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An afforestation project in Rand Wood, Lincolnshire, England.

Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no forest.[1] Reforestation is the reestablishment of forest cover, either naturally (by natural seeding, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).[2] Many governments and non-governmental organizations directly engage in programs of afforestation to create forests, increase carbon capture and sequestration, and help to anthropogenically improve biodiversity. (In the UK, afforestation may mean converting the legal status of some land to "royal forest".) Special tools, e.g. tree planting bar, are used to make planting of trees easier and faster.

In areas of degraded soil

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In some places, forests need help to reestablish themselves because of environmental factors. For example, in arid zones, once forest cover is destroyed, the land may dry and become inhospitable to new tree growth. Other factors include overgrazing by livestock, especially animals such as goats, cows, and over-harvesting of forest resources. Together these may lead to desertification and the loss of topsoil; without soil, forests cannot grow until the long process of soil creation has been completed - if erosion allows this. In some tropical areas, forest cover removal may result in a duricrust or duripan that effectively seal off the soil to water penetration and root growth. In many areas, reforestation is impossible because people are using the land. In other areas, mechanical breaking up of duripans or duricrusts is necessary, careful and continued watering may be essential, and special protection, such as fencing, may be needed.

Afforestation by direct seeding

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steps of direct seeding experimental design.

Direct seeding is the establishment of trees on deforested sites by sowing seeds rather than by planting nursery-raised saplings.Growing trees in nursery and planting them in deforested sites is expensive. Direct seeding can potentially overcome such problems and eliminate the need for and the expense of running a nursery.[3] Direct seeding typically reduces costs compared to hand planting due to reduction in handling time and equipment required per seed and compared to per cutting or seedling, reduced transportation cost and decreased costs of seedling compare to planting. Direct seeding for restoration has, over the last 50 years,gained in importance, especially in North America and China where large areas have been direct seeded from helicopters or aeroplanes.Direct seeding from the air has been widely used in China where more than 15 million ha have been restored between 1956 and 1985.[4]In developed countries, more than 1/2 million ha were reported to be direct seeded in 1974 or about 20% of the area being planted.[5]

World regions

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Afforested botanical garden in Hattori Ryokuchi Park, Japan.

Brazil

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Because of the extensive Amazon deforestation during the last decades and ongoing,[6] the small efforts of afforestation are insignificant on a national scale of the Amazon Rainforest.[7]

China

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China has deforested most of its historically wooded areas. China reached the point where timber yields declined far below historic levels, due to over-harvesting of trees beyond sustainable yield.[8] Although it has set official goals for reforestation, these goals were set for an 80 year time horizon and are not significantly met by 2008. China is trying to correct these problems by projects as the Green Wall of China, which aims to replant a great deal of forests and halt the expansion of the Gobi desert. A law promulgated in 1981 requires that every citizen over the age of 11 plant at least one tree per year. As a result, China currently has the highest afforestation rate of any country or region in the world, with 47,000 square kilometers of afforestation in 2008.[9] However, the forest area per capita is still far lower than the international average.[10] An ambitious proposal for China is the Aerially Delivered Re-forestation and Erosion Control System

North Africa

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In North Africa, the sahara forest project coupled with the Seawater Greenhouse has been proposed. Some projects have also been launched in countries as Senegal to revert desertification. As of 2010, African leaders are discussing the combining of national countries in their continent to increase effectiveness.[11] In addition, other projects as the Keita project in Niger have been launched in the past, and have been able to locally revert damage done by desertification. See Development_aid#Effectiveness

Europe

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Europe has deforested the majority of its historical forests. The European Union (EU) has paid farmers for afforestation since 1990, offering grants to turn farmland back into forest and payments for the management of forest. Between 1993 and 1997, EU afforestation policies made possible the re-forestation of over 5,000 square kilometres of land. A second program, running between 2000 and 2006, afforested more than 1000 square kilometres of land (precise statistics not yet available). A third such program began in 2007.

In Poland, the National Program of Afforestation was introduced by the government after World War II, when total area of forests shrank to 20% of country's territory. Consequently, forested areas of Poland grew year by year, and on December 31, 2006, forests covered 29% of the country (see: Polish forests). It is planned that by 2050, forests will cover 33% of Poland.

