Overlogging is a form of overexploitation caused by legal or illegal logging activities that lead to unsustainable or irrecoverable deforestation and permanent habitat destruction for forest wildlife.
Overlogging is a form of overexploitation caused by legal or illegal logging activities that lead to unsustainable or irrecoverable deforestation and permanent habitat destruction for forest wildlife.
The use of poor logging practices and heavy machinery leads to overlogged forests. [1] Norman Myers argued that forms of environmental degradation like overlogging are a consequence of "perverse subsidies." [2] The production of disposable tissues significantly contributes to the effects of overlogging. [3]
In rural China, overlogging is related to the need for firewood as fuel. [4] Overlogging is often associated with attempts at reducing the "Third world debt," although it is not restricted to developing countries. [5]
In central Japan, forests located closer to power plants were found to be more vulnerable to overlogging. [6]
With the developed world's growing demand for pulp and paper, overlogging is an imminent threat to Earth's forests. [3]
Overlogging has caused significant damage to dipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia, [1] including in Vietnam. [7] In the Philippines, overlogging has created brushlands comprising relict trees, shrubs, and grasses. [8] As of 1994, overlogging had led to the loss of 1.2 million hectares of Russia's forests. [9]
In China, tropical forests were affected by overlogging prior to the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, and they were overlogged during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. [10] The process has created post-extraction secondary forests. [10] At the Nature Reserve of Jinyun Mountain in Chongqing, overlogging affects the growth of Phyllostachys pubescens (giant bamboo). [11] It is also a problem in the Karakoram and Kunlun Mountains, [12] and it has caused flooding in the Min River Area of Fujian. [13]
The restoration of overlogged forests can be important to the conservation of biodiversity or the availability of natural resources like water and carbon for local populations. [1]
The effects of overlogging can be mitigated by setting aside profits for forest rehabilitation, a practice which is also economically profitable. [14] Enrichment planting, or planting trees in degraded forests, is a form of artificial regeneration that has been employed in East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan, Indonesia. [1] A logging quota was established in China in 1987; it has stopped deforestation and degradation but has not led to forest regeneration. [15]
In 1996, in response to activism regarding overlogging by corporations in Malaysia, the primary industries minister led a forestry mission to see the impact. [16]
The works of Frederic Edwin Church, a 19th-century American painter who often portrayed the progress of industrialization in his landscapes, indicate that he was "aware that overlogging led to erosion and the pollution of streams." [17]
Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of Dendrocalamus sinicus individual culms reaching a length of 46 meters, up to 36 centimeters in thickness and a weight of up to 450 kilograms. The internodes of bamboos can also be of great length. Kinabaluchloa wrayi has internodes up to 2.5 meters in length. and Arthrostylidium schombergkii with lower internodes up to 5 meters in length, exceeded in length only by Papyrus. By contrast, the culms of the tiny bamboo Raddiella vanessiae of the Kaieteur Plateau in French Guiana are only 10–20 millimeters in length by about two millimeters in width. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada.
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation but also after clearcutting.
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus Dipterocarpus, is derived from Greek and refers to the two-winged fruit. The largest genera are Shorea, Hopea, Dipterocarpus, and Vatica. Many are large forest-emergent species, typically reaching heights of 40–70 m, some even over 80 m, with the tallest known living specimen 93.0 m tall. The species of this family are of major importance in the timber trade. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. The greatest diversity of Dipterocarpaceae occurs in Borneo. Some species are now endangered as a result of overcutting, extensive illegal logging, and habitat conversion. They provide valuable woods, aromatic essential oils, balsam, and resins, and are a source for plywood.
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused disturbances, such as timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or equivalently disruptive natural phenomena. It is distinguished from an old-growth forest, which has not recently undergone such disruption, and complex early seral forest, as well as third-growth forests that result from harvest in second growth forests. Secondary forest regrowing after timber harvest differs from forest regrowing after natural disturbances such as fire, insect infestation, or windthrow because the dead trees remain to provide nutrients, structure, and water retention after natural disturbances. Secondary forests are notably different from primary forests in their composition and biodiversity; however, they may still be helpful in providing habitat for native species, preserving watersheds, and restoring connectivity between ecosystems.
