GEOG1016

Lecture Overview

Week Topic Date Teacher

Introduction to natural resources and sustainable
1 21 Jan Li
development
2 Sustainable management of forests I 28 Jan Li
3 Sustainable management of forests II 04 Feb Li
4 Sustainable management of forests III 11 Feb Li
5 Non-renewable and renewable resources 25 Feb Ran
6 Water resource and its sustainable management I 04 Mar Ran
7 Water resource and its sustainable management II 18 Mar Ran
8 Water resource and its sustainable management III 25 Mar Ran
9 Land degradation and sustainable management I 01 Apr Lafortezza
10 Land degradation and sustainable management II 08 Apr Lafortezza
11 Biodiversity richness and its sustainability I 15 Apr Lafortezza
12 Biodiversity richness and its sustainability II 22 Apr Lafortezza
 Changes in Forest Area
• The world’s forest area has declined from 4.1 billion ha to just
under 4 billion ha during 1990-2015, a decrease of 3.1 percent.
• The rate of global forest area net loss has slowed by more than 50
percent between the periods 1990–2000 and 2010–2015.
• This is a result of a combination of reduced forest area loss in some
countries and increased gains in others. It appears that net forest
area change has stabilized over the past decade.
Changes in Forest Area
Annual change in forest area (1990-2015)
Natural and Planted Forest Area
(1990-2015)
 Deforestation
• Deforestation is the conversion of forest to other land use or
the long-term reduction of the tree canopy cover below the
minimum 10 percent threshold.
• Forest are exploited since early times for humans to meet
human demand.
 Causes for Deforestation
• Conversion of forests to agriculture: the overwhelming direct
cause of deforestation
• Logging
• Fires destroy 350 million hectares of forest/year
– Both natural and anthropogenic
– Many of these are set intentionally to clear land for other uses.
• Fuel wood and biofuel production
• Urbanization
• Construction of industries and roads, dams, etc.
Other cause of forest loss: Acid Rain

Jizera Mountains in Central Europe

more frequent
Deforestation and collapse of civilization
loss of habitats, loss of biodiversity
Forest Protection and Management

http://saveourwoods.co.uk/
 Benefits of Forests
serve as sink of carbon

• They provide environmental services such as

regulating climate, controlling water run-off, purifying
water and air, and providing wildlife habitat.
• Forests provide many essential resources such as
timber, paper pulp, fuelwood. - economical benefit
• They also have scenic, cultural and historic value.
 Benefits of Forests
• Wood (timber) for constructure, furniture

– Total annual world wood consumption is about 4 billion

m3, more than steel and plastic consumption combined.
– Developed countries produce less than half of all
industrial wood, but account for 80% of consumption.
• Paper - some developing countries may cut their primary forest

– Paper pulp is 1/5 of all wood consumption.

– Much from managed plantations, but increasingly blamed
for deforestation in less developed regions.
• Fuelwood
– 1/3 of world population depend on wood as
their main energy source.
– Fuel accounts for 1/2 of global wood use.
– Mostly from managed forests, not a major
cause of deforestation.
 Benefits of Forests
• They provide environmental services such as
regulating climate, controlling water run-off, purifying
water and air, and providing wildlife habitat.
• Forests provide many essential resources such as
timber, paper pulp, fuelwood.
• They also have scenic, cultural and historic value.
social value
 Importance and Benefits from Forests

Non-Timber Domestic
Products Uses
Wood
Recreation
Products

Economic Social
Values Values

Social &
Ecological
Services Forests Aesthetics
& Spiritual

Ecological
Climate Values H2O & Soil
Mitigation Amelioration

Habitats &
Biodiversity
 Monoculture Forestry
• One quarter of world’s forests are managed for wood
production, much of it in single species monoculture forestry.

• Provides greater yields and more efficient harvesting than

natural stands of trees; help protect soil and water as well.
to a less extent to a natural forest
• But vulnerable to insects/diseases and supports no biodiversity.
• “Green deserts”
 Forest Protection
• Some places are being reforested.- plant trees
Reforestation: Natural or intentional restocking of existing forests
and woodlands that have been depleted.
Afforestation: The establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an
area where there was no previous tree cover.

