Inshaaf Anver - My Blog

Royal College Think Green Project!!!

THE “5 S” METHOD

5S is the name of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five Japanese words which, transliterated and translated into English, start with the letter S. The list describes how items are stored and how the new order is maintained.

The 5S's are:

Phase 1 - Seiri (整理) Sorting: Go through all tools, materials, etc., in the plant and work area. Keep only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded.
Phase 2 - Seiton (整頓) Straighten or Set in Order: There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place. The place for each item should be clearly labeled or demarcated.
Phase 3 - Seisō (清掃) Sweeping or Shining or Cleanliness (Systematic Cleaning): A key point is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work - not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.
Phase 4 - Seiketsu (清潔) Standardizing:
Phase 5 - Shitsuke (躾) Sustaining the discipline: Maintain and review standards.

Once the previous 4 S's have been established, they become the new way to operate. Maintain focus on this new way and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways. While thinking about the new way, also be thinking about yet better ways. When an issue arises such as a suggested improvement, a new way of working, a new tool or a new output requirement, review the first 4 S's and make changes as appropriate.
A sixth phase, "Safety," (安全) is sometimes added. It is reasonable to assume that a properly planned and executed 5S program will inherently improve workplace safety, but some argue that explicitly including this sixth S insures that workplace safety is given primary consideration.

THE “3 R” METHOD

Reduce – To use things with care to reduce amount of waste generated.
Reuse – To repeat use of items or parts of items
Recycle – To use waste as resources

“THINK GREEN” CAMPAIGN

Garbage bins are used in 3 colours inside school premises.
Green – Paper (Decomposable)
Orange – Plastic and polythene
Red – Iron and Glass
Quality Circle

Quality circle is carried out in the 1st and 3rd week of each month Monday in the first period. During Quality Circle students get time to get into groups and discuss about the cleanliness and maintenance of their class room, grade and school. If they are facing problems with regard to cleanliness and quality they can come up with suggestions on how to improve or achieve more.

Think & Act Green

A Green Environment, Green Food, Green Energy as well as Green Behaviours and Habits will be key drivers in future for sustainable living. Thus, creating awareness in the rising global demand for Green Education, Green Skills and a new generation of "Green Collar" workers among out youth. EDEX having realised these limitless prospects and its relevance to the progressive development of Sri Lankan youth have chosen to support "Think Green" as a core value during the EDEX Expo with the promotion of "The Green Zone"
Think Green Campaign

" A Better Plan to Build a Green World in a just 5 Ways "


1. Water Conservation Unit
Susan Delago, Grade 4, Spring Creek Elementary School, Florida
Our region has been under one of the worst droughts we have had in many years. Therefore, we have spent considerable amounts of time studying the effects of water quality, water quantity and availability in our state, and water conservation.

When our county began instituting and enforcing water restrictions, I began demonstrations on statistics of fresh water availability throughout the world, using fractions in my demonstration. This led into discussions and demonstrations of aquifers and sources of fresh water in our state. We examined each step of the water cycle and learned about naturally purifying water as it percolates through the different layers of soil and rock on its way to the aquifers.

The unit continued with a simulation I found on the National Energy Foundation website about water usage and conservation. In the story, students became detectives who had to find out how many people were living in the landlady's apartment. The landlady had specified that four was the maximum number of occupants allowed, but the water bill for the particular month in question was very high. In order to determine what average water usage would be, students completed the math operations using scientific inquiry.

Math was integrated using measurement, including: frequency, tables for data, volume, fractions, customary measurement, and metric measurement. Students used a tally sheet to gather data about the water used in their households on a daily basis. Using this raw data, students calculated the total number of gallons of water used daily in their homes and the average number of gallons of water used per person, per day. We then compiled and compared all of the data and made specific connections between results, like mean and mode. These figures were used to "solve" the mystery and make hypotheses about the number of people living in the landlady's apartment.

