization, more than 42% of the entire original forest area on the planet has been eliminated, and, of course, forests are being destroyed at an increasing pace. So, for the period 1955-1995, about 40% of tropical forests were cut down. At the current rate of deforestation (about 15 million hectares per year), tropical rainforests will be completely destroyed between 2030 and 2050. A similar fate will befall the Siberian taiga even before this date, if its unrestrained exploitation, which involves foreign companies (for example, CFMG from the USA, as well as Chinese enterprises), is not stopped. On the whole, the areas of coniferous forests are decreasing in Russia, which are being replaced by less valuable small-leaved forests. In many areas, timber is harvested in excess of its growth; mountain forests, which regenerate with difficulty and grow slowly, are particularly affected.

The problem of forest death

The problem of forest death, as well as environmental issues in general, is closely related to the global political problems of our time. This relationship is two-way: along with the undoubted influence of the environmental situation on political decisions, in general, on politics, there is also an inverse effect of the political situation in the world on the environment in certain regions of the world. As for the forests of the planet, in most cases they are eliminated not on a whim, but in order to survive, not to die of hunger. The world is divided into the developed countries of the West, where less than 1 billion people (the “golden billion”) live in conditions of economic prosperity, and all the rest, developing countries (“the third world”), the haven of the rest, more than 5 billion people. Approximately 1.3 billion people in these countries live in poverty; 840 million people, including 240 million children, are hungry or malnourished (2). Making up about 20% of the world's population, the "golden billion" manages about 85% of the benefits and resources of mankind.

Both categories of countries contribute to bios destruction (albeit for different reasons). But specifically, the destruction of forests is directly carried out on the territory of the countries of the "third world"; the rich countries of the West, which previously destroyed most of their forests, are now busy restoring them, "recultivating", carefully protecting the remnants of virgin forests and newly created plantations from pollution (for example, in Germany a real campaign was launched against the "forest extinction" - Waldsterben). However, residents of developing countries are not up to environmental considerations, when they must provide themselves with food using archaic means (up to the method of sowing cultivated plants in clearings fertilized with the ashes of burnt trees, known to us from history textbooks), with a colossal population growth. We add that this method is unproductive in the rainforests of the tropics, because the layer of nutritious humus in their soils is very thin; after 2-3 harvests, the soil is depleted and a new piece of forest needs to be destroyed. The unrestrained exploitation of natural resources, including forests, is facilitated by the significant financial debt of the countries of the "third world" in relation to creditors from the countries of the "golden billion", so that the "golden billion" is indirectly responsible for the fate of the forests of the "third world", from which depends on his own survival. Measures were proposed to remove or postpone part of the debt from developing countries, subject to their obligatory compliance with the norms of protecting forests and the bio-environment in general.

Acting in agreement with the Club of Rome, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and a number of other international organizations - including non-governmental - B. I. O. under the leadership of A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis proposes in a more general plan to take action on the problems of developing countries, because these problems have acquired global significance in our days. Whether such events will have real power or remain basically “good wishes” in the face of the omnipotence of transnational corporations, as “environmental pessimists” fear, depends largely on the victory or defeat of biopolitics (and similar socio-ecological, “green” and other currents). ) on the ethical front. It is those who have real political power and / or economic power who need to develop a new ethics based on a sense of responsibility for all forms of the bios, an understanding of the fragility and interconnectedness of all life on Earth. Efforts in this direction are referred to by Vlavianos-Arvanitis as bio-diplomacy.

Radiation exposure - a consequence of the death of the forest

The death of forests due to strong exposure throughout history since the beginning of the atomic era (about 50 years) was noted on the traces of radioactive fallout from the Kyshtym and Chernobyl radiation accidents and occurred from exposure to high levels of exposure in the first 1-2 years after the accident.

In total, the area of completely dead forest plantations amounted to no more than 10 km 2. The proportion of forests that died from radiation damage in the entire history of the nuclear industry is 0.3-0.4% of the scale of the annual loss of forests in the country (2-3 thousand km 2).

Death and deforestation

One of the causes of forest death in many regions of the world is acid rain, the main culprit of which is power plants. Sulfur dioxide emissions and long-range transport result in such rainfall far from emission sources. In Austria, in the east of Canada, in the Netherlands and Sweden, more than 60% of the sulfur that falls on their territory comes from external sources, and in Norway even 75%.

Other examples of long-range transport of acids are acid rain on remote Atlantic islands such as Bermuda and acid snow in the Arctic.

Over the past 20 years (1970 - 1990), the world has lost almost 200 million hectares of forests, which is equal to the area of the United States east of the Mississippi.