• Successful reforestation plans in China, Korea and Japan.

 Forest Protection
• About 12.5% of world’s forests are now protected.
– Asia has the largest protected area (by %)
– Brazil is a leader in establishing forest reserves and allows
indigenous people to engage in non-destructive extraction
of resources in the forest.

Forest Conservation by Region

 Forest Protection
 The UN-REDD Program- a collaborative program of FAO, UNDP
and UNEP, launched in 2008, now with 64 Partner Countries.
• The overall goal is "to reduce forest emissions and enhance carbon
stocks in forests while contributing to national sustainable
development". financial support
• Allows less developed countries get money for protecting their
forests by selling carbon offset credits to more developed countries
who want to offset carbon emissions. - more willing to protect the forests
• The UN-REDD Program supports nationally led REDD+ processes.

REDD: Reducing Emissions from

Deforestation and Forest Degradation

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
 Forest Protection
 REDD+ is a voluntary climate change mitigation approach that
has been developed by Parties to the UNFCCC.
• It aims to incentivize developing countries to reduce emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation, conserve forest carbon stocks,
sustainably manage forests, and enhance forest carbon stocks.
• REDD+ goes beyond simply deforestation and forest degradation
and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of
forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
 Forest Protection
• Grassroot people are protecting local forests.
– The Chipko Andolan movement in India. Women hugged
trees in a non-violent protest to prevent logging and
preserve firewood for their families.
• Debt-for-Nature Swaps - are financial transactions in which
a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in
exchange for local investments in
environmental conservation measures.
- developing countries hv more incentives to protect forest
 Fire Management
• Fire is a major threat to forests.
• Fire suppression is commonly adopted.
(e.g., U.S. has had an aggressive fire control policy for the last 70 years.)
• Recent studies indicate many biological communities are fire-
adapted and require periodic burning for regeneration.
(e.g., Jack pine, Pinus banksiana)
• Eliminating fires has caused woody debris to accumulate over the
years. As a result, many fires are now larger and more severe.
 Recognizing the Role of Fire

• Land managers now recognize the role of fire in

maintaining/restoring many forest types.
– Example: Superior National Forest in Minnesota has started a
program of prescribed fires.
– Can also allow natural fires to burn.
• Careful planning and assessment are required.
 Harvest Methods
• Clear cutting - every tree in a given area is cut regardless of
size.
– Efficient, but increases erosion and eliminates habitat.
• Strip cutting - all the trees in a narrow corridor are harvested.
– Usually placed perpendicular to the prevailing winds in order to
minimize the possibility of windthrow (uprooting).
- wind will go thru the corridor, the wind speed will worsen the uprooting

prevailing winds

clear cutting selective cutting

 Clear cutting our forests: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
• Higher timber yields
• Maximum economic return
in shortest time
• Can reforest with genetically
improved fast-growing trees
• Short time to establish new
stand of trees
• Needs less skill and planning
• Best way to harvest tree
plantations
• Good for tree species
needing full or moderate
sunlight for growth
Disadvantages
• Reduces biodiversity
• Disrupts ecosystem processes
• Destroys and fragments some
wildlife habitats
• Leaves moderate to large
openings
• Increases soil erosion
• Increases sediment water
pollution and flooding when
done on steep slopes
• Eliminates most recreational
value for several decades
 Harvest Methods
• Shelterwood harvesting - mature trees are removed in a series
of two or more cuts.
– New seedlings can establish before the mature trees are fully
removed.
• Selective cutting - only a small percentage of the mature trees
are taken in each 10 to 20 year rotation.
– Selection criteria: minimum tree size for harvesting,
specifications of the number, spacing and size classes of residual
trees per area, and allowable cut.
more ideal, but this practice is less efficient in terms of economical benefit