Next, students planned how they, as individuals, would save water and created reports that were shared with the class. Finally, students designed illustrations and interactive questions for a bulletin board in a main school hallway to impact the learning of others about the importance of water conservation.
Bulletin boards on water conservation


I think the crucial moment for student understanding happened when they were deciding what to feature on their bulletin board. Students had brought in gallon milk and water jugs to be used during instruction of volume as related to gallons of water. At one point during the compiling and synthesizing of the water usage data, I put ten, one-gallon jugs on the desks in front of the group that was in the middle of the classroom. The students were amazed that the ten jugs equated to approximately one sixth of our class' average daily water usage they had just calculated. They all realized then, that if this demonstration had made such a big impact on our class, it would affect the others in the school as well. This is how they decided to put the gallon jugs on the bulletin board: 65, for our class' average gallons of water used, per person, per day. In this way, students realized they could make an impact on the lives of others by sharing what they've learned. This indeed happened, as many adults and students expressed their surprise at this average, after seeing the students' bulletin board.

2. A School-Wide Initiative
Katherine Mundorf, 5th grade, Cathedral Elementary School, North Carolina

Our 5th grade class has taken the month of April for our service project month. We are focusing on encouraging our students and families to help the environment and protect what has been given to us. Below you will find all of our activities that will be implemented in our class as well as school wide.

1. Reading for the Rainforest (ClassroomsCare)
2. A speaker from the Wake County Department of Solid Waste will speak to us on recycling.
3. Our class will take the information from the speaker and create commercials to be presented at lunch to our other students in the school. They will talk about recycling, water conservation, Earth Day, GO GREEN, etc.
4. Our school will have a PAPER Recycling challenge in which each classroom will receive a recycling bin and the students will log the weight of paper collected on a bar chart.
5. During Earth Day week students will create creatures made out of trash and turn it into something useable such as a pencil holder, a letter holder, etc. This TWIST ON TRASH exhibit will be in our school hall for others to see and learn how they can GO GREEN at home with their trash.
6. Also, during Earth Day our school will collect flowers to use to beautify our school and classrooms while wearing green to accessorize our uniforms to celebrate. Students will be handing out stickers that were created for each student.
7. Finally, we will announce how much paper our school has collected and how that helps save our environment and our world.

Students will send home information for families via our Friday Newsletters in all grades. Student written work about the environment, GO GREEN, etc will be published.

We hope to encourage our school to GO GREEN for a lifetime.



3. Start a Recycling Program
Charlene Endicott, Flemingsburg Elementary School, Kentucky

Our school did not have a recycling program so our class decided to start one. We contacted the city to have recycled bins delivered. We placed the bins throughout our school. I emailed each teacher to let them know about our bins. We have juice and water sales on Friday afternoons and encouraged everyone to deposit their plastic bottles in the recycle bins. Paper and cardboard boxes are also recycled. My class is in charge of putting the bins out twice a week. They are all excited about it and have encouraged their parents to get recycling bins at home.

Our class also made a pledge with parents to replace any light bulb that goes out in their home with a new energy efficient bulb. The students are now thinking of other ways to go green.

4. Students Solve the Plastic Problem
Kara Fucci, 4th grade, Franklin Elementary School, Massachusetts

This is my first year of teaching and I am blessed to teach a very dedicated and enthusiastic group of 4th graders who are very interested in "going green" and preserving the environment. They inspired quite a movement in our classroom and in our school.

My class was discouraged that we were throwing away so much plastic during our snack and lunch times. Our school has a paper recycling program, but does not incorporate plastics. Time went on and we decided to take action. My students brainstormed ideas to decide how to best deal with our plastic problem. We decided to set up our own recycling center. We have a place to store cleaned out bottles and yogurt containers.

