Posted on 11/14/2006 5:34:27 PM PST by blam
World's Forests Rebounding, Study Suggests
James Owen
for National Geographic News
November 13, 2006
Forests are branching out across the planet anew, raising hopes that an end to deforestation may be in sight, a new study claims.
The study suggests that deforestation is not as drastic as it once was and that forests are recovering in many countries.
The researchers say that over the past 15 years the amount of woodland has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations.
China and the U.S. have achieved the greatest overall forest expansion, the team says, while tree cover has spread fastest in China, Vietnam, and Spain.
Asia as a whole is shown to have gained 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of forest between 2000 and 2005.
"Earth has suffered an epidemic of deforestation," said co-researcher Jesse Ausubel, from Rockefeller University in New York City.
"Now humans may help spread an epidemic of forest restoration."
Ausubel said the trend identified in the study could "stop the styling of a skinhead Earth" and lead to a 10 percent increase in global forest cover—an area the size of India—by 2050.
The team reports its findings this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Forest Density
This encouraging picture of global forest growth comes from an international research team that studied data from a 2005 forest-resources assessment by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The team advocates "a more sophisticated approach" to measuring forest cover. This approach takes into account tree density as well as overall tree cover to reveal a country's total forest resources, the team says.
In Japan, for instance, tree cover is shown to be virtually unchanged since World War II, but tree density has risen, producing an average annual 1.6 percent increase in forest biomass.
Lead author Pekka Kauppi of the University of Helsinki, Finland, admits that the study does not distinguish between planted, homogenous tree stands and biologically richer old-growth forests.
However, he says, much of the recorded increase involves both natural regeneration and the effects of reforestation programs, particularly in developing nations.
The study notes, for example, that tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20 percent between 1992 and 2001.
Reforestation efforts in China have contributed to a 116-million-acre (47-million-hectare) increase in forest area since the 1970s, the study adds.
Increased human migration from rural to urban areas and higher agricultural yields may also have aided regeneration, the authors say.
Similar factors may have helped in India, where forest cover was found to have increased since 1990.
The team says forest trends in these and other developing countries may be mirroring those seen in the past in industrialized Western nations.
In the U.S., for instance, forests in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois have expanded by half since the 19th century.
(See a photo gallery of forests around the United States.)
The authors say factors behind reforestation in North America and Europe range from increased conservation and farming productivity to a decline in newsprint demand following the rise of electronic media.
Whether the transition from deforestation to forest expansion becomes a truly global phenomenon will depend largely on Brazil and Indonesia, where huge areas of tropical forest are still being cleared, Kauppi says.
Indonesia has recorded a 6 percent annual loss in forest biomass between 1990 and 2005.
"But if China and India can do it, why not Brazil and Indonesia?" Kauppi said.
(Read related story: "Indigenous Lands Help Protect Amazon Forests, Study Finds" [February 28, 2006].)
Carbon Sink
Kauppi also points out that forests act as important carbon sinks, tying up carbon that would otherwise appear in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.
He says global forest growth between 1990 and 2000 provided some 0.3 to 0.5 billion tons of extra carbon storage.
"For comparison, that's more than the carbon emissions of Germany," he said.
But conservation groups say the study's findings are overly optimistic.
Mark Aldrich of WWF International's Forests for Life Program says increased wood production from tree plantations may reduce pressures on natural forests.
But he adds that the authors' suggestion that the "end of deforestation is in view" is not supported by other evidence.
Aldrich says the same FAO report on which the new study is based found that 32 million acres (13 million hectares) of forest is lost annually.
"Whilst these losses are countered by an increase in forest growing stock in some countries, these forests do not have the same composition or provide the same variety of functions as natural forests," he said.
Aldrich adds that the European Environment Agency has reported that while the net area of forests in Europe is increasing, the level of biodiversity has shown a dramatic decline.
And where deforestation is fueled by agricultural expansion, such as in Brazil, Aldrich said, "there are few signs of this slowing given the huge and growing demand across the globe for products from palm oil and soy."
No surprise there. The family farm is all but extinct in those states.
Any farmer on the planet could have told these overpaid, overpraised, overeducated fear-mongers that cutting down the biggest trees in an area will allow multiple trees to grow in their place.
Rush said to prepare ourselves - we are suddenly going to start hearing stories again about the great economy and such.
He said he knows it will drive us crazy, so be prepared.
Interesting. Yesterday that guy said the world's oil reserves are three times what they thought. Today the forrests are back. Tomorrow global warmning will be debunked.
Kinda like when you play a country western song backwards,
Unfortunately, much of the reforestation involves planting coniferous trees after hardwoods have been harvested.
Hardwood trees support more plant and animal life, and are much more beneficial for human needs.
Now, before anybody gets upset, please know that, next to me, Rush Limbaugh is a card-carryin' commie. But, I do think that the timber industry and the ecosystem would be better served by replanting hardwood trees after they cut them down.
LOL! You mean we're now gonna hear country western songs where the jury finds you not guilty, the wife/husband wants to renew the wedding vows and the dog comes home ... and the boss doesn't take the job and shove it!
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