Forestry: Introduction

Trees in a rainforest. Image credit wabash.edu

• Trees are an important natural resources in mankind’s pursuit for long lasting (sustainable) economic development and a better quality of lives.
• Trees are a renewable resource since people can engage in reforestation and afforestation programmes.
• Reforestation is the process of replanting an area with trees.
• Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or planting of trees in an area where there was no previous tree cover.
• Forestry can be defined as the science or practice of planting, managing, and caring for forests.
• Forests help communities by providing:
  1. Food in the form of fruits, honey and wild animals.
  2. Building materials for houses and fences.
  3. Medicines to cure disease.
  4. Genes for developing new plants and animal species.
  5. Fuel for domestic and industrial purposes.
  6. Raw materials for industry and local crafts.
  7. The earth’s atmospheric oxygen.
  8. Controls the atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and thus reducing global warming.
  9. Pasture for both domestic animals and wildlife.
  10. Recreation and leisure for local and foreign tourists.
  11. Plant cover to increase rain water infiltration, raise the water table and reduce run-off erosion.
  12. Increased rainfall through increased evapo-transpiration.

To access more topics go to the O Level Geography Notes page