Forest, an area which is covered by thousands of trees makes the entire world look beautiful in its own way. It covers 1/3 land on earth providing vital organic infrastructure to some of the planets densest. Forest is also termed to be “green lungs” because survival of human lives and animals is dependent on it. Trees and plants release oxygen through the process of “photosynthesis” and in turn absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It also plays an important role in influencing climate, water cycle and air-quality. Beside all these, three hundred million people around the world live in forests and 1.6 billion depends on it for their livelihood and provides habitat to millions of plants and animals, few of which are still undiscovered. If forests are destroyed the entire ecosystem will get disbalanced resulting in biodiversity loss.
WHY SHOULD WE SAVE FOREST?
Every bits and piece of waste that comes out from the forest are proved to be a resource. Have you ever given a thought about the things that we use daily in our life like, chair, car, tissues? These are all products made by using forest resources.
So, why should we save forest?
- It provides job for more than 13 million people across the world.
- Trees helps in keeping the earth cool as it absorbs CO2 that fuels global warming.
- Forest can influence regional weather pattern which helps in making the rain happen.
- Roots of the forest are strong which helps in the process of fighting against flood.
- Forest are giant sponges which helps in absorbing the water that helps in raising the level of groundwater.
- Acts as a natural vacuum cleaner that helps in cleaning away the dirt.
- Sound fades away in forest which means it muffles the effect of noise pollution.
- They act as a barrier for strong winds that hits the agricultural land.
- Forest are wealth of natural medicines. 70% of all cancer fighting plants occurs in rainforest.
- Adds to aesthetic beauty that are intangible yet can be experienced.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOREST AND WATER
All vital aspects of life are related with each other directly or indirectly and so is the relationship between forest and water. Availability of water has a direct impact on the health of forest and the inhabitants as trees are made up of 50 percent water, they need a steady source to grow.
Just like human beings require access to clean water for bathing, cooking, drinking etc., even animals needs clean water for survival and growth and forest is one of the main sources of clean water. Did you know more than half of the drinking water in U.S originates from forest. As forest acts as natural sponges they retain groundwater which is ultimately pulled up and supplied to numerous houses around the world. Therefore, it is essential for us to protect the forest. From past decade we have been facing issues of water scarcity, global warming and many more which is the result of exploitation of the natural resources. If forest is not protected, we will lose all the species that are important for this planet. The animals which were found almost everywhere are now in the list of endangered species, pollution problems are found in almost all the cities of the world, temperature has risen to an unimaginable height making the living difficult. All small things contribute to greater loss in the long run.
INTERNATION DAY OF FOREST is celebrated every year to educate the people about the importance of forest and how our entire life revolves around it. Every year various initiatives are taken to retain the remaining forest that are present in the world and to make sure that there is no further deforestation happening.
This day is also significant as it adds to preservation of fresh water that is available in the forest. If forests are secured, we will have an everlasting supply of clean and contamination free water which will eliminate the scarcity once and for all. Added to this we can also conserve the remaining biodiversity that we have.
So, let’s not cut the trees instead plant one where you can find vacant land.