Forestry

Monster monsoon rains may have loosened the mud and rock that buried and killed more than 1,000 people in the northwestern Chinese Province of Gansu over the weekend, but the mudslide in Zhouqu was more than a natural disaster.

Official records show that government-run lumber companies cut 313,000 acres of forest from the slopes of Zhouqu county between 1952 and 1990, denuding the geologically vulnerable mountainsides and subjecting them to soil erosion.

World forests are in the spotlight for good reasons. Deforestation and forest degradation continues at an alarming rate. The multiple crises of climate, finance and food require the need for action to limit deforestation and to manage our forests sustainably. This is necessary in order to mitigate climate change and to adapt forests to changes in temperature, water supply and other factors affected by changes in climate.

Experts from various institutions including Forestry and Environment, Community Forest Organizations, Timber Re-export Association and other relevant stakeholders Tuesday gathered at Baobab Beach Hotel in Kololi to address the issue of deforestation and climate change by planting one million trees for sustainable management of forest resources, as they noted that the country’s forest is seriously facing increasing exploitation due to population growth. The event was organized by the Ministry of Forestry and Environment.

Last year, the province of British Columbia budgeted $60 million for fighting forest fires, but ended up spending $400 million.

A decade of cuts has left a priceless resource facing a homemade crisis...
There is an old saying that if the forest service is not planting trees, then it is not doing its job.