Shorea is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. The timber of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bangkirai, and Philippine mahogany.
Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates.
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones are important in ecology, environmental resource management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on fauna and aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and even non-vegetative areas. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone,riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone. The word riparian is derived from Latin ripa, meaning "river bank".
The Borneo peat swamp forests ecoregion, within the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, are on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Borneo elephant, also called the Bornean elephant or the Borneo pygmy elephant, is a subspecies of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) that inhabits northeastern Borneo, in Indonesia and Malaysia. Its origin remains the subject of debate. A definitive subspecific classification as Elephas maximus borneensis awaits a detailed range-wide morphometric and genetic study. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. It is pre-eminently threatened by loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat.
Aglaia lawii is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae. As well as the autonym species, there are two subspecies accepted.
The Hainan black-crested gibbon or Hainan gibbon, is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon found only on Hainan Island, China. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the eastern black crested gibbon from Hòa Bình and Cao Bằng provinces of Vietnam and Jingxi County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Molecular data, together with morphology and call differences, suggest it is a separate species. Its habitat consists of broad-leaved forests and semi-deciduous monsoon forests. It feeds on ripe, sugar-rich fruit, such as figs and, at times, leaves, and insects.
Macaranga gigantea is a pioneer tree species from western Indo-China and Malesia including Sulawesi.
Assisted natural regeneration (ANR) is the human protection and preservation of natural tree seedlings in forested areas. Seedlings are, in particular, protected from undergrowth and extremely flammable plants such as Imperata grass. Though there is no formal definition or methodology, the overall goal of ANR is to create and improve forest productivity. It typically involves the reduction or removal of barriers to natural regeneration such as soil degradation, competition with weeds, grasses or other vegetation, and protection against disturbances, which can all interfere with growth. In addition to protection efforts, new trees are planted when needed or wanted. With ANR, forests grow faster than they would naturally, resulting in a significant contribution to carbon sequestration efforts. It also serves as a cheaper alternative to reforestation due to decreased nursery needs.
Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located in the southeast part of West Kotawaringin Regency in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The nearest main town is the capital of the Regency, Pangkalan Bun. The park is famous for its orangutan conservation.
Phyllostachys edulis, the mōsō bamboo, or tortoise-shell bamboo, or mao zhu, , is a temperate species of giant timber bamboo native to China and Taiwan and naturalised elsewhere, including Japan where it is widely distributed from south of Hokkaido to Kagoshima. The edulis part of the Latin name refers to its edible shoots. This bamboo can reach heights of up to 28 m (92 ft). This particular species of bamboo is the most common species used in the bamboo textile industry of China and other countries, for the production of rayon. Moso is less cold-hardy than many phyllostachys, surviving at a reduced height down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15°C).
Deforestation in Borneo has taken place on an industrial scale since the 1960s. Borneo, the third largest island in the world, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, was once covered by dense tropical and subtropical rainforests.
As in other Southeast Asian countries, deforestation in the Philippines is a major environmental issue. Over the course of the 20th century, the forest cover of the country dropped from 70 percent down to 20 percent. Based on an analysis of land use pattern maps and a road map an estimated 9.8 million hectares of forests were lost in the Philippines from 1934 to 1988.
A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types of mires share the common characteristic of being saturated with water, at least seasonally with actively forming peat, while having their own ecosystem. Like coral reefs, mires are unusual landforms that derive mostly from biological rather than physical processes, and can take on characteristic shapes and surface patterning.
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, and climate change affects forests.
John Massa Kasenene is a botanical and environmental ecologist, academic, scientist and academic administrator in Uganda. From 4 October 2022, he serves as the substantive Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Mountains of the Moon University (MMU), at that time, the tenth public university in the country.
Paper products are crucial to society, as they have enabled literacy and cultural development. However, without changing current paper production and consumption practices, growing demand for paper adds pressure on the Earth's last remaining natural forests and endangered wildlife.