SAVE OUR FORESTS You Can Also Be an Eco-Hero
Forests cover about 30 percent of our planet’s land surface. They help maintain the environmental balance, stabilise the water cycle and the composition of the atmosphere, influence the climate, protect soils from erosion, prevent floods, create proper conditions for the preservation of biological potential of a large number of flora and fauna species. No forests, no life Fores t s provide half of the ox ygen needed by all people and animals , producing nearly 26 billion tonnes of it a year. A 1-hectare forest assimilates yearly about 3,600 kilograms of carbon contained in 16 million cubic metres of the air. This means that in an hour a 1-hectare forest absorbs the amount of CO2 that is emitted by 200 persons in the same time. A 60-year-old pine tree releases oxygen needed by 3 persons and a 1-hectare forest satisfies the need for oxygen of 45 persons. Trees absorb and neutralise toxic substances such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and heavy metals (lead, cadmium, copper, zinc). Spruce forests are the most efficient air filters. But even a spruce hedge growing along a busy road can absorb as much as 70 percent of pollutants. When trees transpire steam is released into the air. One a few dozen-year-old tree such as a beech, an oak, an ash tree, a linden releases to the atmosphere
10 | Summer 2020 | MAEM. I like it!
several hundred litres of water during the vegetation season on average. As a result, the moisture content of the bottom layers of the troposphere increases, which does not only improve the living conditions of organisms but also contributes to the removal of dispersed particles from the atmosphere. More than a million flora and fauna species of all kinds live in forests. They account for almost two-thirds of the species that have already been discovered. It is worth mentioning that at least 10 million species, though some believe the figure is more like 100 million, have not been catalogued yet. Tropical rainforests are the richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity. One hectare of such
a forest may feature even up to a million of various plants and the same number of insects. What we can do Fores t s are also the source of raw materials, with wood being the most imp o r t ant o n e u s e d a s f u e l o r a s a raw material in the timber and paper industries. Due to the excessive exploitation of forests , the world’s forest area has been dramatically declining, by 13 million hectares every year. Each of us can contribute to the decreas e in the us e of wo o d and wo o d