We also have a place for cardboard, books and miscellaneous paper. Every Friday we weigh the paper that we have collected. We also count the bottles and containers we recycle. We graph this information and keep track of our progress. Students volunteer to take the plastics home each week to recycle it with their home recycling.
Bulletin boards on water conservation


More importantly, my class has headed a movement in our school. I have begun to take the steps to start a school-wide plastics recycling program that will begin in May. My students will be traveling to classrooms to educate the student population of the program and explain how they can help. My students will also help to collect the schools recycling and bring it to the curb.
I am so happy my students have helped (and motivated!) me to begin this project. Our classroom has become a place to share ideas and information about global issues.

5. Raise Monarch Butterflies
Sarah Mulhern, Pine Brook Elementary School, New Jersey

After participating in an amazing summer workshop called "Teaching with Monarch Butterflies," I begin each year with a study of Monarch butterflies. While I don't preach the ideals of "living green" to my students, it becomes second nature after this unit of study. My students become aware of the relationships between themselves and their surrounding environment and how small actions can affect these relationships negatively and positively.
We raise monarch caterpillars in our classroom, on milkweed plants that we find in our neighborhood. The caterpillars are also from eggs we find outside. (As a class, we discuss why buying caterpillar eggs is an unhealthy practice and how these lab-bred specimens can harm the wild population). Throughout the month of September we observe our cats and wrote about each stage of the metamorphosis from a microscopic egg, through the larval, pupal and finally butterfly stages of life. During the months of September and October we raised and released almost 30 monarchs. We also tagged a few in conjunction with the University of Kansas Etymology Department's Monarch tagging program. We follow the trans-continental migration via the web as the Monarchs leave their summer homes way up in the northern Provinces of Canada, migrate down along the east coast through New Jersey on their way to their final overwintering sites in the Monarch Sanctuaries of Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Pelon, high up in the Trans-Volcanic range in the central Mexican State of Michoacan.
Monach butterfly pupae



Why do we study the monarchs? Imagine this... these Monarchs have never been to Mexico. They are the great-great-great grandchildren of the Monarchs who overwintered in Mexico last year. Yet... somehow, something tells them to stop mating in late August and early September and their instinct tells them to begin flying south to a place they have never been before, but to where every 4th to 5th generation has gone for thousands of years, back to the earliest know settlers of central Mexico at Teotihuacan. It is truly an amazing mystery as to how the Monarchs are able to fly, in some cases, over 2,400 miles across a continent to a place they have never been.

As you see, Monarch butterflies are not only insects, they carry a long legacy of connecting 3 nations; Canada, the United States and Mexico. They also symbolize a re-birth to the Mexican people as well as are worldwide symbols of peace and understanding and beauty. Monarchs are also symbols of an indomitable spirit that allows them to migrate extremely long distances over very rough terrain to a place they have never been before. They are also an inspiration to writers throughout the world. We hope to be inspired by them as we continue to build our global community this year.

Finally, monarchs are an inspiration to "live green". Throughout the year, we learn about global warming, deforestation, and lawn practices/ gardening from our monarchs. Global warming is a serious threat to the monarch migration through its affect on weather and climate in the monarch winter sanctuaries in Mexico. In January 2002, close to 80% of the Mexico overwintering monarchs were killed by a severe winter storm. This storm was abnormal for the area and many scientists blame it on global warming. While monarchs themselves are not endangered, their miraculous migration is. Because of their hands-on experience with the monarchs, students are inspired to take care of their earth and want to convince the adults around them to do the same. In regards to deforestation, the monarchs migrate to a small area of oyamel fir forests in Mexico. Sadly, this area is under threat from illegal loggers. A study of monarchs inevitably leads to the topic of deforestation and what we can do to help. According to statistics, every American consumes approximately 700 pounds of paper per year; every 10% of recovered waste paper saves a million acres of forest from being cut. Statistics like this inspire my students to recycle throughout the year. Finally, our monarchs teach us a lot of lawn and gardening practices in the US. The United States produces more grass than almost any other crop- and lawn is useless! Lawns destroy natural diversity (due to chemicals) and diversity is necessary for nature's survival. Our study of monarchs produces heartfelt persuasive letters to newspapers and town officials, seeking the protection of fields and forests. Students are aware of overdevelopment and the effects on the environment.

