Day of Forests recognises value of the earth’s green lungs

March 31, 2020

The importance of forest and national park area as the earth’s green lungs, as a CO2 storage reservoir and as a habitat for a huge number of animals was highlighted on the recent international ‘Day of Forests’.

Celebrated, since the 1970s, on 21st March, the day draws attention to the global destruction of forests - a topic that, 40 years on, is more relevant than ever.

The World’s forests
Around 31% of the earth’s surface is currently still covered by forest (8.8 billion hectares as of 2012) and the rate at which forest area is being lost has slowed somewhat since 2000.

And while forest destruction remains significant, losses are often offset by newly planted forests and plantations. However, such replacement is of little significance as these are far from being able to reach the quality of an original forest.

One of the main causes of forest loss is conversion into arable land.

Over a quarter of the loss of Indonesian rainforest between 2009 and 2011 was due to ‘slash-and-burn’ clearing for the cultivation of oil palms. In addition to the dramatic consequences for the ecosystem, slash-and-burn logging and the exposure of peat soils release carbon – in Indonesia, over 85% of the country’s CO2 emissions are released due to these processes. In addition to palm oil, the cultivation of grain for biofuels, use as pasture land, the cultivation of fodder for livestock and the mining industry also play a role worldwide.

For example, in Madagascar, 2% of its rainforest was destroyed in 2018 to mine for sapphires and nickel.

The earth’s surface is not only losing forest through clearing, but also through ‘natural’ forest fires.

Australia’s bushfires during the 2019/20 summer claimed 12.5 million hectares of forest as well as over a million animals.

Reforestation: regional mixed forests and humus
In reforestation, the establishment of mixed forests with regional tree species plays a particularly important role, as experts believe that forestry tree plantations are not well adapted to climate change and forest fires.

In Germany, the Berghotel Rehlegg plants a tree for every fifth guest who arrives on Friday. The Gröllberg at the Gerstreit is to be reforested with native trees as the harsh winters of recent years have caused severe snow damage, resulting in large open spaces. Incidentally, the hotel is not only committed to rebuilding the forest, but also to promoting the build-up of humus in the region. Humus performs a number of ecosystem services including helping to make the soil more resistant to flooding, while at the same time storing a lot of carbon.

The OCÉANO Hotel Health Spa on the Spanish island of Tenerife has been working in partnership with the Bergwaldprojekt e.V. Association since October last year. The Association is committed to the protection and preservation of the forest and its volunteers help to maintain the forests, moors and open-air biotopes in Germany and across Europe. For every guest who books directly via the OCÉANO’s own website or the hotel, a local tree is planted.

The Landgut Stober is situated at the lake Gross Behnitzer, embedded in an incredible 125,000 metre² of forest, which is naturally maintained by the hotel. On two hectares there are 60-70-year-old pine trees, on another 10.5 hectares, there are naturally rejuvenated forest areas. These are now being reforested with mixed forest in spring.

Protecting the rainforest
The NGO Inkaterra Asociación, which was created by the Inkaterra Group, finances its research on the flora and fauna of this impressive ecosystem through exciting excursions into the Peruvian rainforest around the Madre de Dios River and makes the results available to the scientific community. The preservation of biodiversity is particularly important to them with Inkaterra also supporting the ‘Los TamboPatas’ Association since last year and together with the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law has launched campaigns to protect the rainforest.
Los TamobPatas monitors the forest to prevent illegal mining and tree felling since the mining of minerals and gold in Peru has increased by 916% in the last 30 years.

Prevent deforestation
Among many campaigns to reduce and prevent deforestation, during the construction of the eco-luxury resort Tongsai Bay of Koh Samui in the 1970s, founder Khun Akorn slept on the beach for three months, ensuring that not a single tree was felled or animals killed during construction. Instead, the buildings were integrated into nature and built around the existing trees.

Even today, there are still villas and cottages where a tree grows through the tiles in the middle of the terrace.

Courtesy of Destination Thailand News.

Images: Queensland's Daintree rainforest (top), tree planting at Germany's Berghotel Rehlegg (middle) and rainforest surrounds the resort at Tongsai Bay on the Thai island of Koh Samui (below).

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