The Critical Benefits of Forests – Nearly a third of the earth’s land is covered by forests to provide the essential organic infrastructure for life. Starting from the water we drink to the air we breathe comes from the forest. On planet Earth, forests host some of the most dense and diverse collections of life.
Forest can be interpreted as an area that has a lot of vegetation, such as trees, ferns, grass, shrubs, mushrooms, and so on. Accommodating carbon dioxide ( carbon dioxide sink) , habitat for animals, modulating hydrological currents, and conserving soil is a forest function that is quite important for life.
In Law Number 41 of 1999, forest is defined as an ecosystem unit in the form of a stretch of land containing living natural resources with a predominance of trees in their natural environment and cannot be separated from one another. In addition, forests have a crucial role in preventing climate change.
Reporting from forestdigest, forest is open land that has various types of trees and other vegetation. Then humans can directly experience one of the functions of the forest as a provider of life-supporting water. Forests scattered around the world can be found in tropical and cold climates.
As a water catchment area, forests play an important role in preventing natural disasters such as floods. It can be concluded that the forest is a living community of biological nature in the form of a field where trees grow as a whole.
As capital for national development and international investment, forest resource conservation has strategic value and real benefits for life. The real benefits that are present are in the form of ecological, socio-cultural, and economic benefits.
To achieve real benefits, forests need to be taken care of, managed and utilized in a sustainable manner. Indonesia as a large country has allocated 63% of its land area as forest areas. This amount is equivalent to a land area of 120.6 million hectares.
The forest is divided into three parts based on its function, namely conservation forest, protection forest and production forest. Conservation forest is a forest area with certain characteristics. Conservation forest has the main function of preserving plant and animal diversity.
Indonesia has conservation forests covering an area of 22.1 million hectares consisting of nature reserves, wildlife reserves, national parks, grand forest parks and nature tourism parks. A forest area designated by a community or government as a protected nature reserve is called a protected forest. As the name suggests, protected forest is a forest area that has the main function of protecting life support systems.
As a large country, Indonesia allocates 29.7 million hectares of protected forests to carry out its functions in regulating water management, controlling soil erosion, preventing floods, maintaining soil fertility, providing food supply for human life, maintaining germplasm, and preventing seawater intrusion. .
The state specifically manages protected forests in order to protect the ecosystems and natural resources in them. While production forest can be interpreted as a forest area that is maintained to produce forest products for the benefit of the community. The production results include industry and exports.
Indonesia allocates 68.8 million hectares of production forest to produce timber in a sustainable manner. Production forests require good management and cutting levels which are balanced by replanting or reforestation.
The presence of forests has a positive impact on humans, the environment and other living things. So, the distribution of forests throughout the earth has a clear reason. There is a mutually influencing relationship between forests and humans, both positively and negatively.
Forests support the lives of countless species. Humans often do not realize the importance of forests for life on earth. This is reflected through human behavior which has begun to cut down millions of hectares of natural forest every year.
Deforestation or deforestation has threatened some of the most valuable ecosystems living on earth. Rampant deforestation has also damaged the forest and lost its function as a water supplier for the community.
Ignorance that goes with ignorance makes people underestimate how important forests are for all living things on this planet. Humans must be wise by learning more about the benefits of forests for life to help things get better.
Deforestation or deforestation that is rampant throughout the world requires humans to return the goodness of forests to the earth. Forests occupy a position as a key instrument that plays an important role in the life of creatures on earth. sinaumedia.com has summarized the essential benefits of forests for life on earth. Check out the following reviews.
Benefits of Forests for Earth’s Life
1. Helping Living Things Breathe
The presence of a forest as a field where trees grow has the benefit of helping living things breathe. Forests give off the oxygen we breathe and absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale.
Forests provide oxygen which is the main source of air quality. A study says that an adult tree can produce oxygen supply for 2-10 people per day.
Forests are said to be the largest supplier of oxygen on the earth’s surface. It is not surprising that forests have earned the nickname the lungs of the world.
2. Keeps the Earth Cool
The ever-increasing carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming. This also makes the earth warm. Absorbing carbon dioxide which triggers global warming is one way for trees to beat the heat.
Plants in the forest certainly need a certain amount of carbon dioxide to carry out photosynthesis. Forests rich in trees are able to fight global warming and thick air on earth just by breathing. Then forests will keep the earth cool by storing carbon dioxide in their leaves, wood, and soil for centuries.
