Forest Conservation - Why and How?

A forest is a large area which is almost covered with woody vegetation or trees. It is one of the necessary constituents for the sustainability of living creatures on earth.

Why do we need forest?

Wherever you go, wherever you live you always need forests or at least the products of the forest. The three main things without which living beings cannot survive i.e. air, water and food depend on forests.

So it can be said that forest is the essential ingredient for human survival. But nowadays due to increase in population there is an immense increase in deforestation rate. This has caused several changes in climate patterns across the globe which in turn is putting human survival in danger.

• Air:

Forests are also known as the lungs of the Earth. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen into the atmosphere which we breathe in during respiration. They even play an important role in maintaining the clouds and in turn the rainfall pattern, humidity, climate stability,and air quality.

• Water:

The forest is considered as nature’s water factory. It helps in storing, purifying and capturing water. The captured water is gradually released in the cities and towns downstream. Due to an increase in deforestation, forests lose their storing capacity and give rise to the frequent occurrence of a phenomenon like soil erosion, landslide, floods, and droughts.

• Food:

Forests not only provide us the fruits and vegetables which we eat but they also provide food to living creatures like deer, rabbit, fish etc. Forests are home to a wide variety of plants some of which have great medicinal values.

How do we conserve forests?

Knowing all these things we get to know how important forests are in our life. The depletion in the green cover of earth’s surface needs to be controlled, deforestation needs to be reduced. Let us figure out some ways by which we can conserve the forests.

• Regulated and planned deforestation
• Reforestation
• Control on forest fires
• Proper utilization of forest and forest products
• Forest management and sustainable growth.