Lungs Of Earth Are Under Peril

Forests and trees are lungs of Mother Earth. Everyday, we pledge to save trees, forests, biodiversity. But situation, after-pledge, is not improving. The world’s forests, along with its oceans, absorb enormous amounts of the carbon dioxide that circulates in the atmosphere. Our forests are under stress and perils. 

 

Pic: Lungs of the Earth (Forests & Oceans). Source: Al Jazeera

Lungs of the Earth

Forests cover a third of the world’s land. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Earth’s forest area was about 50 million square kilometers. According to World Bank's 'World Development Indicator 2016', since 1990, World have lost 1.3 million square kilometers of forests, an area larger than South Africa or 1,000 football fields of forests every hour or 800 soccer pitches an hour. According to Earth Day Network, "the situation is dire; forests are being eliminated very rapidly and time is quickly running out." 

 

According to a research published in Journal Nature, dated September 2015, there are about 3 trillion trees on Earth, about 400 trees per person. Of these trees, approximately 1.30 trillion exist in tropical and subtropical forests, with 0.74 trillion in boreal regions and 0.66 trillion in temperate regions. It is estimated that over 15 billion trees are cut down each year, and the global number of trees has fallen by approximately 46% since the start of human civilization. Tropical regions are seeing the fastest loss of forests. 

 

Indonesia, with its thriving paper and palm oil industries, is losing more forest than any other country. The greatest loss between 1990 and 2015 occurred in South America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, according to World Bank.  

 

India is among top 10 countries which hold 2/3 of the World's Forests. According to World Bank report, India have 0.7 millions of square kilometers of forests. India is also facing the impact of anthropogenic Climate Change and Global Warming.  Industrialization, Urbanization, Agriculture expansion and decreasing Household size are enhancing deforestation and depleting biodiversity. 

 

The Amazon rainforest, home of 10 million species and sink around 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, making it vital for biodiversity and fighting climate change; but it could cease functioning within the next 50 years. According to a study, Regime Shifts Occur Disproportionately Faster in Larger Ecosystems, published in journal Nature Communications says large ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest, Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean coral reefs are starting to collapse and could disappear within decades. Large ecosystems tend to undergo regime shifts more slowly than smaller ones. As climate change makes the forest hotter, it is likely to begin to die back and turn into savanna. 

 

Destruction of forest ecosystems could lead to the collapse of global water cycle, habitat loss, biodiversity loss, and increase climate crisis. These all events would cause droughts, floods, hunger, pandemics, food crisis, and dark future.

 

21st century is the "century of climate change and global warming" and world community is facing the same. Human activities are raising the level of Carbon Di-Oxide by about 2 parts per million a year, in the atmosphere. About 50 billion tonnes of carbon would be released for each degree Celsius of warming in the tropics. 

 

World Bank’s report, “Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and  the Case for Resilience”, concluded that the world would warm by 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century if we did not take concerted action now.

 

Our every climate action is important for nature and better future. We should act to save forests and their biodiversity by taking action at grassroots. 

 

Note: It is an updated version of my old article at Youth Ki Awaaz.