How many forests are there on the earth?

1962, the forest area of the earth was reduced to 55 million square kilometers. In the 20th century, with the rapid increase of population, it has been reduced from 1975 to 26 million square kilometers, and the forest coverage rate is about 20%. For example, the forest coverage in Brazil has been reduced from 80% 400 years ago to 40%. Primitive forests in many places have disappeared. China's per capita forest area is only 40% of the world average, ranking 120 in the world. Only 20% of the virgin forests in the world are well preserved.

Timber smuggling is as serious as drug smuggling, weapons smuggling and wildlife smuggling.

The week from today is Beijing Bird Love Week, and people will associate birds with forests. Forest is one of the most important habitats for birds, and it also plays an important role in protecting our living environment. The vast forest is called "the lung of the earth", but the forest on the earth is facing an unprecedented crisis. Today, we pay attention to the forest.

■ Save the "lungs of the earth"

People who have recently renovated their houses will surely find that domestic solid wood is almost nowhere to be found in the building materials market, while imported solid wood floors are overwhelming. But people who decorated their houses two or three years ago can use a lot of domestic high-quality solid wood.

In fact, experts have long predicted this situation: since the emergency implementation of 1998 "natural forest protection project", large-scale logging has been banned, and the domestic timber output has dropped sharply. However, China's increasing demand for wood and forest products will inevitably increase imports from neighboring countries to make up for the demand. So China suddenly became the second largest timber importer in the world, second only to the United States.

At the same time, the voice of global forest resources emergency frequently appears in the media. The seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 9 to 20 February 2004, also included forest protection as one of the topics. During the meeting, many environmental protection organizations paid attention to illegal logging and illegal timber trade.

Due to the shortage of wood resources and the intensification of illegal logging and trade, illegal logging has become an urgent problem facing global forestry. Experts believe that timber smuggling, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling and wildlife smuggling have been listed as the four most serious international smuggling crimes.

■ "The lungs of the earth" have been covered with spots.

Primitive forests are home to many terrestrial creatures on the earth. According to the data of the World Resource Center, only 20% of the existing virgin forests in the world are relatively complete, and the rest are destroyed to pieces.

Tropical rain forest:

Amazon forest is the largest tropical forest in the world, mainly distributed in Brazil and Peru. In Peru, in the past 10 years, more than 6 million hectares of forests were destroyed by deforestation, and more than 10 billion hectares of land in the country were desertified due to soil erosion. Brazil's Amazon rainforest contains more than half of the world's animal and plant species, and now 654.38 billion hectares of forest have been cut down.

International environmental experts warn that if the Brazilian government does not take active measures to save the Amazon rainforest, it will take 10 to 15 years for the Amazon forest to be restored to its original state, and mankind will also lose this beautiful home.

Wood production in Africa is mainly concentrated in the Congo River basin in West Africa, with more than 2 million square kilometers of tropical rain forests, accounting for 1/4 of the total area of tropical rain forests in the world, making it the second largest tropical virgin forest in the world after the Amazon River basin. In recent years, the tropical rain forests in Africa have been severely damaged, leading to an ecological crisis in Africa: desertification is expanding, droughts are periodically raging, and famine is spreading, making Africa the poorest continent in economy.

The tropical rain forests in Asia are concentrated in Southeast Asian countries. In recent 10 years, the disappearance rate of tropical forests in Indonesia has increased by 10 times, and more than 2 million hectares of tropical rain forests have been destroyed every year.

The latest logging statistics are even more shocking: in 2000, Indonesia lost 3.8 million hectares of forest, twice as much as 1990, and the loss rate was six times that of the Brazilian Amazon basin. If the timber industry is not effectively controlled, the only remaining lowland forests in Indonesia will be destroyed in the next few decades. According to the current deforestation rate, Sumatra forest with the most biodiversity in Indonesia will disappear in 2005, and Kalimantan forest will cease to exist in 20 10.

Temperate virgin rainforest:

British Columbia, Canada, near the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, has a precious virgin forest-Great Bear Forest, which is the largest temperate virgin rainforest in the world, covering an area of 7 million hectares. Towering ancient trees as high as 100 meters can be seen everywhere, and many precious biological species make this their home.

Unfortunately, the Great Bear Forest is being wantonly destroyed by several large multinational logging companies by clear cutting (that is, "shaving"). 1997, 53% of the original rainforest in Canada has been completely destroyed, and less than 1/4 of the original rainforest has survived and remained intact. More than 400 scientists jointly issued an appeal to stop the clear-cutting of the Great Bear Forest immediately.