Our monarch butterflies inspire not only our class, but our entire school. They are a tangible connection to the natural world and their miraculous migration begs to be preserved. We live green because we must if we want to save our butterflies!

40 Easy Ways to Go Greener


1. Plant an herb garden. It’s good to have a reminder around of where our food originates.

2. Switch all your lightbulbs to CFLs (or at least switch a few).

3. Create a homemade compost bin for $15.

4. Switch one appliance to an energy efficient model (look for the “energy star” label).

5. Stop using disposable bags – order some reusable bags, or make your own. My favorites are Envirosax and Flip & Tumble.

6. Buy an inexpensive reusable water bottle, and stop buying plastic disposable bottles. Then watch The Story of Bottled Water, a short movie about the bottled water phenomena.

7. Wash laundry in cold water instead of hot.

8. Turn off lights when you leave the room.

9. Don’t turn on lights at all for as long as you can — open your curtains and enjoy natural light.

10. Drive the speed limit, and combine all your errands for the week in one trip.

11. Better yet, walk or ride a bike to your errands that are two miles or closer.

12. Support your local economy and shop at your farmer’s market.

13. Turn off your computer completely at night.

14. Research whether you can sign up for green power from your utility company.

15. Pay as many bills as possible online.

16. Put a stop to unsolicited mail — sign up to opt out of pre-screened credit card offers. While you’re at it, go ahead and make sure you’re on the “do not call” list, just to make your life more peaceful.

17. Reuse scrap paper. Print on two sides, or let your kids color on the back side of used paper.

18. Conduct a quick energy audit of your home.

19. Subscribe to good eco-friendly blogs. My favorites are The Daily Green, TreeHugger, and Keeper of the Home. Of course, you gotta subscribe to Simple Organic.

20. Before buying anything new, first check your local Craigslist or Freecycle.

21. Support local restaurants that use food derived less than 100 miles away, and learn more about the benefits of eating locally.

22. Fix leaky faucets.

23. Make your own household cleaners. I’ve got quite a few recipes in my e-book.

24. Line dry your laundry.

25. Watch The Story of Stuff with your kids, and talk about the impact your household trash has on our landfills.

26. Learn with your kids about another country or culture, expanding your knowledge to other sides of the world.

28. Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.

29. Unplug unused chargers and appliances.



30. Repurpose something – turn one of your well-worn t-shirts into basic play pants for your baby. Or save egg cartons for paint wells, seed starters, treasure boxes, or a myriad of other crafts.

31. Collect rainwater, and use it to water your houseplants and garden.

32. Switch to cloth diapers – or at least do a combination with disposables.

33. Switch to shade-grown coffee with the “Fair Trade” label.

34. Use a Diva Cup for your monthly cycles.

35. Use cloth instead of paper to clean your kitchen. Be frugal, and make these rags out of old towels and t-shirts.

36. Use cloth napkins daily instead of paper.

37. Read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and open your eyes to the way conventional food is processed. Watch Food, Inc. while you’re at in

38. Repurpose glass jars as leftover containers and bulk storage, especially in the kitchen.

39. Five-minute showers – make it a goal for yourself.

40. Donate to – and shop at – thrift stores such as Goodwill. You’ll be recycling perfectly usable items, and you’ll be supporting your local economy.

*What is Deforestation

Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests logging and burning.

Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees or derived charcoal are used as, or sold, for fuel or as a commodity, while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities, and settlements. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland.

Disregard or ignorance of intrinsic value, lack of ascribed value, lax forest management and deficient environmental law are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale. In many countries, deforestation is an ongoing issue that is causing extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of indigenous people.

Among countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$4,600, net deforestation rates have ceased to increase.

*What Are the Environmental Problems Faced

Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by logging and burning.

Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees or derived charcoal are used as, or sold, for fuel or as a commodity, while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities, and settlements. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland.