Especially great environmental threat is the depletion of tropical forests - the "lungs of the planet" and the main source of the planet's biological diversity. Approximately 200,000 square kilometers are cut down or burned there every year, which means that 100,000 species of plants and animals disappear. This process is especially fast in the regions richest in tropical forests - the Amazon and Indonesia.

British ecologist N. Meyers came to the conclusion that ten small areas in the tropics contain at least 27% of the total species composition of this class of plant formations, later this list was expanded to 15 "hot spots" of tropical forests that should be preserved in no matter what.

In developed countries, acid rain caused damage to a significant part of the forest: in Czechoslovakia - 71%, in Greece and the UK - 64%, in Germany - 52%.

The current situation with forests is very different across the continents. If in Europe and Asia the forested areas for 1974 - 1989 increased slightly, then in Australia they decreased by 2.6% in one year. Even greater forest degradation is taking place in some countries: in Côte d'Ivoire, forest areas decreased by 5.4% over the year, in Thailand - by 4.3%, in Paraguay - by 3.4%.

Forest and tourism

Since ancient times, the forest has always attracted a large number of hunters, pickers of berries and mushrooms, and those who just want to relax. With the development of mass tourism in our country, the number of visitors to the forest has increased so much that it has become a factor that cannot be taken into account when protecting the forest. Millions of people in the summer, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, go to the suburban forests to spend their weekends or holidays in the bosom of nature. Thousands of tourists make trips along the same routes. In suburban forests, you can often find entire tent cities with a large population. Visitors to the forest make major changes in his life. To set up tents, undergrowth is cut, removed, broken and ruined by young growth. Young trees die not only under fires, but also under axes, or even just under the feet of numerous visitors. Forests frequented by tourists are so thoroughly littered with tin cans, bottles, rags, paper, etc., they bear traces of large and small wounds that this negatively affects natural reforestation. They carry and carry bouquets of flowers, branches of greenery, trees, shrubs. The question is, what will happen if each of those who come to the forest picks only one branch, one flower? And it is no coincidence that after a number of years of poaching attitude to nature in our, especially suburban, forests, many once abundant plants, shrubs and trees have disappeared. In the spring, tens of thousands of citizens rush to the forests for bird cherry and lilac. Not satisfied with modest bouquets. Armfuls, brooms, often on the roofs of cars. How can one not envy the delicate taste of the Japanese, who believe that the bouquet is spoiled if it contains more than three flowers.

Not the last place in causing damage is the custom of decorating Christmas trees. If we accept that one festive tree falls on 10-15 inhabitants, then it becomes clear to everyone that, for example, this cozy tradition costs a big city every year several tens or even hundreds of thousands of young trees. Particularly affected areas are sparsely forested. The presence of even one person does not pass without a trace for the forest. Picking mushrooms, flowers and berries undermines the self-renewal of a number of plant species. A bonfire completely disables a piece of land on which it was laid out for 5-7 years. Noise scares off various birds and mammals, prevents them from raising their offspring normally. Breaking of branches, notches on trunks and other mechanical damage to trees contribute to their infection with insect pests.

It should be reminded once again: the forest is our friend, disinterested and powerful. But he, like a man whose soul is wide open, requires both attention and care from a negligent, thoughtless attitude towards him. Life without a forest is unthinkable, and we are all responsible for its well-being, responsible today, always responsible. Recreational loads are divided into safe, including both low and maximum permissible loads, dangerous and critical and catastrophic. A load can be considered safe if there are no irreversible changes in the natural complex. The impact of such loads leads the natural complex to stage II or III of digression. The load corresponding to stage II is conditionally called “low”, since the natural complex is able to withstand a large load without losing its restorative power. The maximum allowable recreational load leads the natural complex to the III stage of digression. If the natural complex passes from III to IV stage of digression, i.e., "oversteps" the stability boundary, recreational loads are considered dangerous. Critical loads correspond to stage IV of phytocenosis digression. Catastrophic loads lead the natural complex to the V stage of digression, in which the bonds are broken both between natural components and between their constituent parts.
Different types of natural complexes, having different structure and nature of relationships between morphological units, react differently to any external influences, including recreational loads. Therefore, a load that is safe for one type of natural complex can become dangerous or even critical for another type. The main task of forest management in green areas is to preserve and improve the health and protective properties of forests, and create favorable recreational conditions for mass recreation of the population.

