|
|---|
|
Europe
IntroductionEurope has a vast amount of deforested area. Hungary , Romania , The U.K, Austria , Ireland , Scotland , Russia , Finland , and Poland are all deforested countries in Europe . The UK is one of the least forested countries of Europe . The average European country has 24% of its land area covered by forests. Deforestation in these areas is leading to destruction all over the country, and if the government, and the society doesn’t do anything about it, chances are that all trees would be damaged and people will die and the world will come to an end.
Deforestation by Country
Deforestation Figures for Europe
HungaryThere are 8 deforested countries in Europe and they all have different causes and effects leading them. Hungary once had forests covering over 85% of national territory, and it was reduced due to clearance of agriculture in the 1930s. Wars have always been a major cause for deforestation and since World War II forest covering are reducing and forests are ruining and this is causing natural forest degradation. Native tree species have difficulty growing and the cause for this is the agricultural growth in the lowlands which is serviced by the intensive water management system. Another underlying cause of deforestation is air pollution resulting from industries and transportation boundaries which is causing a lot of damage to natural species including trees. Oriented forest management systems have given very little priority to biodiversity or ecological values and that is leading into more ruination of forests. Harvesting and mechanization has reduced biological diversity and this has caused forests to be scrappy. Today 40% of Hungary ’s forests have been passed in private hands. Since, they are now owned mostly by people who don’t know what they are going to do with it or how they are going to use it and manage it will result in more deforestation which will lead to that about 20% of country’s forest are unmanaged. By having an openness situation, the weakness of these forests has been increased a lot in illegal harvesting and mechanization. Current forests owners have little knowledge of how to handle and manage the forests and this is increasing the risk of forest quality that it will be soon damaged. Nowadays, marketing and financing are the underlying causes of forest loss in Hungary and new markets and new values are increasing this pressure. Non-timber forest products use is now heading for supplying foreign markets and is becoming unsustainable. People in Hungary today don’t really care much about their forests and how much damage and problems they are bringing to their environment, “people want a wealthy society and not a healthy society.” Deforestation Figures for Hungary
RomaniaRomania is another largely deforested country in Europe . Just like Hungary, it once had forests covering three quarters of Romania, but currently it has been reduced down to 27%. Out of that, 2% are plantations and 25% are natural forests and managed woodland. Romania has lost basically 5 million hectares of its forests in the last three centuries. Half were lost due to end of World War I. Currently the country is trying its best to save the forests, but half of them are owned by private owners. Even today these forests are facing many problems, and the causes are same as they were which are extended droughts, industrial pollution, and over grazing and damage brought by mechanization. Pine tree species have been planting beech and oak for over 60 years and today they constitute 30% tree cover. The government recently had planned to have 27% forests under conifers. Most people are trying to simplify forests for production, but they don’t know that it is leading the forests in danger to be damaged by cockroaches, rats, wind, and snow. Deforestation Figures for Romania
The United KingdomThe United Kingdom is less deforested than most countries in Europe. According to history, woodland would have predominated much of the country, but trees such as oak, ash and lime have dominated most forests. On the other hand, 90% of this cover has been lost from past 5,000 years due to the need of firewood, clearance for agriculture, and due to terrible management by humans. Total woodland makes up 2.5% of the land area of Great Britain, since 45% of the ancient and semi natural woodland that existed in 1945, has been lost since that time. Currently government of UK has a policy aiming to increase woodland cover, plantations of exotic species, and native woodland for production and environmental purposes. Each year they have different forest creation projects that tend to plant 5,000 hectors of new native woodland. Some of the forest creation projects are the National Forest, Central Scotland Forest, and the Millennium Forest. Forests in the UK are divided between private and public. Government owned forests service manages about 35% of the country’s woodland, 10% is owned by public voluntary bodies, 20% is owned by farmers, and the rest 35% is owned by other private industries. Currently the UK produces around 15% of its timber needs from domestic forests, and efforts have brought and increase in the timber industry. It is expected that the volume of wood will be increase from a 9 million cubic meters per year today to 15 million cubic meters per year by the year 2020. Since, more animals and plants depend on woodland, which includes about 300 vascular plants and 5,000 animal species, the nation’s biodiversity is deeply affected. An important portion of woodland that remains today is under poor management and biodiversity has decrease many times. In 1990, a government survey was taken and it showed a drop of almost 20% in species diversity. Deforestation figures for UK
Road building in the UK has brought a major threat to its woodland. There are many causes behind this, which include lack of protection and essential value given to nature, road building policy, priority of economic interests, and political structures and relations.
