Top 10 Uses Of Forests
- Forests play a major role in our life. Early humans gathered food and were dependent on forests for all their basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
We depend on forests for several or various other things directly or indirectly. - Forests prevent soil erosion and floods. Roots of trees bind the soil particles together and prevent the soil from being washed or blown away.
- Trees help to regulate the climate of a place. They absorb water from the ground through their roots, and then release some of it as water vapour. In this way, they manage to keep the surrounding air cool. By raising the water vapour content of the atmosphere, trees are responsible for bringing the rains, too. Trees also help in keeping a check on global warming by using carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas for photosynthesis.
- Some trees, such as coconuts and palms, help to break strong winds in coastal areas. They act as shields or windbreakers against incoming storms or strong tidal waves.
- We get timber from more than a thousand species of trees such as sal, mahogany, teak, and rosewood. Several timber- based industries such as those of plywood, sawmills, paper and pulp, and cardboards are all dependent on these trees. We get firewood from trees.
- We get several nuts and spices from plants ‘ growing in forests.
- Plants such as neem, eucalyptus, and amla (Indian gooseberry) are used to make several Ayurvedic medicines. Cinchona trees provide quinine, which is an important medicine for treating malaria. Many varieties of grasses such as lemon grass, vanilla, kewra, and khus are the sources of several kinds of essential oils. Sandalwood, eucalyptus, and pine also give us oil, which can be extracted from these trees.
- Forests are a source of resins (used to make varnish and paint), latex (used to make rubber), bamboo (useful as fodder, and serves as an important raw material for the manufacture of paper and pulp, basket and other small-scale industries), and cane (used to make walking sticks, furniture, baskets, picture frames, screens, and mats).
Forests Help In Purifying Air
Forests play a vital role in releasing huge amounts of oxygen into the air. Forests are rich in plants and animals. All plants and animals breathe in air to survive. Green plants take in atmospheric carbon dioxide to manufacture their own food (photosynthesis) and release oxygen as a by-product. Forests also serve as a sink for carbon dioxide obtained in the following ways: given out by plants and animals during respiration, produced by burning coal and petroleum, given out as a result of volcanoes and other natural disasters. Thus, forests help to balance the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Forests, especially rainforests, are referred to as the ‘lungs’ of the Earth.