Forest fires

Among the important abiotic factors affecting the nature of the communities formed in the ecosystem, one should include fires. The fact is that some areas are regularly and periodically exposed to fires. In coniferous forests growing in the southeastern United States, and treeless shrouds, as well as in the steppe zone, fires are a very common occurrence. In forests where fires occur regularly, trees usually have thick bark, which makes them more resistant to fire. The cones of some pines, such as Banks pine, release their seeds best when heated to a certain temperature. Thus, the seeds are sown at a time when other plants are burning. The number of forest fires in one of the regions of Siberia over two centuries: In some cases, the soil after fires is enriched with biogenic elements such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium. As a result, animals grazing in areas subject to periodic fires receive more complete nutrition. Man, preventing natural fires, thereby causes changes in ecosystems, the maintenance of which requires periodic burnouts of vegetation. At present, fires have become a very common means of controlling the development of forest areas, although the public consciousness is having difficulty getting used to this idea. Protection of forests from fires. The forests of the Earth suffer severely from fires. Forest fires destroy 2 million tons of organic matter annually. They cause great harm to forestry: the growth of trees is reduced, the composition of forests is deteriorating, windbreaks are intensifying, soil conditions and windbreaks are deteriorating, soil conditions are deteriorating. Forest fires promote the spread of harmful insects and wood-destroying fungi. World statistics claims that 97% of forest fires are caused by human faults and only 3% by lightning, mainly ball lightning. The flames of forest fires destroy both flora and fauna in their path. In Russia, great attention is paid to the protection of forests from fires. As a result of the measures taken in recent years to strengthen preventive fire-fighting measures and the implementation of a set of works for the timely detection and extinguishing of forest fires by aviation and ground-based forest fire units, the forest areas covered by fire, especially in the European part of Russia, have significantly decreased.

However, the number of forest fires is still high. Fires occur due to careless handling of fire, due to a deep violation of fire safety rules during agricultural work. The increased danger of fires is created by the clutter of forest areas. (4)

Global Solutions to Deforestation

From the foregoing, we can conclude that a lot of things are influencing the massive destruction of forests in the world. With a global problem of this issue, a global solution must also be found.

Looking at how the forest, and hence humanity, is dying, we often do not notice that we ourselves are to blame for this. Radiation exposure, deforestation, its clogging and destruction by production waste, numerous fires - all this is the human factor of destruction. What is the solution to all this?

At present, the rights of the state forest guard to combat violators of the fire regime in the forests, to bring to justice officials and citizens who violate fire safety requirements have been significantly expanded. In populated areas with intensive forestry, the protection of forests from fires is provided by forestry enterprises and their specialized units - fire and chemical stations. In total, there are about 2,700 such stations in the country. To increase the fire resistance of forests, work is carried out on a large scale on the fire-fighting device of the forest fund, systems of fire breaks and barriers are created, a network of roads and reservoirs, and forests are cleared of clutter. Fires that occur in the forest are detected mainly with the help of stationary fire observation posts, as well as forest guard workers during ground patrols. The forest fire departments are armed with tank trucks, all-terrain vehicles, soil meters and foam generators. Cord charges of explosives are widely used, as well as artificially induced precipitation. Television equipment is being introduced to facilitate the work of observers. It is envisaged to use infrared aircraft detectors to detect combustion sources from the air in conditions of heavy smoke. Information received from artificial Earth satellites is used. Improving the efficiency in detecting and extinguishing forest fires will be facilitated by the introduction of computer-calculated optimal operating modes for aviation forest protection units. In sparsely populated areas of the North, Siberia and the Far East, helicopters and airplanes with teams of paratroopers and firefighters are used to protect forests. A barrier to the path of a forest fire can be a solution that is timely applied to the soil at the border of the burning area. For example, a solution of bischofite, cheap and harmless. An important section of fire prevention is well-organized fire propaganda through radio, print, television and other media. Forestry workers acquaint the population, workers of forestry and expeditions, vacationing tourists with the basic requirements of fire safety rules in the forest, as well as with the measures that should be applied in accordance with the current legislation to persons who violate these rules. Protection of the forest from harmful insects and diseases. To protect forest plantations from damage, preventive measures are taken to prevent the emergence and mass reproduction of forest pests and to identify diseases. Extermination measures are used to destroy pests and diseases. Prevention and extermination control provide effective protection of plantations, provided they are applied in a timely and correct manner. Protective measures are preceded by a forest entomological examination, the establishment of places of distribution of harmful insects and diseases. Based on the data obtained, the question of the appropriateness of applying certain protective measures is being decided.

Forest protection measures. The main tasks of forest protection are its rational use and restoration. Measures to protect the forests of sparsely forested areas are becoming increasingly important in connection with their water protection, soil protection, and sanitary and health-improving role. Particular attention should be paid to the protection of mountain forests, as they perform important water-regulating and soil-protective functions. With proper forest management, re-cutting in a particular area should be carried out no earlier than after 80-100 years, when full ripeness is reached. An important measure for the rational use of forests is the fight against timber losses. Often, significant losses occur during the harvesting of wood. Branches and needles remain in the felling areas, which are a valuable material for the preparation of coniferous flour - vitamin feed for livestock. Waste from logging is promising for obtaining essential oils.