AustriaAustria tend to cover forests all over the country including the mountainous side 13, 00 years ago, but time changed and deforestation began to occur. The Neolithic farmers began the clearance of in low land areas, and in the middle ages, the upland areas started to get clear, which decrease tree lines. In prehistoric period, forests were used by its communities, but since the middle ages, they have been taken over by the government and other private owners. Most of the forests were taken advantage of by industries and salt works. The revolution of 1848 changed that by giving ownership to aristocrats, farmers, partly to the state, and villages and towns. Currently 1% of 214,000 forest owners hold area more than 200 hectors, and 65% holds are lot less than 5 hectors, but still 80% of the forests are in private hands and the rest 20% is in state owned. Today, only 47% of the country is covered with trees, out of which 3% is old forest, 22% semi natural and 8% artificial plantations. Forest clearance is not a major problem for Austria because of the strict laws, but forest degradation is a major conflict. Industrial pollution including Sulphur and nitrogen oxides is widely spread and is causing a gargantuan amount of damage to plant life, ecosystem, and mainly forests. It is estimated that today 93% of Sulphur pollutants come from Austrian borders and that is causing danger to all the countries surrounding Austria. Since hunting is a very famous sport in Austria, it is leading to deforestation including damage to forests, loss of biodiversity, and a decrease in soil quality. Deforestation figures for Austria
RussiaDuring the Soviet period, land and water resources went through a lot of degradation. Areas, like the Kuznetsk Basin, and the lower Volga River, were poorly degraded, and nuclear weapons caused permanent damage in Southern Siberia, and Ural Mountains. Another cause is airborne-pollutants which have affected vegetation in many areas of Russia, and once again Sulphur is one of the deadly pollutants causing damages around the country. Winds spread these pollutants all over the country and countries bordering it and damage the environment. Besides just air- pollutants, forests in some areas are facing deforestation due to logging and since the rate has increased foreign logging operation activities have been formed. Besides just the damaging of trees, air pollutants have accumulated in lakes, rivers, and oceans damaging the water and killing the animals. Deforestation figures for Russia
FinlandFinland is facing deforestation just like other countries and causes are pretty much same as other countries. One different cause which is causing damage to forests, buildings, soil, fish and other wildlife is Acid Rain, and just like Russia, sulphur and air pollutants are damaging the environment. The government is playing a relevant role to control the timber industries to maintain the country’s valuable forest resources and the good thing about Finland now is that it has a very low deforestation rate which is just 0.10%. If we have a rate of this in every country, we could prevent deforestation. Finland is facing other environmental issues, such as air pollution, loss of biodiversity, climate change, whaling and many more. Deforestation figures for Finland
ScotlandScotland used to cover 80% of the land 2000 years ago, but several causes lead the country towards deforestation. After World War I, the forest covering rate fell down to 5% and in 1918 the British government faced with national security suggestion of a tree less country to re-establish tree plantations. By the end of 1980, the government published specific and clear environmental guidelines, but they showed no effect. The original plant bio-diversity of Scotland was a lot more than what it is today. Below woods and above the rivers there used to be Elm, Ash, Oak, Guelder Rose, Spindle, Gean, Raspberry, Bramble, Elder, tree Willows and Osier. On the high-level ground there were many native woods of Holly, Hazel, Sessile Oak, Hawthorn, Bird Cherry, Aspen, Pendulous Birch, Goat Willow, Ash, and Common Alder. In the direction of liven up this listing of species, a Scottish Natural Heritage Ranger gave the following statement in 1997: "Much of the forest would have been tangled and irregular due to the natural wastage, disease and physical forces of wind, fire, and floodwaters. From what we know of northern Canada, Russia, and Poland, at any time up to 60% of the forest trees and bushes would be dead or dying, providing a habitat for thousands of different kinds of fungi, ferns and flowering plants, insects and other invertebrates, mammals and birds." IrelandForests in Ireland today cover 470,000 hectares or 7% of Ireland's landmass. At the turn of the century, Ireland was just like Scotland, even worse; it was covering only 1% of the landmass. Today, 80% of Ireland’s forests are owned publicly, just like most countries in Europe. The Irish Forestry Board has been responsible for the management of these forests since 1989 and 20% of forests are currently in private hands. Reforestation is a major current issue in Ireland and includes many problems out of which mainly are government concerns which are that due to Ireland’s extensive use of land, forestry is likely to take in archaeological importance. Today, Ireland produces only 55% of its wood needs. Deforestation Figures for Ireland
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Back to top | Home | Deforestation | Prevent | Interact | Bibliography | Contact ©2005 Copyright© Think Quest Team All Rights Reserved |