After years of discussion, in 200 1 year, the British Columbia government reached the Great Bear Forest Agreement with timber companies and environmental groups, which was a temporary solution. But two years later, the situation of deforestation has not really improved. An independent survey by local environmental organizations shows that 72% of logging activities are still carried out in a clear way.

Primitive forest in cold zone (Taijialin)

The Taiga forest belt is a green border zone, starting from the forest line on the southern border of the polar tundra and extending southward for more than 65,438+0,000 kilometers. It is a tower-shaped coniferous forest belt in the north and the largest forest type in the world. It covers Russia, Northern Europe and Canada.

1997 a global study by the world resources institute shows that Russia has 26% of the world's virgin forests, and its far eastern coniferous forests account for half of the world's Taigarin. However, since 1992, the forests in the Russian Far East have been seriously over-cut. Logging enterprises turn vast forests into wasteland, desert or mire swamp, and the whole forest ecosystem is facing collapse.

What is even more worrying is that while deforestation is prevalent, illegal logging is also popular. In Africa, 1/3 of Ghana's logs are illegally felled; Most timber companies in Cameroon are involved in the illegal timber trade. 70% of Indonesia's timber exports come from illegal logging, reaching 60 million cubic meters every year. Russia illegally fells about 6.5438+0.5 million cubic meters of wood from the Far East every year, and the area of illegally felled forests is expanding year by year.

People of insight worry that if these illegal logging behaviors are not stopped in time and effectively, it will not only cause regional ecological disasters and economic disasters, but also make the global climate unbalanced.

■ China has become the second largest timber importer in the world.

At present, China's huge consumption and processing capacity have attracted worldwide attention.

In recent years, the voice of environmental protection circles for forest consumption in China is also growing, which has been fully reflected since 2003.

According to the statistics of the Center for International Forest Research and ForestTrends, a Washington-based NGO, the total value of wood, pulp and paper imported from China surged from $6.4 billion in 1997 to $0.2 billion in 2002, an increase of 75%.

British Columbia has always been a major supplier of imported pulp to China. According to Canadian sources, the China market is the only overseas market for the growth of British Columbia's timber industry.

For example, from 200 1 to 2002, the timber trade between British Columbia and China increased by 54%. British Columbia's forestry industry also plans to jointly invest120,000 Canadian dollars to build a demonstration project of wooden houses in China called "China Dream House", aiming at expanding timber exports to China.

At the same time, Canadian environmental organizations launched a campaign against the "China Dream House" project. On April 17, 2003, Forest Protection Network, a Canadian forestry environmental protection organization, held a press conference in Beijing, calling on China consumers not to buy forest products from the coastal rain forest of British Columbia to protect this precious temperate virgin rain forest. On the same day, a related symposium was also held in Shanghai.

Since then, similar voices have been coming from Canada on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Support "forest certification"

The consequences of the forest crisis are ruthless, but the crisis is often an opportunity, because the crisis will make us reflect.

The government of China has long expressed its willingness to cooperate with foreign governments and green organizations to stop the trade in illegal timber and timber products. On June 5438+February, 2002, China and Indonesia signed a preliminary agreement to ban illegal timber trade. In addition, China is cooperating with the international community to establish a forest certification system.

Forest certification is an independent and neutral institution, which is used to prove that the management process of wood producers conforms to the principle of environmental protection, to ensure that wood production will not be exhausted by fish, forests with biodiversity and rare tree species will not be cut down by mistake, and the rights and interests of original forests and indigenous people in forest areas will be respected and protected. In a word, forest certification is helpful to promote healthy and orderly timber production and trade and make forests sustainable.

Starting from 1995, the International Forest Stewardship Committee began to authorize the certification of forests and forest products. By July 2002, 530 members from 6 1 country had joined, and the certified forest area reached/kloc-0.05 million hectares, but it was mainly distributed in Europe and North America.

Forest certification in China has only started for a few years, and it has been recognized and accepted by people of insight and enterprises. At present, nearly 60 enterprises have passed COC, and Changhua Forest Farm in Lin 'an, Zhejiang Province is the first enterprise in China to pass FSC forest management certification.

Consumers in China can also use their own actions to help reduce the deforestation of virgin forests, that is, only buy wood products with the "Forest Certification" (FSC) label. Scholars believe that the market mechanism is the driving force to promote forest certification, that is, it is the choice of consumers that promotes forest certification, and the behavior of forestry enterprises will obey the command of "the hand of the market".