Today it is no secret to anyone that humanity is barbarously using the wealth of its planet, while not only taking everything that is possible, but also destroying the rest.
That is why deforestation in our time has become one of the most important environmental problems. After all, if we continue to plague the "lungs" of the Earth at such a pace, then very soon not a single tree will remain on it.
And what will become of us? After all, forests not only enrich the surrounding atmosphere with much-needed oxygen, but are also the main driving force in the water cycle. They collect moisture from the soil, and then, filtering and purifying it, release it into the atmosphere, thereby increasing humidity.
The damage caused by deforestation is so great that it threatens the planet with global warming, because with their decrease, the amount of greenhouse gases increases.
Of course, for a person the economic importance of the forest is enormous. Wood is used in the manufacture of more than twenty thousand different products. This is plastic, and synthetic rubber, and alcohol, and fertilizers, and paper, etc.
However, it is very wrong to consider the benefits of forests only in the materialistic aspect. Human life is impossible without them as it is impossible without nature.
The problem of deforestation is developing in parallel with the history of mankind, and the further technical progress goes, the more acute the question of deforestation of our once very green planet arises. And the gradual development of infrastructure - roads, cities, agriculture - greatly stimulates this process.
Deforestation is simply vital for agriculture, but it is it, and rather primitively, that causes nature very much damage, burning trees to enrich the soil.
Forests can traditionally be divided into three groups.
The first includes those that perform the sanitary, water protection and health functions, are protected areas, in a word, they have the most important environmental function. Deforestation of this group is strictly prohibited.
The second group includes those that have limited operation. They are also important for the environment and are located in densely populated areas with developed infrastructure. They are partially cut down, while carefully monitoring the timely restoration of cut trees.
And the third group is production forests that can be completely cut down, and new seedlings need to be planted in their place.
Russia largely depends on the forests located on its territory. In addition to raw materials for industrial needs and valuable wood, there are more than a hundred species of berry, fruit and other plants, about 200 different medicinal and edible varieties of trees and shrubs, as well as mushrooms. You can add to them a huge number of game birds and animals that live in them: sable, squirrel, marten, beaver, capercaillie, hazel grouse, etc.
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of all the flora and fauna of the planet are in tropical forests, deforestation of which leads to the destruction of the ecosystem and the extinction of many plants, although some of them are indispensable components of many vital medicines.
According to a recently published UN report, global deforestation continues to grow at a tremendous pace. Each year, more than 13 million hectares of green space are destroyed, while only half of them are replenished. This means that every day a forest the size of a football field disappears from the face of the planet.
And although in Asia several years ago, the area of green spaces began to increase, the consequences of deforestation still make themselves felt.
Mankind in its history already knows a lot of rather sad examples, showing what the unreasonable and barbaric deforestation can lead to when a once green and living corner can suddenly turn into a lifeless, uninhabited desert, where it becomes impossible for a person to live. A striking example is the death of civilization on Easter Island.