3. Make Rain
As a complex ecosystem, forests are able to absorb water and release the excess into the air. Extensive forests are capable of creating microclimates and influencing regional weather patterns. For example, the Amazon rainforest can produce atmospheric conditions that promote regular rainfall.
4. Against the Flood
Forest as a water catchment area can prevent flooding. Tree roots are the main ally in accommodating heavy rains for lowland areas. Forests as an ecosystem unit can help soil absorb flash floods, reduce soil loss, and reduce property damage by slowing down the flow.
5. Maintaining and Maintaining Soil Fertility
The benefits of the forest are not only to fight floods, but all the plants in it play an important role in fertilizing the soil. The leaves in the forest will fall, then rot, and decompose on the surface. This process helps maintain and maintain soil fertility. Fertile soil conditions can facilitate the processing of tree planting again.
6. Blocking the Wind
A group of trees in a forest can serve as a windbreak and support for wind-sensitive plants. Then the wind conditions that are not too much in the forest make it easy for bees to pollinate.
7. Cleaning Dirty Soil
Apart from blocking winds, forests are also useful for cleaning certain pollutants using phytoremediation. A group of trees in the forest is able to degrade and secrete harmful poisons.
8. Cleaning Dirty Air
Small ornamental plants in the yard can clean dirty air. Moreover, forests can clean up air pollution on a much larger scale. Trees are able to absorb various pollutants in the air, from carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
9. Giving Living Beings Food
Furthermore, forests are useful for providing food supplies for living things. Trees in forests are capable of producing seeds, sap, fruits, nuts, edible mushrooms, and berries. Then the presence of forests makes it easier for humans to find game animals, such as deer, turkeys, rabbits, and fish.
10. Healing Living Things
Forests are able to provide a number of natural remedies for living things. The cocoa tree contains theophylline which can be used as an asthma drug. Then the eastern red cedar needle compound is able to combat drug-resistant bacteria.
Traveling to the forest on foot also offers health benefits, such as reducing blood pressure, relieving stress, and boosting the immune system. Trees release a number of airborne compounds called phytoncides.
These compounds are believed to be able to increase the natural killer cells of infection and tumors. In addition, mangroves play an important role in providing antibiotics for the pharmaceutical industry.
11. Creating Jobs
About 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. The UN says that 10 million people are directly employed in forest conservation. In addition, forests produce timber and non-timber products, which account for around 1% of global gross domestic product.
12. Fulfilling Human Needs
Forests provide organic infrastructure that is essential for life. Humans have used forests as a renewable resource to make things. Humans use forests to meet their needs, from paper, furniture, houses, to clothing.
13. Prevent Erosion and Landslides
A group of trees in the forest is able to prevent erosion and landslides because the roots grip the ground firmly. The strong gripping roots function as a binder for soil grains. The presence of forests keeps rainwater from falling directly on the ground.
Rainwater will fall on the surface of the leaves or be absorbed into the soil. Then the forest as a water catchment area is able to absorb excess water to prevent landslides.
14. Cooling the Atmosphere
The indirect benefit of the forest is to cool the atmosphere. The presence of the forest is able to create an important shade for various life on the forest floor. Like the urban forest, which can make the temperature and atmosphere of the city cooler and cooler.
15. Storing groundwater
Forests as water catchment areas are often thought of as giant sponges. Forests are able to capture excess water and absorb it into the ground. The falling water will flow through the roots of the trees, then drip or seep into the aquifer. In this way, groundwater supplies will be replenished for drinking, sanitation and irrigation purposes.
16. Protected Areas and Tourism
Protecting various rare animals and plants is one of the functions of the forest. In addition, forests are also useful as research objects. Indonesia has a tourist forest area that is maintained specifically for tourism purposes. In the tourist forest, Sinaumed’s can see the beauty of nature, the richness of flora and fauna for recreational purposes.
- Non Biological Natural Resources
- Definition of Magnetic Force
- Biological Natural Resources
- Alternative Energy Sources
- Source of Motion Energy
- Source of Heat Energy
- Natural Mineral Resources
- Acid rain
- The process of rain
- Mosquito Life Cycle
- Frog Life Cycle
- Global warming
- The cause of flooding
- Causes of Air Pollution
- Causes of Soil Pollution
- Causes of Water Pollution
Sinaumed’s, those are the various benefits of forests for life on earth that need to be known. For this reason, it is appropriate for humans as living beings to preserve forests. Forest conservation is important because forests are the lungs of the world. Humans must be wise to help things get better.