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Turn Deforestation Into Reforestation

by Deborah Mitchell
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Deforestation — cutting down, burning, and otherwise destroying forests — is occurring at such a rapid pace that if the current rate continues, the rain forests will disappear by the year 2100, and with them more than half of the animal and plant species on the planet. During the past few decades, most of the deforestation has occurred in tropical regions, and the pace of tree loss is not slowing. Currently, we are losing our tropical forests in Latin America and in Asia at a rate of about 2% per year, and in Africa, the rate is about 0.8% yearly. By the end of the century, most of the forests in parts of Brazil and in Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka could be nothing but a memory.

Deforestation threatens the existence of every living thing on the planet. The world's tropical rainforests as well as the dry forests are extremely valuable ecosystems that contain more than 60 percent of the world’s plant and animal life. On a planetary scale, forests help prevent an increase in global warming by serving as carbon sinks—areas that trap and store carbon dioxide. Trees absorb the gas from the air and then replenish the air with oxygen. The more trees we have, the better the air.

Preventing deforestation is also critical because forests help protect coastal regions, control avalanches and desertification, stabilize sand dunes, and prevent soil erosion and degradation. And for millions of people around the world, deforestation threatens their survival, as forests are their home and their source of food, medicine, and energy, as well as their spiritual and cultural identity.

Deforestation is practiced to make way for cattle raising and agriculture, especially in the tropical rainforests of South America and Southeast Asia, but also in parts of western Europe and North America. Deforested land often falls prey to unsustainable agricultural practices, which then fuels the need to clear even more trees for more land. Costa Rica is an example of such forest destruction. In the Brazilian Amazon, nearly 80 percent of deforestation is the result of cattle ranching. 

Widespread logging is the cause of deforestation in many regions. Global desire for teakwood furniture, for example, is causing the destruction of the last of the teakwood forests, which are in Indonesia, home to one-tenth of the world's tropical forests. Other causes of deforestation include urbanization, mining, shrimp farming, palm oil production, and oil exploration, while acid rain and fire also contribute to forest destruction.

Deforestation has not gone unnoticed, as many governmental and nongovernmental agencies around the world are attempting to reduce and reverse the destruction by engaging in reforestation — the restoration of deforested regions by planting seeds and/or saplings. And they need your help.

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Be prepared to get your hands dirty when you volunteer with any of the life-renewing reforestation projects that are underway around the globe. Some of them are listed below and could use your hands today.

  • At the Tropical Reforestation Project in Costa Rica, you will be part of a team that helps protect the tropical forests in Tilaran, Costa Rica, and their rich animal and plant diversity. The uVolunteer project requires you to stay a minimum of two weeks, and you will spend four days of each week helping with reforestation efforts while the other three days are your own. Basic Spanish knowledge is necessary.
  • If you have a basic knowledge of trees, are interested in reforestation, and are fluent in Spanish, you can help create a tree nursery at the Lalo Loor Dry Forest reserve on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. You will stay in the reserve's dormitory and help collect tree seeds, plant and care for seedlings, and assist with the nursery facility. A one month minimum commitment is requested.
  • Help the reforestation project in Costa Rica in a high-elevation forest (forest in the clouds). Cloudbridge Reserve needs volunteers to collect seeds and plant saplings, monitor reforestation progress, maintain saplings, and help with trail-building. You should be a university student or graduate of an environmental or biological studies program to volunteer with this project.
  • Tree planting is just one of the activities you can participate in if you join the Tree Planting and Reforestation Program in Western Cameroon. During your minimum two week stay you will help transplant trees to degraded forest sites, train people in communities about agro-forestry methods, and construct nurseries, among other tasks. Some of the reforestation activities change depending on the time of year you volunteer.
  • In the Cloud Forest Reserve in Ecuador, you can be part of a twofold project that involves reforestation and Andean bear conservation. During a minimum one week stay, volunteers may be involved in cleaning new land to be reforested, prepping areas for tree transplanting and replanting, collecting seeds for the seed bank, and caring for trees that have already been reforested. This reforestation experience is offered by Eco-Volunteer Up.
  • Frontier offers a mangrove reforestation opportunity in Sri Lanka. During your minimum two-week stay, you will work in the greenhouses that make up the mangrove nurseries, growing the seedlings necessary for  repopulating the mangroves, caring for and transporting seedlings, and also participating in educating the local communities about the necessity of preserving the mangroves. Accommodations vary, depending on what is available and where you volunteer.  

On your next vacation, you could help restore our rapidly disappearing forests and give the planet what it needs — a breath of fresh air and a chance for a future.

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