Yesterday was day of the tree, a good moment to become aware of how trees affect our lives. Every tree fulfills important tasks for this planet. With all the forests on this planet ecosystems can be preserved and living beings are able to exist. Go on reading and you will find out why trees are so important in earths natural system.
Forests are the green lung of planet earth. Trees work like a natural factory, run by life, created to revive. For decades, on average, every two seconds forests in the size of a football field are eliminated. This mostly profit orientated actions come along with negative consequences for animals, plants, humans and the global climate.
which value deliver trees for you?
Is it a place where you can rest, breathe, maybe you can earn your living with it, or are you just fascinated by the functions trees take over in the natural system?
Whether in the economy or nature, trees play a major role in people’s lives, even if we are not always aware of this fact.
The 5 main functions of the forest:
- Habitat: for humans, animals and plants
- Economic functions: Wood is a renewable raw material which can be produced relatively eco-friendly and used for economic purposes
- Protection functions:
Soil protection: Trees prevent the removal of soil
Water protection: 200 liters of water can be stored in one square meter of forest floor
Climate protection: through the forest, temperature fluctuations can be compensated and air quality improved
Immission protection: Forest as a filter of soot, dust, gases and radioactive substances
Oxygen supplier: a waste product of photosynthesis that is operated by plants is oxygen
Flood protection: trees can catch minor floods and avalanches
4 Regeneration function: for humans and animals
5 Special functions: such as landscape and nature conservation
We humans have made nature in many areas a subject and conquered land. As a result, 80% of primeval forests in Europe have disappeared already. They differ from commercial forests, because in primeval forests there are no human interventions, and the trees are left to nature to develop independently.
In the future, it will be essential to preserve trees not only because of the large amount of CO2 we humans emit. For the clearing of forests affects our climate, the creatures that die because of deforestation and people who are evicted of their homes.
Deforestation also causes soil to be more susceptible to erosion, and rainwater can more easily wash out nutrients, thus earth is losing fertile soil. Trees play a crucial role in our lives and that’s why we have to take care of the forests of this earth.