The forest is very difficult to restore. But still, forests are being restored in cut-down areas, sown in unforested areas, and low-value plantations are being reconstructed.

Along with artificial afforestation, work on natural reforestation (leaving seedlings, caring for self-seeding of economically valuable species, etc.) is widespread. Much attention is paid to the preservation of undergrowth in the process of logging. New technological schemes of logging operations have been developed and introduced into production, which ensure the preservation of undergrowth and young growth during forest exploitation. An essential factor in increasing the productivity of forests and enriching their composition is the breeding of new valuable forms, hybrids, varieties and introducers. The study of form diversity and the selection of economically valuable forms is carried out on a new theoretical basis, based on an analysis of the phenotypic and genotypic structures of natural populations and on the basis of a comparative analysis of biotypes with certain valuable traits. When selecting valuable forms in nature and evaluating hybrids, attention is paid to plants that have not only high productivity by the age of quantitative or technological maturity, but also plants that are characterized by high growth intensity in the initial period of ontogenesis. They are necessary for high-intensity plantations with a short rotation of felling. Plantations are a special independent form of crop production in forestry to obtain a certain type of product (wood, twig, chemicals, medicinal raw materials, etc.). Intensive agrotechnical measures are applied on the plantations. They serve as a powerful lever for the intensification and specialization of forestry production.

Russia is the most forested country in the world, but due to the consumer attitude of people to the natural resources of their country, over the past hundred years, our forest lands have been greatly depleted. The reforms of environmental and forestry legislation of the last ten years have not brought order to the forest, but on the contrary, have led to thoughtless and ruinous use of forests.

Today, the problem of forest death is one of the global problems of mankind. The problem of deforestation is not new. A lot has already been said about it, books and articles have been written, but still this problem has not lost its significance at the moment. The detrimental effect on forest lands is exerted not only by anthropogenic factors affecting the number and quality of forests, but also by natural ones. For example: various harmful fungi and insects, fires. It is also necessary to note such factors as radiation exposure of the forest, deforestation and even such a factor as hiking trips.

The death of forests due to strong radiation was noted in the areas of the Kyshtym and Chernobyl radiation accidents. In total, the area of completely dead forest plantations was about 10 km2. The proportion of forests that died from radiation damage in the entire history of the nuclear industry is 0.3-0.4%, even despite the current small percentage in the coming centuries, a new crop of forests on these lands may not even be expected. However, one of the causes of forest loss in many regions of the world is acid rain, of which power plants are the main culprits.

Sulfur dioxide emissions and long-range transport result in such rainfall far from emission sources. In Austria, in the east of Canada, in the Netherlands and Sweden, more than 60% of the sulfur that falls on their territory, and in Norway even 75%. Other examples of long-range transport of acids are acid rain on remote Atlantic islands such as Bermuda and acid snow in the Arctic. In developed countries, acid rain caused damage to a significant part of the forest: in Czechoslovakia - 71%, in Greece and Great Britain - 64%, in Germany - 52%.

People pluck branches, flowers, take out only grown bushes. And what will happen if each of those who come to the forest picks only one branch, one flower? And it is no coincidence that after many years of poaching in the forests, many plants, shrubs and trees have disappeared. In the spring, tens of thousands of citizens rush to the forests for bird cherry and lilac. And we do not even think about the damage that we cause to the forest and the environment around us. A huge amount of damage is occupied by the tradition of decorating the New Year tree. Suppose that one Christmas tree falls on 9 - 13 inhabitants, and if it is a big city, then this custom annually costs several tens, hundreds of mature trees.

A particularly great environmental threat is the depletion of tropical forests - the "lungs of the planet" and the main source of the planet's biological diversity. Approximately 200,000 square kilometers are cut down or burned there every year, which means that 100,000 species of plants and animals disappear. This process is especially fast in the regions richest in tropical forests - the Amazon and Indonesia.

Of course, fires are among the most global problem of forest death. Especially at the moment, forest burnouts have become permanent. Fires destroy forests both in regions of Russia and the world. Over the past 2 years, the Voronezh region, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod and many other cities have suffered from fires. Also, forest burning was observed in countries such as Africa, the USA, France, and Spain. The fact is that some areas are regularly and periodically exposed to fires.

The forests of the Earth suffer severely from fires. Forest fires destroy 2 million tons of organic matter annually. They cause great harm to forestry: the growth of trees is reduced, the composition of forests is deteriorating, soil conditions are deteriorating. Forest fires promote the spread of harmful insects and wood-destroying fungi. World statistics claims that 97% of forest fires are caused by human faults and only 3% by lightning, mainly ball lightning. The flames of forest fires destroy both flora and fauna in their path. In Russia, great attention is paid to the protection of forests from fires. As a result of measures taken in recent years to strengthen preventive firefighting measures and to implement a set of works for the timely detection and extinguishing of forest fires by aviation and ground firefighting units, the area of forests covered by fire, especially in the European part of Russia, has significantly decreased.

