Today, May 22, marks the International Day for Biological Diversity, which in this year declared by the UN as the International Year of Forests (2011), coincides with the importance of educating the community about the value of forests and the immense social, economic and environmental costs of their loss.
Forest biological diversity refers to all life forms found in forests, including trees, plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms, and their roles in nature. These species communicate and interact creating communities and systems that provide oxygen production, pollination, water filtration and storage, pest control, food production, carbon storage and erosion control.
The benefits of forests are far-reaching. Forests capture and store water, stabilise soils, harbour biodiversity and make an important contribution to regulating the climate and greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.
However, we ourselves are destroying forest biological diversity at an alarming rate through action, omission or disinterest. The causes are:
– the conversion of forests to agricultural land
– overgrazing
– unsustainable management
– the introduction of invasive species
– infrastructure development
– mining and oil exploitation
– man-made fires
– pollution and climate change
We must be aware that forests offer much more than just wood. They also regulate local temperatures and protect drinking water supplies, act as carbon sinks and mitigate climate change, and have economic, social and cultural functions in the lives of many people, especially indigenous communities.
Traditional medicine is based on natural products and plants found in forests. By destroying forests, we may be destroying cures for diseases that have not yet been discovered.
Genetic, species, ecosystem, process and functional biodiversity is in danger when forests become endangered.
The main factors that can cause the loss or decrease of biodiversity at local, regional, national or global scale
· Habitat loss and fragmentation: Due to the advance of plantations, livestock, industry, among other factors.
· Excessive exploitation: which in many cases reaches the point of extinction.
· Soil, water and air pollution: Pollutants degrade and destroy habitats.
· Introduced species: A new species, which has not evolved jointly with the other elements of the ecosystem that receives it, can threaten indigenous species.
· Global climate change.
· Industrial agriculture and forestry: Especially when it comes to genetically modified species or large-scale plantations.
Facts and figures
- The vast majority of terrestrial species live in tropical, temperate and boreal forests.
- About 80% of people in developing countries rely on traditional medicines, up to half of these medicinal substances come from plants found mainly in tropical forests.
- Two-thirds of major cities in developing countries depend on surrounding forests for their drinking water.
- Most of the 45% of the Earth's original forests disappeared in the last century during the 1900s.
- Nearly 13 million hectares of the world's forests continue to be lost every year through deforestation.
- Up to 100 animal and plant species per day are believed to be disappearing along with tropical forest habitats.
- Emissions resulting from deforestation may contribute approximately 20% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions
- More than three-quarters of the world's accessible freshwater comes from forested watersheds
- More than six million hectares of primary tropical forests, which are especially rich in biodiversity, are lost every year.
Achieving the targets set by governments around the world in Aichi last year requires a significant reduction in the rate of loss, degradation and fragmentation of all natural habitats, including forests, by 2020.
Other resources
Adapted by Piabe for Ballenita Si Magazine Eco Consciousness
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