Forest Filters water and adjusts the water cycle in nature. It retains moisture in the soil longer than the area not having a forest, as evaporation from the wooded soil and the return of moisture with the leaves of the tree occurs much slower. Thereby forest Makes it possible to more even filling with water streams and rivers, primarily during the melting period. The danger of flooding in the wooded terrain is much lower than in the area with a small number of trees. Forest Reduces the demolition and soil flushing with wind, water, scree and snow avalanches and thereby prevents the landscape to run. In addition, the level of groundwater due to the root system of trees is protected from decline. Forest It is a carbon storage, as it constantly connects carbon from adsorbed in the leaves and cooled carbon dioxide. In one kilogram of dry wood contains approximately 500 grams of carbon. Due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air and the binding of carbon in the wood in the atmosphere, the share of CO2 is reduced, which causes the greenhouse effect.

The process of forest destruction is an urgent problem in many parts of the globe, since it affects their environmental, climatic and socio-economic characteristics. The deforestation leads to a decrease in biodiversity, wood reserves for industrial use and quality of life, as well as to strengthen the greenhouse effect due to the reduction of photosynthesis volumes.

The consequences of deforestation are fully unknown and not tested by sufficient scientific data, which causes active controversy in the scientific community. The scale of deforestation can be observed on the satellite images of the Earth, access to which can be obtained, for example, using the program
It is quite difficult to determine the real deforestation speed, since the organization (Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN, FAO) is mainly based on the official data of the relevant ministries of individual countries. According to this organization, the total losses in the world in the first 5 years of the XXI century amounted to 7.3 million hectares annually. According to World Bank estimates in Peru and Bolivia, 80% of logging are illegal, in Colombia - 42%. The process of extinction of the forests of Amazonia in Brazil also occurs much faster than scientists believed.

In general, in the 1980s and 90s of the 20th century, the deforestation speed decreased, as from 2000 to 2005. Taking into account these trends, it is assumed that efforts to restore forest for the next half century will lead to an increase in forest area by 10%. However, the decrease in the deforestation speed does not solve problems already created by this process.

Consequences of cutting of forests:

1) The habitat is destroyed for forest residents (animals, fungi, lichen, herbs). They can completely disappear.

2) Forest with its roots keeps the upper fertile layer of soil. Without support, the soil can carry the wind (the desert will turn out) or water (ravines will turn out).

3) Forest from the surface of its leaves evaporates a lot of water. If you remove the forest, the humidity of the air in this area will decrease, and the soil moisture increases (swamp may form).

The thesis that after the cutting of the forest will decrease the amount of oxygen, is incorrect from an ecological point of view (wood, as a developed ecosystem, absorbs animals and mushrooms as much oxygen as farmers produces), but it can roll in the exam.

The influence of forests on the environment is extremely diverse. It manifests itself, in particular, in that forests:
- are the main supplier of oxygen on the planet;
- directly affect water regime both in the affected areas and adjacent areas and regulate the balance of water;
- reduce the negative effects of droughts and Sukhovyev, constrain the movement of moving sands;
- mitigating climate, contribute to the increase in crop yields;
- absorb and / transform part of atmospheric chemical pollution;
- protect the soil from water and wind erosion, landslides, landslides, destruction of shores and other adverse geological processes;

Ecological problems

Actual problems of the natural environment and modern world are diverse. They are a danger to the planet, both for its present and for the future of all mankind, and can be solved only with the participation and cooperation of all countries and peoples of the world. The global solution to these problems depends on the material well-being and spiritual progress of humanity in a healthy environment.

The irrational human activity caused great damage to natural ecosystems and led: to the depletion of soils and freshwater resources, to reduce forest area, to the disappearance of animal and plants, to global environmental pollution and greenhouse effect, in turn, caused global warming, acidic acid formation rains, ozone holes, desertification, etc. The exacerbation of these global problems signals a serious environmental crisis. The influence of a person on the entire planet exceeded the possibilities of self-healing ecosystems. Changes in habitat under the influence of man have become more noticeable according to the degree of distribution in the second half of the 20th century due to the accelerated development of agriculture and industry, an increase in transport and extension of trade. The degradation of the natural environment has an impact on human health. There is already a significant number of cities where the consequences of the atmosphere pollution are felt: Detroit, São Paulo, Mexico City, Calcutta, Los Angeles, New York, etc. In these and other cities, the number of diseases of the respiratory system in the population, including lung cancer, great. Pollution of the atmosphere lead, copper and aluminum leads to diseases of the nervous system.