But, even despite this, the number of forest fires has not decreased. Fires occur due to negligent handling of fire, due to categorical violations of fire safety rules.

In our country, they talk a lot about this problem, but nothing is really done, because the government is busy with “more important” issues, and the forest can wait. In the meantime, other countries that are more attentive to their forest resources are buying up our forest at bargain prices, the new Russians will build their own dachas and drive jeeps. A person needs to understand that the death of the forest is a deterioration in the state of the environment and, first of all, a threat to our future.

We can only offer everyone to protect the forest and its surrounding nature:

Do not litter forests with household and industrial waste;

Stop numerous construction in forest areas;

Do not arbitrarily cut down trees for household needs;

Protect from forest fires;

Restoration of forests after logging;

To control tourists, hunters, mushroom pickers.

Bibliographic list

Arustamov E. A. and others. Nature Management: Textbook. - 7th ed. revised and additional - M.: Publishing and Trade Corporation "Dashkov and Co", 2009.
Gurova T.F., Fundamentals of ecology and rational nature management: Proc. allowance / T. F. Gurova, L. V. Nazarenko. - M.: Onyx Publishing House, 2008.
Zinoviev, I.S. Modern ways of sustainable development of the forest sector in Russia [Text] / I.S. Zinoviev // Modern directions of theoretical and applied research - 2008: a collection of scientific papers based on the materials of the international scientific and practical conference. Volume 10. Economics. - Odessa: Chernomorye, 2008. - S. 73 - 75
Zinoviev, I.S. Problems of prevention and elimination of the consequences of forest fires [Text] / I.S. Zinoviev // FES: Finance. Economy. Strategy. - 2011. - No. 2. - pp. 25-28

The phenomenon of “death of forests” in international circles has recently been understood in a narrow sense as a disease and the subsequent death of tree vegetation as a result of environmental pollution.

Forest diseases associated with the development of large-scale industry have been noted in Europe since the middle of the 20th century.

The main reasons for this phenomenon are considered to be acid precipitation (due to emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides), ozone exposure.

This process can only be halted by the reduction of pollutant emissions harmful to plants and soil.

However, there are many reasons leading to the death of forest plantations.

Russian statistics take into account the following:

damage by harmful insects;
damage by wild animals;
forest diseases;
exposure to adverse weather conditions;
Forest fires;
anthropogenic factors, including the impact of industrial emissions.

For these reasons, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest are dying (drying out) in Russia.

Forest fires are the main cause of death of forest plantations.

The influence of this factor is especially noticeable in the forests of Siberia and the Far East. In 2000, this factor caused the death of 709.7 thousand hectares of forest, or 91.3% of all dead stands (with an average contribution of this factor - 78%).

Significant damage is caused to forests by insect pests, of which needle and leaf-eating insects are the most common. The most dangerous species of needle-eating insects is the Siberian silkworm; leaf-eating - gypsy moth.

Their mass reproduction leads to the death of a forest stand over vast areas. In 1996, pests killed 194.9 thousand hectares of forest, or 37.1% of all dead stands (with an average contribution of this factor - 12%).

Other causes of forest death are adverse weather conditions: storm and hurricane winds, tornadoes, hail, drought, etc.
Significant damage to forests is caused by wild animals (mainly moose) and mouse-like rodents (water rat, common vole, etc.).

This factor is maximally manifested in forest plantations and young stands of natural origin.

Widespread diseases also lead to drying out and death of the stand, among which the most dangerous are root fungus, resin cancer, stem and butt rot, and wilt.

The cumulative impact of industrial emissions is both a direct cause of forest death, which is taken into account by official statistics (on average, only 0.07% of the area of dead forests), and a much more significant indirect cause, since it leads to a weakening of the forest stand and contributes to the development of forest diseases and the spread of insects. pests.

Forest death from adverse factors wikipedia
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Introduction

1. The fate of forests

2. The problem of forest death

2.1. Radiation exposure - a consequence of the death of the forest

2.2. Death and deforestation

2.3 Forest and tourism

2.4 Forest fires

3.Global solution to the problem of deforestation

Conclusion

List of sources used

Attachment 1

Introduction

Today, the problem of forest death is one of the first places on the global problems of mankind.

For Russia, scientific, technical and informational cooperation on the issues of interaction between forest and climate is of considerable interest. The phenomenon of mass destruction of forests is widespread throughout the European territory of Russia and in Siberia. It is in the context of the drying up of forests growing throughout the northern hemisphere. In our country, these issues are monitored in detail by the Russian Forest Protection Center with an extensive network of 41 regional branches.