Disregard or ignorance of intrinsic value, lack of ascribed value, lax forest management and deficient environmental law are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale. In many countries, deforestation is an ongoing issue that is causing extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of indigenous people.

Among countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$4,600, net deforestation rates have ceased to increase.

Atmospheric

Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.

Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, could account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. But recent calculations suggest that carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (excluding peatland emissions) contribute about 12% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions with a range from 6 to 17%. Trees and other plants remove carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis and release oxygen back into the atmosphere during normal respiration. Only when actively growing can a tree or forest remove carbon over an annual or longer timeframe. Both the decay and burning of wood releases much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere. In order for forests to take up carbon, the wood must be harvested and turned into long-lived products and trees must be re-planted. Deforestation may cause carbon stores held in soil to be released. Forests are stores of carbon and can be either sinks or sources depending upon environmental circumstances. Mature forests alternate between being net sinks and net sources of carbon dioxide (see carbon dioxide sink and carbon cycle).

Reducing emissions from the tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries has emerged as new potential to complement ongoing climate policies. The idea consists in providing financial compensations for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation".

Rainforests are widely believed by laymen to contribute a significant amount of world's oxygen, although it is now accepted by scientists that rainforests contribute little net oxygen to the atmosphere and deforestation will have no effect on atmospheric oxygen levels.[33][34] However, the incineration and burning of forest plants to clear land releases large amounts of CO2, which contributes to global warming.

Forests are also able to extract carbon dioxide and pollutants from the air, thus contributing to biosphere stability.

Hydrological

The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer evaporate away this water, resulting in a much drier climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding and landslides ensue.Forests enhance the recharge of aquifers in some locales, however, forests are a major source of aquifer depletion on most locales.

Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape's capacity to intercept, retain and transpire precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover. Deforestation also contributes to decreased evapotranspiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects precipitation levels down wind from the deforested area, as water is not recycled to downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and returns directly to the oceans. According to one preliminary study, in deforested north and northwest China, the average annual precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the 1980s.

Trees, and plants in general, affect the water cycle significantly:

* their canopies intercept a proportion of precipitation, which is then evaporated back to the atmosphere (canopy interception);
* their litter, stems and trunks slow down surface runoff;
* their roots create macropores - large conduits - in the soil that increase infiltration of water;
* they contribute to terrestrial evaporation and reduce soil moisture via transpiration;
* their litter and other organic residue change soil properties that affect the capacity of soil to store water.
* their leaves control the humidity of the atmosphere by transpiring. 99% of the water absorbed by the roots moves up to the leaves and is transpired.

As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater, or in the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human services.

The forest may have little impact on flooding in the case of large rainfall events, which overwhelm the storage capacity of forest soil if the soils are at or close to saturation.

Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh water.

Soil

Deforestation for the use of clay in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The hill depicted is Morro da Covanca, in Jacarepaguá

Undisturbed forest has very low rates of soil loss, approximately 2 metric tons per square kilometer (6 short tons per square mile).[citation needed] Deforestation generally increases rates of soil erosion, by increasing the amount of runoff and reducing the protection of the soil from tree litter. This can be an advantage in excessively leached tropical rain forest soils. Forestry operations themselves also increase erosion through the development of roads and the use of mechanized equipment.

China's Loess Plateau was cleared of forest millennia ago. Since then it has been eroding, creating dramatic incised valleys, and providing the sediment that gives the Yellow River its yellow color and that causes the flooding of the river in the lower reaches (hence the river's nickname 'China's sorrow').

Removal of trees does not always increase erosion rates. In certain regions of southwest US, shrubs and trees have been encroaching on grassland. The trees themselves enhance the loss of grass between tree canopies. The bare intercanopy areas become highly erodible. The US Forest Service, in Bandelier National Monument for example, is studying how to restore the former ecosystem, and reduce erosion, by removing the trees.

