Implications for human wellbeing from degradation of the water and carbon cycle Flashcards
What types of forests do we need to know about for forest loss?
Tropical
Boreal
Temperate
What are the causes of forest loss in tropical forests?
intensive farming for growing palm oil and soya
Cattle ranching, open cast mining, flooding of valleys behind dams for HEP
Fire (drier forest edge)
Which boreal forest (forest in general) had the greatest expansion?
Eurasian boreal between 2000-2012
What was the reason for the expansion of the Eurasian boreal forest?
forest management
Reduced farmland
Recovery after forest fires
How has the UK’s forest cover changed over time?
Was 80% but dropped to under 10% by end of 19th century
forest cover had increased to 13% by (2016)
Who was responsible for the increased forest cover in the UK?
the forestry commission planted fast exotic conifers (Sitka spruce) on Welsh moors, Scottish highlands and in the Lake district
How much did forest cover in the UK increase by between 1870-1947 and 1947-1995?
1870-1947=25%
1948-1995= 50%
What is the implication for human well being for forest loss by fire?
Causes emissions of solid particles and wind blown soil which create impaired air quality and an associated increase in human respiratory problems
What is an example of the human implications of forest loss by fire?
Indonesia during the ‘super’ el Niño 1997/98
Uncontrolled burning of 5 million hectares of forest due to drier conditions
What might lead to an increase in soil erosion?
Drier soils and lack of protection by vegetation cover
What is the problem with increased soil erosion?
may affect food supplies in the longer term (less fertile soil to grow)
What are the supporting functions of forest ecosystems?
nutrient cycling
Soil formation
Primary production
What are the provision for goods from forests?
food
fresh water
wood and fibre
Fuel
How do forests regulate earths systems?
Earths ‘green lungs’ regulating climate, flood disease
Water purification
What is the cultural value of forests?
Aesthetic
Spiritual
Educational
Recreational
How much of the global economy comes from forest provisions?
1.1% of the global economy income
How many jobs are provided from forests?
13.2 million ‘formal’ and 41 million ‘informal’ jobs
How is food provided for from forests?
improve food and nutrition security
Source of livestock fodder in arid and semi-arid regions
How many people use fuelwood for cooking and boiling drinking water?
1 in 3
How are forest gene pools important?
source for improving domesticated crops
Potential medicines
How does deforestation affect the forest regulatory systems?
water-related risks (landslides, local floods and droughts)
Increased air and water pollution
What are the forest functions and threats to forest cultural value?
Direct reliance by many indigenous peoples
Some cultures and religions see forests as sacred
Leisure and tourism
What is the name of the graph for development and habitat exploitation?
Kuznets Curve
What is the first part of the Kuznets curve? (low level development)
Countries with low level development cause very little harm to the environment
(UK pre-industrial revoultion, Amazonia today)
What is the second part of the Kuznets curve? (beginning of degradation)
Degradation starts to occur e.e., basic tech, urbanisation.
Environment is explouted
Indonesia today, China 20th century
What is the third part of the Kuznets curve? (peak degradation)
High industrialised country, significant environmenta harm has occurred
(China today-60% water contaminated)
What is the fourth part of the Kuznets curve? (recognition of environmenal problem)
People have learnt the detrimental impacts of their actions
Action to improve environment now takes priority
(animals gainst own needs)
What is it hard to predict? (implications of degradation on human wellbeing)
how increased temperature affect evaporation rates and availability of water vapour in atmosphere
Why does pressure gradient make it hard to predict effects of climate change?
Warming of the oceans and the lower atmosphere will result in a samller temperature gradient within the troposphere which would create stability, weaken planetary winds and limit pecipitation
Why does temperature and evapourative rates make predicting climate chnage hard to predict?
HIgher temperatures will increase evapourtion leading to increases in precipitation at the ITCZ and at polar latitudes and higher precipitation totals in indvidual storms creating more flash flooding
What is ocean health being affected by?
increasing temerature
Acidity
Salinity
changes to currents
What is a potential effect of climate change on oceans?
Sea level rise, potential loss of island countries (kiribati)