According to FAO statistics, Spain had the third fastest afforestation rate in Europe in the 1990-2005 period, after Iceland and Ireland.[12][13] In those years, a total of 44,360 square kilometers were afforested, and the total forest cover rose from 13,5 to 17,9 million hectares. In 1990, forests covered 26,6% of the Spanish territory. As of 2007, that figure had risen to 36,6%. Spain today has the fifth largest forest area in the European Union.[14]

Iran

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Iran is considered a low forest cover region of the world with present cover approximating seven percent of the land area. This is a value reduced by an estimated six million hectares of virgin forest, which includes oak, almond and pistacio.[15] Due to soil substrates, it is difficult to achieve afforestation on a large scale compared to other temperate areas endowed with more fertile and less rocky and arid soil conditions.[15] Consequently, most of the afforestation is conducted with non-native species,[15] leading to habitat destruction for native flora and fauna, and resulting in an accelerated loss of biodiversity.[6]

See also

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Line notes

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  1. ^ "SAFnet Dictionary | Definition For [afforestation]". Dictionaryofforestry.org. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  2. ^ "SAFnet Dictionary | Definition For [reforestation]". Dictionaryofforestry.org. 2008-08-13. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  3. ^ Stephen, E., David, B. and Sutthathorn, C.2008.Research for restoring tropical forest ecosystem: A practical guide.Biology Depaartment,Science Faculty, Chiang Mai University,Thailand.
  4. ^ Xinhua,C. and Jingchun,Z.1988. Sowing from the air : China's experience.Tigerpaper vol.15: No. 1. FAO forest news.
  5. ^ Ochsner,P.2001. Direct seeding in the tropics.IUFRO joint symposium on tree seed technology, Physiology and tropical silviculture, College of Forestry and Natural resources, University of the Philippines,Los Banos.
  6. ^ a b E.O. Wilson, 2002
  7. ^ A.Cattaneo, 2002
  8. ^ G.A.McBeath, 2006
  9. ^ "China to plant more trees in 2009_English_Xinhua". News.xinhuanet.com. 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  10. ^ english@peopledaily.com.cn (2008-03-11). "51.54 billion trees planted by ordinary Chinese in 27 years - People's Daily Online". English.people.com.cn. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  11. ^ Combining of green walls
  12. ^ FAO Data
  13. ^ Mongabay.com: Deforestation tables and charts for Spain
  14. ^ "United Nations Statistics Division - Environment Statistics". Unstats.un.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  15. ^ a b c J.A.Stanturf, 2004

References

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  • Andrea Cattaneo (2002) Balancing Agricultural Development and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, Int Food Policy Res Inst IFPRI, 146 pages ISBN 0-89629-130-8
  • Gerrit W. Heil, Bart Muys and Karin Hansen (2007) Environmental Effects of Afforestation in North-Western Europe, Springer, 320 pages ISBN 1-4020-4567-0
  • Gerald A. McBeath and Tse-Kang Leng (2006) Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China and Taiwan, Edward Elgar Publishing, 242 pages ISBN 1-84376-810-0
  • Halldorsson G., Oddsdottir, ES and Sigurdsson BD (2008) AFFORNORD Effects of Afforestation on Ecosystems, Landscape and Rural Development, TemaNord 2008:562, 120 pages ISBN 978-92-893-1718-4
  • Halldorsson G., Oddsdottir, ES and Eggertsson O (2007) Effects of Afforestation on Ecosystems, Landscape and Rural Development. Proceedings of the AFFORNORD conference, Reykholt, Iceland, June 18–22, 2005, TemaNord 2007:508, 343pages ISBN 978-92-893-1443-5
  • John A. Stanturf and Palle Madsen (2004) Restoration of Boreal and Temperate Forests, CRC Press, 569 pages ISBN 1-56670-635-1
  • E. O. Wilson (2002) The Future of Life, Vintage ISBN 0-679-76811-4 :D

[[Category:Deforestation]] [[Category:Forestry]] [[Category:Reforestation]] [[ar:تشجير]] [[bs:Pošumljavanje]] [[es:Forestación]] [[fr:Afforestation]] [[hr:Pošumljavanje]] [[sw:Upandaji miti]] [[nl:Bebossing]] [[ja:植林活動]] [[pt:Florestamento]]

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