To ensure a healthy lifestyle of all mankind and the development of a sustainable economy, joint efforts are required. No country alone cannot stabilize the impact on the climate and protect the fish resources of the World Ocean. These goals can only be achieved through global cooperation and interaction between countries.

Currently, the listed problems are discussed within the framework of international programs: the international program of the biosphere geosphere, the international program of global environmental changes, the strategic initiative to reduce the risk of natural disasters, the World Wide Climate Program. These projects will allow specialists in different countries to find ways to solve problems related to environmental changes around the world.

Minding forests

The forests are the most important ecosystems on our planet. They cover approximately 30% (about 4 billion hectares) of the surface of the sushi, forming the forest Fund of the planet. In the geographical environment of the forest there are many functions:

Climatic function. The forests are the main supplier of oxygen (1 square kilometer of tropical forests produces about 11 tons of oxygen per day), weaken the effect of various climatic phenomena and serve to maintain climatic equilibrium: lower air temperature, increase humidity, reduce wind speed, etc.;

Hydrological function. The forests reduce the intensity of the surface drain after the storm rains, slow down the penetration of water into the soil, retain almost constant consumption of the water of the springs, prevent the village streams, landslides, protect human housing, agricultural land, transport routes from rapid flows;

Soil function. The organic substance accumulated by forests is involved in the formation of soil; - Economic function. Wood and other forest resources play an important role in the history of mankind;

Social function. Opportunities to leisure, tourism, the satisfaction of aesthetic and spiritual needs;

Health function. The forests create a calm atmosphere with moderate air temperatures and low content of harmful substances and impurities.

The reasons for the reduction of forest land all over the world are the widespread use of wood in industry, the expansion of agricultural land, pastures, construction of communication paths, etc. Operation of forests for a long time was extensive, exceeding its natural regenerative abilities. Only in the period 1980-1985 about 280 million hectares were defyled, it is almost 15 million hectares per year. The high deforestation rates were made in Brazil, Indonesia, in the Philippines and in other countries.

In the Mediterranean region, where natural broadstream forests completely disappeared, only shrubs and other, less valuable species, which practically do not have economic importance remained. According to various sources, over the past three centuries, the world forest fund has decreased in two or even more than once.

Unfortunately, this process continues today due to the influence of the following factors:

Natural disasters (eruption of volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, snowy avalanches, etc.) negatively affect forests. Thousands of forest hectares are destroyed by natural cataclysms. They can reduce forest area to a critical limit. Only an earthquake on May 31, 1970 in Peru destroyed the forest with an area of \u200b\u200babout 70 thousand square kilometers;

Forest fires. Reducing the area of \u200b\u200bthe Forest Foundation as a result of natural fires, occurring during a strong drought, occurs on huge spaces of Central Siberia, Australia, Canada, California, Indonesia and other regions. In Indonesia in 1983, 3.7 million hectares of forests burned down. In Brazil, during a large fire in 1963, 5 million hectares of forests died. This confirms that even wet equatorial forests are not protected from fire. Most often, fires in the natural environment happen from lightning. In the state of Nebraska (USA), there were 30 forest fires caused by zippers, five of which embraced huge territories, making damage to millions of dollars. Some fires happen due to the negligence of people. In the densely populated areas of the most common cause of forest fires are human and technology activities created by him. With the development of tourism, the number of fires caused by non-extended cigarettes, fires and negligence of children are growing.

Forest cutting - wood is used as fuel, building material and for processing (furniture, lumber, cellulose, paper, etc.). In some regions of the world (Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia), firewood remains the main type of fuel. Excessive steel deforestation for industrial purposes. Every year it is harvested from 3.2 to 3.5 billion m3 of wood, which is much superior to the natural regenerative ability of the forest. The reduction of forests occurred in the vast territories in the Amazon River basins, Congo, etc., and the processes of soil erosion processes and the like are replaced by forests. Considering that the forests are climatic and hydrological regulators, the reduction of forests in the equatorial regions of the Earth can lead to radical climate change. In this regard, there is a need for protection not just some forest areas or typical forests, but the entire forest Fund of the Planet, all forest products must certainly be accompanied by reforestation.

