Restoring Forests to Balance Climate Change & Development - Essay Sample

Climate Change Mitigation on Forest Restoration

Deforestation is highly associated with the emission of global greenhouse gases; hence it is strongly linked to issues of development since healthy forests are essential in fighting against poverty. Forests restoration initiatives provide significant benefits for mitigation and, at the same time, generate income, preserve cultural traditions, and improve rural livelihoods for the local communities (Lof et al., 2019). Solutions to balance any conflict based on land use interests in areas covered by the forest are provided, and reconciliation of environmental concerns to economic development is also introduced.

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Deforestation to forestation is a nature-based solution mainly meant for climate change mitigation. Some organizations, such as IUCN teamed up UNESCO to restore forests by introducing the best practices and highlighting the best benefits that are related to forest restoration (De Giusti et al., 2019). The climate change mitigation on forest restoration has economic value by helping farmers to secure an income through restoring degraded land with many trees, which boost the resilience of habitats against natural disasters. Restoration of forests from deforestation would create more protection of the ecosystem and cultural heritage.

Plant Trees Mitigation

Planting trees assist in regulating the climate whereby they can capture pollutants, dust, and filter water through the root system and create stability in the soil, preventing soil erosion. Planting more trees increase their essential services to the climate, such as edible plants, timber, and edible plants. Planting trees is deforestation mitigation; they decrease global warming, which is the leading cause of climate change problem (Lof et al., 2019). We have to end deforestation by planting more trees to stabilize our climate, protect our well-being, and save wildlife. Planting trees is the best mitigation to fight against deforestation since they prevent landslides, which end up harming people, animals, and buildings. When trees are planted and cared for, it is an essential practice concerning matters of health and the community's life quality. Trees are of great importance since they help in mind healing and soothing, especially when a person walks through the forest; these healing properties are considered.

Adaptation on Forest Restoration

There are various practices that people should adapt to restore forests from deforestation. Companies dealing with agroforestry projects should mainly rely on fast-growing and low-density trees and thus can be achieved by creating demand on lighter wood through engaging local farmers. People should be highly discouraged from cutting down heavy timbers for agroforestry projects (Hof et al., 2017). The policies put forward by the government on forestation should be adopted to restore forest by any means. For instance, if relying on other ways of cooking rather than using firewood, people are expected to adapt to this policy to assist in restoring forests hence reducing the rate of climate change, which is associated with several negativities.

Adaptation on Planting Trees

People should adapt to tree planting. One can plant as many trees as they can, even if it is a whole forest. Adjusting to the tree reduces land erosion in seasonal flooding. Practices of tree planting should be enhanced to make sure that every individual plant tree to fight deforestation. Efforts made on planting trees sustain many lives; therefore, people should adopt by all means (Bustamante et al., 2019). We have various people in history, who planted a whole forest by themselves like Jadav and Antanio Vincente. People are highly encouraged to plant trees by following such acts. There are various benefits associated with planting more trees; therefore, the government should put more policies on tree planting, which would help people to adopt more.

Conclusion

Deforestation is a significant problem of climate change, and human has the role of mitigating it to curb the high levels of global warming that are taking place. Forests are regarded as the best ecosystems in the whole world. Forest provide a livelihood to human beings, act as habitats for animals, insects, and terrestrial plants. Most people around the globe as a whole depend on the forest. Forests regulate climate, and therefore human beings can restore forest through planting trees.

References

Bustamante, M. M., Silva, J. S., Scariot, A., Sampaio, A. B., Mascia, D. L., Garcia, E., ... & Figueiredo, I. (2019). Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 24(7), 1249-1270. https://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/bitstream/doc/1112319/1/Bustamante2019ArticleEcologicalRestorationAsAStrate.pdf

De Giusti, G., Kristjanson, P., & Rufino, M. C. (2019). Agroforestry as a climate change mitigation practice in smallholder farming: evidence from Kenya. Climatic Change, 153(3), 379-394. https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/131687/1/De_Giusti_et_al_2019_Climatic_Change_accepted.pdf

Hof, A. R., Dymond, C. C., & Mladenoff, D. J. (2017). Climate change mitigation through adaptation: the effectiveness of forest diversification by novel tree planting regimes. Ecosphere, 8(11), e01981. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.1981

Lof, M., Madsen, P., Metslaid, M., Witzell, J., & Jacobs, D. F. (2019). Restoring forests: regeneration and ecosystem function for the future. New Forests, 50(2), 139-151. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11056-019-09713-0

Zemp, D. C., Schleussner, C. F., Barbosa, H. D. M. J., & Rammig, A. (2017). Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(12), 6182-6190. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2017GL072955