What are the good effects of afforestation?

Definition of afforestation:

Afforestation is the process of establishing a forest on land where there is no forest, by planting trees or sowing their seeds and caring continually until the trees grow collectively as a whole into a forest as planned.

Afforestation helps in addressing the environmental issues of the world, esp. in preventing further global warming and reversing the effects of global warming. It also helps in avoiding desertification.

As the human needs grew by the population growth and advances in civilization people have been exploiting nature and converting forests into agricultural lands, mines, and industrial areas for various resources for their recreation, enjoyment and comfort in living.

As the global environmental issues due toindustrialization are growing more seriously, there isan urgent need for the mankind to resolve them by protecting the environment by way of afforestation.

The afforestation in and around an industrial region serves in aesthetically enhancing the foreground and background landscape features while contributing to the overall improvement of the environment.

Forests have many important and varied functions, and to have a broad idea some of them are listed below:

• Forests are the renewable resources of nature.
• They are giant sinks of carbon: they absorb and assimilate carbon dioxide, which accounts for the majority of the greenhouse gases that are now accelerating global warming.
• They are home to living creatures,
• They contribute in maintaining biodiversity
• They regulate the climate
• They provide industrial timber and fuel,
• They prevent and mitigate sudden freshets that lead to flooding

Forests are fundamentally essential in

• preservation of natural lands against soil run-off and erosion resulting in retention of fertility of the soil
• conservation of water resources,
• creating a healthy atmosphere for health of humans and other beings,
• evolution of culture and civilization
• providing research opportunities in education and learning

When we compare forest with non-forest areas within a single region, we find that forest areas are generally higher in humidity and milder in temperature. Water released from forest areas enters the sea and nurtures a wide variety of life forms naturally.

Afforestation is a proven method which contributes to environmental conservation, less-polluted industrial development and healthy community activation.