Desertification

Desertification is a global phenomenon and has a huge force of climatic conditions and an increase in anthropogenic environmental impact. About half of the territories of the planet suffer from droughts and desertification, both in arid zones, so on irrigated and other squares. Desertification is a complex phenomenon of land degradation in deserts and semi-deserts, in arid regions of the Earth. The reasons for desertification are to reduce the amount of precipitation and changing their regime, in the warming of climate, in strengthening winds and increasing the intensity of evaporation, as well as in human economic activity. Anthropogenic causes are represented: overpopulation, irrational use of land (deforestation, desertification, contamination). Prolonged droughts lead to a significant reduction in water reserves in the soil, underground aquifers, hydrographic network, which gives the beginning of the processes leading to desertification. Dry, salt crust is formed on the soil. From the deserts of the vehana gradually moved to adjacent territories.

The desertification phenomenon intensified in recent years of the XX century in many arid areas, especially in the south of the sugar desert, where the ecosystems with xerophilic vegetation were destroyed as a result of excessive grazing and use them as agricultural land in the south of the Sahara.

Dry periods in recent decades aggravated and expanded the desertification process in different regions of the world and caused the most serious consequences. At the end of the 20th century, an excessive abbreviation of pastures occurred in the Savannan Zone of North Africa on the border with the Sahara Desert. The phenomenon of desertification currently covers approximately 25% of the sushi surface is more than 110 countries by the population of almost one billion inhabitants. The territories most affected by desertification are found in Africa, South Asia, North America, Australia, Europe.

The fight against desertification is a global problem caused by climate change and the increasing pressure of human society on the environment. Given all this, in 1994 the UN Convention on Combating Desertification, which provides for the cooperation of the countries of the world to reduce this phenomenon.

Global climate change

One of the urgent global problems arising from human activity is the change in the climate of the Earth, both in the sense of warming and the exacerbation of the natural disasters of a climatic nature. The opinions of meteorologists and climatologists involved in research in this area were divided, recognizing the severity of the situation, some consider it the result of anthropogenic activities, while others relate to slow global climate change in normal cyclic phenomena.

Priority attention to this problem is caused by the following conditions: even the slightest changes in the climate have a certain impact on human activity, primarily on agriculture; Climate change can turn into natural disasters (for example, periods of maximum and minimum temperatures (periods of strong heat and strengths), droughts, heavy rains with floods).

For a deeper understanding of the climate change mechanism, a thorough study of the climate system is required, including relations between the following components: the atmosphere, earth bark, ionosphere, biosphere, taking into account the anthropogenic factor. In essence, this is the purpose of monitoring the climate. The main activities of a person who affect the climate system:

Direct influence on the atmosphere in the form of thermal exposure, changes in air humidity, etc.;

Effect on the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere, in particular, electrical and radiation characteristics. This factor may cause an increase in concentration of C02, N02, freon, methane, and pr.;

The effect on the upper layers of the atmosphere has an impact, first of all, on the ozone layer;

The impact on the underlying surface changes albedo and gas exchange processes between the ocean and the atmosphere.

Some activities can be attributed simultaneously to several categories of impacts. For example, forest fires lead to direct heating of the atmosphere, an increase in the number of aerosols, C02 and other gases that change the albedo of the affected underlying surface. In fact, these phenomena have a multilateral impact on natural landscapes, they change their appearance, and also affect human health. Over the past century, the earth temperature is constantly growing, this phenomenon has become more noticeable after the 70s of the last century.

Council of the Intergovernmental Expert Group on Climate Change, consisting of authoritative scientists, as well as participants in recent international conferences. It is argued that if the use of fossil fuels will grow, by 2050 the average annual temperature on the planet will increase to +19 degrees. A very rapid increase is a serious problem, since this will lead to extreme climatic phenomena, including mass floods, droughts and strengthen hurricanes. According to statistical data, almost half of the natural disasters occurring on the planet is associated with atmospheric processes.

Climate stabilization on Earth means first of all, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by almost 60%. And this requires the participation of all governments and awareness of possible danger at all levels.

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One of the most important sectors of the Russian economy is a logging industry. Russia is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of wood - fifth place in the world, second place in Europe.

According to UN statistics, half the territory of our country is covered with forests, and the total forest area of \u200b\u200bRussia (851 million hectares) is one-fifth from the forest area of \u200b\u200bthe planet Earth. Two thirds of these forests are suitable for use in the forest industry.

