Forests are essential to our planet, they provide shelter and food for many species of animals. They have a large impact on our climate or prevent, for example, floods. Unfortunately, nowadays we are struggling with the illegal cutting of a huge amount of trees.
The main reasons for this are the logging of firewood, the expansion of agriculture and urbanization.
DEFORESTATION IN POLAND AND IT’S EFFECTS
Deforestation, logging – the process of reducing the share of forest areas in the total area of a given area.
Despite many regulations on cutting down trees in Poland, it is happening on a large scale,
which results in disturbance of water management, accelerating the process of soil erosion, reducing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and increasing the amount of carbon dioxide, which leads to serious climate change. The loss of forests is one of the causes of the global warming we are experiencing.
PREVENTING DEFORESTATION
Fortunately, many actions are being carried out to protect forests from being cut down. An example of such action is the development and establishment of protected areas, i.e. national parks.
In Poland, we have 23 national parks that protect over 329.5 thousand hectares of land. Landscape parks are also created, which are established in areas of exceptional natural value. There are a total of 123 of them and they occupy a total area of 2.6 million hectares.
To be able to cut a tree in Poland, you need a special permit. There is a penalty for removing trees without proper documentation. Currently, there are only a few species of trees that can be cut down without obtaining this permission. Such a regulation inhibits thoughtless cutting down of trees and at the same time protects the vastness of forests and the animals living in them.
Another measure preventing deforestation is giving selected trees the name of a natural monument for ecological, cultural, landscape or historical reasons. Taking these steps legally protects these trees from being removed.
