Essay On Forest Diversity

Introduction:

Forests cover approximately 3 870 million hectares which is roughly 29% of the Earth’s land area (Clark, Matheny, Cross & Wake, 1997). Almost 47% of the world’s forests are located in the tropical zone, 9% in the sub-tropics and 11% and 33% in the temperate and boreal zones respectively (Oliver, Nasbar, Lippke & McCarter, 2014)). Forests and forested landscapes are known for their significant function in providing numerous environmental services such as water conservation, soil protection and carbon storage (Clark et al., 1997). The genetic diversity in natural forests presents vast potential for the discovery, development and improvement of innovative sources of food and medicines (Clark et al., 1997). Roughly 65% -80% of the global population rely on medicines originating from forests as its principal form of health care (Oliver et al., 2014). With the metropolitan area as a rising

Majority of forest clearance occur in areas of high forest cover with high human population pressure in tropical areas for agriculture (Oliver et al., 2014). In temperate and boreal regions the stresses from logging are more detrimental. Deforeststation and forest degradation accounts for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions through agricultural expansion, conversion to pastureland, infrastructure development, fires etc (Scheyvens, Gibly, Yamanoshita, Fujisaki & Kawasaki, 2013). Reduction in natural forest cover and decreasing quality of the current forests have diminished global biodiversity, destabilized the ability to provide watershed management and soil conservation