Shelterwood cutting selective cutting

 Forest Ecosystem Management
• Forest ecosystem management attempts to integrate sustainable
ecological, economic, and social goals in a unified system approach.
– Managing across whole landscapes over ecological time scales
– Considering human needs and promoting sustainable economic
development
– Maintaining biological diversity and ecosystem processes, etc….
access whether forest management is successful of not
 Parks and Preserves
• Roughly 20 million km2 (12%) of Earth’s land area is now
protected.
• Categories of protection range from wilderness in which
little human impact is permitted to areas of multiple use
such as recreation areas.
 Parks and Preserves
• Roughly 20 million km2 (12%) of Earth’s land area is now
protected.
• Categories of protection range from wilderness in which
little human impact is permitted to areas of multiple use
such as recreation areas.

most restricted area

International Union for

Conservation of Nature
(IUCN)
 Parks and Preserves
lack financial resources
• In the developing world, some parks exist only on paper
because they do not have money for staff and management.
• Brazil has the largest protected area b/c it has >25% of the
world’s tropical forests.
• Pacific countries have low protected
area b/c of limited land. - and limited forests
 Parks and Preserves
• Some biomes are well represented in nature preserves, while
others are relatively under-protected.
• An inverse relationship b/w the percentage converted to human
use and the percentage protected.
- more land converted to human use, lower protected %
- some exception: boreal, deserts
= alrdy harsh env
 Preserves Not Safe from Exploitation
• Excessive stock grazing
• Dam building
• Oil drilling
• Mining
• Logging
• Hunting
• Overuse by the public
 World Conservation Strategy

• Developed by the IUCN

• Has 3 objectives:
– Maintain essential ecological processes and life support
systems.
– Preserve genetic diversity essential to improving
cultivated plants and domestic animals.
– Ensure that utilization of wild species and ecosystems is
sustainable.
 Conservation and Economic Development
• Struggle to save ecosystems cannot be divorced from
struggle to meet human needs.
– International assistance is necessary (e.g., Debt-for-Nature
Swaps).
– Ecotourism - tourism that is ecologically and socially
sustainable provide economic benefit to local
– UNESCO initiated “Man and
Biosphere” program (MAB) in 1986,
calling for the establishment of
biosphere reserves, protected areas
divided into zones with different
purposes.

A Model Biosphere Reserve

 Size and Design of Nature Preserves
• SLOSS debate - Is it better to have a single large or several
small reserves?
• Edge effects vs core habitat
-- Some species avoid edges and ecotones and prefer interior
environments. - better to have single large
• Habitats are becoming increasingly isolated.
• Corridors of natural habitat are essential.
 Helping Nature Heal

• Ecological restoration - to reverse degradation and

reestablish some aspects of an ecosystem that previously
existed (broad sense).

• Restoration of a biological community to an original

pristine condition (strict sense). Rarely possible.
– Often the best option is to develop a self-sustaining, useful
ecosystem with as many as its original elements as
possible.
– Sometimes an entirely new use for the site is the best
alternative.
 Terms Commonly Used in Restoration

• Intervention - apply techniques to discourage or reduce

undesired organisms and favor or promote desired ones.
• Rehabilitation - repairing ecosystem functions.
– May be similar to the original community or an entirely
different community
• Reintroduction - transplanting organisms from an
external source to a site where they have been previously
reduced/eliminated.
• Reallocation - use a site (and its resources) to create a
new and different kind of biological community rather
than the existing one.
 Terms Commonly Used in Restoration

• Remediation - using chemical, physical, or biological

methods to remove pollution while causing as little
disruption as possible.
• Reclamation - employs stronger, more extreme
techniques to clean up severely polluted or repair
seriously degraded or even barren site.
• Recreation - construct an entirely new ecosystem on a
severely degraded site.
• Mitigation - compensation for destroying a site by
purchasing or creating one of more or less equal
ecological value somewhere else.
 Ecosystem Degradation And Potential
Management Options
primary forest

original state

restores

Text

build a new
ecosystem
 Deciding on Recovery Goals

• Aims of restoration are often driven by human values

of beauty or utility rather than science.
• There may be more than one historic state to which
the area could be restored.
• Should we attempt to restore what used to be or
create a community compatible with future
conditions? - the restored forest may be vulnerable to climate change
and be destroyed again
 Restoration Projects have Common
Elements

