Threats to Forest Ecosystems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Threats to Forest Ecosystems - Assignment Example The Agenda 21 highlighted the need to alleviate poverty, change methods of production and consumption and addressing various issues to promote sustainable development. In this light let us review the efforts of some of the rich and poor countries of the world towards protecting our environment (Earth Summit, 1997). According to the National Atlas of the United States (2000), United States is a country rich with forests. About one-third of the country is covered with forests which comprise about 747 million acres of the land. Fortunately, to some extent, the country has been able to preserve its forests for the past 100 years. This has been primarily due to reversion of marginal farmland in the east, increased plantation in the south and control over forest fires. However, the country has faced problems due to urbanization, increased agriculture, reservoir construction and natural disasters. Approximately 48 lower states of America have experienced deforestation due to human interruption to such an extent that forests have lost their originality. With the increase in the population, there has been a significant loss of the original forest and the current situation shows that the century-old forest covers only 7% of the forest area. In the east, the forest covers about 384 million acres area and includes broadleaf and coniferous forests. In the west, the forest covers an area of 363 million acres of predominantly coniferous trees. A lot of forest area is owned by private people as well. About 10 million people own about 422 million acres of forest area (National Atlas of the United States, 2000). Nogueroun (2002) states that forests in the United States have played a major role in boosting the country’s economy. Forests are used for the production of timber and nontimber products such as medicinal herbs, berries, mushrooms. Timber industry relies totally on Forests.