The biotic causes of this process have been reliably identified. However, a number of problems remain unresolved:

— there is no forecast for the development of massive drying up of forests and no assessment of the consequences of this phenomenon.

— the relationship between forest drying up and climate change has not been reliably established. Although this hypothesis remains practically uncontested.

– the whole complex of reasons for spruce forests drying up has not been fully identified.

From preliminary assessments of the current situation, it follows that the existing methods and means cannot change the growing dynamics of mass desiccation.

In a number of regions, the problem is beginning to acquire an extremely acute economic, social and environmental character. Only in the Arkhangelsk region in the North-West of Russia, the zone of active drying covered valuable forest areas with a total reserve of coniferous wood of about 400 million cubic meters. In the heart of one of the key forest regions of Northern Europe, a huge “powder keg” is being formed, which, with the combination of a number of factors, can become a source of a powerful volley of CO2 emissions into the global atmosphere.

Urgent comprehensive studies are required, the result of which may be the adoption of cardinal decisions. The points mentioned above are very sensitive for the economy and ecology of the European Community. Probably, here it is necessary to develop a consolidated opinion. It is obvious to us that mass drying up of forests is not a purely Russian problem.

The scale of this phenomenon is pan-Eurasian and panboreal. Therefore, international cooperation in the study, evaluation and coordination of efforts to minimize its negative consequences is essential.

The problem of deforestation is not new. A lot has already been said about it, books and articles have been written, but basically it is considered together with other environmental problems. Therefore, I would like to combine all the available material on this issue in one abstract, in connection with the significance of this problem for humanity.

It considers not only anthropogenic factors affecting the quantity and quality of the forest, but also natural ones. For example: various harmful fungi and insects, fires (peat fire). Ways of dealing with anthropogenic and natural factors that adversely affect forests are also noted.

The fate of the woodlands

The forest is a multilevel biosocial system where countless elements co-exist and influence each other.

These elements are trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and other flora, birds, animals, microorganisms, soil with its organic and inorganic constituents, water and microclimate.

Forest death from adverse factors

The planet's forests are a powerful source of atmospheric oxygen (1 hectare of forest releases 5 tons of oxygen per year into the atmosphere). It should not be thought that only tropical rainforests are globally important. On the territory of Russia there is a unique forest area - the Siberian taiga, which supplies oxygen not only to its region, but also to North America (where about 95% of its own forests were destroyed).

The oxygen produced by forests and other components of the Earth's vegetation cover is important not only in itself, but also in connection with the need to preserve the ozone screen in the Earth's stratosphere.

Ozone is formed from oxygen under the influence of solar radiation. Its concentration in the stratosphere is steadily decreasing under the influence of chlorofluorinated hydrocarbons (refrigerants, plastic components, etc.). Despite the currently internationally adopted restrictive and prohibitive measures (for example, the Montreal Protocol on organochlorine compounds), which, moreover, are not universally implemented, ozone will continue to be destroyed over a number of years by compounds already released into the atmosphere, slowly rising into the stratosphere .

This contributes to the growth of the "ozone hole", which, spreading from the South Pole, reached the latitude of Tierra del Fuego and "covered" in 2000 the settlement of Punta Arrenas (Chile).

Giving life-giving oxygen that counteracts the formation of the "ozone hole", forests also absorb carbon dioxide, turning it into biomass during photosynthesis (100 m2 of forest absorb 400 kg of CO2 per year).

Industry emits significant amounts of this gas, one of the main culprits of the "greenhouse effect", which threatens global warming (already begun), the shift of the planet's agricultural zones to the poles, the swamping of land areas with permafrost, the melting of glaciers, the flooding of coastal cities, more and more frequent cataclysms (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.). Forests also absorb noise, soften seasonal temperature fluctuations, slow down strong winds, and contribute to precipitation.

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has already shortened the rainy season, threatening to have catastrophic consequences for agriculture. One could go on listing reasons why the planet's forests are vital to us.

plant and animal species.

The forest takes us to the world of beauty (it has a bio-aesthetic value), in it we are imbued with the grandeur of wildlife, we enjoy at least a landscape relatively unpolluted by civilization.

Moreover, forest plantations artificially planted on the site of clearings (often of a park type), with all the diligence of their creators, are often completely dependent on human care likeness of natural, virgin forests.

So, for the period 1955-1995, about 40% of tropical forests were cut down. At the current rate of deforestation (about 15 million hectares per year), tropical rainforests will be completely destroyed between 2030 and 2050.

A similar fate will befall the Siberian taiga even before this date, if its unrestrained exploitation, which involves foreign companies (for example, CFMG from the USA, as well as Chinese enterprises), is not stopped. On the whole, the areas of coniferous forests are decreasing in Russia, which are being replaced by less valuable small-leaved forests.