Tree roots bind soil together, and if the soil is sufficiently shallow they act to keep the soil in place by also binding with underlying bedrock. Tree removal on steep slopes with shallow soil thus increases the risk of landslides, which can threaten people living nearby. However most deforestation only affects the trunks of trees, allowing for the roots to stay rooted, negating the landslide.

Ecological

Deforestation results in declines in biodiversity. The removal or destruction of areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. Forests support biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife; moreover, forests foster medicinal conservation. With forest biotopes being irreplaceable source of new drugs (such as taxol), deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.

Since the tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and about 80% of the world's known biodiversity could be found in tropical rainforests, removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity.

Scientific understanding of the process of extinction is insufficient to accurately make predictions about the impact of deforestation on biodiversity. Most predictions of forestry related biodiversity loss are based on species-area models, with an underlying assumption that as forest are declines species diversity will decline similarly. However, many such models have been proven to be wrong and loss of habitat does not necessarily lead to large scale loss of species. Species-area models are known to overpredict the number of species known to be threatened in areas where actual deforestation is ongoing, and greatly overpredict the number of threatened species that are widespread.

It has been estimated that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation, which equates to 50,000 species a year. Others state that tropical rainforest deforestation is contributing to the ongoing Holocene mass extinction. The known extinction rates from deforestation rates are very low, approximately 1 species per year from mammals and birds which extrapolates to approximately 23,000 species per year for all species. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century. Such predictions were called into question by 1995 data that show that within regions of Southeast Asia much of the original forest has been converted to monospecific plantations, but that potentially endangered species are few and tree flora remains widespread and stable.

