A Hollow, Sapless Heart!
Every minute, 48 football fields sized forest is cut down!! South Africa sized forest (>122 Million ha) has been lost by the world between 1990-2015!
Africa is not the only culprit. There is large scale deforestation in Latin America too but Sub-Saharan Africa is in the lead and makes my heart bleed!
“Today my forest is dark. The trees are sad and all the butterflies have broken wings - Raine Cooper”
Walking among large piles of logs in a forest, this hollow, sapless heart of a tree caught my attention. I took a picture with my Nikon P900 about 4 months ago but never stopped thinking about it. To me, it signifies a sad thing that mankind is doing...
I have often heard, and have been part of, debates about progress vs. conservation. I do understand the need to achieve progress for mankind by industrialization/ aggressive agriculture. However, what I do not understand is - where are we going to draw the line. How much progress is 'sufficient progress'?
People speaking for industrialization and it's benefits often make following two arguments:
- We do not really know if there is a direct correlation between industrialization and deforestation
- Does industrialization not provide opportunities for people living below poverty line to earn a living...
Let us examine both arguments but before that, let us take a brief look at the extent of deforestation and the areas that are affected severely.
Extent of deforestation and regions most affected
World bank has monitored deforestation efforts over the years and has published a lot of data. The following graphic from this statistics published by world bank shows the annual average deforestation rate for various regions of the world. Many African countries, sadly, have highest rates of deforestation
While the graphic above shows annual rates, a graph from this report shows how much forest cover various regions have lost till now. Sadly, Sub-Saharan Africa leads
This third interesting graphic in GIF form, created by me from a series of images from a world bank blog, shows how intensely the deforestation has progressed over the years.
Can deforestation really be related to Industrialization
As study of various causes of deforestation across many countries reveals some interesting facts. WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) is another rich source of data on forest cover and causes of deforestation. A WWF report quoted in Rainforest news about 11 regions of the world facing rapid deforestation shows the following:
Industrialization related aspects like Infrastructure, Hydroelectric projects, pulp factories and mining are primary causes of deforestation in many region. However, what is more surprising is that deforestation takes place in many regions also because of primary causes such as small/larges scale agriculture, forest fires and plants cut for fuel (wood/charcoal)!
In some countries like Cambodia, the deforestation cause link has been directly observed to be related to Industry. See the example below from an article on tree cover loss
Such examples show that Industrialization does affect the forest cover. There is need to try and enhance the awareness on the damage that is happening. However, in today's economy, where it is a dog-eat-dog scenario, all the pleas that we make may fall on deaf ears. Industrialists and governments will continue to leverage what they can out of the forests !
However, the following 3 aspects, are definitely dependent on individual based actions:
- Small/large scale farming
- Forest fires
- Cutting down forest cover for use as wood/charcoal fuel
A campaign for awareness will not eliminate the menace totally but will certainly help avoid wasteful deforestation. People will perhaps be more conscious before cutting down patches of forests and look for alternative solution.
Doesn't industrialization provide an opportunity for earning a living? What are effects of deforestation on people below poverty line?
Poverty and deforestation run into a vicious cycle. If industrialization drives deforestation then the people with low income who depend on the forests for fuel, water, grazing for animals, medicinal plants and food deplete the remaining forests at even a faster pace. The graphic below from this source says it all:
What can we, the Steemians, do about this
As I have stated above, I do not think our trying to spread awareness will deter deforestation due to industrialization. However, our spreading word and enhancing awareness of fellow human beings certainly will help deter deforestation occurring on account of farming, fuel and fires.
We need to launch targeted initiatives in the 11 affected regions (deforestation fronts) to first get people involved in Steemit. Once we have a core of enthusiastic and caring Steemians on board from these regions, we need to launch a campaign to spread the word about deforestation and start discussing alternate solutions to solve regional problems.
- For example, instead of cutting down trees and burning wood, the people can resort to running cheap biogas plants. These plants run on animal and human excreta, food waste and farm/jungle refuge and produce biogas. This biogas is then used as fuel!
In conclusion, Steemians - I invite you to take a pledge to spread the word about avoiding deforestation. I also invite fellow Steemians to come forward for forming focus groups for the 11 deforestation fronts. I will be happy to assist in any manner I can.
Image Credit
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