In many areas, timber is harvested in excess of its growth; mountain forests, which regenerate with difficulty and grow slowly, are particularly affected.

2. The problem of forest death

As for the forests of the planet, in most cases they are eliminated not on a whim, but in order to survive, not to die of hunger. The world is divided into the developed countries of the West, where less than 1 billion people (the “golden billion”) live in conditions of economic prosperity, and all the rest, developing countries (“the third world”), a haven for the rest, more than 5 billion.

of people. Approximately 1.3 billion people in these countries live in poverty; 840 million people, including 240 million children, are hungry or malnourished (2). Making up about 20% of the world's population, the "golden billion" manages about 85% of the benefits and resources of mankind.

But specifically, the destruction of forests is directly carried out on the territory of the countries of the "third world"; the rich countries of the West, which previously destroyed most of their forests, are now busy restoring them, "recultivating", carefully protecting the remnants of virgin forests and newly created plantations from pollution (for example, in Germany a real campaign was launched against the "forest extinction" - Waldsterben).

However, residents of developing countries are not up to environmental considerations, when they must provide themselves with food using archaic means (up to the method of sowing cultivated plants in clearings fertilized with the ashes of burnt trees, known to us from history textbooks), with a colossal population growth.

We add that this method is unproductive in the rainforests of the tropics, because the layer of nutritious humus in their soils is very thin; after 2-3 harvests, the soil is depleted and a new piece of forest needs to be destroyed.

The unrestrained exploitation of natural resources, including forests, is facilitated by the significant financial debt of the countries of the "third world" in relation to creditors from the countries of the "golden billion", so that the "golden billion" is indirectly responsible for the fate of the forests of the "third world", from which depends on his own survival. Measures were proposed to remove or postpone part of the debt from developing countries, subject to their obligatory compliance with the norms of protecting forests and the bio-environment in general.

Deforestation is one of the most serious problems of our time. This is true, because the importance of forests in our world is very great. And this means that the destruction of these ecosystems can lead to the most serious consequences.

And yet, more and more areas are being deforested.

The impact of deforestation on the global ecology and measures to save them

What is the cause of this? And what will it lead to in the future?

Reasons for deforestation

“Wood is an excellent building material. They especially like to use it in the construction of buildings and the manufacture of furniture. Also often used in shipbuilding.
— Use of wood for heating.
— Production of paper.
— The chemical industry is also in demand in wood.
Many chemicals are made from it.
- Making a huge number of things: wooden toys, musical instruments, decorative items, tools and much more.

In addition, forests are often cleared to clear space for construction or to create agricultural land.

Trees are also cut down to "ennoble" the territories.

The consequences of deforestation

- Increasing the content of carbon dioxide in the air. This, incidentally, is one of the causes of global warming.
- The disappearance of many species of living organisms (this applies to both animals and plants - the destruction of the ecosystem leads to the death of almost all life).
- The formation of swamps (trees prevent excessive soil moisture).
- Desertification.
It occurs due to the lowering of the groundwater level, which is very critical for natural areas with low rainfall. And in the presence of a large amount of precipitation, the fertile layer is washed out, which was previously prevented by trees. So deforestation in any case leads to desertification.
— Decrease in the amount of oxygen produced by forests and deterioration in the quality of air purification (the more forests, the better the air is purified).
— Violation of climate stability in the region where deforestation is observed.
This is because forests support the climate and make it milder.
— Lack of additional filtration of water produced by forests.
- Deterioration of the quality of life of people. We are talking about both the impossibility of obtaining food, and the deterioration of the psychological state.

Conclusion

Deforestation is a serious environmental problem, as it leads to a huge number of negative consequences.

Of these, one can single out an increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the air, the disappearance of living organisms, desertification and the formation of swamps. All this is very serious, and therefore there is a need to reconsider our attitude to nature in general, and to forests in particular.

Radiation exposure - a consequence of the death of the forest

In total, the area of completely dead forest plantations amounted to no more than 10 km2. The proportion of forests that died from radiation damage in the entire history of the nuclear industry is 0.3-0.4% of the annual forest loss in the country (2-3 thousand km2).

Death and deforestation

One of the reasons for the death of forests in many regions of the world is acid rain, the main culprits of which are power plants. Sulfur dioxide emissions and long-range transport result in such rainfall far from emission sources. In Austria, in the east of Canada, in the Netherlands and Sweden, more than 60% of the sulfur that falls on their territory comes from external sources, and in Norway even 75%.

Other examples of long-range transport of acids are acid rain on remote Atlantic islands such as Bermuda and acid snow in the Arctic.

Over the past 20 years (1970 - 1990), the world has lost almost 200 million hectares of forests, which is equal to the US area east of the Mississippi.

