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Forest
Myth-
conceptions? | | |
 DEFORESTATION
 Clearing forests
is bad?
If land is needed for agriculture, housing, roads or industry
then forests
(which originally covered most of the settled world)
will have to be cleared.
Clearance becomes bad when no thought is given
to the renewable goods and services
that the forests can provide if left more or less intact.
If forests are removed without a clear idea of
how much of these goods and services are needed,
then it will lead to all sorts of trouble.
Good planning of land-use is therefore essential,
and there must be proper stewardship of the land and soil
that the forests have already provided people.
Using more
species will
increase
deforestation?
In some tropical moist forests,
only a few species have timber that can be easily used.
Research into how to use the lesser-known species
is increasing the number of useable species.
This allows more flexibility and economy in deciding
where and when to harvest trees
and ensure sustained yield.
Unmanaged harvesting could cause more damage, however,
if too many trees are cut.
"Deforestation"
means trees gone
for good?
Deforestation has many meanings.
In the current polemic,
it is taken to imply that trees are gone for good -
i.e. when conversion of land to other uses is permanent.
But it is also used, misleadingly, when
forest has been temporarily and/or partially cleared for agriculture
and could grow back.
And it is also used, very misleadingly,
to refer to forest where only a few trees
have been removed in the process of logging.
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