*What Are the Steps we can Take

Controlling deforestation
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
Major international organizations, including the United Nations and the World Bank, have begun to develop programs aimed at curbing deforestation. The blanket term Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) describes these sorts of programs, which use direct monetary or other incentives to encourage developing countries to limit and/or roll back deforestation. Funding has been an issue, but at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties-15 (COP-15) in Copenhagen in December 2009, an accord was reached with a collective commitment by developed countries for new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, that will approach USD 30 billion for the period 2010 - 2012. Significant work is underway on tools for use in monitoring developing country adherence to their agreed REDD targets. These tools, which rely on remote forest monitoring using satellite imagery and other data sources, include the Center for Global Development's FORMA (Forest Monitoring for Action) initiative and the Group on Earth Observations' Forest Carbon Tracking Portal . Methodological guidance for forest monitoring was also emphasized at COP-15
Farming
New methods are being developed to farm more intensively, such as high-yield hybrid crops, greenhouse, autonomous building gardens, and hydroponics. These methods are often dependent on chemical inputs to maintain necessary yields. In cyclic agriculture, cattle are grazed on farm land that is resting and rejuvenating. Cyclic agriculture actually increases the fertility of the soil. Intensive farming can also decrease soil nutrients by consuming at an accelerated rate the trace minerals needed for crop growth.
Forest management
Efforts to stop or slow deforestation have been attempted for many centuries because it has long been known that deforestation can cause environmental damage sufficient in some cases to cause societies to collapse. In Tonga, paramount rulers developed policies designed to prevent conflicts between short-term gains from converting forest to farmland and long-term problems forest loss would cause, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Tokugawa, Japan, the shoguns developed a highly sophisticated system of long-term planning to stop and even reverse deforestation of the preceding centuries through substituting timber by other products and more efficient use of land that had been farmed for many centuries. In sixteenth century Germany landowners also developed silviculture to deal with the problem of deforestation. However, these policies tend to be limited to environments with good rainfall, no dry season and very young soils (through volcanism or glaciation). This is because on older and less fertile soils trees grow too slowly for silviculture to be economic, whilst in areas with a strong dry season there is always a risk of forest fires destroying a tree crop before it matures.
In the areas where "slash-and-burn" is practiced, switching to "slash-and-char" would prevent the rapid deforestation and subsequent degradation of soils. The biochar thus created, given back to the soil, is not only a durable carbon sequestration method, but it also is an extremely beneficial amendment to the soil. Mixed with biomass it brings the creation of terra preta, one of the richest soils on the planet and the only one known to regenerate itself.
Certification of sustainable forest management practices
Certification, as provided by global certification systems such as PEFC and FSC, contributes to tackling deforestation by creating market demand for timber from sustainably managed forests. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), "A major condition for the adoption of sustainable forest management is a demand for products that are produced sustainably and consumer willingness to pay for the higher costs entailed. Certification represents a shift from regulatory approaches to market incentives to promote sustainable forest management. By promoting the positive attributes of forest products from sustainably managed forests, certification focuses on the demand side of environmental conservation."
Reforestation
In many parts of the world, especially in East Asian countries, reforestation and afforestation are increasing the area of forested lands. The amount of woodland has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations. Asia as a whole gained 1 million hectares of forest between 2000 and 2005. Tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20% between 1992 and 2001. Based on these trends, one study projects that global forest will increase by 10%—an area the size of India—by 2050.
In the People's Republic of China, where large scale destruction of forests has occurred, the government has in the past required that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in other forest services. The government claims that at least 1 billion trees have been planted in China every year since 1982. This is no longer required today, but March 12 of every year in China is the Planting Holiday. Also, it has introduced the Green Wall of China project, which aims to halt the expansion of the Gobi desert through the planting of trees. However, due to the large percentage of trees dying off after planting (up to 75%), the project is not very successful. There has been a 47-million-hectare increase in forest area in China since the 1970s. The total number of trees amounted to be about 35 billion and 4.55% of China's land mass increased in forest coverage. The forest coverage was 12% two decades ago and now is 16.55%.
An ambitious proposal for China is the Aerially Delivered Re-forestation and Erosion Control System and the Proposed sahara forest project coupled with the Seawater Greenhouse.
In Western countries, increasing consumer demand for wood products that have been produced and harvested in a sustainable manner is causing forest landowners and forest industries to become increasingly accountable for their forest management and timber harvesting practices.
The Arbor Day Foundation's Rain Forest Rescue program is a charity that helps to prevent deforestation. The charity uses donated money to buy up and preserve rainforest land before the lumber companies can buy it. The Arbor Day Foundation then protects the land from deforestation. This also locks in the way of life of the primitive tribes living on the forest land. Organizations such as Community Forestry International, Cool Earth, The Nature Conservancy, World Wide Fund for Nature, Conservation International, African Conservation Foundation and Greenpeace also focus on preserving forest habitats. Greenpeace in particular has also mapped out the forests that are still intact and published this information on the internet. HowStuffWorks in turn has made a simpler thematic map showing the amount of forests present just before the age of man (8000 years ago) and the current (reduced) levels of forest. These maps mark the amount of afforestation required to repair the damage caused by man.
Forest plantations
To meet the world's demand for wood, it has been suggested by forestry writers Botkins and Sedjo that high-yielding forest plantations are suitable. It has been calculated that plantations yielding 10 cubic meters per hectare annually could supply all the timber required for international trade on 5% of the world's existing forestland. By contrast, natural forests produce about 1-2 cubic meters per hectare; therefore, 5 to 10 times more forestland would be required to meet demand. Forester Chad Oliver has suggested a forest mosaic with high-yield forest lands interpersed with conservation land.
One analysis of FAO data suggests that afforestation and reforestation projects "could reverse the global decline in woodlands within 30 years."[
Reforestation through tree planting could take advantage of changing precipitation patterns due to climate change. This would be done by studying where precipitation is projected to increase (see the "2050 Precipitation" thematic map created by Globalis) and setting up reforestation projects in these locations. Areas such as Niger, Sierra Leone and Liberia are especially important candidates because they also suffer from an expanding desert (the Sahara) and decreasing biodiversity (while being important biodiversity hotspots).

*I hope This Blog will Give You a Clear Idea about Deforest Action

~Thank You~ by: Inshaaf Anver