However, despite the huge resource potential, the effectiveness of the Russian forest industry is extremely low. According to the representative of the Union of Forest Industry and Forestoversports of Russia, for the Russian timber industrial industry, a low technical level of production, technological lag from world trends, low profitability and unstable financial situation of industry enterprises, a weakly developed road and production infrastructure, low forestry engineering is characteristic. Therefore, as experts say, the forest industry in Russia is low-income - the income of the manufacturer from one cubic meter of wood is several times less than on average in the international logging market.

A separate serious problem for the Russian forest industry is the illegal deforestation of the forest and the subsequent realization of illegally extracted wood (""). According to the World Wildlife Fund of Russia and the World Bank, up to 20% of wood, harvested in the Russian Federation, has an illegal origin. Then it turns out that the volume of illegal forest products in our country in 2015 amounted to 40-50 million cubic meters. Wood meters, since only 206 million cubic meters were harvested during that year. meters.

- The authorities of all levels should be interested in establishing independent control over the industry (""). Everything should be tracked and fixed in open sources: from working on defensions to forest sales transactions, and first of all, the activities of large companies should be taken. All information must be as timel as possible, accessible and transparent.

The involvement of a large number of people in the illegal deforestation of forests is a consequence of a negative socio-economic situation in the regions, low incomes of the population and the most importantly - high level of unemployment. Persecution and punishment of individual violators lead mainly only to the fact that people are looking for new ways to bypass the law and law enforcement agencies. It is necessary to create jobs, develop infrastructure, work on improving the standard of living of the population, give territories the possibility of development, stimulate them to make it beneficial to pay taxes and make order. Only such measures affecting the socio-economic environment as a whole are able to fundamentally change the situation with the small poaching.

- The Russian economy needs to shift accents from resource mining to the manufacturing industry. For the forest industry, this is an extremely important task. Thus, according to the Massachusetts Technological Institute, in 2014, in the structure of Russian exports of wood and wood products from wood, 69% were lumber and untreated timber, and wood joinery products were only 2% ("").

Let us summarize, now the flow of the export of forest from the country has been established, and a large part of the forest is cut down by barbaric, chaotic and illegally. Thus, the country does not simply sell natural resources abroad - it also lacks a significant part of the income from these sales, the forest is simply vigorous. The priority task is to combat illegal defores. However, in a strategic plan, an equally important task is to transition from the export of raw materials abroad to the processing of wood inside the country. It can only be made by state stimulus forces, since at present the market did not have conditions in which entrepreneurs would be favorably to invest in the retraining of enterprises.

The forest is not just a cluster of trees, but a complex ecosystem, combining plants, animals, mushrooms, microorganisms and affecting climate, the condition of drinking water, air purity.

Millennium Back A huge part of the earth's surface was covered with forests. They applied to North America, occupied a significant proportion of Western Europe. The huge territories of Africa, South America and Asia were dense forests.

But with an increase in the number of people, the process of deforesting began to develop their active development of land under the shopping needs.

People take from the forest. Much: materials for construction, food, medicine, raw materials for the paper industry. Wood, needles and bark trees serve as raw materials for many industries. About half of the produced wood enters the fuel need, and the third goes to construction. A quarter of all medications used are obtained from rainforest plants.

Thanks to the Forest Photosynthesis, give us oxygen for breathing, absorbing carbon dioxide. Trees protect the air from poisonous gases, soot and other contaminants, noise. Fitoncides produced by most coniferous plants destroy pathogenic microorganisms.

Forests are the habitats of many animals, these are the most real storage rooms of biological diversity. They are involved in creating microclimate agricultural plants favorable.

Forest territories protect the soil from erosion processes, preventing the surfaces of precipitation. The forest is a semblance of a sponge that first accumulates, and then gives water streams and rivers, adjusts the drains of water from the mountains to the plains, prevents flooding. , forests included in its pool, are considered light earth.

Damage applied by planet cutting

Despite the fact that forests are a renewable resource, the speed of their cutting is too high and not covered by the reproduction rate. Millions of hectares of deciduous and coniferous forests are destroyed annually.

Tropical forests in which more than 50% of the species existing on Earth have previously covered 14% of the planet, and now only 6%. India's forest arrays have decreased in areas from 22 to 10% over the past half century. Coniferous forests of the central regions of Russia, forest arrays in the Far East and Siberia are destroyed, and the swamps arise in the place of cutting. Cutting valuable pine and cedar forests.