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DEFORESTATION
The Glasgow agreement provides, still on paper, a allocation of 20 billion dollars To achieve the "zero deforestation" goal by 2030, both public and private funds will be used. Among the nations that have signed the agreement are: Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and Congo, where they are concentrated the largest forests of the worldThe real weak point of the agreement, and also a sign of how much it was written in sand, is that there are no sanctions for those who do not respect it, nor a precise roadmap to reach the goal set for 2030. The risk is that everything ends up like the Paris climate agreement (2015): words that never became facts.
When we talk about deforestation, we shouldn't just think about the Amazon, where the disaster continues. In 2021, in the month of August alone, according to the Report from the National Space Research Agency (Inpe), have been eliminated 1.606 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest in BrazilThis is the highest figure in ten years, and means a 7 percent increase in deforestation compared to 2020. In reality, the phenomenon of deforestation has a global dimension: in some years, we have reached the point of eliminating, on average, 500 million hectares of land in the world. 30 million hectares of forests, equal to a football field per second, with risks that also concern the wonderful Italian forests.
WHAT IS DEFORESTATION?
The "deforestation” – term that describes the destruction or the clear one reduction di woods and forests mainly due to human activities – is felt across the planet. When it comes to global land consumption (or “waste”), deforestation represents the main weak point to deal with.
ALSO READ: Deforestation in the Amazon continues, even during the Olympics. Space is needed for soy.
CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION
Forests and forest reserves destroyed for the production of the Wood or for to obtain arable land and pasturesThese are two of the human activities that most harm the green basin. Then there are specific industries interested in the raw materials that come from forests and tree felling: from cosmetics giants to large palm oil producers, concentrated in areas rich in vegetation, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
In Africa, Asia e South America Above all, small farmers take over or occupy forested lands and strategically set fires to cultivate the soil fertilized by the ash. When intensively exploited, the land can remain productive for relatively short periods (a few years), before being abandoned and new patches of forest are attacked and set ablaze.
The effects on the ecosystem can be terrible.
CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION
First, when forests are burned, the carbon produced accumulates in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that, as is known, has the potential to alter the global climate. Furthermore, the invaluable biodiversity Hosted by forests, especially tropical ones, it risks being irremediably extinguished by fires. After coal and oil, deforestation is the third-largest source of deadly greenhouse gases.
Selective logging by farmers ultimately increases the forest's flammability because it transforms a dense, humid environment into more open, drier lands.
About six years ago a mapping the state of forests on Earth was meritoriously created by Google together with some American universities, coordinated by University of Maryland. The reporting. Mapping analysis already denounced devastating deforestation processes; today the situation has worsened further.
And while thehashtag #prayforamazonia has reached peaks of 150.000 mention In the days of greatest attention, in just one summer month, in the Amazon, around 200.000 fires were recorded, causing the death of rare wildlife specimens and releasing enormous quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as photographed by theAtmospheric Infrared Sounder installed on board the satellite Aqua of NASA.
TO KNOW MORE: Climate change and migration, millions of people forced to leave their homes
DEFORESTATION AND CLIMATE CRISIS
Deforestation plays a crucial role in the fight to stop the global warmingThirty-three percent of climate mitigation efforts depend precisely on our ability to preserve forests and trees. Hence the need for concrete action at all levels, starting with the interests of large multinationals who must find it expedient to end the chapter on wild deforestation. This is no easy step. When the British organization Carbon Discuss Project asked 1.303 global companies to provide evidence to demonstrate their actions against deforestation; only 272 companies responded. It's clear that renouncing deforestation comes at a cost that frightens multinational managers and shareholders, even when they're full of the word "sustainability." And it comes at a cost in terms of consensus for political authorities. Here's why: the emergency must be addressed on a global scale, also reviving small individual gestures, such as the actions of individuals and associations specializing in tree planting. A symbolic and useful gesture.
HOW TO STOP DEFORESTATION
The South American emergency has brought back the issue of forest protection and forest resources at the top of the long list of commitments set by the global agenda, also animating the debate of the G7. Moreover, it is expressly discussed in the fifteenth point of the Sustainable Development Goals approved in 2015 by the UN (15.2: “By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt the deforestation, restoring degraded forests and significantly increasing reforestation globally”).
By the deadline, the ambitious goal set by the SDGs sounds like a romantic utopia far removed from the events we are witnessing, more or less helplessly.
One figure illustrates the historical moment we are living in: in 2010, nearly 4 billion hectares of our planet were covered in trees. Just eight years later, approximately 25 million hectares of this invaluable heritage have been lost.
After the "Amazon case", the spotlight has also been turned on Africa e IndonesiaDue to a long dry season, the Southeast Asian country could suffer irreparable damage.
TO KNOW MORE: Climate: UN predicts 2020 will be one of the three hottest years on record
DEFORESTATION AID
The countries most affected by the deforestation, usually, are also the poorest. As in the case of the African nationsOne more reason to be convinced of something fundamental in the battle for the climate, for the reduction of greenhouse gases, and in general for the protection of nature and the living conditions of the human species: the interventions and decisions to be made must have two levels, one supranational and the other local. Political choices of global scope are needed. Starting with problem number one: funding, the money that is needed. Given the problems that exist, in general, in African countries, it is truly illusory to think of a fight against desertification only through financial resources from local governments. In this regard, to avoid always giving in to pessimism, we highlight a rather interesting case: the Gabon, a wonderful country, 90 percent of whose territory is covered by forests. It is the first African country to receive, to protect its trees, international funds, and of some significance, from the international community, and Norway in particular. A wealthy nation, where nature is well cared for and protected, has put $150 million on the table, to be spent over 10 years, to protect riverine forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in another nation, this time extremely poor and at high risk for its significant natural heritage. It seems impossible, but sometimes miracles do happen, even in the fight against the enormous and unjust waste of nature.
DEFORESTATION IN ITALY
In Europe, and particularly in Italy, the situation appears to be different. The forests They are experiencing a new phase of expansion, due to the abandonment of agricultural land in marginal areas. According to the "Report on the State of Forests in Italy," presented by the Ministry of Agricultural Policies, for the first time in many years, forests in our country have exceeded agricultural land in area. From 1936 to today have expanded by + 72,6 %But we must not let our guard down, as the problem of excessively short harvesting cycles persists, partly due to national and EU decisions that have incentivized the removal of timber from forests in the past.
DEFORESTATION IN EUROPE AND AROUND THE WORLD
Therefore, throughout the world, international policies, supported by a widespread and aware culture of the environment, must intervene today to reverse a irreversible trends di consumption of the planetThere seems to be only one path to take: hard fight against climate changes and an excessive exploitation of the territories and resources, accompanied by targeted investments for the restoration of forests in the affected areas. As done for example by the New Zealand government which, starting from 2017, has promoted initiatives aimed at planting more than 100 million trees per year within its borders. Otherwise, the consequences of culpably reckless choices could result in the disappearance of "jewels" like tropical forests. What kind of world do we want to leave to our children?
Record Illegal Deforestation in Cambodia
DEFORESTATION IN SOUTH AMERICA
COST OF REFORESTATION
THE IMPORTANCE OF TREES:
- Ethiopia planted 350 million trees in one day: a record against global warming.
- Trees: what can be done to plant 60 million, one for every Italian? Everyone is on the ball, starting with an existing law.
- Milan will have three million trees within ten years. A revolution: can we dream of it in so many cities?
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