Conserve forest for a happy future
There is no way humans can survive without trees; people depend on trees for oxygen that help them breathe; food, clothes, medicine and building materials all come from trees. Trees found in forests purify the air and act as the receptacle for waste products. Trees also have economic values. With trees, humans, can produce numerous products and improve their livelihoods through employment. It is not surprising that forest has always been given great importance by many people who understand its value.
The entire ecosystem revolves around forests; the survival of the entire wildlife depends on forests. However, not many efforts have been in place to reduce human activities from destroying this important natural resource placing many forests in danger. In pursuit of wealth, humans keep on destroying natural resources especially trees. There is an urgent need to save our forest from diminishing. We need to sustain the ecological balance whereby one-third of the land need to be covered by forest.
Today, less than 30 percent of the land is covered by forest due to human activities like overfelling of trees and diversion of forest land for other purposes; all these have taken a toll on forests. Forest conservation involves planting and maintaining forested areas for the future generation; conservation is a practice that involves the maintaining the natural resources within the forest for the benefit of both human and the entire ecosystem.
The need to conserve forest and upgrade them has been an ongoing effort; there have been various innovative schemes that involve partnerships between private entities and local industries. The use of wasteland, marginal lands and desert land and energy plantation are some of the attempt to restore fragile ecological balance and also improve people’s livelihoods.
Despite all these efforts, there have been little tangible results, forests are still being degraded and wildlife is losing their natural habitat with little awareness being made about the dangers of destroying forests. Unless many people get involved in the process of forestation process, little progress can be made to restore our future. There is the need to create awareness through mass media, within work places or in schools to restore our lost forests.
Conservation of forest does not mean banning the use of trees, conservation is about using forests efficiently and in a way that will not endanger the ecological balance or destroy animal habitat. Forests are used mostly for fuel and timber that involves felling trees. Therefore, we can conserve out forest by using alternative sources of energy like solar among others and finding other alternative ways of building. There is the need to develop better conservation processes by avoiding monoculture and planting a variety of trees suitable to protect the local environment. The question is not how to improve afforestation, but it is how to go about it. Due to short-term gain, we are putting our future at stake.
By conserving the forest, we are ensuring that all species will survive, breed and flourish and live happily. Since time immemorial, forest conservation efforts have been cooperation between private landowners and the government, but everyone has a role to play in conserving our forest. If each one of us can grow one tree in his lifetime, we will have a happy future; it is a simple task that will save our future generation.
