Forest protection

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Forest protection is a general term describing methods purported to preserve or improve a forest threatened or affected by abuse. There is considerable debate over the effectiveness of forest protection methods.

One simple type of forest protection is the purchasing of land in order to secure it, or in order to plant trees (afforestation). It can also mean forest management or the designation of areas such as natural reservoirs which are intended to be left to themselves.

However, merely purchasing a piece of land does not prevent it from being used by others for poaching and illegal logging. A better way to protect a forest, particularly old growth forests in remote areas, is to obtain a part of it and to live on and monitor the purchased land. Even in the USA, these measures sometimes don't suffice because arson can burn a forest to the ground, leaving burnt areas free for different use.

Enforcement of laws regarding purchased forest land is weak or non-existent in most parts of the world. In the increasingly dangerous South America, home of major rainforests, officials of the Brazilian National Agency for the Environment (IBAMA) have recently been shot during their routine duties.

Another issue about living on purchased forest-land is that there may not be a suitable site for a standard home without clearing land, which defies the purpose of protection. Alternatives include building a treehouse or an earthhouse. This is being done currently by indigenous people in South America to protect large reservoirs. In former times, North American Native Americans used to live in tipies or mandan earthhouses, which also require less land.

An undertaking to develop modern treehouses is being taken by a company from Germany called "True School treehouses"

A compromise is to conduct agriculture and stock farming, or sustainable wood management. This ascribes different values to forest land and farmland, for which many areas are clear felled.

A number of less successful methods of forest protection have been tried, such as the trade in certified wood.

The types of abuse that forest protection seeks to prevent include:

Aggressive or unsustainable farming and logging
Expanding city development caused by population explosion and the resulting urban sprawl

Protecting a small section of land in a larger forest may also have limited value. For example, tropical rainforests can die if they decrease in size, since they are dependent on the moist microclimate which they create.

A recent discovery in Europe relating to forest protection is that urban areas have forests of their own. Many cities have tens of thousands of trees which constitute forests. In addition the air in the cities is lately becoming better, providing conditions favourable for small associated species such as mosses and lichens.