AFFORESTATION, THE BENEFITS OF PRACTICING AFFORESTATION AND HOW WE CAN ALL HELP.

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It is sad when we think that we are in a world where our leaders do not care about nature. Am sure we have all heard of the phrase that goes like " when the last tree dies the last man dies" This goes to prove that trees don't need us to survive, but we need trees to survive. Trees were in existence in before humans came minor existence. Unfortunately, due to the greedy nature of us humans we do not tend to think about the long term effect of what we are doing to our environment.

Today I will like to talk about afforestation. A topic that has been on my mind for quite sometime now.

When we hear of the word afforestation, the next word that comes into our minds is deforestation. We would have loved the former to he more popular but unfortunately it is the other way round.

Afforestation can be described as the act of planting tress. Especially in areas that have no trees. When I say in areas with no trees I mean in areas that have not been affected by deforestation but there have been no trees in that area.

Now let us take a look at the difference between afforestation and reforestation.

We have already explained that afforestation is planting trees where there are none. But reforestation is the act of planting trees in areas that have been affected by deforestation.

What this means is that when an area has been affected by the cutting down of trees to the point that we decide to plant trees there, it is known as reforestation. The processes are the same but it's just that with reforestation we are trying to restore the place to how it was but with afforestation we are trying to turn the place from a bad place to a good place.

Benefits of Afforestation.

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There are numerous benefits of afforestation. Some of the benefits go to the environment and some of them go to us the living organisms on the planet.

• Afforestation helps prevent soil erosion.

Soil erosion is caused by the constant wash away of soil. This can be prevented by the planting of trees in these areas. The trees play the role of helping to hold the plant nutrients in place and also help make the soil compact so that it can't be easily washed away by water.

• Helps preserve wildlife.

We have noticed that where there is a lot of trees that is where we can find animals. Apart from the fact that the trees provide air, this tress also acts as a shelter and home to these animals. They are not exposed to the outside world and therefore they are not harmed.

• Reduced effects of global warming.

In recent times we hear of how deforestation has affected the earth and caused global warming to the extent that we now feel the warmth most at times which we attribute to global warming. At least with afforestation, we can help curb this.

How we can help the earth through afforestation.

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My topic might sound off the hook but let me explain the efforts we can make to help the environment through afforestation.

• Public education on the importance of afforestation and reforestation.

The first solution we along think of when we encounter a problem is to think of how we can get it to people who do not know. We might even be surprised that the people who involve in the act of deforestation, do not even know the harmful effects it has on the environment and in the long run we humans.
We should be prepared to go out of our way to organize small town meetings to educate people of the side effect of engaging in deforestation and tell them the good side of afforestation and also practicing reforestation

• We should find alternative ways and means of getting wood.

As much as we do not like the idea of cutting down trees, it is quite unfortunate that it is the only means by which we can get our wood. We can help the environment by finding different ways of cutting the trees and then replacing them as quickly as possible. We can even decide to have a forest reserved for solely furniture. Where we cut these plants and quickly replace them.

• Serious disciplinary measures should be taken against those that practice deforestation.

Sanctions can be announced against people who constantly engage in deforestation. As I said already we can't stop cutting their trees but we can control how they are cut. So when we see a person abusing the privilege he or she can be either arrested or dealt with.

Thank you for taking the time to go through my article but for now, this is the little I have on afforestation and I hope the next time I come your way I will have more.

Thanks for reading.