In developed countries, acid rain caused damage to a significant part of the forest: in Czechoslovakia - 71%, in Greece and Great Britain - 64%, in Germany - 52%.

The current situation with forests is very different across the continents. If in Europe and Asia the forested areas for 1974 - 1989 increased slightly, then in Australia they decreased by 2.6% in one year. Even greater forest degradation is taking place in individual countries: in Côte d'Ivoire, forest areas decreased by 5.4% over the year, in Thailand - by 4.3%, in Paraguay - by 3.4%.

Forest and tourism

It should be reminded once again: the forest is our friend, disinterested and powerful. But he, like a man whose soul is wide open, requires both attention and care from a negligent, thoughtless attitude towards him. Life without a forest is unthinkable, and we are all responsible for its well-being, responsible today, always responsible. Recreational loads are divided into safe, including both low and maximum permissible loads, dangerous and critical and catastrophic. A load can be considered safe if there are no irreversible changes in the natural complex. The impact of such loads leads the natural complex to stage II or III of digression. The load corresponding to stage II is conditionally called “low”, since the natural complex is able to withstand a large load without losing its restorative power. The maximum allowable recreational load leads the natural complex to the III stage of digression. If the natural complex passes from III to IV stage of digression, i.e., "oversteps" the stability boundary, recreational loads are considered dangerous. Critical loads correspond to stage IV of phytocenosis digression. Catastrophic loads lead the natural complex to stage V of digression, in which the bonds are broken, both between natural components and between their constituent parts. , including recreational loads. Therefore, a load that is safe for one type of natural complex can become dangerous or even critical for another type. The main task of forest management in green areas is the preservation and improvement of the health and protective properties of forests, and the creation of favorable recreational conditions for mass recreation of the population.

Forest fires

According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), fires are the leading cause of forest death on the planet. At the same time, Russia is the world leader in reducing the area of forest areas.

The World Resources Institute, together with a group of specialists from the University of Maryland and Google, conducted a study of the loss of forest cover in the world for 2011-2013. Scientists have found that fires are still the main cause of deforestation in the world, and in the vast majority of cases they are caused by human fault.

Human activities have also caused other reasons for the decrease in the areas of the "green lungs" of our planet: these are industrial logging, clearing forests for agricultural use, construction and mining, as well as death from industrial emissions and deforestation during the construction of hydroelectric power stations.

The leader in the reduction of forest areas is Russia, where more than 4.3 million hectares of forests perish annually, mainly due to fires (7.3% of global losses). Overall, between 2001 and 2013, forest area in Russia decreased by 37.2 million hectares.

It will take at least 100 years to restore forests in Russian conditions, while cuttings and burnt areas are often restored with less economically valuable species. For example, the place of dead conifers, as a rule, is occupied by small-leaved species. In addition, fires, logging and human-caused environmental pollution destroy rare plants and animals, leading to catastrophic losses for the planet's biodiversity.

According to official statistics alone, from 1.5 to 3 million hectares of forests burn every year in our country. However, scientists and environmentalists insist that this figure is underestimated by at least 2-3 times, and in some years even by an order of magnitude. For example, in 2010, according to scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, about 6 million hectares of forests were covered by fires, while the Ministry of Emergency Situations estimated this area at 1 million hectares, and the Federal Forestry Service at 2.1 million hectares.

« Data on the areas of fires and the damage they cause are deliberately underestimated by several times. This hinders the adoption of correct measures at the local and state levels, both in preparation for the fire season and conducting a full-fledged operational fight against fires, and in assessing the damage from fire to the economy and nature of the country,” notes the expert of the forest program of WWF Russia Alexander Bryukhanov. Recently, there have been efforts to combat the distortion of data on forest fires, but a lot remains to be done to completely solve the problem.

WWF warns that the fire season has already begun in most regions of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Emergency Situations and employees of forestry and environmental structures are fighting forest, steppe and peat fires in the Southern, Central, Volga, Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts. In the Trans-Baikal Territory, an emergency mode is in effect. A special fire regime has been introduced in 7 subjects of the Russian Federation: Bryansk, Kurgan, Smolensk, Amur, Volgograd regions, as well as in the Republic of Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory. The area covered by the fire is measured in tens of thousands of hectares, there were the first cases of fire threats to settlements.

« The annual huge areas of fires are an indicator of the general low level of forest management, due, among other things, to underfunding from the government and the lack of conditions for investment by private companies. The problem of forest fires in the coming years will only increase due to climate change and poor quality forest management.", - He speaks Nikolai Shmatkov, head of the forestry program of WWF Russia.

In the absence of a full-fledged forest protection in the forests of Russia, the main responsibility for preventing a forest fire disaster, as in previous years, will depend mainly on the environmental consciousness of the population and weather conditions.