• Removing physical stressors

– e.g., logging, overgrazing, pollutants, water shortage
• Controlling biotic stressors
– e.g., invasive species, weedy species
• Replanting of native species (flora)
• Captive breeding and reestablishing fauna
– e.g., wolves returned to Yellowstone
• Monitoring
before, during & after restoring the cosystem
 Restoration Strategies
• Nature is resilient. Sometimes stopping the damage is all
that is necessary and Nature can rebuild.
• Ecological Succession- the process by which organisms
occupy a site and gradually change environmental
conditions.
– Primary Succession - A community begins to develop on a site
previously unoccupied by living organisms.
– Secondary Succession - an existing community is disrupted
and a new one subsequently develops at the site.
 Primary Succession on Land

• The first colonists are termed pioneer

species.
• Climax community - community that
develops last and remains the longest.

build up nutrients in soil

Secondary Succession on Land
 Restoration Strategies
• Nature is resilient. Sometimes stopping the damage is all
that is necessary and Nature can rebuild.
• Ecological Succession- the process by which organisms
occupy a site and gradually change environmental
conditions.
– Primary Succession - A community begins to develop on a site
previously unoccupied by living organisms.
– Secondary Succession - an existing community is disrupted
and a new one subsequently develops at the site.
• In both successions, organisms change the environment by
creating or modifying soils, adding nutrients, providing
shelter or shade, and changing light levels or microclimate.
 Restoration Strategies
• Native species may need help to reestablish.
-- e.g., Bermuda Cahow
• Thought to be extinct for more than 300 years.
• In 1951, 18 nesting pairs were discovered.
• Protection program begun by removing invasive species,
reintroducing native vegetation, creating nesting burrows,
and protecting against predators.
• By 2018, there were 335 birds.
• The national bird of Bermuda, and a
symbol of hope for nature conservation.
 Restoring Forests
• Logging companies reforest cut areas.
– Creates a monoculture that does not have the complexity of
natural forests
– But does provide ground cover, habitat for some species, and
lumber.
• Large-scale reforestation is now taking place in countries like
China.
– A billion people have planted 50 billion trees over past 30 years.
Success is uncertain.
• United Nations billion tree initiative in 2007.
• Everyone can participate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnRNdbqXu1I
 Restoring Forests

• Fire is often an important restoration tool.

– Controlled or prescribed burning can help remove brush
and flammable material from a forest.
• Fire is essential to savanna forests.
– Difficult to restore because of human dwelling.

Oak savanna
Sustainable Management of Forests

Week #3:
• Definition of forest
• Types of forest
• Global forest types and resources
Week #4:
• Changes in forest area
• Deforestation: Causes and effects
• Effects of climate change on forests

Week #5:
• Benefits of forests
• Forest protection and management
• Forest restoration
 GEOG1016
Lecture Overview

Week Topic Date Teacher

Introduction to natural resources and sustainable
1 21 Jan Li
development
2 Sustainable management of forests I 28 Jan Li
3 Sustainable management of forests II 04 Feb Li
4 Sustainable management of forests III 11 Feb Li
5 Non-renewable and renewable resources 25 Feb Ran
6 Water resource and its sustainable management I 04 Mar Ran
7 Water resource and its sustainable management II 18 Mar Ran
8 Water resource and its sustainable management III 25 Mar Ran
9 Land degradation and sustainable management I 01 Apr Lafortezza
10 Land degradation and sustainable management II 08 Apr Lafortezza
11 Biodiversity richness and its sustainability I 15 Apr Lafortezza
12 Biodiversity richness and its sustainability II 22 Apr Lafortezza